Friday Bible Study Notes July 15, 2005 Taught by Pastor Don

Someone asked about the Righteousness of Christ. What I love about our Bible studies is that they are so open to questions from the people attending. And Pastor Don can answer any question put to him right on the spot. My goal is to learn the Bible that well, and I have much to learn in that regard.

Pastor Don said you have to know who Christ is and what righteousness is.

Phil 2: 5-11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Christ – is preincarnate, who existed from the beginning John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Christ was there from before the creation of the earth. Jesus the Christ does not exist until after Mary. Pastor Don said that if you don’t understand that, you will have a hard time understanding the trinity.

The Word-Spirit existed but Jesus was not in the body of a man until after Mary.

The I AM is THE SON OF MAN, born of a woman and the Holy Ghost. His human experience was a human experience.

He MADE HIMSELF, the Word of God made himself into humanity.

When we glorify Jesus Christ the MAN, we miss the point of His coming as a vessel of the Holy Spirit, he could yield Himself to glorify God.

Galatians 3:3-5 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain–if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?–

Jesus did miracles not because of the law, but by the hearing of faith. Jesus was full of truth and faith and grace.

Galatians 3:6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (That quote comes from Genesis 15:6)

When Jesus was fully human, a man, he had to get righteousness the same way we do, by faith. (Heather’s note, this was a challenging Bible study for me, but we have to remember that Christ was tempted in all the ways we were, he overcame his temptations as a full man, not as God, so that we can know that we too can, with the help of God, overcome temptations.)

Christ had to learn higher and higher and higher and greater and greater degrees of faith. When fully man, Jesus did not let anyone worship him, and he directed all Glory to God, it wasn’t until after he was resurrected that he accepted worship (Thomas who after putting his hands into the wounds said, My Lord and My God – Jesus permitted that).

Satan, with his lies, tries to get us to see Jesus of Nazareth as fully God and convince us that we can’t do what Jesus did in terms of healings and teaching, resisting temptation, and helping others.

Just like Jesus, we have to believe and by faith the work is done.

Galatians 3:7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Remember Jesus’ family tree, he was descended from the sons of Abraham.

Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” Pastor Don asked us, how could Christ become a curse for us if He wasn’t a man?

*****Galatians 3:14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Through Christ Jesus we learn how to do this, without Christ showing us how, and guiding us, we would never be able to do this verse.

Galatians 3:23-27 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

When you put on Christ, you put on a victorious man. To put on Christ as a man is to beat the devil. Christ came out of the grave and says that the success He had he bequeaths to us. Jesus beat the law as a man, so therefore we don’t have to sin.

Why are the temptations of Christ called temptations? If He wasn’t fully human, they wouldn’t be temptations. As God Christ could have anything He wanted, and it wouldn’t be a temptation.

Galatians 4:1-7 Now I say that the heir as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

The Church believes we are foster children, not fully God’s children. Christ was willing to die for us, so that we could become heirs to the throne.

The only pain permitted as a child of God to come to us is self-inflicted pain. (Heather’s note- if we deliberately choose to sin, we bring pain on ourselves). The devil can only persecute us, that is his only weapon. He cannot defeat us for Christ has defeated him.

Gal 4:7 – (above) we are the heirs of God, through Christ. We have the righteousness of Christ that established a new covenant for us.

Ephesian 1:3-10 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

What we have to do: Eph. 1:12 that we who first trusted in Christ shoould be to the praise of His glory. When we trust Christ, our work is to Christ’s glory.

Eph 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

We gain these blessings IN CHRIST. And Christ gave us the Holy Spirit to remind us of what Christ has done, and to guide our steps.

I will continue this later, it was a long study, but gave me much food for thought. Jim needs the computer.

Heather

Here is the rest of the July 12th Bible study done by Pastor Don.

He is talking about being armed and dangerous to satan, by being filled with the grace of God and the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 3:14-18 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation–as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You, therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Pastor Don has been pointing out to us that we cannot interpret the word grace to be unmerited favor (mercy) for how can we grow in unmerited favor? But Grace implies a power provided by God for the work He wants us to do. But Peter admonished us to grow in grace. When we are saved we do not instantly have all the weapons fully formed, we grow in our use of them.

When did Jesus begin growing in grace?

Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Jesus grew in grace.

Ephesians 4: denominational churches have abandoned the whole Word of the Gospel in favor of what messages they feel need stressed.

Jesus wants us to be overcomers.

Eph. 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ.

To equip the saints for the Body of Christ is not done by education alone, you have to experience, to do the work of ministry. Ministry is everything that Jesus wants done on earth.

All of the above gifts are received by faith. Pastor Don talked about how he read Chuck Swindol’s book that talked about how the gifts of the Spirit are not operating today. Pastor Don was the son of a Baptist preacher and was taught pretty much the same thing.

He prayed to God and asked God to show him the truth in the Word of God. Knowing that you cannot take one isolated passage and form a theology around it, you need the whole counsel of the scripture. He remembered the five fold ministry of Ephesians, and how it said that the anointing came and they felt the presence of God in the room. He felt God tell him that He was now a teacher, and when he went back to teaching Bible study, the members of the group sensed something different in his teaching even though he taught the same way, with the same word, and the same message. The something different was the anointing of God. If we are not working with the anointing of God, the works we are doing are carnal. They may be good works, helpful, and great, but they do not have the same impact as the same works done under the anointing of God. (this is a paraphrase of Pastor Don’s testimony).

Paul tells us to seek after and desire spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

Pastor Don asked us, why would Paul tell us to desire something that is not available to us? To speak in tongues is prophesy. Tongues are for you to get built up, to edify your body, so that when you speak to the church you have something to say. (this is in reference to our private prayer life).

1 Cor 14:12 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 1 Cor 14:30-40 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.

(Heather’s note from previous teachings – key word is decently and in order. It would not be edifying for tons of people in church to be speaking in tongues when there are visitors. It would lead to chaos and interfere with the work God wanted done in a service. But private prayer life, and in certain circumstances tongues are in order. But if a person is praying in tongues, they need to also pray that God will interpret the tongues, or it is again not in order. But that is for tongues of prophesy, tongues which is used in the private prayer life is between you and God, and you do not need to consciously know what is being said. I will try to find Pastor Don’s teaching on tongues, and take notes to share better).

We are to worship God, and learn to use the gifts he has so freely given us, to do his work on the earth. It is not for self-gratification, self advancement, it is for the advancement of God’s kingdom on the earth.

Hope you have a great Sunday.

Heather

Pastor Don’s Tuesday Bible study of 7/12/05

Spiritual Gifts.

Ephesians 4 tells us that Spiritual Gifts are available to us under the New Covenant.

Enoch before the first covenant walked with God, and obtained a righteousness by his life.

Matthew 24: as it was in the days of Noah, as it is coming again. Righteousness is established by Abraham by faith. Those who walk according to faith in God are righteous.

But that is not enough. All men do not have the heart of Abraham. They have enough faith for salvation, but not enough for daily life not to offend God. We need the blood of Christ to cover us.

Righteousness by the Law. Moses 10 Commandments, were there to show us that we could not keep the whole law. There was blood sacrifice under God’s mercy so that people could be covered in mercy. God’s mercy gave man a means of escape when they failed to meet the Law’s demands.

Abraham – faith
Moses – law

Mercy is favor beyond the kindness of God, it empowers people to obtain righteousness under Grace. Grace is the divine influence on our hearts. It affects man and empowers his life. We can obtain righteousness by grace, and work out our salvation given to us by the power provided through God’s grace. The grace is a gift, but it is up to us to use the grace to empower us to flee sin.

Ephesians 4:8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

There are various heavens, the 1st is the air around us, the second is the stratosphere, and the third is Heaven, the Paradise where God is.

Above earth is an area of voidness, above the orbit of the Milky Way Galaxy are black holes, areas of great density.

The Spirit transcends all the dynamics of creativity. Everything in creation is made for us in our physical form, but the Spirit transcends this.

The speed of light is not a constant, it is decaying as well as everything else in the universe. The only constant in the whole universe is God. Everything else is variable.

Eph.4:11 And  He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.

Christ Himself gave us these gifts. (even the Amplified Bible doesn’t change the words in Eph 4:11). The Holy Spirit manages and operates these gifts. To operate in the gifts you have to know who is over them: JESUS, and it is through Jesus that we receive these gifts.

We need to use these gifts to become Armed and Dangerous.

Jesus established the order for how the churches are to be established. He gave us gifts and told us what they needed to operate effectively.

Satan has a vested interest in hurting the Church. He loves it when believers felt that the gifts died with the apostles.  The church was given the gifts of the spirit so that they can operate like Christ operated.

One lie that the devil uses on us regarding salvation is that we don’t have to decide about salvation now, we have all the time in the world.

Eph. 4:12 (the gifts of the Spirit) are used “for the equipping  of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Without the gifts of the Spirit, we are only operating in one gift (salvation). That is the most important gift we can receive but it is an abomination to Christ if we do not use all the gifts He has so freely given us. For example, to teach without the anointing of the Spirit, you can’t impact the people as much as you can with the anointing of the Spirit to direct your words.

If you teach without the anointing, you run the risk of imparting carnality to the words you are teaching.

2 Tim 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

(Heather’s note, Paul did not pull any punches with the above. Boy am I sure guilty of many of those points and confess that I need the help and anointing of the Spirit to combat these traits that I see happening in my flesh.)

We need to keep remembering that when we were born again, we received the power of the Spirit to become new creations IN CHRIST.

If we believe Jesus for salvation, but then take His statements about the gifts of the Spirit that He is giving us, and say that they died with the apostles, then we are in effect calling Jesus a liar.

2 Peter 3 talks about the scoffers that will come at the last days, scoffers who walk according to their own hearts and say, v. 4″Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all these things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”  v. 9 ” The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

2 Peter 2:12-13 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you.

Jesus condemned the Israelites for upholding the traditions of men, rather than the law and the prophets. That they ignored God.

2 Peter 3:4-9 The church is meant to be a mentoring, a discipleship, not academia. In the Body of Christ every teacher has to be a practioner

Jesus taught and Did.

FAITH HAS TO BE FELT, IT CAN’T BE TELT.

This is heavy stuff  and I took the best notes possible. Any errors are mine, not Pastor Don’s. He will be covering this subject several more times in subsequent Bible studies, so if something is unclear, I think that it may be cleared up over time.

Have a blessed day.

Heather

I will try to write up a Bible study later today. But for now you may enjoy this. My sister-in-law sent me the site that shows the birth of a hummingbird. What a wonderful example of how God creates such beauty in our life.

http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

THE BIRTH OF A HUMMINGBIRD This is truly amazing. Be   sure to click on
NEXT PAGE at the bottom of each page; there are 5 pages in   all. A lady
found a hummingbird nest and got pictures all the way from the egg   to
leaving the nest. Took 24 days from birth to flight. Because you’ll
probably never in your lifetime see this again, enjoy; and please share.

Heather

PRAISE REPORT!!!!!!!!

We went to the bone doctor today, and the man looked at the X-rays read by the emergency physician and said it did not look like a break, just a bad sprain.

So Jim does not have to wear a cast, just the air cast which can be taken off and put on at will, to rest his foot, and see the doctor in three weeks. The swelling has gone down too.

Thanks so much for your prayers for Jim as I know that the foot was badly hurt, and God has done a wonderful healing.

Heather

I will try to get to your sites today. It has been rather hectic during the summer, but you are in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for your prayers for Jim. Pastor Don prayed for Jim last night at Bible Study, and we are believing for a speedier recovery. There is fishing to be done this summer~!

Here is Friday 7/8/05 Bible Study.

Someone asked a question about judgment.

First Pastor Don said that many people of the world would say that all prophets and ministers of the Gospel are operating under a functional insanity. That we are following instructions from an invisible person.

Matthew 7 is Jesus’s word on judgment.

God doesn’t say it is a commandment to not judge, he says, Matthew 7:1-2 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Matthew 7:3-5 (about the plank in your eye). Jesus said don’t judge people in areas you are struggling with in yourself. Yet, Paul says that we are called to judge. We seem to have a different idea about judgment, we are not to judge the judgment of condemnation. No one but Christ can make that call.

We are to judge with love and we will be judged with love.

If we judge with harshness, we will be judged with harshness.

If we judge with condemnation, we will be judged with condemnation.

Even though we can keep the law outwardly, what about heart issues?

v. 5 Hypocrites. guilty of something, but accusing others of being guilty of the same thing. For example, the woman with adultery. Jesus would have been the only one who could cast the stone, yet he did not judge her to condemnation, he told her to go and sin no more. Jesus knew she was guilty, but he released her to sin no more.

Determination of outcome is a negative judgment. Some judge and then describe the final outcome.

If you do this…..then that will happen. It is a form of manipulation.

Parents often do that with kids.

Matt. 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”

When you become a believer you have discovered something holy, righteous, and good. Pearls of value. Don’t give what is holy to dogs.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

It is God who does the completing. God set us apart and made us to be special. We haven’t had to do anything, it isn’t works. Our whole spirit, soul, and body will be preserved blameless through the marvelous work of Jesus Christ. And God is the one who will do it, not ourselves.

Galatians 5 covers the gifts of the Spirit, and one of those gifts is patience. When problems come our way, everybody will suffer, it is a lot harder to suffer in the flesh, than it is to suffer as a Christian.

We must be patient and with a good attitude.

Romans 2:1-5 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

If you walk in the Mind of Christ, God is longsuffering. He waited 6,000 years for man to get it together and for His Son to reign.

God’s plan for you is better than your own plan. The only way to true happiness is God’s path for you. God will always give you the strength to knock down any door you think is in the way of His plan.

Sometimes a door is there so you go to the left or to the right.

We must be patient and wait for God’s direction.

James was a Jew’s Jew. He spoke of faith without works being dead faith. He was speaking to the heart of Judaism. Under the New Covenant, the emphasis is different. If we really do have faith in Christ, and love Christ, the fruit of our lives will show it. But the emphasis is the fruit is produced because of our love for Christ and what He did for us, not because we are trying to earn our way into God’s grace.

If you really do have faith, you have fruit, the fruit God prepared for you in advance. It is not of us, but of God.

Romans 14:10-14 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knew shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Sometimes we don’t look at the phrase BORN AGAIN as if there has truly been any change in us.

Pastor Don has written a book on this subject that will soon be published called Don’t Let The Devil Steal Your Joy.

Hope this has been a blessing to you. I know that it is so easy to fall into judgment of others, especially when you are a parent. Yet the only one who really has the whole picture is God, and we are to love each other. Judgment has to be able to build a person up, not tear them down or we are judging in error.

I have to say, that I am glad that God withheld his judgment on me until I was able to find Christ, or I would have sunk. If I am thinking right, I just have to remember what I have been saved up, and extend the same compassion and love that Christ gave me to another.

I know that when I was fully in sin, I knew what I was doing was wrong, and when people told me that it did not help to bring me closer to God, but when the Holy Spirit began to stir my spirit, then I could be more receptive to my need for a savior. It took love to bring me to God, not condemnation.

I often wonder why Christians are so hard on each other. We are all sinners, and we all make mistakes. I sometimes wish we would cut each other some slack.

Have a blessed day!

Heather

Our trip to Montauk as summarized by my husband, Jim:

Hope you are having a great Saturday. Seems we will have a great day today.

Pastor Don’s Bible study of 7/5/05 continued. Check out In His Name Ministry’s site (see the link). There are some soundbites of some of Pastor Don’s teachings, and a whole lot of tapes on topics that may be of interest to you. Here is the rest of the study:

Every letter Paul wrote closes with Grace unto you. If Grace is unmerited favor, you only need the unmerited favor once to accept salvation for all eternity. After that God gives you His power to begin to learn to walk in His ways.

1 Cor 12:6-7 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all the manifestation of Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

Grace is the influence upon the heart as impressed or demonstrated in life. Grace is the empowerment of God.

Jesus at the cross was filled with grace. He died and was buried and raised up from the dead.

Eph. 4:8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

He, himself, the Lamb of God gave us gifts for the Equipping of the Saints. Gifts without limit, full of truth and justice.

We do not need these gifts in heaven (for in Heaven, under God’s rule there will be peace, and no need to battle satan). There is no death, no lost, no hurts in Heaven. So the gifts are for us to use here on Earth.

Christ came back down to earth for 40 days, after he was resurrected, then he told the disciples to meet and tarry in the upper room.

It was there that they received the rain of the Holy Spirit. The disciples received the gifts from Christ, then when the Holy Spirit came upon them they were able to know how to use these gifts.

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”

Matthew 16:19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loss on earth will be loosed in heaven. (the keys are the gifts of the Spirit.)

Ephesians 4:11-16 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

The gifts that we are given are not for us, for our glory, but that they are used to help the Body of Christ, and they are used with Christ clearly being the Head and giving directions to their use. What is awesome is that God deigns to use us at all. God could have killed Goliath without the help of David. Instead, God let David be His instrument to free the Israelites. We are so blessed that God includes us in His work.

How we must use the gifts that God gives us is with love, for the growth of the Body.

Heather

Thank you for your prayers. We made it safely back home and Jim drove both ways. Still wish he would get his foot checked though, but at least he is resting it more.

OK, back to Bible studies this one is from 7/5/05

We want to look at the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the context of what Jesus left for us.

Mark 16, Matthew 28, is a covenant agreement of the spirit-filled believer.

God gives us gifts that we can use, but God owns the gifts. He gives it to us for a time to use, when He needs us to use the gift. Gifts such as healing operate when the anointing for the gift is present. God can use anybody, at anytime to anoint for a gift, but that does not mean that the gift is present all the time.

Gifts come from the word Charisma, Charis, which is graces (plural), abilities, powers, blessings. The Church (body of Christ) has been given many gifts, but often they are not used.

Many times God gives us graces, and we, in the nick of time, get ourselves out of a problem. We get a God idea.

When Paul was talking about the thorn in his side, God answered him and said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Now often people translate Grace as Mercy (unmerited favor), but if you plug unmerited favor into this line, talking about the thorn it doesn’t make sense. But if you put in power, ability, that God provides in the space, you see how Paul was able to deal with the thorn in his side, with the help of God.

If someone gives you a tool to use, and you put it on a shelf and never use it, you do not have the power being used that you were presented with. God gave us many tools to use.

The thorn was not a physical ailment, for Paul did many things, and endured many things far beyond much of what we could endure today. Paul was asking for the Mercy of God, and for God to do something about satan who was interfering with his ministry. But God replied, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

And in answer to whether or not God’s grace is sufficient, Paul answers that in 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 3:10-11But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perservence, persecutions, afflictions which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, At lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.”

God didn’t deliver Paul out of some of his afflictions, he delivered him out of ALL of them.

If you read Acts 28:28-31 you see that Paul continued spreading God’s word until the end, he did not falter in this. God gave him the power to continue to proclaim the gospel.

Mercy is God’s kindness. It is who God is. God’s mercy endures forever.

Grace is what God does. He does mercy graciously. Grace carries  with it Charis, which is power. We call these powers, gifts. We take this to mean that these gifts come to us as rewards, that we can use at our discretion. But this is not true. They come to us as the Holy Spirit chooses. When the anointing comes, we can use them. The Holy Spirit can use any vessel. If the power of God comes, he can come through anyone, even a complete idiot, to get his work done.

We are empowered with gifts to free prisoners, to live a better life, save souls and battle satan.

You can choose to stop at salvation, and miss out on the gifts entirely. You can stop at salvation and tongues, and a little prophesy. Or you can be fully armed and dangerous to the flesh, by using the gifts that the Holy Spirit can arm us with.

An office comes to reside. Offices are pastor, evangelist, etc. But the graces, giftings, may not be there all the time. You can be a pastor without any of the gifts of the Spirit operating in you.

Some churches have a pastor, but the pastor is not the mainstay of the church. It is a sister or deacon who is the one that the members come to when they need help with a problem.

One question to ask yourself is that if you are in the last ditch, with deep problems, who do you call, your deacon or your pastor.

(Pastor Don added as a joke, if you call the Ghost Busters, then you are in the wrong place.)

The anointing is the active presence of a grace.

Everyone can sing. Some sing beautifully, others should sing alone. But if the Holy Spirit is operating in a person, even if their voice is terrible, their song can move people towards God.

Faith plays an important part, for without faith it is impossible to please God. It takes more faith to use graces than it does to use mercy. God bestows mercy, unmerited favor.

Grace costs you some faith. In order for a gift to work through you, you have to believe it will work. That you have it, that it will work even if there is no external evidence that it is working.

Fear is an obstacle to faith. Faith and ear cannot reside in a person at the same time.

Power is faith in the spiritual realm. Faith gets things done.

Romans 9:32-33 (Israel did not attain to the law of righteousness) “Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

In order to receive what God had for Jesus, Jesus had to receive it by faith. We were already under mercy, but they had to do something, follow Jesus. They needed to BELIEVE, make a transition so that Jesus could help them become disciples, and those disciples made more disciples, and this was done through mercy and the demonstration of Grace.

Now the 12 were sent out to go and do the graces into villages, and show people mercy by casting out demons, healing, etc. Then 70 more went out to show God’s mercies through grace. But Jesus warned them not to get pumped up by what they were able to do with the power of the Holy Spirit. That all must give glory to God,

If you mis-use grace, and if your use of grace takes away from God’s glory, the power connected with the grace will be removed. (It would be like leaving a flashlight burning with a battery, if you never recharge the battery or refresh the battery, the light will seem to burn for awhile, but after awhile the battery will run dry). So a person who strays from God’s path may seem to still be able to operate under grace, but after a time, the grace will begin to stop.

God gives us the keys, the graces and mercy comes with the whole package of salvation. It is up to us to make ourselves vessels that are able to use the graces given to us.

Today much of the church operates only in God’s mercy, not in God’s grace. They are happy that they are going to Heaven (and while that is a good and a given thing) it is not the full package that God wanted us to use.

Romans 10:6-10 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” That is to bring Christ down from above, or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Salvation implies delivered, whole, healthy, down here on earth, as well as when you die. You are eternally saved.

It is important to speak your salvation with your mouth. You can store up the words in your heart and mind, but until they are spoken, you have not acted on your salvation.

The graces work the same way. You must confess the power, and go and use it.

Many in the Church do not confess what Jesus said, they confess their doubt.

James 5 counsels people that if they are sick they are to go to the elders of the church, an pray the prayer of faith. Often when people are prayed over, the last line is “if it is God’s will,” It is always God’s will for a healing, and doubt can cancel out the grace.

You can’t use something you don’t believe in, except salvation. Salvation is the only gift that we are given freely, the rest of the gifts we are given the tools and we use them.

Faith is a spiritual law. You must work faith. It is always present, and we are all given a measure of faith. Jesus said all we needed was faith the size of a mustard seed.

Supernatural law supercedes the physical which must submit to God.

Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling: one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

We receive unmerited favor, Christ’s gift is given for all.

Luke 2:40 – Jesus grew in knowledge, wisdom, strength, and grace. He did not need unmerited flavor, for he had nothing to repent from. He received grace, which is supernatural, miraculous power and ability.

Once you have accepted salvation, you have salvation, and unmerited favor has already been completely bestowed on you, so why would Paul sign his epistles, Grace, peace…. Paul was reminding his disciples of the power that they had through the Holy Spirit.

Have to stop now for Jim to work.

I want to confess to you that I am still working on many of the concepts mentioned above. I still am beset with doubts and fears, I do not operate as fully as I should in the gifts of the spirit, and I am still a work in progress.

This teaching is to help us to begin to grow into what God had in mind for us, and it is not something that we can do of ourselves. It is a gift from God, and God will work in us at a pace that is right for us. He helps us to grow in faith and trust, as we grow in our relationship with Him. I dare say that I have grown and changed much in the few years that I have been saved. I am not the person I was back then, and my faith has grown, but it has a long way to go.

Hope you have a blessed day!

Heather

Just a quick note before I wake up the family. I will write out a Bible study later today. Today is teeth cleaning day, sigh. My husband’s favorite dentist is in New York City, so we will be driving there, we are about 3 hours outside of the city. All five of us are having our teeth cleaned, so it could be a long time in the office.

Jim still has a hurt foot, but will the man seek medical help? Nooooooo. He gets a massage from someone at our church and she even told him to get it checked out, there may be a hairline fracture. I am praying for wisdom for him.

The problem for me is that while he can drive, as it is his left foot, he told me that he wants me to do some of the driving. Jim, as much as I love him, is the WORST backseat driver in the world, and I am shaking just thinking of him sitting there commenting. I am afraid of the bridges and toll booths, as the traffic is heavy and crazy. I do drive well in local conditions and certain highways, but usually it is just me and the kids. sigh.

Please PRAY for Jim’s foot, and for my driving today. Pray for wisdom for Jim. I know God can heal the foot, but if it takes the extra help from a doctor, I pray that Jim will deal with that.

I should also point out (no offense to any of you who are dentists) that dentist visits terrify me. Of course not going and those results terrify even more, and this dentist is the most gentle and sweet woman there is. If you live in New York City or near there, her name is Dr. Cortez, and she is sort of a naturalistic dentist.

Heather