November 9, 2006

• Don’t fall asleep at the wheel – Pastor Don

  Pastor Don started Bible study by talking a bit about the election. He pointed out that the world has changed since 9/11 and because of the reaction of fear to that event, there is now a world wide platform for Revelation 13 that has been created on the earth. The United Nations and the US are creating a system that will be perfect for the antichrist to step into. And what is sad is that good people have done it, with good intentions. Anyone today can be arrested as a personal threat to the United States. Out of fear we have set aside the guarantees of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. We have given up liberties, willingly submit to searches of personal property, airline security, all in the name of safety. And while we need safety, we are also giving up liberty and making it easy for an unscrupulous ruler to step in and take over, depriving us further of liberty.

  Since the Bible prophesy is true, we are seeing it begin to take effect today. Many people hate the Church, and hate Church people, labeling us as the enemy. When we state the truths from the Bible that conflict with the values of today’s society, we are considered the enemy. There is much confusion around the gospel and the spreading of the gospel. We get a lot of this confusion from television. One example is that a church of 25 people made accusations against Rod Parsely and his church of 20,000 regarding how charity works money was spent. The church of 25 people got media attention, for the media often looks for ways to discredit Christians, so they ended up forcing Pastor Rod to come on the air and defend his position.

  Pastor Don mentioned a news article about a church who sent through the mail fliers speaking the Biblical principles behind marriage and showing that same sex marriage is wrong. The postal workers in that town refused to deliver the letters, and refused to show up for work in protest.

  We Christians have to wake up and realize that IT IS NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL, the church has to deal with the world according to what the Bible says, but the World is not going to like that. But we have to be aware of what is going on.

  When the world looks at the Church, they see the physical and political aspects.

  When the Church looks at the world, they see the physical, political, and spiritual aspects. There are spiritual things at play that also affect us. The World wants to call the spiritual unjust, and unfair. And if a tyrant gets on the throne, he could make life very difficult.

  When we see something happening in our world, we have to realize that there is more going on under the surface than what meets the eye. Not everything you see is what you get.

  We cannot solve a spiritual problem in the natural unless the natural is made spiritual.

  There are spiritual things that are in play that also affect us. If government starts saying that a spiritual group is unjust or unfair, then laws can be put in place that a tyrant can use to block Christians.

  The way the world system is set up now, to change the source of power from the president to a world order would not involve rewriting the Constitution, they would just ignore the Constitution. As we start, in the name of freedom, submitting to violations of our rights, we end up becoming sheep, and we know that sheep can be led to slaughter.

  We make assumptions that other people in other cultures will have the same values that we do. We are wrong in this. For example, if a person moves into your neighborhood, you may assume that they will put out their garbage according to the garbage pick up schedule – never clearly asking them if that is what they intend to do. What if they come from a country where the mode of getting rid of garbage is pitching it out the window?

  There are Muslim cultures here who are beginning to gain power, and one of their first actions would be to ban Christian worship. In Muslim cultures there are taxes that Christians have to pay, and rules that have to be followed. People who are not Muslims in that culture are not seen as equal. At one point one country wanted to have Christians and Jews wear a special badge, but there was a major complaint that that was too much like happened in the past.

  We are in a spiritual battle that deals with forces that we can’t see.

  Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

  Then we got into the content of the Bible study, and it is a very powerful one. Pastor Don is pointing out that we have to be aware of who is talking within us – the carnal nature, the spiritual nature, God, the Holy Spirit, the emotions. Whenever we deal with a situation we are getting responses from many of these sources, and we have to be fully aware of what they are, for we want to respond only to the truth.

  The first example that shows that Paul was aware of who is speaking, is 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 gives the background:  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

  Key verses; 1 Corinthians 5:3-5 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I was present) him who has done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

  Paul was writing from Macedonia, and knew that he was present in the spirit among the people of Corinth. It would be similar to someone having a praying grandmother, and setting out to do something sinful, but hearing their grandmother’s voice in their head restraining them.

  When someone is in flagrant violation of God, their spirit will be saved in the Lord Jesus Christ, but sometimes we have to turn them loose to reap the actions of their sinful actions. If a person is deliberately disobeying God, then that person is out from the covering of God’s protection, and left open for satan to buffet them. Satan is not nice to those who are in his camp, and our sins do lead to death. Hopefully the people will repent, turn around 180 degrees and change, but if not, their sins will find them out.

  Your spirit has the ability with the help of the Holy Spirit to have impact on people you are not even present with.

  Another example of knowing when our spirit is not present in our body would be John on Patmos, was taken up in the Spirit and the Revelation given to him.

  There is a power with the anointing, but those who are in satan’s camp can imitate that with familiar spirits. That is why we have to discern where our information is coming from. Is it from God, or is is from another source that isn’t God. In these end times it is going to be harder to discern.

  Another example is when Paul and Silas wanted to go to Macedonia, the Holy Spirit restrained them, and then later a man from Macedonia appeared to Paul in a dream and told him to come.

  A discussion came up about deliverance, and it was pointed out that not all deliverance is deliverance, some of it is stir-up-ance. In order for a demon to be removed, it has to be in manifestation. Demons do not remain with a person all the time, they come and go which is why someone can be very nice one day and seem to be a creature from the dark another day. Not all the deliverance ministries or prophetic words that we see on television are real, some are more like entertainment or feel goodness, we have to use our discernment. Later Pastor Don will cover how to discern.

  We then moved to 2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

  That is either the worst grammatical sentence, or Paul is saying something with the redundancies. Paul is pointing out that He is acting through Christ, and is present and bold, even though he is not there in the flesh.

  Romans 7:14-17…For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, the, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good, but now it is no longer I who do not do it, but sin that dwells within me. …

  This is an example of being aware of who and what is doing and saying. We need to be aware of this. Are we acting from the flesh? from the Spirit? from God. So often we are going through motions without any thought, reacting to things. We need to be more deliberate and judge what we are thinking, saying, and doing.  There needs to be an honesty and awareness in us about who is speaking and who or what is operating through us.

  There is much, much more, but I have to stop here. Tonight my girl scout troop along with others are having a sleepover in a rollerskating rink, complete with pizza party, rollerskating, movie, snacks, games, etc. It will be fun, but I suspect not much sleep will occur.

  Have a blessed night. If some of this is not yet making sense, wait until tomorrow when I can post more about what I am sharing. It didn’t quite come together for me at first, but when I finally got it, it really blessed me.

  Have a great night, and pray that I snatch a few hours of sleep on that hardwood floor.

  Heather

  • 6:44 pm
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