April 22, 2007

• “You’re good, you belong to Me” by Pastor Steve Solomon at Victory Christian Church in Albany

  Pastor Don and one of our music teams did the praise and worship for a Revival at Victory Christian Church in Albany (www.godinthecity.com). The visiting pastor was Steve Solomon, the host of the radio show “Praise in the Night,” and pastor of a church in Dallas called Riverwalk (http://riverwalkfellowship.com).

  When Pastor Steve spoke, he mentioned that God made us, so he can fix us.

  Luke 24:13-14 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all those things which had happened.

  In Pastor Steve’s Bible (I am guessing King James) the word “seven miles” is listed as furlongs. He said that sometimes he likes the older Bible versions because you don’t know what all the words mean. By not knowing the meaning you can read a word like “furlong” and your neck gets healed, praise God. We laughed so hard.

  Luke 24:15-16 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. We want Jesus to draw near.  But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know Him. Even though Jesus was next to them, their eyes were blind and they did not know that it was Jesus. God has mercy and opens our eyes. When we share God’s Word with others we are not to get frustrated if they reject what we are saying, if they don’t “see” what we are saying. It is not our job to save a person, our job is to preach, and God will give the increase, God will open the blind eyes.

  Luke 23:17-18 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in those days?”

   Pastor Steve said this is translated, “Where are you from? Mars? the Moon?” that you do not know what happened here.

  Luke 23:19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people?

  Pastor Steve translated for us into the common language of New York, “Yo, What’s up?”

  Luke 23:20  and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.

  People are always worried about the devil, the ruler of darkness. Christianity isn’t the toys. The Priests, the Sanhedrin, the Levites are called the rulers of the people. But we have the blood of Jesus, which casts out the devil. People and politicians and religious rulers bind the people up in bondage and deny Messiah. Jesus came to free us from bondage.

  Luke 23:21-23 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Three days.  Yes and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.

  Women always get weird spiritual stuff, they couldn’t find Jesus and they saw angels!

  Luke 23:24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.

  They did not see anything. Intercessors acting weird on top of it all!

  Luke 23:25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

  Modern translation, “Yo, what’s up, fool? You are living a lie and not believing the prophets.

  Luke 23:26-27 “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

  (Heather’s note, this is one fantasy I have for Heaven, I want to hear what Jesus showed those disciples what He taught them on the road to Emmaus, there is so much Jesus in the Old Testament.) Pastor Steve said to stay with the Word of God, Moses and the Prophets. There is nothing like the Word of God, and they felt it in their hearts.

  If you continue reading you will see that Jesus broke bread with them and their eyes were opened so that they recognized Him and believed. Then they said, Luke 23:32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

  Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. He prayed for us while we were still in the womb, before we were in the womb.

  What is your problem? So many people, when trouble comes, ask, “Where is God?” (Heather’s note, I can relate to that! I spent 40 years asking that question).

  People will quote to you, “God helps those who help themselves.” but that is not in the Bible

  Romans 8:33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

  It is God who justifies, it is His idea, His responsibility, His delight. We are objects of His delight, even when we didn’t know any better. God kept us alive until we could get saved, what can the world do to us? Nothing can separate us from the love of God. God takes care of us.

  Luke 24:31-32 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

  Pastor Steve said something so awesome here, he said, “They did not compare NOTES, they compared HEARTS!” Testifying about what God did in their heart. God loves. We are the object of His mysterious love.  Why love us? God has the ability to do it and it seemed good to Him. God created all things for His pleasure.

  When we ask why we are in our situation, it is to please God. It pleased God to have us born at such a time as this. So why are we discouraged, and then Pastor Steve sang a few bars of His eye is on the sparrow.  His eye is on you. There is nothing the devil can do to you. God is on our side. (Heather’s note, God will use what satan meant for harm for good.)

  Acts 14:22 …strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

  God has a way, a plan, a destiny. God working will manifest. In Genesis, there was one SEED (singular) and God told Eve Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you (satan) and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed…

  Galatians 3:17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God to Christ, that it should make the promise to no effect.

  First there was the covenant, then 430 years later the law. But the New Covenant that we are under was made before the law, it was made before the creation of the earth. Christians always want to go back to the law.

  Back in the garden, Eve listened when the serpent said, “Yo, woman…” Adam and Eve fell through disobedience to God, but the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit had the New Covenant in place before the law.

  The Old Covenant was between man and God – Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. If man, in his own strength obeyed God he would be blessed, if he disobeyed he would be cursed.

  The rabbis would speak curses over the people. Praise God, we are under the blood.

  With the New Covenant, God made the covenant with Himself, with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God will not break His covenant. God will not disappoint God.

  Jesus said in his prayer, John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

  The only one lost was the son of perdition, Judas.

  We are not saved by our works, but by what Jesus has already done, and that cannot be broken. We may commit a sin, but we are not fallen from grace.

  Many Christians try to make up laws to make God like them better. It is faith in God, not faith in works. And faith to believe comes from God. There is liberty in worshipping God. It is not liberty by law, but by worship. When we are led by the Spirit, the Holy Ghost delivers us by the grace of God. The power is of God, not strength in ourselves.

  God likes me before I did good or bad. God justifies, loves me, calls me just. God says, “You good. Its all good.” I call you good. You don’t have to do something, make coffee, swim the English Channel. There is nothing to spend to get healed. We are under the New Covenant, you are in. Our forefathers had to get circumcised (Pastor Steve smiled and said, “I won’t go there.) We don’t have to not eat pork. We are good, we are in under the New Covenant.

  The Gospel is GOOD NEWS. So tell people about it, tell them that God loves us!

  There is nothing we have to do to get God to like us better. Deep inside you know you are saved.  Some people say, “I don’t feel saved.”

  There are some that Jesus will say, Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

  Then Pastor Steve gave some examples. I wish you could have seen his hand motions with this, which were so inclusive,

  “I lost my temper.” God says, “You’re still good, now deal with that temper.”

  “I cursed.” God says, “I heard it, you’re still good, Peter cursed and swore around the campfire, but you need to deal with those cursings because it is confusing those who are not saved.”

  God tells us, “You’re good, you belong to me.”

  1 John 1:9-10 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

  We are Believers, not sinless. (Heather’s note, even Paul said that he did what he didn’t want to do.)

  Pastor Steve also showed us a video about a recent trip to Kenya where he prophesied the end of a three year drought and that end occurred while he was there. I found a link on his church’s site to a video about this if you are interested.

  I hope this teaching blesses you, it sure blessed me.

  Those of you who have read my testimony may recall that Pastor Steve Solomon prophesied over me before I got saved that the tares would be removed from my mind. Then God sent in a master gardener in the form of Pastor Don to accomplish the weeding. After I got saved I had an opportunity to go back to a revival that Pastor Steve preached at and let him know that his prophesy manifested. During that revival he started calling me the wicked witch of the east – and had me laughing about my past. That touch from God through Pastor Steve freed me from some of the bonds of the past, from the guilt that was clinging to me for the forty years I wasted in the occult. This time, I am not certain what God is doing but he touched me in a big way on Friday, I really needed to spend that time with God. Seems that Pastor Steve is like the Johnny Appleseed of God in my life, dropping seeds in the form of Words of Wisdom and Knowledge into my life, and then over time Pastor Don helps them to grow. I cry when I think of how awesome God is, and how much He uses everything for good that satan meant for harm. I have to tell you that I am glad God uses cracked pots!

  I cannot report what the Bible teaching was from last night, and am not sure if the recorder picked it up. God, with his infinite sense of humor separated me from my pen and notebook, as I was stretched out on the floor resting in God’s Spirit. I am still chuckling and smiling and shaking at times. I think my husband thinks something is peculiar, he keeps asking me why I am laughing out loud at odd moments.

  Pastor Steve has a very interesting style of delivery – On Thursday I saw him sing the salvation message over many people, when they came forward for salvation. His humor and holy laughter that he elicits can cut through so many layers of resistance and get to the heart of what a person needs. And like Pastor Don, the Word comes alive in his teaching of it. I love how God works, Pastor Don taught on this same topic in Wednesday’s Bible study. Seems that both pastors are on the same page (or pages of the Bible).

  Have a great Sunday!

  Heather

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