Tony started off by giving us the Bible verses he wants to cover, we didn’t get to them all, but I will share them with you so you can do extra credit reading (she says smiling). Mark 11:22-25, Romans 20:8-10, 1 Peter 3:4, Proverbs 3:8, Psalms 145:5 and Mark 5:22-42

Tony said we are all believers. The most powerful people on earth are the people of God, not the law makers or Congress. Our prayers can change the course of the nation.

Galatians 3:5 (Heather’s note – not on the above list, Tony gave so many verses. I will try to look up their addresses in the Bible, but if I can’t find them, I will just quote them. This really was a BIBLE study with tons of scriptures.) 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?

Our God is not a respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of faith – not of doctrine, ethics, etc. He cares about our faith. Mark 6:5-6 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. Tony pointed out that the verse did not say “Jesus WOULD not.” It said, He COULD not do mighty work because of the peoples’ unbelief.

When Jesus went into the temple He taught, Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.  Then he closed the book, Luke 4:20-21 And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scriptures is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Those who chose to believe were healed, those who rejected His words were not.

Tony told us that we can get our expectations up to receive a Word from God. We can get a Word from God, and still leave the same as when we walked in. We also have to apply the Word.

John 3:34-36 (John the Baptist speaking). For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life,  but the wrath of God abides on him.”

The Body of Christ worldwide has the same measure of Spirit.

John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

Jesus opened the scriptures and shared the Word of God, and then it was up to the people to believe or not to believe.

When Jesus was asked to heal the boy that the disciples could not heal, the father asked Jesus if He could do anything. Jesus asked the father if he could believe, and the father responded Mark 9:24……”Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

(Heather’s note, Pastor Don tells us that if we are honest with God, He can work with us. This man was honest with Jesus.) Tony told us that we can believe in our heart but still have doubt in our minds.

John 10:10 Speaking about satan, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. Tony said that sometimes we read a passage over and over and then God shows us something new that we didn’t see before. What caught Tony’s attention is that there are three things that satan does, kill, steal, and destroy. But Jesus does not answer back with three things, Jesus gives life and that more abundantly. Only one important thing.

Tony reminded us that faith comes by hearing. He suggests reading the Word of God out loud so that we hear ourselves read it – for when we hear ourselves speak the truth it helps us to have faith and believe.

Mark 11:22-25 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

“Have faith in God,” can also be translated, Have the God kind of faith or the Faith of God. If God tells you to have something it means that you are capable of having it, He is offering it to you, and has given it to you. It is up to us whether or not we take Him up on what He has given us.

In this passage, Jesus is talking to His disciples. Jesus tells the truth.

Tony pointed out that there is a ratio of 3 to 1 regarding saying to believing. That means that it is important to say what you are having faith for, more important than just believing. Charles Capps says that Christians don’t miss it in believing, they miss the saying part. We believe God, but then we go out and speak words that are contrary to what the Word of God says.

Jesus saw a fig tree, and He was hungry. This tree had leaves which implied fruit, but when Jesus came up to the tree he discovered no fruit, the tree was a lying tree. Jesus cursed the tree, and the next day when his disciples saw the tree, the tree had died. Jesus spoke to the tree and the disciples heard Him. He did not come back later and sabotage the tree, all He had to do was speak to the tree.  Jesus spoke a Word of faith, a God kind of faith.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (also translated, sons of God).

What we want to do is figure that Jesus could do what He did because He was divine. When He was on earth, He was human as we are. We too are sons of God. What Jesus did, we too can do. God’s Spirit speaks. We, as Spirit, also can speak.

Matthew 12:34 …For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Jesus often speaks of “whosoever”. We are a whosoever. So many times we want to go and help God out. Jesus did not have to go back to that tree to kill it, the words He spoke were enough, for His faith was released by His words.

THE LAW OF FAITH, Put the law into effect What we say will come to pass.

Therefore as Matthew 11:24 says, “SAY”, we must say.

Faith will work without prayer, but prayer won’t work without faith. Jesus did not pray about the fig tree, He just spoke. Pray for wisdom and believe that we receive wisdom.

When we pray, we need to be praying God’s will, which means that we must go to the Word to see how to pray for our situation so our prayer lines up with God’s Word. We don’t just pick one promise in the Bible and stand on it, we must look at the promise in 2 to 3 places (2 to 3 witnesses), and make sure that we are reading the promises in context. Then when we know God’s position on the situation in our life, then we can draw a line in the sand (so to speak) and tell ourselves that we will believe and receive.

Jesus talks about HAVE received (past tense). When we pray in faith, we may not see the results of our prayer, our senses might not perceive a change in our situation, but we must believe we HAVE received, or we won’t receive. The Spiritual world will work to bring our prayer to pass.

Daniel had to wait 21 days for an answer, not because of Daniel, but because the angels had a conflict with principalities and powers. We have to trust that God has heard us, that we are His beloved, and He will hold back no good thing from us. When we pray, all heaven and spiritual forces come into play, ready to act, but when we speak doubt and unbelief, then we push back the answer.

Jesus spoke to that fig tree, and the answer was not immediate, but the next day He was able to see that His words had effect.

Romans 10:8-10 But what does it say? 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.

Tony told us to start agreeing with God and His Word. Do not disagree with God by speaking doubt and unbelief.

The WORD according to verse 8 is near us – in our mouth and in our heart. That is, the WORD OF FAITH. This sounds very much like Mark 11 – say and believe.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We get faith by hearing Words of faith, by reading God’s Word out loud, by hearing the Word taught. If we read the Word of God out loud to ourselves faith comes faster, because we believe what we say.

When Joshua was ready to go into the Promised Land after Moses died, God told Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth; but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

To meditate is not what we think of today, it means to mutter the scriptures over and over,  think on their meaning, and make them part of ourselves.

When the Bible talks about God’s word in our heart, it is not referring to the physical blood pump, but the inner man within. Righteousness comes by believing in our heart the truth about Jesus. Some translations say with the heart you believe, or with the heart you confess. Confess means to say the exact thing that God is saying.

We need to find out what God is saying and begin to agree with Him. Our flesh may be hollering, you can’t do this. But you have to say that with the Help of the Spirit we can. We are given power through the Holy Spirit, power to do what God says we can do.

If our faith is not working, we may be holding out in some area of our life. We may need to forgive, for faith worketh in love. If we are condemning in our heart we will be blocking faith’s work. If we say that what the person has done is so terrible that we cannot forgive, we need to ask God to help us forgive. To begin to forgive by faith. (Heather’s note, forgiveness is not absolution, it is just letting go of what is binding us, and turning it over to God). When we let the Holy Spirit help us to forgive, a love rises up in us that we never thought possible.

Romans 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

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We are beginning to get a rainstorm with lightning, and have lost our power already once today, so I think I will stop here and continue the Bible study tomorrow. It is an awesome, thought provoking study for me.

Have a blessed day.

Heather

Yesterday I chose to come by and visit your sites instead of putting up a new blog. I get so much from reading what you have to share that sometimes I just want to be blessed. Today is Bible study – I had to miss Wednesday’s because of a Girl Scout leader’s meeting. I asked, and next month they will be meeting on Thursday from now on so I won’t have to miss a Wednesday Bible study. I am so grateful for that.

I saw a saying the other day, I don’t remember where, but it blew my mind.

LISTEN and SILENT have the exact same letters.

When I get home tonight I will try to start putting up today’s Bible study.

Have a blessed day!

Heather

During our trip to Israel in May we were shown many models of the Temple, because as each new Temple was built, the configurations of the area surrounding it were changed.

We were brought to a place that overlooked Mt. Zion and got a view of the Temple Mount.

Here is a map that sort of describes what was seen. I have to tell you that I would want to come back to Israel knowing what I now know, and then I would have more information to share.

Above is a picture of the Temple Mount today.

And another view.

We were standing near a model of the Old temple, and all the surrounding buildings.

 These models helped us make some sense of the city.

I do not remember the name of this church, but it is built above a place were prisoners were held, Jesus was brought here.

We walked on the same stairs that Jesus and His disciples walked on, the same stairs where Jesus would have walked as he was brought from one mock trial to another.

This was a profoundly moving place for us as we contemplated all that Jesus did for us.

A view of the dungeons from above.

An actual dungeon.

I cannot imagine spending one’s last hours bleeding, hurting, bruised and alone in one of these cells – no warmth, no love, just raw pain. Yet He kept His focus and carried out God’s plan. He knew that in a second He could have been delivered from this, but He chose because of His great love to go through pain that we can’t even imagine, so that our sins could be forgiven. I pray that all accept this wonderful gift of salvation, that all invite Jesus into their hearts, and that all make Him LORD of their lives. No other god, no other religion, no secular humanism or darwinism can provide what Jesus provided. No other god, religion, or philosophy would put their life on the line so that a relationship can be had. God wants so much for us to come to Him in relationship that He went to great lengths to restore that relationship. I pray that all accept His love.

In Jesus’ Name.

Have a blessed day!

Heather

Friday was an interesting Bible study. One of our members has two daughters that were visiting for the summer. They go to school in England and Pastor Don asked them to report about what was going on in England. They had some interesting comments. I was not taking notes at first, but will share what I remembered. They talked about how Christianity is not as prominent in England as it used to be. What has been happening is that the Muslims are coming in and taking over areas. They move in, buy a business, have many children, and more move in, purchasing businesses. The ratio of Muslims to non-Muslims is increasing, so that soon there will be a majority of Muslims in England. Their hopes are to get elected into government and affect the laws in favor of Muslims.

That being said, there are significant numbers of Muslim women who wear the burka or if not a burka at least they wear head coverings, and they fight for that right. Yet, in England Christians cannot wear crosses or symbols of their religion. These girls contend that, for the Muslim, the head covering is also an outward sign of their religion. They talked about the morals and values of the Muslim families and contrasted that to the values of Christians in England. Christians in England do not all live a high moral standard. People start looking at the Muslims trying to find out what it is that Muslims have that Christians don’t. The girls said that Christians have to get their lives more in line with the Word of God so that people start looking at Christians to see what it is that they have.

There was a lot of cross talk (I am laughing because I guess Bible study is Cross talk) but what is also happening is that people are trying to blend allah with God, saying that they are one and the same. This is not true, for allah is not at all like our loving God. Pastor Don told us that people fear allah, that they don’t know where they stand with allah. Is praying five prayers a day, or should it be 10, 20, 30 enough to get into heaven? Allah does not deal in the same loving manner as God. Allah also has roots in the moon gods.

Another comment had to do with the low divorce rate of Muslims – but what is overlooked is how women are treated. If a husband does not like what a wife is doing in some countries he can kill her and no eyebrows are raised.

This conversation about England led to Friday’s Bible study which Pastor Don did off the top of his head.

Pastor Don told us we are in a war for the minds and souls of the people. We have failed to insulate our world view. We are not doing enough to raise our children in a Godly fashion. Pastor Don said that the battle is won or lost in Sunday School. If we are not raising up the next generation to know and love God, we are losing our war.

Matthew 24:37-39 (Jesus speaking) But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, thy were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

(Heather’s note, Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.)

What was life like in the time of Noah? Similar to what it is today. There is lawlessness, an unhinging of the moral code (mystery Babylon), religious spirits, humanism. To see the moral decline, just look at the mentality of the people in the 50′s and compare it with today. Now so many things from society are set to reduce the impact of the family, and we are now seeing the fruit of these new secular humanistic ideas and the decline of morality in the decadence that is so rampant in today’s society.

We are in a cultural war, and Christianity is the only way to win the war. We need to begin to live out and practice the tenants and teachings of Christ. Our focus needs to be love, but the agape love of Christ is not unconditional like many want us to believe. There are conditions, but in the agape love of Christ those conditions are FOR OUR OWN GOOD, not for the agenda of Christ. Yes, Jesus loved and accepted everyone, but He did not throw out His standards of morality to do this. He kept the Law and the Covenant. He would accept people with sexual sin, heal and minister to them, but then tell them to go and sin no more.

Jesus has called us to reach out to a lost and a dying world. We are to love like Jesus loves, which is better than everyone else who loves you.

The root of sexual deviancy or any sin is the same root for all – our own personal realization of our own inadequacy. We need a savior, but those who get caught up in sins are seeking things in the world to fill the real need, the need of a savior.

People try and claim that the reason they cannot stop the particular sin that they are doing is because, “I was made that way.” Nooo. It is because of human inadequacy, feelings of personal inadequacy. We need to realize that Jesus loves us the way we are, but we will have to leave our sin outside. He is for changing us to be the best that He knows we can be. We are to feed His sheep with the Word and with His love.

Today people are wanting us to be INCLUSIVE, to accept all lifestyles and doctrines, but God expects people to line up with His Word.

People can have the best job, acquire all the material things that they feel they need to have, and be in a position of power and still feel inadequate and rejected. We all have problems with our self worth stuff. We can change our outside, but that doesn’t necessarily change how we are feeling inside. We all come to Jesus in our inadequacies. Jesus tells us, “I love you. I will never leave or forsake you. I love you so much and want you to love me so much that you can live with the moral code I have set for you.” We are not perfect people, but In Christ we are changing.

Our upbringing and sense of inadequacy drove us to sin. When we came to church we did not get it right away, it was a process of growing closer and closer to Christ. It took us a long time to change, but when newcomers come in with their sins, we expect them to instantly get things right, forgetting how long it took us to get over our stuff.

Jesus told us all to spread the Good News, and the Good News is not – you don’t measure up. Nobody measures up, but God loves us, and we are good to God. The Muslims have no assurance of salvation. The koran tells the people that allah is impossible to know. But Our God is a personal God who longs for relationship with us!

We want to hold onto this relationship. As you read in Revelation at the end times 2/3 of the planet and 3/4 of the people left will go down in judgment. We want to help the most to find salvation in Christ.

2 Tim 3:1-2 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves (selfish in the Greek), lovers of money (lottery tickets, the bigger the prize the more spend money to buy hoping to win – money they really can’t afford to spend), boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.

Today rap music is full of blasphemy, there are websites where people can go and commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, people are disrespectful of God, and tell lies about Him. We certainly see that parents have lost control over children, and children are disobedient. Our lifestyles are not holy, and there is not an attitude of gratitude.

2 Timothy 3:3 unloving, unforgiving (Pastor Don had us write ‘trucebreakers’ over unforgiving) slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good. This is so prevalent in today’s society, and many have no self-control.

2 Timothy 3:4-5 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!

A form of godliness – Muslims and Hindus have lifestyles that are outwardly holy looking, people who are bad do good things, the new age practices many things that Christians do, it is an outward form, but without that inward relationship with Christ it is an empty shell. We worship worldly things, our new gods on the scene are the god of mammon and the god of tolerance.

2 Timothy 3:6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts. Besides people and false teachers, TV can do this as well with shows that put ideas into people’s minds. Pastor Don talked about a couple who divorced. The husband tried to find out why, and it turned out that he did not match up to the kind of love life portrayed on TV romances.

2 Timothy 3:7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Pastor Don asked us what this generation is called: the information generation. They learn lots of things, have access to much information, but the deeper things of God are lost in the process.

2 Timothy 3:8  Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, disapproved, concerning the faith.

We went back to Exodus to see how these magicians of Pharaoh resisted Moses.

Exodus 7:8-13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’” So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the LORD commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the LORD had said.

The magicians were able to imitate what Moses did at God’s direction. They were able to imitate the serpent (but God’s serpent ate up theirs), they were able to imitate turning water to blood, and they were able to imitate the frogs. But after that, they could not reproduce the plagues. (Heather’s note, I notice that when the magicians, or satan, comes in to show himself strong rarely does he make things better. When there was a plague of frogs, how many frogs were needed – they needed a miracle of removing frogs, or making bloody water pure. They could only add to the problem at hand. Only God had the power to remove the plague. Only God could do the next plagues.)

Exodus 8:16-19 So the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.’” And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had said.

It was beyond the ability of Pharoah’s magicians to create life from lifeless dust, and even they recognized the finger of God. But Pharaoh chose to ignore them. It is important to realize that satan has no authority over us unless we give him authority or unless we are willing to receive it.

Pastor Don asked us to read the following passage with the above in mind, that satan has no authority over us, and in light of the signs of the times.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

This is a powerful passage for spiritual warfare, a big God, wants a big sacrifice (all of us – mind, will, emotions). Is your mind, body, and emotions in line with God’s word? Are you alive in Christ? We can become captive to our own thoughts, unless we turn over to God.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We are being transformed. Pastor Don gave the illustration of our minds being like a car. When you want to get Old Betsy to run, you don’t throw out the old car, you restore her. How do you restore a car? You put in new parts for any part that can’t be fixed or restored. We need to do the same with our minds. Replace the old thoughts, feelings, emotions actions, with new ones. Fill our minds with the Word of God, create new godly habits.

Pastor Don then asked us, what if your problem is that you hate yourself? We need to take out the tools of the Word of God and begin to regenerate those negative thoughts. Sort of like mind surgery. It is not a defensible position to say with resignation, “that’s just the way I am.” We are supposed to make ourselves a living sacrifice by transforming and renewing our mind, reminding ourselves that we are a new Creation In Christ. We have to take out the CAN’T DO part and find a CAN DO part. God wants us to prove Him in this transformation of our mind.

Remember, that we are under construction, being restored and remade. God is the vine dresser, he prunes us up, and whatever is binding, holding or limiting us is not the best that God has for us. He will cut that off and cast it away.

Behind God’s perfect love – comes His pruning shears. Behind the love of God is the true love of God, that because He really loves us, He will prune us and help us to change into His best for us.

2 Corinthians 10:1-2 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. But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

Notice Paul is pleading with them, and this is important for the church in the last days. It is a grievous error to assume for any man or woman of God who has a ministry, to not have the wisdom to realize when their ministry changes from a ministry of God to a ministry of the flesh.

For spiritual maturity there are no pet sins. All sins are sins. Some people seem to think that some sins are worse than others. From God’s perspective that is not the case. For God all sin is SIN.

Pastor Don says that he will minister to us whether or not he likes us. When he speaks words of advice or judgment, they are based on the Word of God, not on the type of day that he has. No one in our church can say, Pastor Don really laid into me, he must have had a bad day. Pastor Don does not let his emotions interfere with his ministry. Pastor Don said, like Paul, “I am what I have to be to get the Gospel across to you.”

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

Verse 3 is the key verse for winning the cultural war. We will not win it in our flesh.

We then read 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 in the Amplified Bible  For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete.

Arguments and imaginations and theories can undercut our spiritual warfare. That is why we have to stick to God. We do not want to be in disobedience to the will of God. We can get an idea in our mind, in the midst of the cultural war, and take a position that God did not want us occupying. We can cross over the line that God has set. We want to hold onto the territory that Jesus laid hold of, to guard and protect it. We are part of this battle. And the first step at protecting us is to bring ourselves into obedience to the Word of God. We have to examine what the media and people tell us. Examine it in the light of Christ and line up with the Word of God. We can only pull down strongholds when we are mighty IN GOD. Here in New York we can’t pull down strongholds in the mind of the leaders of Washington D.C., but we can pray for a saint to be sent. Angels can come and affect the leaders, and our prayers will affect their policies.

The Church believes that it has to pursue politics, not prayer. God does not take someone who is ordained and called in one arena and move them to another. The weapons of politics are carnal, and you use the carnal weapons to get political position, to please a group of constituents..

A Pastor in the pulpit does not preach to please constituents, to please the congregation. A good pastor preaches in a way that lines up with the Word of God and what the Spirit is directing him to preach. 

What are our spiritual weapons: The Word of God (Bible, teach and read), prayer, and carpet dust (praying on the carpet).

When we are tormented in any aspect of our being, we have to remember that the weapons are not carnal. Sexual deviants are trying to get society to say that their brand of sexuality is OK, but they do not feel OK inside.

To keep focused when we are surrounded by worldly things we have to renew our minds, to fill our minds with God’s Words. We have to realize that if we think about a sin in our mind, it is still a sin even if it isn’t acted upon. That is why we have to fill our minds with what is of God, then there is no room for the sinful thoughts. It is the Word of God that renews our minds.

Pastor Don said that we do get thoughts that do not come from us, to try and pull us off of track. If Pastor Don wakes up wondering why he chose to be a pastor, started thinking about the kind of day he was going to have, and then figured it was too much, he ought to retire or quit, satan would be glad. When thoughts that are not of God come to us, there has to be something in us that rises up and says, “I am not going to think this.”

When the devil attacks, get up out of bed, go in the living room and spend 15 minutes in the Word of God, and you will have an anchor to fight satan with. The battle is not in our head, we have to bring the truths to our heart and hold onto them.

Why in the Body of Christ are we so lazy to do the warfare? Remember when Jesus cast out the demon, he told the disciples that when a demon is cast out it comes back and brings seven of his friends with him and the person will be in more trouble than before. That when satan is cast out, we have to fill that space with the Word of God, leaving no room for satan and his crowd.

Pastor Don talked about alcoholism, how a person can be dried out, stay away from alcohol, but in a moment of weakness come back addicted by a few drinks. He said that the only way to beat alcholism is to replace the need that alcohol addressed with something that is better – the love of Christ. But we have to do the housework, to keep ourselves filled with Him. That is what is meant by working our our salvation. We do not do work to gain the free gift, but we do work to maintain what God has so graciously given us. He helps us maintain if we are in relationship with Him.

Reading tons of scripture (while it gives you Biblical knowledge) is not most important. Better to read a few scriptures and DO what they tell you. We want instant faith, microwave faith, like instant coffee. Throw in a few scriptures, stir it up and faith. But faith doesn’t work that way. We feed our faith and it grows the more we feed it.

God is looking at the heart and the renewing of the mind. We are brides waiting for our groom (Christ). We need to be ready, have enough oil (Spirit) and be prepared for His coming. Jesus is not coming for the townspeople, He is coming for His bride. We are to remain occupied doing His work, and keep our selves prepared for His coming.

When all hell is breaking out around you, your friends will try to get you to do things in the flesh. Your true friends will encourage you In Christ and In the Word.

We then prayed.

Hoping you have a blessed day!

Heather

I was asked by someone why the Bible mentions that the cloth that covered Jesus’ face was folded mentioned in John 20:7. The person gave a few reasons that she thought it could be, such as an orderly arrangement to show that there was no grave robbery. Another theory was that there was a Jewish tradition that if the napkin was folded it meant that the master was not finished and would be returning. I told the person that I would ask Pastor Don and get back to them with what he had to say on this because I do not want to guess at an answer. I was able to ask last Wednesday and thought I would share his response with you.

Pastor Don said that he studied the burial practices of the Israelites, and discovered that the corpse was wrapped with 40 foot long strips of cloth. The person would be wrapped with one layer of cloth, then spices were put on the body, and another layer of cloth was wrapped over the spices. Many more layers were wrapped, spice/cloth; spice/cloth/ spice/cloth, etc. By the time that the body was completely wrapped it would contain about 120 pounds of spices and cloth. The body was wrapped from head to toe.

But with Jesus there was a problem. The crucifixion was right before Passover, so the body had to be hastily tucked away until after the Sabbath.

We started looking at scriptures in the four Gospels.

John 19:38-42 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.

Here is the entrance to the Garden Tomb.

This is the empty tomb that we will be referring to. Jesus rose!

Pastor Don pointed out that there was a time factor. They could not work on the Sabbath, so they had to hastily bury the body. They wrapped it and put in some spices, planning to come back and finish the job properly after the Sabbath. They did what they could do on the Jews’ Preparation Day.

When the body would be fully prepared it would be wrapped like a cocoon and weigh about 300-400 pounds. They were able to finish everything but Jesus’ face, so they laid a cloth on it.

After the Sabbath, Peter and John come to the tomb. John looks inside the tomb, but Peter goes in and examines the situation. He knew that Jesus was risen – what evidence did he see? If it had been a grave robbery the spices and cloths would have been cut off of the body, and strewn around the tomb, but this was not the case. Pastor Don likened it to a cocoon, the remains after a butterfly emerges – the shell of the wrappings was still there, but Jesus was not.

Pastor Don reminded us that the spices used were gummy, sticky spices and it would have been a mess if someone had tried to steal the body of Jesus, but there was no mess, just neatness and order.

We then looked at passages. Luke 23:50-24:2  Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man.  He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Luke 24 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

Pastor Don said that they observed the tomb and how His body was laid, and then went to gather the spices, planning to return after the Sabbath to complete their task. Early they came to the tomb and discovered the stone rolled away and the body of Jesus not in the tomb. Had there been indications of grave robberies, that would have been shown.

Mark 15:42-Mark 16:4  Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid. Mark 16 Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large.

The same facts, and we find that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices to anoint Him. They were concerned about how to roll away the stone, and the stone was already rolled away.

To be complete we looked at Matthew 27:57-61 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

A new bit of information was included about a guard being posted and the tomb being sealed.

Matthew 27:62-66 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

The guards were to protect the tomb, the stone was sealed so that it could not be moved, yet the stone was rolled away. The disciples and the women were not expecting Jesus to have risen from the dead, they also were not expecting the tomb to be sealed, so they came with the herbs and spices ready to work on Jesus’ body, and were probably figuring out how to get the tomb open.

Matthew 28:1-2 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it.

It was the first day of the week, and all that took place in the tomb took place behind the sealed stone. The angel came and rolled back the stone to reveal what was not inside (she says smiling).

Matthew 28:3-4 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

When they looked inside they saw the cocoon of the grave wrappings which would have been stiff, for aloe and myrrh is a stick substance like tar, and it would have had three days to harden. He resurrected out of this cocoon.

John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

She goes and tells Peter and John, who come running, for she suspected a grave robbery. It was then that the disciples saw.

John 20:6-8 Then Simon peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.

The disciples saw a neat scene, and there was no way to get out of those wrappings except by resurrection. If the scene had been a mess, the disciples would have reported that. One of our Messianic believers talked about the custom of the folded up linen meaning that you are coming back. And we know that Jesus is coming back.

So I think the theories that my friend had make sense in light of the scripture. I wanted to share with you how thoroughly Pastor Don looked at the passages to show the answer from the Word, not from His own opinion.

Have a great day, and enjoy tomorrow. I can’t believe school starts for my other two on Wednesday. Summer flew by so fast. Where I live some of the leaves on trees are already changing.

Have a blessed night,

Heather

I was pleased to be able to show Ernest his Bible study on my blog. I show all who teach a copy of what I write so that if I make a mistake they can correct me. I want to accurately share the teaching. Ernest enjoyed reading your comments, but he wanted to reply to one of the comments made. I have included the comment:

Hi Heather , for the cost of one soft drink each day anyone can pay for the cost of housing and feeding a student/pastor who will then go out and plant 2 or more churches. then as these churches grow to support these men and themselves this money will support another in training for this type of ministry. Native missionaries can go into places that western missionaries could never go , also they can do more with $360.00 than a western missionary could do with $45,000.00 each year. I hope everyone will check out this site for a chance to reach the lost in India !

http://www.gfa.org/

Ernest told me that he has knowledge of Gospel for Asia (GFA) and that it is a good organization. Ernest lives in India and has knowledge of the needs of those who are sharing the Gospel, and the needs of their families. He told me to remind you to not be sold on the concept of a soda a day. God does not demand that. but rather to give as God directs.

He told me that $360 is good, but that all it provides is the bare subsistence level for the people during the time of training. That once a person is trained, then they lose even that support as they go out into the mission field. For Christians in India it is very hard to make ends meet. Jobs are not easy to come by for Christians, and due to the persecution of Christians, often families are left with no support when the father is killed or jailed for his beliefs. Once a person has received the training, they are still in need of support to go out and do God’s mission. Their families can also use our support. The poverty in India is tremendous. The more that we can equip the ministries of those who graduate, the easier it is for them to do the work God has called them to.

We then chatted some more and he told me that people here cannot understand the level of poverty that is the daily challenge for many people in other countries. His father has worked with local McDonalds and other restaurants who have a 10 minute rule (food that is cooked can sit for 10 minutes and then is thrown out if it hasn’t been served) to give this food to his ministry for feeding the poor. The poor need food so bad that the 10 minutes does not matter to them. Where Ernest lives is not the part of India where the mega evangelists come, but rather the interior reaches where few come. The challenges to minister there are life challenging, for many of the pastors and churches have suffered major persecution. Local groups beat up the pastors and parishioners, put them in jail on false charges, keep them there a year or more, then release them. But there is no punishment for those who perpetrated the crimes against Christians. Meanwhile the families are left to suffer with no visible means of income. Please take a minute to read the prayer request (it is short) for the pastors under Pastor Abraham (Ernest’s father). I know that this prayer request is ongoing. It will show you what pastors in India face on a daily basis.

Ernest is going to graduate school in Boston, for graduate school in Evangelism and Missionary training. He is such an intense, level headed person that I know that God will greatly use him. Please pray that God gives him the wisdom he needs to do God’s work wherever he is placed.

Have a blessed day!

Heather