Pastor Don began his sermon by telling us that it is time to make a decision. He told us that Joshua said, Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

We have to choose if we want to serve baal, an idol, or God.

For us, the only choice is God because only he can provide peace. He separates us from the rest of the world, and has told us, John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We can have that peace. Yet many of us have a spirit of fear that resides in us. We are afraid to travel, to go out, to eat, to drink, of friends, in the Body of Christ. Yet He has promised us peace, and we let the devil rob us of that peace.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

And we rest in His presence.

We are not perfect. After King David, a man after God’s own heart, sinned, he laid down by a stream of water and asked God to not take His Holy Spirit away.

Our battles are about to intensify. We have to make choices of what do we believe.

With the coming of Easter, we have to make a choice about if the Bible is the Word of God or not. With the Word of God we are armed and dangerous.

Pastor Don asked the question (which he said he will go into in greater detail later), about why does Easter not fall on Passover. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, celebrated Passover. He did not celebrate a holiday with pagan roots, which Easter is. Pastor Don challenged us to read his book Christianese pages 139-146 about the pagan roots of Easter. You can read the book online by clicking on the link. put in page 139 on the bottom of the page and you will be brought there.

In times like these we need the Bible. The Church as it is on the planet now is not the Church that He is looking for. What is coming out of many of the pulpits is amazing. We need, as the song says, to “Be very sure that our anchor holds.” And when we have Jesus in our lives, our anchor will hold and we will have peace.

Leviticus 26:6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land.

We can have the peace God provides as a gift by asking.

We may not be able to change our situation. We may not be able to stop our husband from picking a fight, but we can have peace in the midst of the situation.

Numbers 6:23-26 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”

That is the Aaronic blessing.

Pastor Don told us that when each child is born, the child should be brought to his father, and have the father speak words of blessings over the child. Subsequent generations should pass the blessing onto the next generation.

Pastor Don says that when his sons are home he is often telling them, “I love you man.” We have to tell our children that we love them, that we are proud of them, even for simple things. As we speak blessings over them, we are helping them become what they can be in the Lord.

We really have to watch what we say.  We need to speak peace into our relationships. Even about those who are our ex’s, we need to speak blessings. They aren’t around but we can still keep the unhappy influence in our house if we are speaking curses about them.

We have to fix our old relationships so that we can function better in our current ones.  God looks for restoration, reconciliation and peace.

We are supposed to live in peace, walk, talk, and feel peace and love.

We then spent time in Psalm 4, which I am going to save until tomorrow to share.

Praying you have a peace that passes all understanding, and walk in His peace no matter your circumstances.

Tomorrow we take my daughter and a few of her friends to a local large mall and let them shop and watch a movie – it is her desire for her birthday.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

SAY AMEN

SHOW 93

LIVING WATER

02/24/08

Here is the closed captioning for Pastor Don’s sermon of 2/24/08.  I am keeping it pretty much as he spoke it, just if he says something like “If I, if I, If I was going to preach this morning…” I will only put up “If I was going to preach this morning…” I think it makes for easier reading.  Anything you see in brackets [clapping] is what the congregation was saying or doing. And if there are three dots… that means a pause in his speaking. I love doing this, because, while my notes are pretty good, I always miss something. Perhaps I should take shorthand (she says smiling). I will also break it into paragraphs because you don’t do that for closed captioning.

Sunday Sermons are not Bible studies like we have on Wednesdays and Fridays where we can study the Bible for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. They are a bit shorter, and we are on TBN locally, so what Pastor Don does is take about 30 minutes of his teaching and puts it up for the show, which is what this closed captioning is about. Our Sunday service has a reading of the Word, a Bible study, a sermon, praise and worship, and whatever else the Spirit has. There is no time limit. There are times when it is solely praise and worship, no talking from the pulpit. It depends on what the Spirit is saying to do. But most often there is both a Bible study and a sermon. If you are ever in our area, feel free to come and visit. Check out the links to Living Word Chapel and In His Name Ministries. There are resources available. I wish you could see or hear Pastor Don preach, there is so much that is said without words in his preaching. In  the In His Name Ministry link, if you click on “Say Amen” there are a few sermons where you can watch him preach. I am so blessed to have Pastor Don as a pastor. Words cannot adequately express that.

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Amen [clapping] Amen If I was going to preach this morning, I would talk to you about the River and I  would talk to you about Living Water.  I mean that’s if I was going to do that, that’s what I would talk to you about.  I would talk to you from the book of John, in the third and fourth chapter where Jesus is crossing through Samaria.  Now, He didn’t have to cross through Samaria to get to where He was going.  But He had a strategic, divine appointment that the Gospel would flourish in that area. 

And there was a group of people called the Samaritans. There was great prejudice against them.  But you know, God cares about everybody.  [amen] He cares about Hindus, and Muslims, and He cares about Samaritans too.  So Jesus then decided He would cross through Samaria on His way to Jerusalem even though He knew the Jews wouldn’t like it.  And they wouldn’t be happy about it.  And so, in crossing there, they were hungry, and He sent the disciples into the town to get food and things, and He sat down by a well.  And it was in the heat of the day. 

Now, during the heat of the day, is the time in the Middle East where people just chill out.  They take like siesta, and they don’t go out in that hot sun.  But there was a woman who had a bad reputation.  Anybody ever know anybody with a bad reputation? [yes] Huh?  Some of you all here today. [laughter]  This woman had a bad reputation.  And so, she’s going to the well to draw water in the middle of the day, because the rest of the women who look down on her and talk about her, they’re not there.  Cause they’re having a siesta, eating some lunch in the cool of the afternoon.  So she goes in the heat of the day to bring water because she’s hoping that she will not have to face the sisters. 

The sisters can be rough.  [yeah]  The sisters can wear you down with their opinion.  You know, some people just think every day is an Oprah show.  [laughter] You know? And some people just long for a Jerry Springer show.  [laughter]  Well, amen. You all shouldn’t even know what Jerry Springer’s out on, that should be here say. 

So she goes in the heat of the day, because she’s really sincerely hoping none of those babes will be there.  As my son says, “None of the shorties will show up.”  [laughter]  And when she gets there, to her surprise, she sees this Jewish man sitting there.  She could tell he was a Jew because Jews were easily identifiable, not just because of their clothes, but they wore their prayer shawls.  In addition to that, trust me on this.  I wouldn’t make this up.  But Jews did not in their day wear long Beetle haircuts.  A respectable Jew kept his hair cut short and he just kept his sideburns.  He never cut his sideburns or the corners of his beard.  So all those pictures that you have of long haired Jesus, lookin like a rock star, do yourself a favor, and throw them out.  It ain’t him.  He don’t look like that.  He ain’t never look like that.  And when you get up to Heaven, He still ain’t going to look like that.  [laughter]  There’ll be so much glory on Him that you won’t care though. There’ll be so much glory on Him that you won’t even notice.  So Jesus would have had long sideburns, because whether you like it or not, Jesus was an orthodox, he came from a strict family of zealous people.  And so, He had long sideburns, that had never been cut, and the corners of His beard had never been cut. When it says they pulled out His beard, they just grabbed a hold of a chunk of hair, yanked out the hair. 

So Jesus is sitting there, and He says to the lady, he says, “Give me a drink.”… The lady looks at Him and she, “What?”  You know, she probably did one of them chicken neck things.  She probably went…”What?”  [laughter]  I wish I could do that.  My head was not designed to go side to side.  I can’t do that.  But you know, she probably gave Him, an attitude because the prejudice from the Jews. The Jews called the Samaritans dogs.  We have prejudice like that in the Body of Christ.  [oh, yeah] Lord, have mercy.  Don’t we?  Some of you Pentecostals look down on Methodists and Presbyterians, cause they don’t make as much noise as you so you figure you’re more holy. But, you know, there’s going to be some Methodists and Presbyterians in Heaven.  [yeah]  Shore ’nuff.  Amen.  [laughter]  Amen.  Even some Baptist’s going to be there, right? 

So she looks over and she says, she says, “What are you, a Jew, asking me a Samaritan for a, for a drink?  This water thing we must understand begins, not because we need so much from God, but it begins because in the reality, truth be told, we need more from God than God needs from us.  And so Jesus says, points to her lack,  points to her purpose, and points to her provision.  And He says, “Give me some of your lack”, cause she came for what?  [water]  So she lacked what?  [water]  She lacked water.  He says, “Your water, your provision.”  And she’s drawing from a well of Jacob, that God pointed to Jacob to dig.  Right, so it’s not even her well. 

And, and, and so he’s saying, well you don’t even have a well of your own.  But, you’re getting water from this well.  And He points to her lack and lack of provision and all of that.  And he says to her these famous words that you all know.  He says, “If you knew…if you knew the One who is asking you for a drink….” Watch this now.  “He would give you, Living Water.”  He says, “If you knew the One, that was asking you.”  He didn’t say anything about, about how it’s going to happen or whatever. He just said, if you had knowledge, if you had the presence of the mind to realize or to identify the One that is talking to you.  You would be able to realize something. 

See, we, we have to understand that the unsaved are not to be looked down upon by the saved.  Because it was only but a few minutes before [amen, amen]….it was just a revelation before, it was just a concept or an idea before, that you found out who He was.  So if we’re going to be effective and give out this Water that He’s talking about, we’re going to  have to have more consideration for them.  And we’re going to have to have more consideration for those who have drunk this Water and have decided to go back out and get thirsty again….Let me say that again.  We have to be more considerate about those who have drunk this Water and went out to get thirsty again…You know, sometimes people don’t know that they’re thirsty….You know, they don’t know that they’re thirsty.  You know, people leave churches, and go and they have to get out there and get hit in the head again before they realize that they are thirsty.  They’re thirsty. 

Do you ever walk to a, I did it the other day.  I walked into one of those convenience stores, and I stood there, and I said, “Too many choices!”  [yeah]  I mean, this whole wall had to be 20 feet wide, with stuff to drink.  It was like too many choices, and I flipped onto the concept of what we’re struggling with.  Jesus is sitting at the well.  We are thirsty, trying to draw water.  Jesus is saying, “Yo, over here.  I got the Water that you need,”  And we’re looking in the convenience store at all the choices and we get distracted. 

Come on, don’t we get distracted?  I mean, you got Oprah giving you advice,you got Dr. Phil giving you advice.  You got Uncle Willie giving you advice, Sister Joan, Sister Barb, Sister Mary, your home boys, your home girls.  Everybody’s got an opinion, and you can get so confused, because you forgot the One that gave you Living Water.  And you don’t go back to Him for a choice because you’re so busy trying to reach Pastor Don…. [whew]  I shouldn’t have slipped that in there. I don’t think, brother I’m in trouble now.  I don’t think I should have slipped that in there.  Some of you all should be calling me saying, I’ve drunk some Living Water, now I just need confirmation, Pastor, on what I believe the Spirit is saying to me.  [amen, amen]  I ought to be your second call, not your first.  I refuse to stand in the power and the position of the Holy Ghost.  That’s His power, that’s His position.  He should be your first call, oh saint of God. Now, if you just got saved yesterday, that’s different.  Cause you don’t know how to go get the Water.  Hello…..How are we doing?  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some of us baby Christians, we just, you know, we just don’t know, so we need someone to help disciple us and get us to go, how to go search things out and find out how deep the well is and whatever. 

Because there’s a lot of different types of water.  Did you know that the Bible refers to people as water?  It says, he saw the crystal river in Revelation, he saw the crystal river and then he realized that that crystal river flowing by the throne of God was actually people.  It’s the saints.  Did you know that?  When the Bible speaks about seas and so forth and water quite often it’s talking about people.  It’s talking about people.  If I was going to preach today, I’d preach to you about asking your self what kind of water are you?  I would ask that question  primarily because Jesus is sitting at the well, He is thirsty, and He wants to drink something.  He’s looking for somebody in this room to pour Him out a drink of something from somewhere that will quench His thirst. 

See, we’re all worried about you being thirsty, but can you see the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords thirsty?  And He wants to consume something that you have that’s available.  I mean, if I was going to preach today, I would point you to the scripture that says, that after Jesus has His conversation with the woman, He tells her that out of the belly will flow what?  [rivers] Rivers of what kind of water? [Living Water] Rivers of Living Water.  And then, in the very next chapter, He’s visited by a guy who sneaks up at night, anybody know his name? [Nicodemus] Nicodemus, sneaks up on Jesus at night and wants to know, he calls Jesus, he calls Him, you know, wise man and all that stuff.  Because why?  He hasn’t met Him yet, He doesn’t know that He’s more than a wise man.  That He is the fountain from which all this Living Water is going to flow.  So He gets in a conversation with Nicodemus and He says to him, “You have to be Born Again.”  Anybody ever heard that passage?  And He says, “You must be Born.” I have a two part experience. He says, “You must be born of the Spirit and of the and of the [water] and of the Water.”  He says, “You must be Born Again of the Spirit and the water [water] water.” 

Now some theologians didn’t dig deep enough.  It was right there the whole time.  And they think the Water is when a woman is pregnant, you must be born of that water.  The ambiotic, membiotic, amniotic fluid.  Yeah, that stuff.  That stuff, the women’s supposed to know how to say that thing.  You know.  You young guys that are not married yet, you know why you get married?  So you have someone to correct you all your life.  [laughter] 

So, anyway, floating around in this fluid, when the water breaks, they think you must be born of the Spirit of God and that… but Jesus says, “No, nope, nope, that’s natural.  Can’t be that.”  Because that water is natural.  It’s natural to have that.  You know.  Makes a mess, but out comes life.  What a beautiful thing.  If you guys haven’t seen that yet, please, go rent a DVD for $29.95.  [laughter] Lord have mercy.  So, moving right along.  So, Jesus is saying, that’s not being Born Again.  That’s not what He’s saying. 

And then some theologians popped up and said, “It’s a water baptism.”  The baptism is the water.  Well, it can’t be that either because that’s natural.  And the reality is, many a person  went into the water a wet sinner, came out of the water a wet saint.  Some went in a dry sinner, came out a wet sinner.  So it can’t be that.  Right?  Because that water is natural.  So it couldn’t be that. 

So, some other theologians dug a little bit deeper and they realized that the Bible is its own dictionary.  So if we look up water in other places we can find out the mystery that Jesus was speaking.  So when we look in 1 Peter Chapter 1 Verse 21 and 22 and when we look in Ephesians Chapter 5 verses 25 and 26, here’s what we find out.  That you are Born Again by the imperishable Word of God, which is the … Water.  You are Born Again by the Water of the Word.  The Word is the Water.  And nothing grows unless you put some Word on it, which is the Water. Nothing grows.  So, then we begin to see that what Jesus is saying to these two people.

Here’s what He’s saying to these two people, that if you will hear a Word from Me, the Author and the Finisher of this faith thing, if you will hear a Word from Me, it will be as water being poured on your life and you shall spring forth.  And then when you get to a point of spiritual maturity, instead of garbage coming out of your mouth, come on. Instead of gossip coming out of your mouth, come on.  Instead of wasting time talking and hearing empty words, He’s saying, what will come out of you instead of negativity and darkness, instead of death and disease, instead of put downs and criticisms that have no value, He’s saying, out of you will flow rivers.  I mean a gusher honey, a shore nuff down get out of the way gusher will come out of you.  You will be gushing out sweetness and good vibes. You will be gushing out truth.  You will be gushing out words of life, not words of death.  Somebody praise Him in here.  [clapping and praise] 

So I, you know, if I was going to preach, I would tell you some of the things that the Lord spoke to me about last night.  And He told me that, He addressed me to look up different things concerning water.  Cause there is a lot to it.  There’s a whole lot to water from the beginning of the Word to the end.  So I,  looked up a few things, and just wrote it on this little piece of yellow paper here. Just, you know, if I was going to share this with you, I would tell you.  [laughter] 

When rivers turns up in the Bible it’s talking about divine blessings with restorative power.  pffff… That was all, that was in my Bible last night.  I looked it up.  When God’s talking about rivers, He’s talking about divine blessings with restorative power.  When He talks about Living Water, He is talking about divine life giving words and hope….Living Water, you know. [say that again] You’d like me to say that again?  I’ll say that again.  Living Water, divine life giving, see because there is, you know, a mother nurtures a child, you know, but it may not be divine.  Because she may put that child down more than she  was put down.  So, she’s nurturing, but she’s not nurturing from divinity.  Lord have mercy. Anybody got it?  So it’s life restoring.  It’s life giving words that give birth, not only to the person but give them hope.  You know, give them hope.  Amen. 

And so then, I looked up another one, streams and brooks.  Streams and brooks.  You know, a stream and a brook is a little bitty river right?  Can I use that terminology?  Ok, I’ve seen streams.  You know, if you go far enough North, you can jump over the Hudson River?  [amen]  Boy, I could preach on that.   See, I could preach on that.  Because, see, if you realize, if you keep flowing, Lord have mercy, you can become part of a raging river.  [clapping] Yeah, yeah, the Indians call the Hudson River an interesting name.  It’s Ashunamatugunah, yeah. [laughter] And do you know what they called the Hudson River?  The River that flows both ways.  [oh, yes]  But I checked it out.  It may flow both ways because of the tide, but if you stay in the Hudson long enough, it will keep moving you into the ocean.  The tide brings it back but doesn’t bring it back as far.  Listen, we need to be Holy Ghost Hudson Rivers.  [laughter]  The Hudson River, it gets moved back a little bit but it goes more further forward than it was pushed back.  The River that goes both ways.  The tide brings it back two steps, three steps, and then it says what? Enough of this.  I’m going forward four steps, five steps, then pushes back two or three. Listen, I’m late for this, I’m going forward.  Sometimes the Water that is in us, sometimes the water in us needs to go through a process so that we can stay on course and keep going in the direction we are designed to go in. 

So let’s say you are a little stream.  You are a little brook.  You are a little stream, little brook. You’re dealing with your stuff.  Here’s what you need to realize, little streams and little brooks are for divine, watch this now, refreshing and encouragement….  [yes, amen]  whew, that, boy that got me.  I rolled, I mean I rolled that over in my head.  Roll it over in your head, if you, you’re sitting here today.  How many of you all are sitting here today?  [laughter]  Cause see, some of you are watching by TV….We’re not the big river because that’s the Holy Ghost, become part of the Holy Ghost river, right.  But in the meantime we start out as a little stream, as a little brook.  And what you should be,  you should be a divine, refreshing, encouragement…. You know, there’s some people that you just have to avoid if you’re in a,… whew, man.  You’re supposed to be a divine stream.  You’re supposed to be flowing, flowing with words of refreshing and encouragement for people.  You know, you know you’re not that if when people get around you, if they dare to get around you, they don’t want to hear what you have to say….

I looked up the next thing after that, that the Bible talked about.  It talked about wells, pools and clouds.  Wells, pools and clouds.  And wells, pools and clouds are reservoirs or holding places of inner spiritual things….Lord have mercy.  See, it’s like, like some of us are wells, we’re reservoirs, we’re holding places and we’re waiting for someone to draw from us….Lord have mercy.  You get that?  And some of us in our discipleship, we have been refreshing, we have been encouragers, but still, we don’t have enough depth.  We’re still too shallow a stream or brook for anyone to dip in and use us as a well.  They can’t dig anything out.  Because, why?  We’re just still too small and too narrow.  We’re too narrow in our thinking.  We’re just too, you know, we’re not deep enough in our theology and we are too narrow in our thinking. 

Those are the people that have been in the Lord for a long time and they are still all about them….It’s still about me, me, me.  Those are the ones that, that just give the irritants to pastors because they never come with what can I do for somebody.  Somebody.  Somebody!  Other than me.  Is it always about me.  Pastor what are you going to do for me?  Brother, sister, what are you going to do for me?  What’s there about me?  Ha, me.  Yeah, the Sermon on the Mount wasn’t about you….[laughter] it was for you. 

Amen, moving right along, and so in 2 Peter, in 2 Peter in the second chapter, you can write it down when you get there, it says that these people are pools, but they’re pools, just like a, I hate to use the word.  I don’t want to use the word.  But they’re like a cesspool.  They’re just like, Lord, they collect darkness and evil and eeech….When I was a boy in the country we had these things called, latrines.  They came up with other names on them, and they put nice fancy symbols on em, but all they were was a hole in the ground, that collected nasty stuff.  And the nasty stuff was always there, but what they would do was that they would pour lime, lime is white.  And if you were on latrine duty at summer camp, it was your job to get the bag of the white stuff and cover up all the other stuff.  But I don’t care how much white lime you put on the top of it, it was still there.  Up under there was still nasty and disgusting and, and everything.  And that’s like some, you know, they’re not here today.  But there’s some believers that if you get to know them beyond church,  you don’t want to know them.  You know what I mean?  They’re just like nice on the surface, but if you get to know them a little but, under, my goodness, your just like, bleck, please, hooo, ha..so.  So God does not want us to become stagnant cesspools.  The reason that the pool stinks is because there’s nothing new coming in and there’s nothing old going out.  So we’re supposed to be a what?  Stream.  Supposed to be a brook, flowing.  And so, they, they, there’s just nothing new coming in. 

I used to do a thing for people to show them how to deal with the sin issue.  Can you just picture in your mind?  Just picture, I have two cups here,  and in this one cup I put some dirt, ok.  I put some dirt  in this cup and this is you, your body, your life in sin.  And then I take another cup, and I say, I say watch this.  The miracle of God.  There’s dirt in this cup which is what?  [sin]  Ok, you got sin in there.  And then I say, “Here’s how it works.  We don’t have to worry about throwing out the cup, Jesus loves the cup.  Wants to save the cup.  He just wants to get the sin out.”  Well, how does He get the sin out?  He doesn’t get the sin out by destroying it or throwing it away.  Here’s the cup.  we’re dirty.  Here’s a pitcher of clean water.  What do you do?  You just, can you see it?  I wish, I used to do it all the time, but…I could do it now because we’re going to get rid of this carpet.  But, but you just begin pouring in the clean, and as you pour in the clean, the dirt, the sin part gets diluted.  But an amazing thing happens.  When it gets to the over, [come on]  When it gets to the overflow stage, because why?  You’re continuously pouring.  When it gets to the overflow stage and it’s continuously pouring, the dirt, the sin, begins to flow out as you pour it.  It works every time.  We don’t have to beat you up because you’re a sinner.  All we have to do is pour some fresh clean water in ya. [clapping]  Get some fresh Word in ya.  [clapping]…That’s all.  And just do that. 

What kind of church do I want to pastor?  Raise your right hand.  Say this, “Pastor Don [Pastor Don] wants to pastor a church [wants to pastor a church] where everybody [where everybody] stays sweet [stays sweet]  and when they’re not  [and when they're not] they get reported [they get reported]  to the senior pastor [to the senior pastor] for water, for purification. [for purification].  Put your hands down.  Some of you all need to rat out the brothers and sisters in the house so I know to pull them aside and start pouring some water in them.  [amen] 

I need you to think about that for a minute…I need you to think, I want you to think about that…cause see, if you come to me, I’m really going to pray about it.  When you come to me, I’m going to pray with YOU about it.  When you come to me we’re going to pray in agreement so that we can what?  Help the brother and sister.  [amen]…But, I don’t want to pastor a church where people are afraid to speak up and say, you know so and so they just, they wrote a riot act up and down me.  They just, they called me everything but a Child of God.  So, I’m going to leave the church.  And then I write you, and I call you, and I say, “Where’ve you been?  What’s going on?”  And you don’t write and answer my letters.  And then I have to go through what I went through yesterday.  Where I have to drive up on you in the parking lot at the mall, get out of the car, and go over and say, “Where have you been?  What happened?”  And then have, and then have somebody look at me and say, “Well, so and so got on my nerves and they didn’t treat me right.  So I left the church.” 

Iron sharpens iron.  We have to get to a place where we realize that we’re sharpening each other.  Come on now.  You know, the people that get on your nerves, you get on their nerves.  Let’s all get on each other’s nerves together, but let’s do it in love.  Because why?  We want to be purified water.  We don’t want to be the same old mucky gook.  You know, what are you going to leave this church and go to another church for?  Don’t you know this is the best church on the planet?  Where do you think you’re going to go?  [clapping]  Where are you going to go?  You’re just going to run around out there go to Russia, get to Mark’s church in Russia.  Mark is just going to send you back and say, “You didn’t finish over there. What are you going to do?  Go finish over there before you come over here.”  He don’t want your baggage.  [laughter]  He wants you purified.  Clean water in, dirty water out.  Is anybody know what I’m talking about here?…  [yeah]  Jesus is coming and we need to equip ourselves.  We need to be purified water. 

Hoping you enjoyed this sermon.

Have a blessed day!!!

Heather

You can read part one here.

1 Corinthians 15:29 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?

Pastor Don began by talking about various cultural traditions, and traditions in churches. Some churches eat fish on Friday. Not realizing that that was a tradition in many cultures for 1000′s of years, to honor dagon, who was a god who was half man/half fish. The church permitted this practice of fish on Friday because people have done it for so long that they chose to let that tradition slide. But when the Ark of the Covenant was stolen by the Philistines and put into the same room as the statue dagon, the statue fell on its face before dagon. The Philistines picked up the statue, dusted it off, and the next time they went to the room, not only had the statue of dagon fallen, but it broke apart. God did not like idols and anything connected with worship of idols.

It is not a sin to eat fish, but if it continues a pagan tradition and is religiously adhered to, then we may want to consider if it is to the benefit of the Body of Christ. It is not wrong to eat fish on Friday, but is it biblical? No. Do people feel good when they adhere to this rule? Yes. They feel holy when they do it.

In the days of Paul, people were concerned about the salvation of their dead loved ones, and started the practice of baptizing themselves for the dead. It is a practice in Macedonian churches and in other cults. The thinking goes something like this. My father-in-law died. I just got saved last week, and my father-in-law was a good man, did good works, but he didn’t know Christ. Is he in heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Well, we’ll get baptized in proxy for him.

This is not idol worship, and you can’t talk to the dead. People began that practice to help people feel better about their unsaved dead, in the time of the apostles, they thought it won’t do good or harm. Now, this practice is not acceptable because people almost everywhere have heard the Gospel, and made their choice. So it is not practiced today in the Church because we believe in the Resurrection of the Dead, and we know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The only way that people would do that practice of proxy baptism is if they don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:30-33 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.  If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”

We do not need to do proxy baptisms, for we believe in the Resurrection of the dead, and we die daily to our self.

1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

Some do not have the knowledge of God, and that is to our shame for we are not sharing the Gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.

We are not a monkey’s uncle. God sowed us as a human seed. Monkey’s will not reproduce human men. And when we are sown by God, we will raise up exactly as God has determined, and the seed dies to produce fruit.

1 Corinthians 15:39-40 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

In earth there are various kinds of flesh, men, animals, fish, birds. There are also celestial and terrestrial bodies, but they are different. The celestial body is different from the terrestrial body.

1 Corinthians 15:41-42 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

What is sown in corruption can deteriorate. We get older minute by minute. Our older bodies cannot evolve into 29 year old bodies. We just have to cope with that reality. The healing ministry is effective, but it cannot remove the design from the seed, and the design is that we will deteriorate over time. Faith helps us to recover and sustain longer. Pastor Don said that even King David needed “hot mommas” to help keep his temperature warm. But when we are raised from the dead we are given incorruptible bodies, that are glorious. And they will be individual, just as the sun looks different from another star or the moon.

1 Corinthians 15:43-45 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Does the Spirit have a body? Yes. Do you have a spiritual body? The Spirit has a body outside of the physical body or else how can Spirits recognize each other? Who is the last Adam mentioned in verse 45? Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

Some people believe that babies are spirits in Heaven that are sent down to earth and then placed into a body. Wrong! We don’t exist in Heaven before, and we are not angels. Angels have never been human. They have a different spiritual makeup.

Hebrews 1:13 But to which of the angels has He ever said: “ Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”?

They may look like us, walk and talk like us but they are not like humans. Someone commented on the passage that, God made us a little lower than angels. Pastor Don pointed out that the word for “angels” in that passage was Elohim (God), not angels as we are conditioned to think of angels. Pastor don told us that when the King James Bible was translated, they did not want to offend King James, by making everyone a little lower than God, so they translated that as angels. 

Pastor Don told us that God knew us before we were in the womb. He thought about creation first, then spoke it into being. We were God’s idea, before we were created into being And we were created in His image, so we too can think things and speak them into existence. In that we are just a little lower than Him. We are, as Galatians tells us, heirs and joint heirs with Christ. We are the joint Bride of Christ, waiting and expecting His return. Those not waiting and expecting are not going to be His Bride. He is our expected hope.

People may not believe in the rapture. Some say that the events in Revelation have already occurred. Is the rapture in scripture? Some say that the concept of the rapture was added in more recent times. But all we have to do is read the Church father’s writings. Augustine, Tertullian, etc. The early church fathers talked about the rapture and believed it. The early church writings talked about waiting for the return of Christ and to be changed according to scripture. Then there was a long historical period where the rapture was not taught. In the 1800′s in San Francisco there was a charismatic movement, and we came out of the dark ages of the church and back into gifts, signs and wonders. 

After Martin Luther, who read the books of Galatians and Ephesians, it was taught that we are saved by grace. It is taught in the scriptures, but the Church had gotten away from that truth. 

But after the 1800′s the church began to experience a Spiritual Renewal, with new visitations of the Presence and the power of God. The Rapture, not the new idea that some claim it to be, was reintroduced. With a spiritual renewal, old ideas are remembered.

How did it happen? Theologians read the scriptures and went back to the founding fathers, who talked about it to their congregations. Two sisters, sick and on their death bead, were powerful women of prayer, and had visitations. The Lord showed them the event. People visited and wrote down what the women saw. Anyone visiting them received healings and the Power of God came in. The problem is to back up what happened scriptures had to be reinterpreted in light of what was written. People revisited Daniel’s 12th chapter and he describes the event of the Resurrection of the Dead. People wanted to change the scriptures to try and make it fit historical events, but they could not do that if they honestly read the scriptures. 

Ideas fall out of practice, but God reintroduces the truth. Azuza street in 1901. The Power of God fell, the Pentecostals, in the 1930′s the faith movement. Acts of God were being revived and people were doing what was written about in the Bible. The truth was always there, but the church fell out of believing it.

Someone asked about a recent tv program that they saw about the end of times being in 2012. 1967 + 45 years of Daniel and other scriptures add up to 2012. We don’t know the day and the hour, but we are to know the season and read the signs of the times. There is much going on today that is showing us that we are nearing the end times.

The last bit of this study was given very quickly, but I do know that Pastor Don is planning a prophesy conference and when he does that, I know much of this will be gone over in greater detail.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather

We are going over the elementary principles of faith mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-3, and have been learning more about the Resurrection of the Dead.

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

Verse 20 shows us that Christ is the first fruit offering, established by the covenant immediately in the beginning of the Bible. By the time Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel the first fruit offerings were in effect. God set it in scripture. We too are to bring our first fruit offerings to God. But the First fruit offering in the Old Testament was a picture of something greater. It happens in the natural, but has a spiritual purpose.  In the natural the people brought the first fruits to the Temple. In the Spirit, we take what God has given us and bring others to the Kingdom, and offer souls back to God who created them.

God gives us free will and opportunity to act like God and participate in the process of further creation. Jesus brought his portion as a first fruit offering. We were not Jesus’ first fruit offering, that was the Disciples and the 120 in the upper room.

In John 20, Jesus spoke with the disciples, and mentioned, in reference to Thomas, that the disciples believed because they had seen Him, but blessed are those who believe and had not seen (that is us). He then breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit. They were an offering back to the father. This was the infilling presence of the Holy Spirit, not the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We cannot become Born Again without the Holy Spirit. We receive the Holy Spirit by the breath of God. Jesus, being God, breathed on the disciples his Ruach, the breath of God.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and leads us to the Messiah. The Holy Spirit seals us once we are saved, but now the disciples were going to be endued with power in the upper room.

Pastor Don compared it to receiving a driver’s license when we come of age. We get the learner’s permit (being Born Again), and go through tests and trials until we earn our license (and then have the power and authority to drive).

The breathing returns to the spiritual life that Adam vacated. Spirit filled people still sin, and may have power because of the infilling of the Holy Ghost, but still can open themselves up as the devil’s playground. Adam could have stomped on the serpent, or told Eve that she blew it and that God will deal with her. Adam did not have to go along with Eve’s disobedience.

Someone asked why satan could bruise Jesus’ heel. And Pastor Don said that satan did not have the authority to destroy Christ, but he could just impede Christ’s progress. Pastor Don reminded us that blessed are the feet who bring the Gospel. You can’t stop the Gospel, but sometimes the Gospel is spread with a limp.

Spirit filled people have the power to spread the Gospel, to serve, and combat evil for the sake of Christ. The Spirit gives us the hammer to pull out nails, but cannot always prevent us from hitting our thumbs. We are to preach, teach, and minister. But we will still have to resist temptation. Teaching, preaching and ministering can cause greater attacks of satan geared to cause us to fall, but it is up to us to resist the power of satan. Some of the mega ministers today teach powerful lessons to help set people free, but they have succumbed to failing marriages.

The Spirt Filled  believer is sometimes embarrassed to say that they have a battle. We have the inner witness to empower us to spread the Gospel, and suffer for His Name’s sake. But the personal sin issue rests on all of us. We make choices. Powerful ministries do not always ensure that the ministers will have a good bedside manner. David had the heart of God, but sinned and said that he was sorry for hurting God.

Pentecostals feel superior, yet they have the same rate of divorce as Presbyterians and other Christians and non-Christians.

The Word of Faith and methods can be applied to our lives, but some that do this still fornicate and have the flesh to deal with. We need to use God’s power on our personal life.

If we have a financial problem that has to be solved we need to resolve that. We can’t have an elder in the church that has a desire for filthy lucre. While we can operate in the Power of God and the Gifts of the Spirt, the devil knows our weaknesses and works against us to prevent us from being effective. We need to build safeguards, habits, and hearts’ desires that cause us to turn to God. God will supernaturally help us deal with sin. We have to be examiners of fruit. What kind of fruit are we testing? Isaiah had unclean lips and asked God to purify his lips. Self awareness is of greater value to God than even self purity, for God can deal with our honesty and help us in our weakness.

Jesus said that the Scribes and Pharisees were in error for their criticism. The rich young ruler was told to sell all that he had and give it to the poor. This was not because there is anything wrong with having money, but Jesus knew that this young ruler was bound to money – money had him. When we examine ourselves we need to ask ourselves if it is necessary and have we examined ourselves in light of Romans 12:1-2 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. 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.

Unless we conquer what we criticize in others, our opinion is worthless. More is required of us.

Verse 23  – the first fruit Christ, then Jesus the Christ offered the 120 in the Upper room as first fruits. Then Peter spoke to others in the Upper room and 3,000 were saved (the disciple’s first fruits). This was the same number of people as who died at the offering of the golden calf. God is a God of replacement and forgivenes.

Pastor Don reminded us that the resurrection of the dead does not happen all at once. That there is an order. Christ is the first fruit, then those who are Christ’s at His coming. Those who come with Jesus in the clouds are changed first, then the saints on the earth, then there is a 7 year tribulation period, and then the resurrection of all the dead.

For this there are many conflicting theological assumptions regarding the resurrection of the dead.

1. First those who are coming in the clouds with Jesus died and are in Heaven with the Lord as spirits but no bodies. They receive resurrection bodies.

2 Then we are changed after this on the earth. All the saints who died and those on the planet.  Those who are evil and who rejected the Lord are still in hell awaiting judgment.

Revelation talks about the Great Tribulation and the millennium. Christ will reign on earth and after this 1000 year reign, the devil will be loosed from the pit of hell. Then satan will organize people for a final combat to overthrow the Lord, but that battle will not occur – all who try to participate will be destroyed.

Then they and the resurrected dead that rejected God will be judged, and ultimately end up in the fire.

We were already judged at the throne of Christ and now all will have that resurrection judgment.

Pastor Don gave many scriptures that talk about the rapture. I have given you the link to the ones he shared with us.

Here are two:
1 Corinthians 15:52 - “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

1 Thess. 4:16 – “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

God will purify this earth. But those who remain on earth after the rapture will be given a choice. God will not punish satan and sinful man until He proves that He can rule earth in a way that God wanted, that earth can be ruled in a right manner. He wants perfect beings to fellowship with in eternity.

God will permit people to choose Godly rule, or satan’s rule. God is a God of love, and you cannot have love without free will. We need to freely choose that we love God more than the devil. We love God more than our own flesh.

Verse 25 and 26 (see above) death is a spiritual entity.

Verse 27. God gave Jesus all authority, but that doesn’t mean that Jesus is not God. They coexist. The father explains the actions of the Son, and Jesus only did what the Father told Him. The Spirit is also an equal member of the trinity. Remember, Jesus is the Word (John 1) and God places His Word above Himself. While we can’t understand the trinity with our natural mind, we do know that it is the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We need to know that Judgment is coming, and that God will deliver on that promise. If God says it, He will do it. His Word is His bond. If He said it, He must perform it.

Verse 28. The father sends His Son (Jesus) who consults back with God. Jesus is God’s Ambassador on earth, with full authority and power and God’s full backing. All are subject to Him.

Pastor Don continued with more verses in 1 Corinthians 15, which I will share with you tomorrow.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather

I typed the closed captioning for this sermon from December, 2007. I am going to slightly edit to make it a bit more readable (breaking thoughts into paragraphs, etc). The words in brackets [  ] are what the congregation said. This sermon blessed me as I typed it, and I pray it blesses you.

Amen. I want you to get your Bibles and go to the book of John. The book of John in the fourteenth chapter, we want to look at a few things. I wrote down what the Lord said to me.  Two things jumped out at me last night and this morning. And I want to share them with you from the book of John. The first thing that was spoken was, “it’s time to get happy.” [amen]  It’s time to get happy. And the second is this, “Jesus is at the end of your tunnel.” [amen] So it’s time for you to get happy. 

We’ve been teaching on the End Times and I’m noticing on the faces of some people that they are not smiling at the end of the teachings. We have been talking about End Times, Days, and things and all, and some people get concerned, get a little alarmed, get a little long in the face.  But the Lord wants you to know that it’s time for you to get happy. Hallelujah! For Jesus is at the end of your tunnel! [Thank you Lord!] Hallelujah! Hallelujah! UMM, UMM, UMM.  Yeah, I’m just smiling cause it’s so true. 

There’s some of us that just feel that life is a drudgery or is a long dark tunnel. And we hear stories of people that have died and in their moment of death they’re going into this dark tunnel. And they’re being swished either up or down.And as they’re being drawn to their place of habitation….I have books on it, 101 Death Experiences and other books. I have a book on my desk called, To Hell and Back. When you talk to and interview doctors, and people that have died they tell you that in their dying they’re taken into this long dark tunnel and then some come out the long dark tunnel into utter darkness. They describe it as a darkness so thick that they can’t even see their hand in front of their face. They say that they hear sounds and noises in this place where the presence of God has been withdrawn from them, not because God wants to punish them, but because they have rejected God. 

The Bible is very clear about it. Anyone who will call on the Name of the Lord, anyone that wants to go to Heaven can. All they have to do is want to go to Heaven. But those that reject the Gospel, will be drawn into this darkness and their spirits will be swished to a place of utter darkness, with varying degrees of experiences but all negative. 

But that’s not you.  [amen]  You’ll be taken into a tunnel that will take you to light and at the end of that light, Jesus is at the end of your tunnel.  [hallelujah]  If you don’t know that today, then there’s no reason for you to leave this building not sure that Heaven is your home. And that salvation has been decreed for you. 

I spoke to a mother yesterday. She said they had a wonderful Thanksgiving, it was a beautiful Thanksgiving. She lives downstairs and her daughter and her son-in-law live upstairs with their three kids. And they said that the Thanksgiving dinner was just gorgeous. It was wonderful and everybody got along. Their son-in-law was there, and they all had a great, great time. And that he went upstairs, and his wife and young daughter went with him, and they laid down on the bed, and were watching television. The daughter just sensed something and said, “Mommy, something’s wrong with Daddy,” a young man in his early 40′s. And the little girl says, “Mommy, something’s wrong with Daddy.” And the mother says, “No, but he’s just resting. He’s OK.” And sure enough this young man in his early 40′s was gone. And as I ministered to the mother on the phone, she said to me. “Pastor Don,” she says, “but we know where he went.” I said, “What do you mean sister?” She said, “Well just this year he’d accepted the Lord. And we’re confident.” She says, “We’re confident that he made it in.”  Jesus was at the end of his tunnel. And I said, “There are no words as a pastor, as a friend, there are no words that I can give you, with the passing of a man who left his wife, and three kids.” And in the prime of his life. Young, in his, young 40′s. And she said, “No words are necessary.” She says, “We’re going to cry and we’re going to grieve, but we’re not going to grieve like the world grieves.”  [amen]  If you don’t believe that there is a Heaven. There’s no way that a mother with three kids whose just lost her husband can, can stand before friends and family and sing “When we all get to Heaven.”  There’s no way. 

We need to realize that death and sickness will come to us all. It doesn’t have to stay. It comes though. And when it does, it doesn’t always send an invitation that says exactly what hour and what manner in which it shall come.  But when, when life snatches away a loved one, we need to realize either we believe what the Word says, or we don’t. Either there is a Heaven beyond the veil. Either at the end of our tunnel there is Jesus or else we are hopelessly lost. We are worse than psychotic. We are evil, deranged people. But praise God, there is a Heaven. It’s a wonderful place. And all you have to do is to just invite the Lord into your heart. It says, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And if you don’t believe it, don’t believe it. But if you do, it’s the best insurance blanket guarantee that you have in this life. 

And so, I look at all these situations as I get older, and I came a conclusion, especially now, that the Word of the Lord to us is that it’s time for us to get happy. It’s time for us to recognize that we believe what we say. We believe what we teach, and therefore, this world does not hold us down and destroy us. If we can just get the true concept of I believe what I said, I believe what I read, I believe what I see. There is a better place for me, but in the meantime… Lord have mercy, in the meantime, I have Jesus at the end of my tunnel. And therefore it’s time to be happy. It’s time to be happy. 

I know some people come to church because they have problems. But wouldn’t it be better to get the concept of your mind you come to church because you’re happy? [amen] And you come to be happy with happy people. Or you at least come happy so that you can lift up some people that aren’t happy. Lord have mercy. And that’s really worth it. 

The Apostles at their most difficult time, at their most unhappy time (mentioned in the 14th chapter of the book of John.)  Jesus comes to them and He tells them He’s going away. He’s told them as many times as He could that He was going to the cross. And that He would be crucified and turned over to the Gentiles. And that He would be tried. And he brings them together for a Passover supper. 

I have a hard time with the confusion of the holidays, but the reality is that, the Word “Easter” itself, is a pagan word that shouldn’t even be in a Christian’s vocabulary. I have trouble with it because Easter hides the significance of the time period and the spiritual events that occurred.  We should be referring to it as what it is. It is Passover. And it is the time of the angel of death passing over the house of the Jews, as a picture that if we accept Jesus and call on His name, and bring Him into our lives, then death, daily death. How many of you all know what I am talking about, daily death? There’s some daily death going on. Isn’t there? Somebody’s sitting in here now, their checkbook just died yesterday. Well at least you know what I am talking about. When your checkbook dies, is when it goes to more zeroes and minuses than it had pluses. So there’s some checkbooks in here that have died. There’s some marriages that are trying to die right in here today. And there are some opportunities that have died, some jobs have failed, some mates have been lost, some different situations, and so what we end up with is this reality that death is around us daily. But, at the end of your tunnel is Jesus. And if Jesus is at he end of your tunnel, it means that, that all of the little deaths in daily life are inconsequential and unimportant. They seem like big stuff when you’re going through it, but the reality is, Frank Sinatra put it kind, he says, “What will it matter a hundred years from today?” 

If death is real, and the grave is real. And if the grave is the end and it’s eternal, then yes, it’s going to matter a hundred years from today because you’ll be rotten bones and dust and nothing good came of it. But, if there is a tunnel and Jesus is at the end of the tunnel, then guess what? The little deaths that you’re dying, these problems that you’re facing, the difficulties with our children, the difficulties with the figuring out the End Times will matter not at all. And death itself, physical death when it comes and visits upon us, it doesn’t matter either. For it is only a door that opens us to the way of the tunnel where Jesus is waiting for us. Eternity is longer than a normal, natural life span. The question is, do we believe it? Are we ready to face it? Can we open our hearts and say, “If my time is now, I still greet it with happiness for I know who’s at the end of my tunnel.” This is not an excuse to run out and die because there’s too much work to be done. But in the meantime, Jesus is at the end of the tunnel, just as He was for the Apostles. 

And in the 14th chapter, He says, “I go to prepare a place for you.”  When I go, He says, “I  will have you come unto me.”…”In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.“  He gives us a promise, that at the end of the tunnel, that not only is He going to meet us and greet us, but He’s going to meet us and greet us with our heart’s desire. If you haven’t started designing your eternity, you need to do that. I’ve sat down and pictured it.  Pictured in my mind what my corner in Heaven is going to look like. And what’s it going to be? And guess what, there are no nasty people in my corner of Heaven. [laughter]  Hallelujah.  There’ll be some people I didn’t thing should make it in, that got in. But there’s no nasty people up there. And, and in my corner of Heaven, I realized something, that if I can believe for Heaven tomorrow, why can’t I be happy about it today? Let me say that again. If I can believe for Heaven tomorrow, why can’t I be happy about it today? 

So let’s look at some scriptures because Jesus is constantly trying to get a message over to the Apostles that greater things are going to happen, on their way to the tunnel where they’re going to meet Jesus, there’s some stuff that has to go on. In verse 12 of Chapter 14 He says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name,…”that’s in the Name of Jesus, “…that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” And then He says an amazing thing in verse 14. And let’s read it together, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.“  What a bold promise. It should make you happy. The fact that you, you have not accessed it or learned how to access it, that’s not what you should be happy about. You should be happy that it’s promised to you. 

In this holiday season, have you ever noticed the joy that comes on a little kid’s face when you tell them that Christmas is coming?  I mean, you tell them Christmas is coming and you tell them that phony baloney about the fat guy, and you don’t even own the house, ain’t got no chimney, but he’s supposed to come down it. But they still get happy about about the promise of it. But Jesus would not lie to us. He is telling us there is a promise that all we have to do is ask in His name and He will do it. How do we do that? How do we access that? And look at verse 26, He says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.“  In other words then, the Holy Spirit is coming, He is the Spirit of Truth, He is the Spirit of Wisdom, He is the Helper, He is the one who comes alongside, the Paraclete. And He’s saying that this Paraclete who comes alongside is going to help you, and He’s going to cause you to remember everything that Jesus said. So there must be something important about words.  There must be something about words that we need to remember them in order to be happy.  I’m talking happy. Can you say “Happy”? [Happy] Happy. He wants you to be happy. 

In chapter 15, he gives us a clue. He says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear…” What? [fruit]  “…bear fruit…” The reason that He is going to give you everything that you ask for is because you’re going to ask in His Name. And if you’re asking in His Name, His purpose in giving you what you ask for is so that you can bear fruit. [amen] That’s what He says. He says, “…He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear….” what? [more fruit]  “…more fruit.” 

I didn’t understand this pruning stuff, personally I didn’t like it. I like the concept that in order for me to bear more fruit and to do more, I’ve got to lose limbs and legs and stuffs gotta be chopped up. I didn’t like that idea. Until we had a philodendron in the house. And I came home one day. The philodendron was about 12 feet long. Literally 12 feet long. It went up the wall, and four feet over the wall. And I loved that philodendron. My wife attacked it. She chopped off anything that wasn’t the right color. Lord have mercy, I’m preaching to you now.  Anything that wasn’t the right color, anything that was shriveled up and half dead, she began chopping and chopping. And as she’s chopping stuff is flying off of that thing. Stuff that I though she should have left on she cut off. And the next thing I know, I only had a four foot plant. [laughter] Ten feet of that bad boy was just gone! And so I gave her the finger (Heather’s note – pointer finger) and the lecture. You know, “You have no right to kill my plant. We’ve had that since we were married and whatever.” And she says, “It’s not dead.” And I said, “No you killed it, it was this long. Now it’s this long.” “It’s not dead.”  “I said but it looks pitiful. A little pitiful four foot plant.” She said, “It’ll be back.” The bad boy started to grow. He started to sprout. Next thing you know, he right now takes up one third of the living room. [laughter]  And he’s growing across the carpet. I think he’s about to consume the front windows in the rest of the house. 

When Jesus begins to prune you, you should get happy. Because He’s cutting away your dead stuff. He’s cutting away the stuff that can’t grow. He’s cutting away stuff that’s drinking up the water, but He can’t use it because it’s what? It’s dying. It’s no good. It needs to go. So when the Lord begins to prune some things that you really have fallen in love with, it’s time to get happy. When some of your friends don’t call you anymore. It’s time to get happy. Lord have mercy. There’s some people that don’t come by anymore, don’t call anymore, don’t borrow money from you anymore. You should be getting happy. Come on, there’s some places that you usually go, that your GPS won’t go there anymore. You should get happy. I can remember when I decided I’m not spending any more money on drugs. I remember that just as clear. I said it out loud, “I’m not spending any more money on drugs.” Next thing I know, they were bringing it to me for free. Then I said, “You know what, obviously this is demonic.”  When a dope dealer starts giving you drugs for free, you know the devil is the only one that encourages him to do it. Because the reason he’s a dope dealer is to make money. Anybody out there? Am I by myself? So I said, “Well, I wonder what would happen if I, if I go through a period, of I’m just not doing anymore drugs.” So I decided I’m not going to do any more drugs and told the dope dealers. Who were thoroughly my friends. Oh, I love you Don, you are my friend.  We party together, [crying sounds], they disappeared. They disappeared. What was God doing? Pruning me. So then, after they were all gone, then I decided well, maybe I’ll go back to using drugs. I couldn’t find them. [laughter] These guys had all been pruned out of my life. Thank God for the pruning process. And its, in order to I could bear what? More fruit. I could bear some good fruit. OK, look at me, sanctified and go, “Good for you!” [Good for you!]  [laughter]  Good for you.  

Well, so the pruning process is so you can bear more fruit. And then look at verse 4.  “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot.…” do what?  [bear fruit] “…cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do…nothing.” Nothing, zippooooo. ”If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” Let’s read verse 7 together, come on. “If you abide in Me, and my words…” and my what? [words] and my what? [words] and my what? [words] and my what? [words] “and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” So remember, he says ask in My name and I’ll do it. And then He says, let My words abide in you. And if My words abide in you, isn’t this wonderful? If His words abide…what???

How do you get His Word to abide in you? You don’t have to go around memorizing scripture but you ought to. Because why? If you would memorize the scripture, then it can abide in you. And when you get in a tough situation, I’ve learned something. When I get in a tough situation, since the Word abides in me, the Word comes forth. So when my back is pressed to a wall, some words start coming out. ”No weapon formed against me  will prosper.”  And I start stepping forward up out of that mess. Because why? The Word abides in you. Then therefore you can use it. 

But there’s a problem, you have other words that you’ve used for a long time that have possession of your mouth. So until a sufficient amount of Word of God abides in you, you will keep having the same fights at home. You will keep having the same confusion on your job. You will still have the same doubt and unbelief in your head, and you will pass it on to your children. And your children will pass it to their children. Until you realize that the Word must abide in you. In a difficult situation, the first thing that should happen is some Word comes bubbling up out of here. A symptom comes in your body, some Word should come bubbling up in here and goes like this.  It goes, no weapon formed against me shall prosper.  Wait a minute, the devil is the oppressor who brings the weapon of sickness and disease into my body, and therefore you go, “By His stripes, [clap] I receive my healing.” 

The problem is so many people belong to Church, I don’t want to get ugly, but I have to tell the truth here. So many people belong to Church, they come into the Church, the Word doesn’t abide in them. And then, when they get in a tight spot, all of a sudden they want to have faith. Why do we teach kids to ride bicycles when they’re kids?  [conversation]  All of that, so that they can not only learn to drive cars, but there’s something about learning things when you are little. Here’s what God said, He said this, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart.” Why won’t he depart? Because when he gets the Word in him, it abides in him, and as he gets older he’s got some resources to pull on. 

So many people I know, and lately with so many people dying young and so many problems, I just want scream into the Body of Christ, you better learn faith before sickness comes so faith can work for you. My wife made pumpkin soup the other day. You know, pumpkin soup sounded weird to me. But it was delicious. But how did she learn how to make the pumpkin soup? She spoke to someone and got a recipe, was it your sister’s or something? Cause somebody got a recipe to her and she kept the recipe. And then when she had these pumpkins that people brought to our house and left them, she said, “What am I going to do with these pumpkins?” It abided in her that she had a recipe for pumpkin soup. Made it and could apply it. But if it wasn’t in the drawer, come on somebody, if it wasn’t in the drawer, she can’t access it, and if she can’t access it, she can’t bring it up, and if she can’t bring it up, she can’t use it.

We need to realize that the Word of God is a sharp, powerful, edged sword. But if you don’t get it into you now, when real trouble comes, what will you have to draw on? His Word will not be abiding in you. When you get sick in the hospital an amazing thing happens. Your ability to focus and concentrate goes. Cause you’re in physical pain, and, and you’re in a different environment and you can’t focus and concentrate. There’s someone in the bed next to you moaning and groaning, there’s people coming and going, and all kind of confusion. Trust me, what you need to do is have the Word so abiding in you, so that no matter what’s going on around you, you’ve put in some scriptures that you can pull up into your mind that is under attack. And they will just reverberate. That the Word will be so in you that it abides in you, that in the middle of the night, you can quote scripture to yourself, while you’re asleep. Lord have mercy!  I’m trying to, I’m trying to, I’m trying so hard. I see people get desperate  to be healed, and desperate to be saved, but they neglected in their youth and in their young adulthood, and  there’s nothing in there but HV TV.  Nothing in there but  a home improvement products, and all the crap that ain’t going to help you when you’re flat out on your back in need….[amen]  I mean, my goodness, what’s that, that home, learn how to build this…knowing how to put a sink in is not going to help you when you, when you’re body’s in dysfunction. When your mind is starting to go. There better be enough scripture left in there. 

I sat with my mother, she’s in her 90′s this morning, and she was asking me where I was going, and I just quoted a song.  She said, “Well what song should I sing?”  She’s thinking that this morning she’s going to get  up and you know and go sing somewhere.  It’s Sunday morning. Everyday is Sunday to my mother.  And she says, she says, “Well, what song should I…” I said, “Well, why don’t you sing, “I know who holds my hand.”  [yeah] And she sat there for a minute and thought and she said,… “I know that song.”  Then she began to recite the lyrics of it.  Listen, that’s because the word of that song has abided in her for 60 years.  So even though there’s other things she cannot bring up in her memory banks, she could bring up, “I know who holds my hand.”  Lord have mercy!  When it’s time for us to get happy, It’s time for us to realize that there’s some Word that abides in us, that will bubble up, at the time that we need it, in difficult situations.  Jesus is at the end of your tunnel.

The CD ended here. So many truths in this teaching blessed me. I pray that they bless you as well.

Heather

We are beginning to lose some of our snow, but I have been watching my Texas subscribers showing their snow pictures, so I thought I would show a few of my own from a bit ago. My oldest was back at Christmas when we got a major blizzard – have had a few more since then, so the snow is so deep, that we still can’t get one of our cars out.

Here are some pictures from my window (and it is still pretty accurate). Yes, my middle son was helping to build a snowman in shorts, his choice.

To get an idea of scale, my two sons are about six feet tall.

This is a gruesome snowman scene, for the one on the ground is impaled with an icicle

Here are Katherine and Edward in a more recent storm.

We still have way too much snow remaining in spite of a week of warm weather.

Have a blessed night.

Heather

There is no doubt that the battle is increasing but no matter what happens, our testimony in Yeshua is and will always be one of victory and fruit.
We thank you for your ongoing support and for your love.

We send you our love from Zion,
Eddie and Jackie

Tikkun Ministries
PO Box 2997 Gaithersburg, Maryland 20886
(designate all donations for “Zion’s Glory”)

EDITED: Ernest graciously corrected a few errors and gave me more information on GFA to share with you. So I have reposted this as a current entry so you can read this article again with all the corrections. The main differences were that his father has planted 140 churches (not 40). And I thought, that in light of current events in India, that some people might want information about GFA so they can help pastors who are spreading the Gospel under EXTREMELY adverse circumstances. Please keep Ernest in your prayers as he continues his education.

Ernest began by telling us that God is good. He told us that before we get over one encounter with God, we need to drink again so that we can stay filled with Him.

We are sponsoring Ernest’s graduate education toward missions. He plans to go back to India and use what he has learned to help his people. But while he is here, Ernest is praying that God will use him to make a difference.

He shared with us that at college he began a prayer group. The people at his college talked about God but many did not have time or energy to give to God. Initially 8 people came to the prayer group, but because it was early in the morning, the attendance began waning until it went from 8 to 6 to 4, to 3, to 2 and then to 1.

In January they were praying daily, by February people claimed that they stayed up late to study so couldn’t make the prayer group. (You should know that Ernest is taking a double load of classes so that he can complete his studies sooner to get back to the mission field.)

There was a Korean Christian population at the college and they were praying for hours at a time, not realizing how long they were praying. They would start at 11 and pray until 12:30 at night, and often longer than that. This group started because two brothers started praying that God wold work on the campus. They prayed three years, before seeing results. Now some of his fellow students are praying with that group, and for many it was an adjustment to pray with such intensity.

Ernest feels a pressure to make sure that the John 3:16 message “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” goes throughout the world.

Ernest asked us to pray for his school and the people on the campus. It is one of the influential campuses in the Evangelical colleges.

Ernest told us that the book of Numbers also has indications of the second coming of Christ, but did not give us specifics – I want to know more! The people at his college have a lot of Biblical knowledge, but have a disconnect with Spiritual reality even though they know the Word of God. He wants people to pray not only for the students but also for the faculty. Fourteen of the faculty are on various strategic and decisive committees for making statements of faith.

Ernest told us that in the United States many know the Bible, and even claim to have a so called “Christian culture” but is devoid of tangible supernatural power. His mission is to reach people who do not know about Jesus.

But knowledge of Jesus can offend people. He talked about a village church in India who were having a large local gathering of believers. The local Hindu leaders got mad at the Christians and came in and destroyed the church building and badly beat up the Pastors and congregated believers. There is a wave of persecution that is happening in India. Yet Christians are on fire for the Lord, in spite of the persecution. Often times people lose all that they have because of persecution and they do not have much. Yet they also pray for us.

We need to realize that to spread the Word of God requires teamwork – it is not a one man show. We need to walk the street and do the job that God has for us. To walk for Jesus.

The people who are being persecuted hold onto a peace in the midst of the persecution, a peace that passes all understanding.

In one of the towns Ernest’s father had planted a church (his dad has planted 140 churches in the rural areas of India – areas where the huge evangelical campaigns do not reach), 100 people came in a large truck and beat up the preacher and the people. They destroyed whatever they could. These people were willing to pay the price and work for God.

We need to remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God. To know how much He cares for us and not let anything stop us from doing His work.

Our church supports many foreign missions. (Pastor Don told us that the money that our church sends to Ernest’s father is split out among many of the pastors. That a missionary family can be very blessed by $60 for they live very simply.) Ernest told us that it is not just money, but also our prayer for the missions that matters. Ernest told us, “Money is necessary but our resources come from God.” So prayer is the key.

I am honored to know Ernest and I know that he will accomplish great things for God. After his talk I was chatting with him after service and he let me know that over this semester he has about 9,000 pages of text to read, and that includes other academic assignments. 

Hoping your day is blessed. Take some time today to pray for missions, for the people in areas of the world that face intense persecution. We really have it so easy that we get kind of lazy in our faith. But for many of these people, they are held together by prayer and a relationship with God. Check out this website: http://www.gfa.org/ to see how you can help spread the Word of God.

Note: GFA asks for a $20/25 support because they have multiple supporters covering a single missionary to ensure that the support is not cut off totally at any time. GFA pools support from 3-7 sponsors, per missionary.

Heather

Pastor Mark Currie told us that in performing his missionary duties he flies from place to place and has sat through the emergency instructions on the plane. The first thing that a parent is told to do if the oxygen masks drop is to put the mask on the parent first, then assist their children. Our instinctive reaction would be to put the mask on our child first, then ourselves. But if we mess up the instructions or it doesn’t work what would happen is that both you and the child would perish.

He told us that there is confusion in Churches and lives, and people are not entering into faith. He calls it SUSPENDED UNBELIEF. In these days life is moving quick. In Church we need to begin to get out of confusion and get things right. That the Church needs to work on its weaknesses first (sort of like the parent tending to themselves before the child). If we are in debt, get out of debt. If we have unbelief, we need to suspend unbelief. We can’t keep imaging that everything is OK. We have to begin doing right things, lining our lives up with the will of God.

We are all going to face change and transition. Many of us are facing the empty nest syndrome, and our teens and young adults are making serious mistakes. We do not want to lose perspective of what God is doing and get caught up in the garbage.

Ephesians 1:9-10 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.

It will be less of a mystery to us, but even so it fills us with awe because it’s something you can’t fully know. A time is coming and it will be when He (Jesus) will come in fullness. And we are all in this for we are in Christ.

Pastor Currie pastors New Hope International, Inc. in Russia and his church is growing and reaching many.

The church is working to be part of Jesus’ gathering together of the saints. Some will be gathered, some won’t be gathered. Not every one of the 10 virgins made it to the wedding feast of the Lamb. We need to get our minds off of our immediate problems and see ourselves as part of something bigger, that there are very important things going on.

We are all missionaries. We are all called to something. There is somebody in our life that we can share the Gospel with, and you are the only one that they will hear the Gospel from.

Before Pastor Currie became a missionary, he was a follower of Jesus, and wanted his life to be an example. But Pastor Currie wanted to know what he was supposed to do in God’s kingdom. He now seeks to raise up new believers and leaders to take on the Work of God.

Pastor Currie told us that he has a solid family life and he is a disciple of Christ. We need to be disciples. To say, “I am a Christian,” is not enough. We need to be disciples. The Jehovah Witnesses have it right in the disciple realm, but their theology is wrong. We need to be believers in Christ and disciples.

Discipline means OBEY, and to obey takes consistency. When we obey somebody we get in line with something. We conform to what they want us to obey about. As disciples of Christ, we conform to His Will and His Word. And often we have to conform when we really want to unconform. There are times in Pastor Currie’s life when, instead of being loving to someone, he really wanted to brain them.

People do not always listen to God, but if we want to get the Work of God done, we have to do what God wants us to do.

There are things that show that one is a disciple.

1. Spend personal time with God everyday. Read the Bible to get a Word from God. The Holy Spirit is a teacher and you will get what you need.

2. The disciples were not perfect people. We all make mistakes, but we are servers of Christ. At times we take baby steps, but if we spend too long in the baby step stage, we can figure that there is something wrong in our walk. There are no half stepping Christians in the Church. There are no half stepping disciples. We may make mistakes, but we will also learn to take full steps.

3. People often ask Pastor Currie how he knew that he had a call to be a missionary. As a disciple, he heard God’s voice, and cared about breaking boundaries to tell the truth. He has read many philosophies but they did not contain the truth. The Bible is true. He suggested reading the Bible and asking questions. He told us that we need to let people know the truth, and the truth has to be told.

He felt unqualified and unprepared to serve in Russia. He knew that at the time that he went that they were not fond of democracy and capitalism, and did not accept the truth of the Gospel, or repenting, putting faith in Christ, and a new life. Because of love, he chose to go to Russia, even if it meant difficulty. He gave his self in obedience.  

He believed he had been called to minister in inner city evangelism. He was a husband and a father. He had a job, and knew that first he had to get his life in order. That he wasn’t ready yet to go to Russia.

First he went to his pastor. Pastor Currie told us that that is very important to do. When you think you hear from God you need confirmation. As a disciple, it is important to be under the authority of your pastor, and you want to make sure that he also confirms that you have heard from God.

Pastor Currie told us that this can sometimes be tough for a person who might have father wounds, to trust a pastor. But we trust God, and pray that God will bring us to a pastor that can help us put the pieces in order.

In order to go to Russia, he also had to get the cooperation of his wife and children. His five year old was excited to ride a big plane. His 13 year old daughter, who lived in a perfect neighborhood and had many friends, he felt would be more of a challenge. But she heard a song that confirmed that everybody has a seed to sow, and God put it in her heart that this was the right thing to do. God worked on his family to prepare them for Russia.

For Pastor Currie this was a chance of a lifetime. And that God gave him a chance to do ministry, and really trust God. His wife was courageous, and shared his vision.

How do you know that God wants you in mission? Remember we are all called to missions. There is some area in our lives that God wants us working in. Not all are called to foreign missions. We need to get rid of confusion, and if overseas missions are what God wants us to do, we will know. We just have to be disciples and obey God’s calling on our lives.

The church is a good place to be, but it is also a hard place to be, for it will challenge our walk with Christ. We are getting good things from attending church, but we also should be looking at how to be giving. We come to church so that we can be equipped to give.

The floor was opened to questions. And Pastor Currie answered a few questions. He told us that any church that isn’t the Russian Orthodox church is considered a sect, cultish. So there are cult labels placed on other denominations. Because any non Russian Orthodox church is considered a cult, the non Orthodox churches are often tied up in bureaucracy, and people who are converted are considered to have something wrong with them and their thinking.

The hardest thing is that he faces as an American Christian in Russia are questions about our politics and the war in Iraq, the economy, and other current events. He told us that he has to get through all those issues before he can minister to people.

We are asked to pray for him and his work in Russia. There is much good that is going on and much work that is being done. Our church has been supporting his mission for many years, and have seen the good work God is doing through Pastor Currie.

If you wish to support his mission or find out more about it, you can email him at:

newhope1995@verizon.net

I asked him where his church is located in Moscow and here is what he said:

Our church is New Hope Church, located near Metro Aviamotornaya (a subway stop) in east Moscow.

Praying your day is blessed,

Heather

I am sorry this is a bit long, but I combined the morning and afternoon service into one – as Pastor Don covered much of the same, but with extra points. I could not see how to divide this without hurting the flow, so forgive. But also please read to the end there are some wonderful truths about water and types of water that are exciting. I promise the next entry will not be so long!

Pastor Don told us that when Jesus was crossing Samaria he had a divine appointment so that the Gospel wold flow through the Samaritans. God cares about everyone. The Jews of Jesus’ day did not like the Samaritans. But Jesus entered Samaria for this divine appointment. Jesus was hungry and sent his disciples to get food. As he sat down by the well in the heat of the day, at siesta time, a woman with a bad reputation came to the well to draw water. All the other women looked down on her, so she came in the heat of the day to avoid their looks. She did not want to have to face the sisters’s looks which could be rough.

The woman sees a Jewish man. Jesus would have been easily identifiable as Jewish because of his clothes, his hair would have been short and his sideburns long, and his beard would not be cut on the sides. And then Jesus asks her, “Give me a drink.”

Her response was, “What???” See the Jews called the Samaritans dogs, and went out of their way to avoid them. But Jesus spoke with her in spite of the prejudice of the day.

Pastor Don told us that there is prejudice today in the Body of Christ. We need water from God. Now the truth is that we need more from God than He needs from us. There are parts that we lack, and we need water.

The well that Jesus was at was Jacob’s Well. And Jesus asks the woman this provocative question, “If you knew the one who is asking, He would give you living water.” (paraphrase) That question sparked this woman’s interest, it wasn’t hype, it was knowledge and a presence of mind.

The unsaved are not to be looked down upon, because it was only a few minutes or seconds (God’s time) before that we were unsaved. We need to have consideration for the unsaved, for those who drink natural water and then get thirsty again. Sometimes people do not know that they are thirsty. They go out and get hit by the world and end up thirsty again.

Jesus tells the woman, “Come here, I have water that you need.”

We look at the convenience store (of religions and philosophies) with all the choices and we get confused. We forget the ONE that we can go to for help. We so often do not go to Him because we are so busy drinking the waters of the world.

Sometimes we think that what we need is Pastor Don when we get struck with a major problem in our life, but really Pastor Don should be our second call. God should be our first.

When water is mentioned in the Bible there are many meanings for it. It can be water, sometimes it refers to people and nations (seas). And Pastor Don asked us what kind of water are you?

When Jesus was at the well looking for someone to pour out a drink of something to quench His physical thirst, he was pouring out of His belly Living Water that would change the Samaritan woman for life.

Some people wear the badge “Born Again.” But what does it mean? Others find being born again an insulting idea. Does it produce change in lives? How does it occur? If we try to attain salvation through works or logic we are in trouble. Some of our thoughts are not Biblical, so we have to begin to look at salvation and what the Living Water is by reading John 3.

We look at Nicodemus to begin to understand the water. (Heather’s comment: I still chuckle when I think of a teaching where another pastor referred to this chapter about Nicodemus as “Nick at night.”) Nicodemus was a wise man but he too needed a drink at the fountain of living water. He needed to be born again of Spirit and of Water.

This Water was not the ambiotic fluid nor was it natural water.

It was not water baptism which is natural water. Pastor Don told us that in baptism you get wet. Some come out changed saints, but others come out wet and still sinners.

The Bible is its own dictionary. Pastor Don told us that we need to also understand some words in context of the culture of the time. For example when Jesus told people it was harder for a rich man to enter Heaven than it was for a camel to go through the eye of the needle. Jesus was not talking about a sewing needle, but of a low gate in a city. When a trader wanted to come into the city, the trader had to get off the camel, take the merchandise off the camel’s back and the camel would crawl through this low gate on its knees. The guards would search the merchandise to make sure that there was no weapons or forbidden items in the merchandise. Then the merchandise was sent through the low gate and reloaded on the camel.

If we spoke to the people in Jesus’ time and talked about putting on our Nikes (sneakers) they would wonder what that meant, for Nike was a Greek god and we would have to explain that term to them.

John 3:1-2 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemus realizes that Jesus did miracles, signs and wonders. Sickness is not from God. The devil will put sickness on you, and sometimes he removes it to put worse on you, and kill you. Only God completely removes sickness. Sometimes God will permit satan to let sickness come on you if He can’t get your attention another way. But it is not God who gives us TB or cancer. God wants us to change, and would prefer that we do it in obedience to Him, not having to be taught through trials and tribulations.

God is a loving father. If our earthly kids are disobedient, we don’t put cancer on them. We will correct them, but lovingly. Somehow we have this mistaken idea that God is the author of sickness and disease but that isn’t so.

Yes, God will permit certain things. Kind of like we as parents, after telling our kids over and over that they have to do their homework or fail, if our kids persist in not doing homework, we may step aside and let them see the consequences of disobedience, and let them go ahead and do the stupid thing. But then God and we as parents tell our kids, “I’ll be right here when you get back.” God would not be a good parent if He let us persist in our sins.

If a person is 25 years old, a diabetic, and their body is a mess. They aren’t eating right and exercising, it isn’t God that put diabetes on the person, but their poor life style choices.

So often we blame God for what we put on ourselves. We get mad at the wrong person – instead of being mad at God, be mad at satan. (Heather’s comment, I spent years mad at God and it took a long time for me to realize who I really should have been mad at.)

Our bodies are programmed to fall apart. If we live long enough we will die, but the less damage we do to our bodies the better the quality of life we will have.

We often ask why stuff happens and how stuff happens, and what is God’s part in it? We can ask God to heal us of unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, anger, and any negative attitudes. We need to forgive others or God will not forgive our sins. Remember, the devil wants to pull us off course so that he can kill, steal and destroy.

Nicodemus was a ruler with biblical authority. Jesus was not popular with the other Judges, so Nicodemus came to Jesus in secret at night.

John 3:3-5 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Notice the order – First Water, then Spirit. This is the water from the Kingdom of God. Jesus told people that the Kingdom of God was at hand. It is here, now, on earth. Many are stuck in the physical and can’t see the Kingdom of God, for they are still blinded. It is when we become born again that we begin to see the Kingdom of God.

Pastor Don grew up in a Baptist Church, and he says that you did not see many signs and miracles. One Sunday one of the Sisters started jumping up and down and praising God. The other Sisters took her into the Sunday school room and held her down. Pastor Don’s mom was organist (his father was Pastor), and Pastor Don told us that he went up to his mom and asked if she was having a fit? His mom told him that she was, “happy.” He decided that everybody in the church was depressed and something came into the church and people got “happy.”  Pastor Don saw that some people didn’t like it when people got “happy.” When a new pastor came to the church, the people who got “happy” started being put in the back of the church, then later up in the rear of the choir loft, and after awhile they stopped coming to that particular church. Pastor Don realized that this pastor thought that being “happy” was that a person was demon possessed, and he wondered by this new pastor didn’t drive the devil out like Jesus did. Instead the pastor drove the person out. It wasn’t until much later that Pastor Don realized that the “happy” person was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Don began to ask why does everything spiritual that happens in the church have to be something that we approve of? We approve of what we understand. But God does supernatural and natural things that we don’t understand. We have driven out the supernatural and created a church that we understand, that meets our agenda. There must be three songs sung, the pastor begins speaking at 11:17, and can only preach 10 minutes, then there is the offering and the prayer, and we have to be out immediately at 12 because everyone has things to do. That is not God’s plan for worship.

Nicodemus came to Jesus. He knew that something was special about Jesus. He didn’t need a bachelor’s degree to see that the Kingdom of God was functioning in Jesus.

John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Being born of the spirit cannot be explained with the flesh. We can’t see it, and we can’t understand with our flesh. It is a Spirit to spirit thing. 

John 3:9-13 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

We aren’t going to get salvation from buddha or mohammed.

The key is John 3:14-17 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Nicodemus was missing what it takes to be Born Again. Signs and wonders were available to the Jews even in Moses’ day, but signs and wonders did not help the Jews to see the truth,. In fact the Jews still went after idols even with the incredible signs and wonders that they experienced. Something had to take the spiritual blinders off of their eyes. 

If we are brought into a room and the lights are turned out, we are blinded. We need to stand still and take the little bit of light that we have and realize that it can be sufficient for what we have to do. Then God will give us more light. Nicodemus is Spiritually Blind and thinks that if he receives a little light he’ll be ok and get by.  We too think a little light is ok, but then the unexpected death comes, an evil report from the doctor comes, the husband/wife leaves, and a spirit of depression comes and the light goes out. We need that little bit of light to hold on to and then He gives us more light and magnifies it.

When we are Born Again we are exposed to faith by being in the Word of God, and we take a little bit of faith over and over again and one day we will have greater faith. As we recall when God has shown up in our lives, we remember experienced faith and that gives us strength to hold on in the tough circumstances. We are all given a little faith, the size of a mustard seed, and that is sufficient. We build that faith with our experience. Faith isn’t hope or believing in faith, those are the antecedents of faith. Faith is I KNOW. I may not see, or smell, or have it, but I KNOW.  When we have I KNOW faith, no one can take it from us.

A person gets Born Again by Water and Spirit. When we spend more time in the Word we get the Water of the Word, and that gets us to faith, to what I KNOW. If you leave believing and faith you end up in doubt and unbelief. We cannot listen to the report of the world. Just because Uncle Jimmy died from diabetes, does not mean that we have to. We need to get ourselves from unbelief, to hoping, to believing, to faith, and then to I KNOW IN FAITH…

God also needs our honesty. Don’t say you are believing in Faith, when you are really wishing and hoping. 

What is this Water?

1 Peter 1:22-23 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

The water is the Word of God. We have a choice to hear and reject or to hear and believe. When we hear and believe, the Spirit of God comes in and changes our situation. We can then become pregnant with a godly idea, a hope, faith. The Spirit of God is within me and that can produce real change. Drink the Word of God.

Ephesians 5:25-26 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.

Pastor Don told us that he he has learned that if something is wrong with his wife or kids it is his fault, for he hasn’t taken the responsibilities of being head of the family properly. He hasn’t taught the godly teachings necessary to produce change. He needs to love his wife, meet her needs and see her with the eyes of compassion, showing mercy and kindness. We are set apart by the Word of God, and when the Word of God is poured over him, his wife and his family real change comes. We are washed and sanctified by the Word of God.

The Water is the inspired Word of God. Nothing grows unless you put water (the Word) on it. We need to hear a Word from Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Spiritual Maturity is when you speak forth a Word of Life instead of garbage, gossip, put downs, impurity and darkness. We are told that rivers of water will flow, gushing out sweetness and good Words of life, not words of darkness.

Pastor Don started thinking about the different kinds of water that are mentioned in the Bible, wells, flood, streams, etc. and began looking up passages about those kinds of waters to see what was taught. Here is a summary.

Rivers are divine blessings with restorative power.

Living water, divine life giving words, hope, life restoring, and giving birth and hope.

Streams and brooks – are little rivers, a little stream if it keeps flowing can become part of a raging river. The Hudson River that flows both was, started in the Hudson Bay. Even though the tide comes in with each successive tide something floating in the river will ultimately make it to the ocean.

Little streams and brooks are for divine refreshing and encouragement, even though it is not yet the big river (Holy Ghost). Some people you just have need to be flowing with because they give you words of refreshing and encouragement.

Wells, pools and clouds are reservoirs or holding places of inner Spiritual things. Water for someone to draw from us.

In our discipline we refresh and encourage, but some of us are too shallow or narrow in thinking about the Lord, that what we do is we come to the water only thinking of me, me, me. Not thinking about what can I do for somebody.

Cesspools, collected darkness, evil,  2 Peter 2:17-22  These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

Pastor Don mentioned latrines which are holes in the ground that nasty waste is deposited in. If you get latrine duty you have to take white lime powder and cover up the nasty stuff with the white powder. But no matter how much white stuff you put on top, the nasty stuff is still there.

When we are known by people beyond the Church, we want them to come to us for refreshing water. We don’t want to be stagnant pools of no refreshing. The only way to clear a stagnant pool is to wash it with water, such as a brook flowing through the pool.

Pastor Don said that sometimes he does a demonstration of having muddy water in a glass and he pours fresh water into the muddy water. The more fresh water that is poured in the cleaner the muddy water becomes as the mud spills out of the glass. Enough clean water and the muddy water inside of the glass is changed to clear and refreshing water.

Jesus wants to get the dirt out of our lives and He does it by dunking us in clean water, pouring in the Word of life so that the sin flows out. When a sinner comes to our church we don’t have to beat them over the head by detailing all of their sins to them. We need to keep giving them fresh water of the Word of God, and the sin will flow out.

Pastor Don also told us that we need to go to him if someone in church is hurting us and our efforts to settle the situation does not work. Instead of leaving the church in a huff, go to Pastor Don so he knows that some clean water needs to be poured into the situation. Pastor Don will not beat up either party in the dispute, but he will show the love of God and the Word of God to help clear the situation.

Iron sharpens iron, and we sharpen each other in love so that we are all purified water, not a reservoir of death. God loves us so much that He wants us to give us Living Water, so that death in you is forced out.

We need to examine ourself on a regular basis to see where we need Living Water. We also need to pour out the Living Water to others and that leaves us open to receive more Living Water. If someone speaks nasty to you, don’t fire back a nasty statement to them. Storm the gates of hell by pouring out the clean water of the Word of God, so that the situation gets changed by the washing of the Word. This challenges people who walk around claiming that they are members of the Church, for it shows them that they have to step up to the plate and walk in response to the Word of God.

If someone is trying to get you to gossip, don’t go there. Jesus had to take a whole lot of stuff, and He poured out love and the Living Word. we need to imitate Jesus and pour out fresh clean Water..

We’ve all had bad days, have been too busy, and had a lot of things going on in our lives. When trouble comes the first thing we do is call the secretary and get an appointment with pastor. While pastor is glad to see you, he also knows that often people have not been reading their Bibles and getting in the Word of God. We need to drink a fresh Word from God, and often that will ease our situations.

What have we made idols in our lives, idols that come before God? Is it our car? Our TV? Money and things? We work so hard to achieve finances to support our idols, so why can we not also make time to spend time with God and fill ourselves with His Word? We need a Holy Ghost encounter, we need a drink. Sometimes we need a more creative idea and need to draw from a new pool. Get over to the river and drink more. Stop complaining and whining..

Some people are praying for prosperity, and they feel they are so close, but they don’t have prosperity. Pastor Don asked, “What are you going to do in the meantime?” We need to remind ourselves that Jesus is Lord, that He will help, and get over yourself. Begin to work at getting out of debt, follow Jesus’ principles. And try to figure out what you can do for the Lord. And serve others in the meantime.

In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about the 10 virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. All ten were asleep when the Bridegroom came, and when they heard the noise of His coming they rose to light their lamps. Only five wise virgins had oil to light their lamps, but they did not give oil to the foolish. The foolish went to buy oil, and the wise went in with the bridegroom. When the foolish returned, the gates were already closed.

We want to be like the wise virgins. The oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. Like the wise virgins, we need to stay steeped in the Word of God, the river of life and let His Spirit flow through us, because we want to be prepared. When He comes we don’t want our streams to be clogged up with self, we want to have His Spirit of Living Water flowing through us. We want to be ready for the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

In the Bible 50% of the saints will be ready, and 50% won’t be. Are all the virgins saints? Yes. But not all will be ready when the Bride groom comes to take away His bride. When Christ comes for the rapture, the dead in Christ will come with Him in the clouds (for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord). Then in a twinkling of an eye, 1/ 11,000 of a second, we will be changed. We want to be prepared for our Bridegroom by the washing of the Word of God.

Unfortunately, everybody that calls themselves “Christian” will not be caught up and changed in that twinkling of the eye, for Jesus tells us only 50% will be ready, the rest will stay through the Great Tribulation.

When that time comes we will be going shoulder to shoulder with Peter, James and John, and Pastor Don asked us how our life matches up with them? We need to position ourselves. Yes, Jesus loves us, and we are saved through His shed blood (No one on earth can save us, not budda or Obama or Clinton). But now that we have that wonderful gift of salvation, what are we going to do with it. Are we going to be wise virgins or foolish virgins?

We need to get ourselves into the flowing river of Life, the Word of God, and let the Word change us. The good news is that it is not too late. The difference between the foolish virgins and the wise virgins is how we go through trials and testing. Do we praise the Lord? Do we seek to wash ourselves in the Word of God and learn from our trials and tests?

Pastor Don told us that we need to pray, “Lord make me a river so that I can spill out on everybody. Help me to be a fountain of living water, bursting forth for His purpose.”

We need to stir up the faith with us. When we stir up the faith we aerate the water, and it spreads out. The Holy Ghost can take that purified water and pour it out of you to touch other lives.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather