On our Friday Bible studies we have been going over in detail the elementary principles of our faith as listed in Hebrews 6:1-3 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.

We have been reading in 1 Corinthians 15, and it is there that we continued.

1 Corinthians 15:40-41 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 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.

Everybody doesn’t shine the same, and that is the same for the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

We are human and faced with sin situations, and our bodies are in corruption, but when we are raised we no longer have corruption, but are in incorruptible bodies.

1 Corinthians 15:43-44 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.

Our Spirit has a body. The Spirit of your body changes. Jesus walked the walk, dying on the Cross for us, and because of His sacrifice, the physical body is no longer subject to disease and death.

1 Corinthians 15:45-46 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

The spiritual is not first. What was first was that God THOUGHT  before He spoke.  God thought about the Spirit and the Spiritual aspect of God’s thinking, then He spoke it into existence. In man the spiritual is not first, first comes the natural, then the spiritual.  Our flesh nature is the first to emerge. The law teaches us right and wrong, then we have the Spiritual when we accept Christ into our lives.

The first Adam was physical, the first living, then we had the Second Adam, Jesus Christ who was spiritual.

Someone asked about the law and when is a person accountable.

Romans 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

The physical is first, the natural man is sinful but does not know the spiritual holy state without the law to instruct  him.

Romans 7:8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

Once the law is known, the natural man says, let me violate that.

Romans 7:9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

Pastor Don asked us when we were alive without the law, wanting those who did not know the answer to try and figure it out. The conclusion was reached when we were a little child we did not know the law, so what was done was not done deliberately but in ignorance of the law. A child does not know right from wrong. When a child grows old enough to comprehend right from wrong and the law, then God will hold them accountable.

When it says, “alive once,” that is because the wages of sin is death and at that time, before  the law is known, there is no wall of separation between me and God. When sin rises up in us, we die and then we need to be born spiritually. First the natural, then the spiritual.

Jesus did not come to do away with the law and the Covenant, but to show that the law could be lived on the earth. Jesus was found without fault.

One of the most misapplied scriptures is what Jesus said in Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Pastor Don explained that we are not to judge unless we are ready to be judged.

1 Corinthians 15:47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.

We are dust – in both the Greek and Hebrew, it is like a clay with full spectrum of color, white to black and all colors in between. So the issue of races is not appropriate for the first Adam was all. We are one nation of color. Paul, who was a darker skin person, may have used this also to defend his identity.

1 Corinthians 15:48-49 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Pastor Don’s comment about this was, “This is shouting ground.”

We then read the rest of the chapter.

1 Corinthians 15:50-55 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Someone asked about the Lake of Fire and the end times, and judgment. Pastor Don gave a brief explanation, but spoke very fast. I took down all that I could.

Death itself will be sent to the Lake of Fire. Hades is another word for hell. God did not make hell for men. The only ones going to hell are the ones who want to. We will be changed to supernatural beings. There will be emotions, Isaiah shows us that the Spirit has emotions. There is a millennial reign, the spiritual flesh is not subject to the work of the devil. On earth there will be those who are not ungodly. They will have heard the truth, know the truth, but were not living by that. They still have unrepented issues and continue to do acts that show that they have not made Jesus the Lord of their life.

In order to go up in the rapture, our robes need to be pure, clean, righteous, and holy, and looking for the return of the Lord with enough Holy Ghost so that they are not habitually bound. Those with unrepented issues, captive to actions of the flesh, bound by perversions, will not, although saved, go up in the rapture. They will be like the foolish virgins who did not have oil in their lamps. The third group are the sinners who don’t care, don’t have the robes of righteousness, and do not want God in their lives, they have refused and rejected the gospel. They will not be raptured.

Those who have accepted God will hopefully repent during the tribulation and be saved. The sad news is that there is nothing in the Bible that says that any Gentile sinners who refused God before the rapture will repent and get saved during the tribulation. They will listen to the lies of the antichrist.

The Jews will be saved, and Paul tells us that that is a mystery, and he doesn’t know how, but there will be a remnant of saved Jews on the earth.

Ezekiel talks about the dead bones and God asks him if they can live again. In the last days God will breathe on them, and they will have new skin and God will put the Word in their heart. Therefore at the resurrection of the dead, lots of Jews after going through the tribulation will be saved. They had not been living godly lives, had fallen into ungodly ways, but they will be changed.  Hebrews 6 spells it out, that the Jews and the group that is known as the friends of the bride groom will be saved, the rest will be cast to outer darkness for they hate God.

Isaiah 40, God talks about how he hates divorce. Because of unbelief he gave blindness to the Jews to raise the gentiles to salvation. God cannot lie. He has said that He will never leave or forsake the Jews, so they are blinded for a time. In Revelation it talks about 144,000 Jews who preach the Gospel with signs and wonders. We are not to listen to false teachings from some of the cults about the 144,000. If you notice, the 144,000 are pulled from the 12 tribes of Israel. Why would God go to the trouble and identify them as tribes if the Jews were not to be saved?

Pastor Don then stopped this discussion and spoke about the discerning of spirits that he spoke on in the previous Bible study, since it is basically the same teaching as the previous two studies, in my next entry, I am only going to include those notes, that add new information to the previous posts.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather

Pastor Don continued his teaching, see first part here.

Remember that Pastor Don has been talking about how we are all part of the Body of Christ and the gifts of the Spirit are meant to edify the Body of Christ – and – since we are part of that Body, we also need to use that discernment on ourselves so that we can better ourselves and contribute in more effective ways to the Body of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

We are new creations in Christ, and to know what that entails we have to have the implanted word in us. How can we act as new creations in Christ if we do not have His Word in us to show us what that is. (Heather’s note, here is a list of Who Am I In Christ that will help.)

We spent some time looking at James 1:23-24  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

If we observe our natural face and walk away, we forget what we are supposed to see that was ingrafted. In the natural we all let other people define you. But as a Child of God, we need to let God define who we are. God knows all the things we are afraid to reveal to others. We can walk away from the mirror and don’t have to be afraid.

Pastor Don talked about a person who goes to a party that is shy, and has believed that they make a good wallflower. He said that if they are afraid of strangers they will probably hide and try to not be noticed. The devil likes to keep you hiding, and feeling out of control, and fearful. If you believe you are a new creation in Christ Jesus, you will begin to believe that you do not need to hide. You can go to the middle of the room and interact with people, and begin to realize that you do not have to fear and hide.  You can step away from the natural man image and begin to believe the truth of the supernatural image provided by God, ultimately becoming the life of the party.

People (like family, friends, teachers) have helped to form you, and have taught you that you are what you have become, but they did not raise you in the truth of the Word of God, and now that you are a new creation in Christ, you have to begin to replace the lies with the truth of God.

Pastor Don told us that his parents were very firm on instructing him and his brother on not being prideful. They drummed that into them so much that it held him back. He stayed humble to such a point that it interfered with what God had planned for him. Pastor Don said that for a long time he did not know how to promote himself. He had to work beyond that in order to do what God wanted him to do.

We need to perceive ourselves. We need to begin to ask ourselves questions like, “Why did I respond in that situation with unbelief? A born again person does not ask the Holy Spirit to help them with every decision in life, but if they did their choices might be radically different. We need to ask ourselves am I perceiving who I WAS or WHO GOD HAS SAID THAT I AM?

Am I living God’s possibility or doing what I am doing because that is the way I was brought up?

James 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

It is a perfect law of liberty, and we are free. So often we think the law binds us, but God provided the law to preserve our liberty. We need to be doing the work, not just hearing and forgetting. We don’t have to listen to anyone else’s image of us, but just what God has for us. When we try to act on our own we mess up. All it takes is to remember how far God has brought us.  We are not saved by works, but as we are born again, we know that we want to do the work that God has for us, for we know that His plans for us are in our best interest.

James 1:26-27  If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

We do not want to forget who we are in Christ. The work that we are to do is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, but still to reach out and visit and help others.

Pastor Don told us that we need to remember who we are in Christ and act on that so that we can operate all the gifts that God has for you.

Someone asked Pastor Don how can you determine by self discernment if what is affecting you is of God or is from satan. He pointed out that that is why you have to discern yourself, and why you have to know the Word of God. If you can’t locate what you are hearing in the Word of God, then you know that it is not from God because the Spirit and the Word must agree. We do not want to act on a word that makes us only feel good, because we do not only get supernatural words from God, but satan tries to throw in his lies. And as we discern we need to choose our behavior based on what the Word of God says, not on our emotions.

That being said, there are times when we do feel emotions. For a time period the Body of Christ was taught that it was evil to discern emotions, but we also want to locate ourself emotionally. We want to know if certain feelings are the residue of things that were placed in us by others. For example, we want to ask ourselves, if we fear others, why do we have a fear of people and end up in a corner? And then we can find out that maybe we were brought up on years of rejection and just fell for the belief that there was need to fear. And satan wants you to feel that, for if you fear other people you are useless to the Kingdom of God. If you are hungry to serve God, and you fear people, it is not helpful to God. It is important to know who you are in Christ, even if you are bad at doing what it says. Because the more we speak who we are in Christ, the more we will come in line with that.

We also want to check ourselves to know where we are. Are we getting people upset all the time? Are we not acting in accord with the Word of God? How can we flow in the gifts of the Spirit if we don’t discern ourselves?

We need to discern what is moving us, what is making us uptight. Demons can’t read our mind, but they can read our actions and if we are out of control it shows them where they can affect our lives. If you are continuously depressed the demons will come and help you along. If you look at someone with lust in your eyes, you’ll get some help.

Pastor Don gave us an example of discerning the spirits.

Acts 5:1-5 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.

And then his wife also lied to the Holy Spirit, Acts 5:9-10 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.

Ananias and Sapphira messed up greatly. They didn’t discern who they were and pretended to be something that they were not. They promised to give something to God, but God had not required that they give it. When they sold their property, they changed their minds about giving it all to God so they kept some for themselves. God did not have a problem with them not turning everything over to Him, but what they did that was wrong was that they pretended that that was what they were doing. They lied to themselves, to the Holy Spirit and to the Body of Christ. Had they told the truth, said that they changed their minds about pledging all to God, that would have been ok.

Elliott Spitzer was not the person who he claimed to be. He persecuted severely people who broke the law, persecuted those in the stock market. But then he spent over $80,000 on hookers, and broke the law.

Pastor Don told us that we have to learn to discern who we are and then ask God for wisdom, knowledge, spiritual gifts to overcome those things that are not pleasing to God. Often we don’t ask because we want to pretend that we are fine. If we are in error, God wants us to “fess” up. God has a heart for salvations, he has a heart for the sick, for drug abusers, little neglected kids, and any others who have need of Him.

When we get out of sight of the mirror we forget who God says we are. When that happens we have to keep going on with the program and keep reminding ourselves of the truth. If we are the same person we were last year, we have messed up. God is a God of inflation. everything gets bigger and better.

All we have to do is ask, discern where we are and make changes.

Acts 16:16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

As they were going to prayer a slave girl who did fortune telling met them.

Acts 16:17  This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”

Paul and Silas did not realize that what was happening was wrong yet. She was speaking the truth, and they did not perceive that it was a spirit of divination.

Acts 16:18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.

This went on for many days. Her message did not change, but Paul’s discernment of her changed. She was not speaking lies, but a lying spirit doesn’t speak a bold faced lie. It tells the truth until the right moment to slip in a lie and mess up the saints. A lying spirit will tell the truth over a period of time and people will begin to believe the lying spirit, and then when a lie is told, people will be tricked into believing it.

Church people can get seduced by the truths told by demons, but at the end of the truth is a lie. And it can be over little things too.  Pastor Don gave an example. Your mamma tells you not to play in the rain because you will catch a cold. She told the truth, partial truth, but left out that you will not ALWAYS catch a cold in the rain, but if your immune system is weak then you may get a cold. This is the same with lying spirits. They will tell you THE TRUTH, but not all the information. If you don’t catch a cold then you might think your mamma’s a liar, and that is what satan wants you to think.

The devil will tell you a truth, but he will not tell you the truth to set you free. He went back to the example of a person who is told to watch out for strangers. They come to a party and see a lot of strangers, so they hide in a corner. The devil puts it in their mind that the strangers might not like you, so you stay in the corner feeling bad because of “who you think you are.” I am shy you tell yourself, but that is not true you are a Child of God.

Don’t forget 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

We need to throw off the old man and step into the new man. If we let God in, we can remake who we are and make some changes in our lives. Without a relationship with God, we can’t discern ourselves and the Spirit.

The evil spirit can prophesy about you and you will believe the lie. None of us will grow up until we face the lies and step into who we are in Christ. Then we can get freed of the lies. Those who convinced us of the truth of those lies have created us in the image of those lies, and we need to break out of the lies and go to a mountain top experience of who we are in Christ.

Pastor Don told us that those who can get this can be freed from many things that have bound them in the past. I pray that this is as freeing for you as it is for me. It is so easy to get sucked into lies that hold us back, and I don’t want to do anything that keeps me from doing what God wants me to do. Hope your week is blessed.

Heather

This is such a impacting Bible study that I pray many read it and are blessed.

We are all Spirits who live in bodies and have living souls. As such we need to learn to discern the Spirit and to discern ourselves. In mirror experiences we see ourselves clearly but we don’t take the time to examine the screen.

1 Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant

We have spiritual gifts, and Paul does not want the believer to be ignorant.

1 Corinthians 4-11 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

The Spirit mentioned here is the Holy Spirit. The God has ordained that we are to have these gifts.  Jesus went to the cross to give gifts to men.  Ephesians 4:7-8 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “ When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

There are 9 gifts in operation (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues). These are given individually to the individual to operate for the sake of the Kingdom. But they don’t operate in all the people all the time. And an Apostle (sent one) can operate in all of these gifts at various times.  Christ operated in all 9 gifts.

The gifts are given as the Holy Spirit wills. We are given these gifts for ministry purposes. God can use an idiot. He can use a donkey, to get His message across. Because we operate in a gift does not make us better than another because we, through the power of the Holy Spirit do a miracle, sign and wonder. We were just used by the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

We are all members in one Body, and as the Spirit wills the gifts can come to reside and stay and a person can step into an office for the Body of Christ.  For example, if a person prophesies a lot, the Spirit may place him into the office of a prophet.

There is a problem though, if a person does operate in one gift, people think that they also operate in all the others. You can come to have a gift of prophesy but not be able to apply or advise about the prophesy with a Word of Knowledge. So a person in the office of prophet can give a prophesy, but if they interpret the prophesy, they may interpret it wrong. (Heather’s note, I was just reading a passage that gives a good example of this, Acts 21:10-14   And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”  Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.” The prophesy was true that Paul would be brought to Jerusalem, and the people in error told Paul not to go there, but Paul, who was shown by Jesus what he must do, went to Jerusalem to his death. Had he listened to the wrong word of wisdom from the prophet he would have been outside of God’s will.)

Someone who has a word of knowledge does not necessarily have the gift of prophesy.  Some are prophets that can give prophetic revelations to others, but their personal lives are out of control. Some people operating in a gift do not discern themselves, and their personal life is riddled with problems. Some can discern a move of God, but that doesn’t mean that they can apply it to their lives. Some can discern the presence of God or get a Word of God, but still not apply it to their lives.

You can receive a powerful vision but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can balance your checkbook. Elliot Spitzer was powerful in courts of justice, but he lacked sexual control on the home front.

We want God to reveal our problems to us so that we can see our selves with discernment. Pastor Don had us read the verse that tells us that the gifts are for the profit of all, and we as individuals are part of the “all” in all. So besides using the gifts to edify the Body of Christ, we can also use the same spiritual gifts to edify and discern ourselves. We can use the gift of healing, tongues, wisdom, etc. for our own benefit too. Verse 11 tells us “distributing each one individually as He wills.” Why would the Father not will for us to operate in healing or a word of wisdom to benefit ourselves?

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.

We are to desire spiritual gifts. We speak in tongues and we can pray to interpret what is said in tongues for the benefit of all, but also, if we are by ourselves speaking and praying in tongues, why would God not want us to ask for an interpretation for ourselves?

1 Cor. 14:14-15 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.

If we pray in tongues, pray to interpret, and we will benefit if we pray to interpret when we are praying by ourselves in tongues. God not only wants us to benefit the Body of Christ, but also to benefit ourselves.  We can operate in all the gifts in the group, but also in isolation. And the words, “with all,” also includes ourselves, and can be reduced to me.

Pastor Don said that when the Holy Spirit wants to talk to me, why not. He is my Father, and we should be getting personal words from the Lord. Tongues and interpretations, words of wisdom and knowledge. As long as we can discern ourselves we can discern if God is speaking, and if God has something to do in His individual relationship with me. God talks within us to communicate. And He will also use me to operate individually for my benefit. What good is a prophet who prophesies for the Church but doesn’t get his own life straightened out?

For example, the prophet Balaam. God opened his eyes and used a donkey to get his attention focused on God.

There are individuals in the Church who can’t place themselves, or discern themselves, so they rely on others to reflect to them, and the problem is, those others are not always in the spirit, and when they minster to the person, if the person can’t discern themselves, the prophetic words may be wrongly spoken, spoken out of season, or the wrong word entirely, and that will not do the work that God wanted to happen.

Sometimes there are people who operate in the spiritual gifts and people make the mistake of thinking that they are always operating in that gift, but that is not the case. So when they say something from the flesh, not under the unction of the Spirit, we place too much value on the fleshly words and can get misled.

Self discernment is a gift from God. If we are sick in our body, we can discern the reason for our sickness. Healing can come by individual confession, getting into the Spirit and having the Spirit minister the gift of faith to me, for me. The Spirit can give us discernment of what’s really going on so that we can get our healing.

Pastor Don told us to pray for discernment so that we can know for ourself what is interfering with our healing. When we are in relationship with God, the gifts are in operation, and we can discern ourselves, and ask God to increase our gift of faith. Pray to discern your Spirit.

James 1:4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

We are to be lacking nothing. God does not want us to lack discernment of ourselves.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

This is a prerequisite for verse 6

James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

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.

God is not asking for blind faith, or faith that has no basis. We have experiences together with God, and then our faith is built, and as we grow in Him, we have a reason to trust. Who are we going to trust, God or ourselves? We have to discern where we are in faith. Sometimes in our hearts we have areas that we try to keep God out of, and some only trust God for what they “feel” God can do. If they doubt they are like a wave tossed by the wind, they have to anchor their faith in God and trust God.

James 1:7-8 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Sometimes we ask ourselves how did this happen? How did we get so far out from under the truth of God? If we are double minded there is no stability.

James 1:12-15  Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

When we have a desire conceived it equals sin. We need to not be pulled from God by our fleshly desires, for once we conceive it in our mind, we act on it. It is our own desires that pull us away from the truth of God.

James 1:16-17 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

We don’t know what a good gift is unless we discern ourselves.  For example, Pastor Don asked us if we have ever overeaten? Most of us have had a time when we ate way too much and suffered the discomfort that comes from overeating. He then asked us, “Is God good?” Yes. Does He provide good food for us? Yes Does that mean that when we overeat that God has given us bad food and that is why we have the problems connected with overeating? No. When you overate, did you DISCERN that he didn’t provide ALL the food for you, that you don’t have to eat it all. You may have a buffet in front of you, but you do not have to eat everything on the buffet.  If you overeat your senses are dulled. So you need to discern yourself to know how full you are or are not. If more food comes, you need to ask yourself if you want to eat it or not. Ask yourself what am I doing to myself if I overeat?

James 1:21 AMP So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.

Pastor Don pointed out that it is the implanted Word, some translations call it the ingrafted Word. He said that we won’t have the implanted Word inside of us unless we spend time in the Word of God. If there is no Word inside of you, you will have a hard time calling up your miracle. This can cause some delay. Some do not want to deal with their spiritual nature, and postpone knowing the Word, preferring to have a hedonistic lifestyle. We need to spend time in the Word, if it is just read a few times it is not sufficient. The Word needs to be implanted to grow.

Pastor Don said that we need to develop a system to get the Word inside of us. He said that some put their scriptures on 3 x 5 cards and memorize them, some write the verses over and over, some write with soap on a mirror. But the more Word that we memorize, when we get under pressure, then Word comes out.

He also told us that our fathers and mothers help us to become who we are. They are someone outside of you that describes you and helps form how you discern yourself.  Some descriptions are positive, some negative or nothing, and what is said over you becomes part of your internal dialogue. If the messages are not Godly, you need to replace them with what God says about you.

James 1:22-24 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

How can you be a doer of the Word if you do not have any implanted Word in you?  If you do not implant the Word in you, you will gravitate to what others discern about you. You won’t gravitate to the new you until you have implanted Word in you. When you have the implanted Word, you then can determine to do what the Word says and not fall back on your old patterns. The implanted Word will give you new discernment of yourself and you can step out in your Spirit nature.

When we get away from the mirror of truth without implanted Word we forget who we are and we revert to someone else’s discernment of you, and that creates a struggle. The problem for some is that they don’t want to look into the mirror and see God’s truth for them.

Some say, I love who I am in God because I don’t like who I am, I don’t measure up. They walk defeated, not victorious. We need to discern who we are in Christ and ask for the gifts we need to do what God shows us, and we can ask without reproach. We don’t have to fall for the mirror trick of forgetting who we are in Christ.

We need to be a hearer of the Word and a doer of the Word, of the ingrafted Word of God. That will give us proper discernment of ourselves, to be a doer of the implanted Word of God.

Pastor Don continued about who we are in Christ, and I will share that with you tomorrow.

I pray this blesses you, and that we live out the implanted Word of God in our lives today.

Heather

I typed the closed captioning for this show, and am sharing it with you as is. Remember what is in the brackets [] is what the congregation says.  If there are three dots…it means a pause. This is as close to being there as you can get. I hope you enjoy this sermon and I pray that you get loosed.  Heather

SAY AMEN

SHOW #94

Prelude to Passover

03/23/08

So even though I’m supposed to give you a passage of scripture from the time period that is associated with this, I’m going to give you the scripture that the Lord gave me to minister to you on.  And if you want to hear the sermon of the resurrected Lord, you’re going to have to come back in three weeks. [Amen, laughter]…I will be glad at the proper time to apply the proper message to the circumstance and situation …

The word, Easter, itself is a celebration of the goddess Eostre, it’s a pagan celebration that crept its way into Christianity in 325 AD. The powers that be under King Constantine, or Emperor Constantine if you will, decided to celebrate Easter instead of the Passover. Jesus is the Passover Lamb.  Passover is a month from now.  This year there is 28 days between the Easter celebration and Passover.  We need to realize that the egg and the baby chicks and the bunnies and all of that came from the pagan celebration, because she was the fertility goddess of the spring equinox and that happens to be right now.  And so those things crept into Christianity and they have absolutely nothing.  Can you say, “Absolutely nothing?” [Absolutely nothing.] to do with the risen Lord.  They don’t have anything to do with it.  If you don’t believe me, please check your history and you will see that the early church fathers celebrated the Passover.  Jesus came as the Passover Lamb on the 14th day of the Hebrew calendar of Nissan, and that’s when it was all…

So this, this pagan celebration we have to give some credence to it cause it’s a tradition of the Church, but it has no spiritual validity.  So, today here at Living Word Chapel, we’re very glad to see you!  [hallelujah]  We’re very glad to see all of you pagan celebrators.  [laughter]  And we welcome you in the name of Jesus the Christ who rose on Passover, not on Easter. 

But that doesn’t make you a bad person, because a few years ago I began to ask some questions.  The first question I asked was, “How come Easter doesn’t fall at the same time as Passover?”  Simple question.  So I just did the research only to find out that the Easter bunny and all of that, and the little colored eggs had nothing to do with the Lord that saved my life.  [Amen!]  Totally different.  

So, if you don’t mind, I have a story from the time period right in front which is where we should be, before.  And that would be the time period close to and approaching Passover.  And then all you have to do, I love you so much.  All you have to do is come back the next few Sundays and we’ll draw closer to the true celebration which is Passover and guess what.  We want to invite you to a Passover Seder so that you can see that Jesus the Messiah, who was a Jewish Messiah, is fully manifested in the Passover meal.  All the way from the time of Moses, Jesus was in that meal.  And He left a big tip after he ate.  [laughter]  Ok.  So, please, don’t be offended, don’t be upset, that the Easter bunny is not celebrated at the Living Word Chapel.  But think of this, maybe, by Divine Appointment, God led you here today so you could find that out.  [hallelujah] 

We still have a Sunrise Breakfast, but it’s not because Jesus rose at sunrise, we have the breakfast because Pastor Don loves to eat.  [laughter]  And so, we had a wonderful breakfast this morning.  I want to thank the team, they put out a sumptuous meal. [applause]…And God is happy anytime His children get together and praise Him.  So we were up on the mountain this morning at 25 degrees.  And we were singing praises to the Lord, and blowing the trumpet, and having a good time.  Alright? 

So let’s pray, and let’s get your Bible’s out.  Father, as we look into the Word, let every heart be lifted up.  Let every face, Lord, radiate with the reality that you are still God, You are still on the throne, and You love us immensely.  And it is Your desire, to untie us, and set us loose.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.  [Amen.] 

I want you to go to the 19th chapter of the book of Luke. I want to begin reading in verse 28 and then we want to dissect this as we get closer and closer to that great day.  The Apostles are coming upon the triumphant entry which we know as Palm Sunday, And in verse 28 it says, “When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying…” in verse 30, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Loose it and bring it here.  And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.”  So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of him.”  Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.  And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works… they had seen”… “for all the mighty works they had seen,,” …

I want to back up a little bit and look at verse 30 there, if you would.  It says, “…Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here.” verse 31 “And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.“ 

If we’re to break this down we see that the Lord is addressing something from a supernatural vantage point.  He is saying  that He has a purpose and a plan for unfolding this part of His ministry.  And it begins with His entrance into Jerusalem.  And He’s going to go into Jerusalem, and He is going to begin to establish His Kingdom.  He’s going to set up His Kingdom, Lord have mercy!… That’s why I’m smiling…Cause you all, you all are a part of it.  AMEN!  And so, as He’s going to do this, He requires something.  In this particular case, it says that He’s asking for them to go and loose and bring to Him a colt.

Well, in the King James and in the other scriptures it refers to it as what?  The people of His day called it an ass.  And an ass is a small donkey.  Anybody ever heard of a donkey?  [yes]  You know, it’s a small donkey, the funny thing is, why would the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, why would He want a donkey?  I mean, surely He’d want to ride in on a great steed, why would He ask to ride a little ass?  A little donkey?  If He’s the King of Kings why wouldn’t He ask for a horse?  This is why it it’s so important to understand what I am trying to say, I’m not trying to be dogmatic, or anti-tradition, but it’s these foolish gentile traditions that have kept us from knowing a Jewish King of Kings. 

And so, in our thinking, we would say, “Why didn’t He ride in on a horse?”  But the reality is, that the Jews of Jesus’ day, watch me carefully now, the Jews of His day, measured wealth not on the basis of how many shekels necessarily you had, but one thing was, if you were rich, you had lots of donkeys.  You didn’t have lots of horses, because the horse was the weapon of warfare.  But if you were rich and powerful, you wouldn’t traffic in horses unless you were in a condition of warfare. 

When Jesus comes back at the End of Days, as in the book of Revelation, He’s going to be coming riding on a horse.  Cause He’s coming to kick some devil butt.  [laughter]  So He’s going to be on a horse.  But at this particular time, He is coming as the King of Peace.  He is coming and He’s looking for donkeys, which donkeys represented wealth, because the rich and powerful of Jesus’ day wanted to ride on something that was sure footed and smooth.  And horses, by comparison to donkeys are clumsy.  They’re tall, they’re high up in the air, and they stumble on the rocks.  But a little donkey, can navigate the rocks easily once he is under the control of the Master.  I’m trying to preach here, someone.  

All you little donkeys [laughter]  you will be able to navigate the hard places once the Master is able to sit upon you and guide you, [hallelujah]  Lord have mercy!  I’m talking to somebody.  You see, Jesus is going to, at some point, come and ride a horse for war.  But in this particular case,  He is looking to show His wealth, to show His power, His success, because He’s going to come on a donkey.  But it’s a donkey that has never been ridden. 

But watch this, it’s a donkey that has surely been tied…The donkey has been tied up for a certain amount of time because he is under an owner.  And the owner has him tied up.  I don’t want to reduce you.  I love you.  I don’t want to reduce you to, you know, a four legged creature, but…[laughter]  but today, I’m doing you nice.  Jesus reduced you to being a sheep.  Not just a sheep, a dumb sheep.  I’m at least letting you be a sure footed donkey today. [laughter]  I’m pretty good.  I’m letting you off.  

So Jesus says to them, He tells them prophetically, He hasn’t entered the area yet, but He can see through the eye of the Word of Knowledge, and through the Eye of the Word of Wisdom, He not only sees in a vision because He’s standing in the office of the Prophet, He not only sees the donkey, but notice this one thing, He also sees the owner of the donkey as one that must yield…Lord, did you get that?  He not only sees the donkey, He sees the donkey as tied up, He sees the owner of the donkey, and He knows that the owner must yield to the Word of God which says, “The Lord has need of him.”  [amen] 

I want you to just picture yourselves now…Don’t look around, I’m just talking to you from my heart.  You cannot get set free until you will acknowledge  that you’ve been tied.  And every one of us in here, myself included, there was a time in my life when I was tied to some stuff.  And there was an owner, and whether I wanted to admit it or not, the devil had ownership over me.  When he wanted me to be lustful or foolish, I’d just do as he said.  When he wanted me to be dishonest, or trifling, you know the word trifling?  [no] You all don’t know the word trifling, huh?  You all ate them hominy grits like you know what the word trifling is.  [laughter]  But trifling means that in a given situation, you will make it worse instead of better.  Trifling means in a given situation of peace, you will cause a disturbance.  Trifling means that in given a good idea and a bad idea, you will somehow hope that the bad idea will turn into a good idea if you trifle with it…Can I use trifle like that?   I think I can. 

So what I want you to see is that you are tied to certain things.  Some of you are tied like I was.  You’re tied to a world view…You know, you’re tied to a world view.  What’s the difference between a new ager and, and, and a believer?  There’s, there’s just a difference of a world view, that’s all.  Most new age people are looking for God, they just don’t know where to look.  And so they trifling….You know, looking for something good, but you’re looking in the wrong place.  You create some problems.  Amen?  And so what we have to recognize from the Word of God is that we get tied to certain things.  We have certain attitudinal things. 

This political election has raised up some questions and one of the candidates has gotten into a problem because of the world view that his pastor had.  And people are trying to tie him to the world view of the pastor.  I’m trying to tie you to the world view of the Word.  [AMEN]  I’m not a political kind of guy, not interested in it, my politics are very simple.  Jesus is Lord.  [amen]…But there’s some people that are tied to politics.  They’re tied to the political outcome.  They’re thinking that somehow this election is really going to do something…We’re just going to switch one politician for another politician for another politician, for another one until the King of Kings comes, and there will be no politicians.  [yeah, amen] Moving right along…You all all right?  But see, some of you who are tied to your politics found that offensive.  Too bad for you.  [laughter]  You need to be untied.  You need to be loosed. 

And some of us get tied to, you know….I was reading a book this morning  about the errors of prophets.  Sometimes prophets get messed up because they get tied to a world view.  There’s this guy Balaam, and he got tied, he got his world view tied to the rich and the famous.  Where he desired some fame and some wealth and therefore even though he still prophesied right, watch me now.  He prophesied the right things.  He said what God said, but in his heart he desired what the world could offer…And so, because he desired what the world would offer, the Bible describes him as a false prophet, even though what he said was the real deal.  The Church needs to realize we have in our midst false prophets and all of them are not in the pulpit…We have some false prophets in the lobby. we have some false prophets in the parking lot.  We have some false prophets in our home.  We have some people who say they are Christians but are not.  We have some masqueraders who pretend and are not.  We have some donkeys who are still tied under the leadership of their owner…but guess what? 

I’ve got good news for you today. ..Jesus has need of you.  [amen]  As messed up and confused as you are, as tied to the wrong world view, as bound to Budweiser as you may be, as bound to trifling nature and messing up as you are, as bound to lust and sexual desires that just keep getting you in trouble…boy it’s getting quiet in here all of a sudden.  [laughter]  …We need to get some things right.  We have been so tied to our owners, in this case the devil in his way of thinking, we’ve been so tied to that, that we need to realize that Jesus is declaring in this day and this time,  it is time for us to get loosed from some of this thinking that has been a disaster. 

We need to get loosed from the thinking of the owner.  Most of the things he’s come up with do not work…And we need to accept that they  don’t work and move on… to being loosed.  Can you say, loosed? [loosed]  Come on, say it like you’re really free.  Loosed. [loosed]  Oh, I love it!  Say it again.  [loosed!]  Loosed.  You sound like Zulu’s. [laughter] Zulu warriors.  Come on say it again.  Loosed [loosed]  See, we need to get loosed from some ways of thinking.  We need to get loosed from some ideas. 

I was reading an article about Brett Favre, I love football, I’ve got nothing against Brett Favre,  but it says that all the churches in Milwaukee, where, what’s the name of the town?…Milwaukee, I’m right, Wisconsin.  [laughter]  Where the Packers play football.  It says that all of the churches, listen to me, this is funny, the churches have to adjust their church services to accommodate the football season, or else they’ll have no one in church.  [WOW] … See, some of you think I make this stuff up.  I don’t make this stuff up.  This is the way it is. 

Our world view is so dominated that we don’t know we’re tied…Good husbands are leaving good wives because they’ve watched so many soap operas and so much TV that they really think that the grass is greener on the other side.  I actually had a woman say to me, I’m leaving my husband.  Why are you leaving my husband?  I’m bored.  I said, “SO WHAT!!!  [amen]  Life has its boring days, weeks, years!   So you should be happy some stuff is bored.”  [laughter] …That should mean you’ve got time to knit, sew, go bowling, take a walk, go fishing…If you’re bored, that means you have time to do something creative, like serve the Lord!”  [Whew!!!]  Anybody working here but me?  [laughter]  But what happened?  She just got caught in this world view  that tells her somehow, that her owner means her well.  But her owner is out to destroy her.  Destroy her family and her children along with it.  Somebody say “Hallelujah!” in here.  [Hallelujah]  Let’s get it right. 

You are tied, you need to look in the mirror and say, “What is it I’m tied to.”  Do I really believe that somehow Mary Kaye and Revlon are going to save me?  [laughter]  I don’t think so.  What’s your world view?  I don’t care guys.  Listen, a Lexus is not going to put a beautiful babe in your car.  [laughter]…That isn’t going to happen…It’s a bent world view. 

Jesus, today, is calling out, as He did that day.  But He is sending who?  Did you notice what it said?  He sent two disciples…I love this part…He sent two disciples.  Almost all of us are waiting for Jesus to show up, not realizing that Jesus has sent someone else to show up.  [amen]…And it is through that someone else that you will get introduced to Jesus.  Let me take that again.  The Bible says that Jesus sent two disciples and said, “Go over here,” supernaturally He says, “Go over here, on this particular day, and go, what?  Go find this donkey with this guy, tell him, loose it, and say the Lord has what?” [need of it] “Need of it.”  Jesus didn’t go.  He sent some….[disciples]…he sent some….[disciples]…A disciple is a follower of Christ. 

Today as you sit here, if you have been loosed, then you’re supposed to be one of those guys who’s going to some other donkeys and getting them loosed.  [amen]  Come on!  Anybody hear what I’m saying today?  [applause]  You’ve been called by God to go loose people from their bound up conditions and set them free!!!!  And when the devil, the owner, comes, you are to inform him, “The Lord has need of him!”  [shouting]  The Lord has need of him!  [applause]  That’s your job!  If you have the wisdom to know that you were tied up, but you  are now loosed, then you’ve got to be about the Father’s business and His business is setting the captive free!  [hallelujah]  That’s what your job is!  [applause] Binding up the broken hearted and setting them loose.  Praise God!  Jesus! Hallelujah!  Somebody grunt for me. [grunts]  All right. 

Now if you happen to be the donkey, then it’s time for you to acknowledge that you have been bound by world thinking.  You have been bound by television thinking.  You have been bound by video thinking.  And it’s time for you to be loosed.  And why?  Why should you be loosed?  The Lord has need of you today!  He needs you! 

With all your shabbiness, with all of your doubt and unbelief, He needs YOU.  With all of your confusion, He needs you.  With all of your divorces and separations and all of the mental boundlings that you go through, He still has determined, He needs you!  With all the sickness that has plagued you, all of the difficulties you’ve faced.  With all of your broken home stuff, with all of your crazy fathers, abusive mothers, He still says, “Loose Him, I need them!”…He needs you!  He wants you loosed and set free from your stuff, so that He can then use you. 

We’re coming into…I’m prophesying to you now.  We’re coming into the era where the Holy Spirit is not looking for the Pastor to go get it done.  He’s not looking for the prophet to go get it done.  He is looking for the system that He put in place, way back then.  He’s looking for disciples to go get it done.  And then when you get loosed, you become a disciple, that goes and gets it done.  That’s how the gospel is going to be spread.  Don’t count on TV to get it done.  Don’t count on radio to get it done.  Don’t count on the internet to get it done.  Jesus is going to do it one person to another.  By the grace of Him, by power of His might, by the strength that He has endowed us with, because He is saying, “Loose him, let him  go free.  I have need of him!”  [AMEN]  Glory be to God!  [applause]  He needs you. 

He not only needs you, but praise be to God, He wants you…Today, there’s some of you here that in the next few weeks, I’m not going to see you…I’ll still be here, but you’ll be off testing the world view and trying to prove me wrong.  Hoping that the Bible’s not right.  Maybe there’s some way you can skirt around this Jesus thing and you know, they’re nice people, but they’re all just too loud and too confused…Maybe that’s you.  And then some of you’ll disappear for a year, or two, or whatever, and you, just know this…the Lord has need of you…

He’s willing to wait for you to get through your stuff.  Or He’s waiting for you to make a decision to be faithful now so that you can get discipled, so that you can do what?…  Make disciples.  Or you can, you’re welcome to just run on off out of here.  Go do whatever.  And you don’t have to stay here.  The Lord has need of you.  There’s a million churches, and there’s a million ways you can find to make yourself of value to the Kingdom.  You know, you can attempt to raise your kids out there in the world, for a whole long time.  But I assure you, when you get back these kids that stay will be way ahead of your kid. [hallelujah]…Why, well why? Why?  Because the Lord has need of them.  [yeah]…

So, I’m just EXCITED!!!!  I’d scream louder but…then I’d have to lay hands on you to get you healed from deafness.  [laughter]  But GOD IS SO GOOD!!!  [amen]  And He has need of you!  [applause]…He just has a need for you…Today, be loosed.  Be loosed.  Don’t, don’t  leave this service, and leave here all bound up.  You can get set free.

Amen and amen.