I am going to try and catch up on Friday Bible studies, this one happened on May 23, and was an awesome study. First Vicki spoke, then her husband taught. The studies fit together beautifully.

2 Samuel 9:1  Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

Vicki asked, why does David want to show kindness to Saul’s household?

1 Samuel 20:14-16 And you shall not only show me the kindness of the LORD while I still live, that I may not die; but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the LORD has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Let the LORD require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”

Jonathan (Saul’s son) and David made a covenant, a covenant of faithfulness. They were good friends. There were no qualifications, not riches or favors, just an agreement.

God wants to keep covenant with us. He wants to do something good for us, for Adam’s family for Jesus’ sake.

2 Samuel 9:2-3 And there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. So when they had called him to David, the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”  He said, “At your service!” Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”

This would be Jonathan’s son, Saul’s grandson.

2 Samuel 4:4 Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

Why was the nurse running? When Saul and Jonathan died in battle, according to custom, the new king often executed all the family members of that dynasty. That would prevent those family members from trying to retake the throne. When the nurse fell, Mephibosheth became crippled, but the nurse preserved his life.

2 Samuel 9:4 So the king (David) said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Indeed he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo Debar.”

Lo Debar is a barren place, no pasture land, a wasteland. And Mephibosheth hid in that place, not wanting the king to find him.

We were once like that, when we were sinners, and had no idea that God could show kindness to us, that He would change our lives for good. God wanted to lavish us with his blessings and love, to put us on a higher plane with Jesus, to never go back to the world and to that barrenness of Lo Debar.

2 Samuel 9:6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?” And he answered, “Here is your servant!”

Mephibosheth was afraid of King David.

2 Samuel 9:7 So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”

Do not fear. God tells us that in regard to Jesus, that we do not have to fear. Jesus spoke that often, FEAR NOT. He wants to release people from fear. And Mephibosheth will eat bread at David’s table continually. This was to honor Mephibosheth and his inheritance.

God has extends a similar invitation to us.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Come just as you are, even crippled with sin.

Isaiah 1:18  “ Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

God will make us clean and pure and good enough to eat at His table.

2 Samuel 9:8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”

Dogs were considered worthless in that time – and a dead dog even more worthless. Dogs were not always popular, and to be called a dog at that time was a terrible insult.

It reminded Vicki of the song “Who am I that a King would bleed and die for me.” We were dead dogs before Jesus. God made us accepted in the Beloved, sons and daughters of God. Members of the Royal Household of God.

2 Samuel 9:9-10 And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

David provided for Mephibosheth, but Mephibosheth had to maintain his family and servants, so with Ziba, the sons and servants it was 36 people that he had to provide for.

2 Samuel 9:11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.” “As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.”

He would be treated as royalty – eating at the King’s table.

Luke 1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

God has filled us with good things, come and dine, come to the table. (Vicki held up her Bible and said here is the table.) And we can eat all we want, a banquet of the Word of God. We can stuff ourselves and not feel too full or suffer consequences.

Revelation 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Dine with Jesus, eat the Word of God – the ultimate in SOUL FOOD. We want an overly fed Spirit that is fat and flourishing.  God wants to make us fat and healthy like Christ, and we do not want to go back and eat out of the World’s Garbage cans.

Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

2 Samuel 9:11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.” “As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.”

In obedience to King David, Mephibosheth is to eat at His table. God wants us in obedience to eat at His table as one of His children. We are adopted by God through Jesus.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore ”Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.”

God is our father, and we are His sons and daughters.

Ephesians 1:3-6  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

God has predestined us to be adopted.

Galatians 4:4-6 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

Abba means “Daddy.”

Galatians 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

2 Samuel 9:12-13 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.

Mephibosheth came out of Lo Debar, and ended up in Jerusalem, from the pits to beautiful places.

We will eat continually at the King’s table We are saints– not dogs, forever, throughout all eternity, continually. We are in the New Jerusalem, not a dark world.

Then Dr. Ed, Vicki’s husband shared a word. I will share that tomorrow.

Praying your night is blessed.

Heather

Well, this has been an action packed week. My middle son graduated from High School on Friday, and Friday night to Saturday morning was at a school based party, which I had the pleasure of helping out with – I got up at 4 to drive an hour there to help with breakfast and clean up. So, I haven’t had much time to post this weekend.

Edward, the proud graduate.

We had front row seats, from left to right, myself, Katherine, Christopher, and Ed’s girlfriend Kelly. Hint for photographers, if you want your son to look toward’s you and the camera with a smile on his face, bring girlfriend to celebration.

Getting his diploma.

Celebrataion!!!!!!, they also had confetti poppers, but that went so fast that we didn’t capture it on camera.

Then there was the all night party. I came upon a scene of over a hundred tired teens waiting for the sunrise.

Found Edward and Kelly coming down from the mountain where they were waiting for the sunrise, you can see how tired they were.

Sunrise on the mountain.

Breakfast and some of the adults that stayed all night to supervise.

Waiting for the bus to transport them back to the school.

A good night, a great graduation, and I can’t believe that in a few months college for two of my three. Sigh, they grow so fast.

Heather

This is a closed captioned text of a sermon preached by Pastor Don. Remember, what is in brackets [ ] is what the congregation said, and three dots … means a pause. I hope you enjoy:

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Amongst us we have Christians that that want to honor the Sabbath, not realizing that Hebrews points us to the completion of the work of Christ, and therefore every day is a Sabbath now. What day is a good day to sin? [laughter] What day is a good day to forget about the Lord? [none] None. So every day now is holy. Every day is counted as blessed and holy. But we can look back in the scriptures and get significance of it. It is true that the Gentile Church worships on Sunday. But the reality is that the Sabbath begins when?  Actually, Friday night. And so Friday night was the time that the Jewish Church worshipped…the day begins at night, and so they did that. We end up with a Sunday Morning worship time because, over the years, with the Gentile Church recognizing that Christ rose on a Sunday morning, then the Gentile church began to worship on Sunday morning.  

Now what is the reality? The reality is you could start the Church of Monday if you choose. God will receive your praise on a Monday. You could have the Church of the Holy Tuesday. And you could start it at three in the afternoon, or three in the morning and God would still be blessed and praised. But we need to understand that the Sabbath is given to us by God as a historical symbol of what his intention is in the full completion of this reconciliation with man to God. And that reconciliation is that there is nothing that we are going to do in the earth that is not going to require the covering hand of God. And therefore, in all things, we should rest in Him… I hope you’re getting that. We are to rest in God. All our work, our completed work, will be in Him. Not in ourselves. I mean we’re all smart and we know some stuff, but the reality is we must learn daily that every day is a holy day. Every day is a Sabbath day. Every day we should rest and trust in God, to complete everything in our lives…  Everything in our lives. 

And so, this journey that the Jews went on, with the Sabbath rest, began with God saying to them, that on the Sabbath, after the sixth day, going into the seventh day, you are to make it holy. You’re supposed to right now. He wanted the Jews to begin thinking, ahhh, a day of rest in the Lord. A day of giving thanks to God. So it became a picture of what we’re supposed to do. Now God expanded upon it and so let’s see what He does with it because we want to get to Pentecost here. 

Leviticus 25, in verse 2 He says, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them:” Now who’s He speaking to? [Moses] No, He’s speaking to the Children of Israel through Moses.  Alright. Now, right there you have an out. How many of you are Gentile descendants?  Alright, He isn’t talking directly to you….because… I’ve got to give people time to think about that. If you as a Gentile are going to take everything in the Old Covenant, in the Tanakah, everything in the Old Testament, and apply it to yourself, in the in the New Testament,  you are in serious trouble. The reason is, the Jews couldn’t keep the Law, so why would you, a Gentile, try and keep it?…Jesus said the Law was fulfilled. Well, if He fulfilled it, then it means it’s completed and therefore under the New Testament, we are under a new covenant. 

The Blood of Jesus provided for us a new covenant. Therefore, in the commands of the Lord, we understand the Law, we know that the Law is the root upon which we stand, we know it is the tree, it is the trunk, it is the solid foundation, the giving of the Law. But when Christ came, we are now going into the period where the Father said, “I will write my laws upon their hearts and upon their minds.” And He says, “Each man shall know me.”  That’s the period we’re coming into. As we move through that period, who is our teacher? Jesus, the Christ, He is the teacher and He made it very clear, that it’s almost impossible to keep the Law. We don’t have examples of people that kept the Law, and earned righteousness and salvation by the keeping of the Law….We know Jesus did. Hallelujah! And when He completed keeping the Law, He completed and kept it for us. Alright? 

So all of you that want to keep the old Law, in all of it’s Jewish aspects, you want to have church on Friday night, and you want to keep all of that, wonderful, have at it. Go for it.  But if you, Paul says very clearly in Galatians, if you’re going to try and do that, then you’re going to have to keep all of it….Alright? So what the Gentiles have done is, gone through and set up denominations where we’re going to keep the ones that we know how to keep, that we want to keep. And then the other ones we don’t want to keep, we won’t keep them.  So let’s just be clear about that.  What you want to do is you want to keep the Law as established by Christ for the New Testament for the New Covenant. Which means that we do honor all of the Jewish laws, and we pay homage and respect to them, but at the same time, we are honoring a greater, the fulfillment of it. It’s fulfilled, it’s completed, and therefore we move on and we maintain the keeping of the Law, of the Love of God…You guys ok with that?  Alright. 

So when you think of this, the Jews couldn’t keep it. How many of you gave a tithe of dill, mint, and cumin?…Not any? You didn’t do that did you? Ok, how many housewives in here, gave a feather to their husband, so that he could get all of the yeast out of the house, all of the leaven out of the house?  …Didn’t do that did you?…Huh?…Okay. So if you are going to keep all of the law, you have to keep all of it. Six hundred and sixty plus laws.  Most of us don’t even know them. [laughter] Let alone going to keep them. [laughter]  Okay, so, when we’re going to be Levitical priests, we have to be careful. You are not Levitical priests, let’s leave that to those who are still trying to gain Heaven by keeping of the Jewish laws. Everybody got that? Do you understand that? 

Now, we should as Gentiles, keep our eyes upon the Feast Holidays of God.  And we want to keep our eyes on those because Christ is manifested in each of those holidays. And Christ told us that we’re going to celebrate those through out all of the eons. So we need to know those now. We need to know what Tabernacles is, we need to know what Pentecost is, we need to know what Atonement is, the Day of Atonement, we need to know what those are, because those are going to be kept forever. We’re going to always keep those.  And so God has given those to us to point us to Christ. To give us a clear picture of how to get to Christ. And the Sabbath is just like that. The Sabbath was a day to point us back to the fact that God’s working in our lives, He’s working over everything we have. Okay?  Any questions so far?  You guys got that? 

How many of you know the names of your grandparents? … How many of you know the names of your great grandparents? How many of you know the history of your parents and your great grandparents? Good, what does that help you to do? That helps you to learn how to live your life…It gives you more information on how to live your life. Therefore, as Christians, our roots are all Jewish. We need to understand Jewish things in order that  we can know our future and in order that we can understand our present. When Jesus returns for the rapture, it’s going to be according to Jewish traditions. It’s going to fit right in with Jewish prophesies. It’s going to fulfill all of those, and the second coming of the Lord, is going to be based upon what? What is in the Old Covenant. So we need to understand these things…the culmination of the History of Israel, the prophesies concerning the outcome of the World situation is all coming to us in the Old Covenant. It’s coming to us from Old Testament prophesies. Therefore we have to have an understanding to it.

But as a Gentile Church we don’t, I mean my great grandfather’s Jewish, but I don’t have to adhere to the Law of Moses… in it’s detail. I have to attain to it the way Jesus said. And Jesus says, what are the greatest of the Laws? He says, love God, love God and love your neighbor, and treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself. So He says, that’s what we have to keep. And so that’s what was given to the new, emerging New Testament Church, that that’s the law that we have to keep. But we should be aware that there was a law concerning the washing of hands. We should be aware that there was a law concerning working on the Sabbath and what not. What was acceptable work and what wasn’t. We should understand why they’re waiting for Elijah in the Passover meal. We should understand what unleavened bread is about and why Matzoh is pierced and burnt. We should understand the breaking of the bread, and the giving of that. We should understand that baptism is the Mikvah, which comes to us from Judaism, and is not some new Christian thing. We need to know all of that stuff. Okay? And so, we don’t want to abandon our Jewish roots, but we need to understand it, and we will see Christ in all of it. 

Now, look at it in Leviticus 25 verse 2, it says, it says, “I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD.” Number, verse 3, “Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall…” what? “prune your vineyard, and gather it’s fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD.  You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.  What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine for it is a year of rest for the land.  And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you; for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land–all its produce shall be for food.  And you shall count…” Watch this now, are you ready?  “…seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years…” How many years is that?  [49]  Seven times seven, 49.  “…and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years.  Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee…” Can you say Jubilee? [Jubilee]  “…Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.  [cheering] “And you shall consecrate…” What year is consecrated?  “…you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim…” what? [liberty] “…liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants.  It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.  That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine.  For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.  In this year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.  And if  you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not...” do what? [oppress one another] “…you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops...” and so forth and so on, it goes on.  Now look what He says the promises in verse 18. Verse 18, “So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety.  Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.  And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year…” You guys ready?  “…since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?”  Notice what God promises, “Then I will command My blessing.”  Say command the blessing. [command the blessing]  Command the blessing.  [command the blessing]  “Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough...” for how many years? [three years]  Whoo-hoo-hu.  “And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.”  My goodness! 

So here’s what you have. In the seventh year, you don’t plant. You leave your fields alone.  You leave it alone. But in the sixth year God promises you that He’s going to make the sixth year so abundant that you’re going to have a surplus of food so great that it will get you through the seventh year, in which you didn’t produce. The land then will be laid fallow, it won’t be worked or tilled, it will drink in the nutrients that come from the snow, the rain, the years and all like that. And it will give the land rest so that the land can continue to be fruitful. 

You see, there is sin that you do in private, and then there’s sin that you do publicly. And so they were brazen about the fact that even though they were told in the seventh year to leave it fallow, it becomes public sin because everybody can walk by your field and know you plowed that field this year. So the Jews brazenly refused to keep it, and they piled up for themselves, 490 years of slavery….That’s why they had to sojourn in places like Assyria and Babylon. They had to do seventy years of captivity in Babylon because they didn’t keep the law. And God says, if you don’t keep it, He says I won’t protect you. I won’t keep your enemies, if you won’t honor Me in this way. 

So God is looking to take… and you’re no different than the Jews…most American’s don’t tithe. Barely 2% of Americans tithe. And then what do we have in America? Financial disaster. We have the body of Christ living from paycheck to paycheck. Complaining that the tithe is only because somebody wants to get your money. God doesn’t want to get your money. God wants to do what? Command a blessing for you. But if you won’t keep His Law, then He’s not bound to protect your income. He’s not bound to protect your excess or your lack. So, we have to understand that when a pastor tries to encourage people to give tithes and offerings, it’s in your best interest to do so because then God supernaturally has to enter into your financial arena and fight for you. 

His Word says, He has to come if you keep His Sabbath law, He has to come and command a blessing for you. Now, you’re a Gentile, you don’t have to keep the Jewish law if you don’t want to. But if you enter into covenant with God and choose to do so… I mean, you guys don’t have to go and get circumcised, you can just enter into the covenant now, but in the old days, all the guys would have to go and get circumcised, the women would have to change their ways and learn the Law and everything. But it’s the commanded blessing. It’s commanded by God, that if you meet Him, by keeping His law, He will command a blessing for you. But if you don’t want to do it…hey!….it’s okay.  No problem.  You don’t, you don’t have to do it. 

The Jews did not keep the Jubilee. They were commanded to do so, they were His Servants, they were in a covenant agreement with Him, they signed the package. It wasn’t like God came down from Heaven and said, “You’re going to serve me or die.” He said, “What do you want to do? I can do this for you, and this for you, and this for you if you’ll do this and this for me.” And the Jews signed the deal. They said, yeah, we’re going to do it. We’ll keep the Jubilee, we’ll keep the Pentecost, every 50th year we will honor you. Well how will you honor Me? We will set the captives free. Anyone that is a slave in the 50th year, he will be loosed from slavery.  Anyone that is oppressed and has been forced to be a hired servant, on the fiftieth, he’s going to go free. Everyone’s going to go free. Along with that, his children go free, his wife goes free. It’s done. 

Anyone that due to banking or a pledge or a sale has lost the property that belonged in the family. Listen to me carefully. You got to get this. When God has them conquer the land of Canaan, they divide it up, and every family got land. Every family had their parcel of land, that came all the way from the Mosaic conquest, Joshua’s conquest. And everybody got a big chunk. So everybody has enough land to live on. If you, due to your foolishness, sell that land or it is taken from you for debt, in the 50th year, your inheritance has to be returned to you. [hallelujah] 

Jesus is the fulfillment of Pentecost. He sets the captive free, He comes at Pentecost by the Holy Spirit, to do what? To instill to people that those that have been oppressed and in bondage, you are now set free. The power that satan had over your mind and over your body is now broken, and you are loosed to do what? Return to your inheritance. To take back everything the devil has stolen from you. Get it back in the Name of Jesus, he cannot hold it. Jesus is our Jubilee. You don’t have to wait until the 50th year. You can do it now!  At the moment of His revelation of the truth of who He is in your life. He is our Jubilee.  You can go get it back now! [glory] Glory be to God! Don’t mess with me, I’ll start to preach.  [laughter] 

And all debts are forgiven. The Jew, by law, by Jewish law, if he loaned something to another Jew, he couldn’t charge interest. How dare you loan something to another Christian and charge him interest! You’re considered a heathen by the scriptures here. Because you’re supposed to loan brother to brother, expecting no interest. And Jesus took it one further than that. He said, give it to them not expecting any return. And God says, “I’ll be your debtor.” If you’ll loan to the brethren and keep the brother, He says, I’ll be your debtor. He says this, “You’ll be known, the Church will be known by this, the love for the brethren.”  [amen]…You can’t charge no…you need 50 bucks?  Here’s 50 bucks. Well when you give it back, …you’ll gave me 20 dollars, right. No! Get the 20 dollars from Jesus who gave you the 50 dollars that you had extra to give them. [amen, amen]…Man, look out. What you all come to church here for today? Want you to leave here feeling good. But I want you to have the truth. 

And so God says, and, and, and if you, if you loan to a stranger, a sojourner in the land, you could charge him 1, 2, 3 percent interest. But anything over that was considered usury.  If you went over 6 percent you were considered a thief. Now think of the American banking system. [laughter] All thieves, illegal thieves. And that’s why the wealth of this country is being taken from it. Because we have held people in bondage, 28% interest on a credit card…you’ve got to be kidding. All of you holding credit cards over 18%, you need to call that company and tell them, either they give you a reduction or you’re taking your business somewhere else. That’s usury, that’s robbery, you know. In America, when they get, when they get you down, they, they grind you. They put their foot on your throat and choke you to death. And we need to realize it’s ungodly. Alright.  [amen] 

Well, never mind….See what happens when I lose my notes?  [laughter]  Look at verse 25.  It says, “If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.”  This is what Jesus is. He is our kinsman redeemer…Jesus is coming to redeem those of us who have sold ourselves into slavery. Sold our children into slavery by our bad behavior.  Sold our marriages into slavery by neglecting our wives or neglecting our husbands, by not giving them their due needs, meeting their needs. Their sexual needs and their social needs and their entertainment needs. That’s the responsibility of the family and therefore we have people that need to be redeemed. We need to remind people, no, you cannot do that. You can’t walk through the house and ignore your family. 

Husbands, you cannot justify ignoring your wife, saying that you’re earning money. You can’t do that. She needs to, she is, she is entitled to be romanced, made love to, taken on vacations, and go to the Red Lobster. If you can’t afford that, make a picnic lunch and go sit by the river and hold her hand and tell her she’s beautiful. [amen]…Notice, all the ladies saying amen. [laughter] I don’t get one AMEN [said in a masculine deep voice].

But by that same token, women, you’re supposed to honor this man as a king in his home. [amen]  He’s supposed to have some clean clothes to wear. He’s supposed to look good. He’s not supposed to be doing his own laundry, doing his own dishes, fixing his own food. What do you think this is? What does he have you for? [laughter, whoa] What are you talking about? This is a division of labor. And every woman who said that, wants him to get up under the hood of the car and fix your flat in the driveway. It’s a division of labor.  You want him to put on a tool belt and fix the kitchen sink when you plug it up. What are you talking about? You’re not ready to go out there and shovel the snow. We’re supposed to be kinsmen redeemers to our wives, to our husbands. I’m my wife’s servant, she should, she should need for nothing. If a bear comes up the back porch, I’ll get her the gun so she can shoot him. [laughter] 

We’re to redeem the time. Jesus Christ is our kinsman redeemer who came and He bought us back. We’re to daily buy each other back. We’re to daily buy each other, die to self. Die to self. Get that concept out of your mind that it’s got to be your way all the time. You are to be a servant to your wife. Servant to your husband. You’re a team player. You’re a team player. No rowboat sitting in the middle of the water can get to the other shore with two people not rowing in unison. [amen]  Have to row in unison to get there. 

So, when we have Pentecost, when we take this holiday, we need to take it seriously.  It is there to remind us that Christ has redeemed us and bought us back from the world of the devil, and his power and authority. He has bought us back from sickness, death, and disease. And he’s invited us to participate in His marvelous life. Let’s stand to our feet…..

Praying that this message blessed you. It was powerful and impacting for me.

Heather

Was checking out healing scriptures on the web and came across a list of the ones Joel Osteen’s mom used to battle cancer. I looked them up in the Amplifed form, and printed them out for my reference. Thought you might like them as well. Be blessed. I printed them out in small type so that they fit on 4 pages.

I hope I can get the image that crossed my mind this morning out here on Xanga, would welcome your comments and ideas. It is funny how you can read a passage over and over and then all of a sudden you see the passage from a different direction. I am starting another cycle of reading the Bible chronologically, only this time, because I can’t decide on the version I want to read, I am reading 3 simultaneously – NIV Archeological, the Apologetics Bible, and Joyce Meyer’s Amplified. I had just finished reading the Message Bible previously. Lately I have been reading different versions because sometimes when you read the same version you skim over familiar passages, so the different versions slow me down a bit.

Reading the various comments on each chapter in the three Bibles and thinking more about a passage – have to because of reading it three times, these ideas came to me about intercession. First a bit of background.

Remember that Abraham spoke with the Angel of the Lord, and asked him, Gen 18:23-26, AMP. “Will you destroy the righteous (those upright and in right standing with God) together with the wicked? Suppose there are in the city fifty righteous; will you destroy the place and not spare it for [the sake of] the fifty righteous in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing—to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as do the wicked! Far be it from You.! Shall not the Judge of all the earth execute judgment and do righteously? And the Lord said, if I find in the city of Sodom fifty righteous (upright and in right standing with God). I will spare the whole place for their sake. ”

A few thoughts here – upright and in right standing. Remember we are righteous only because we believe God, we are not righteous on our own. So our right standing is we believe in God. 

Abraham goes on to ask similar questions regarding if there are 45 righteous, 40, 30, 20, and then finally 10. God said he would not destroy the city for the 10′s sake. Then the Lord goes his way and Abraham returned to his place.

Then we fast forward to Chapter 19, that evening, the two angels come to Sodom. Lot is sitting in the city gate – that is the place where judgement is made.

The angels come in, and notice, Genesis 19:1b “…Seeing them, Lot rose up to meet them and bowed to the ground.” He recognized them as deserving reverence, and did so. Brought them to his house and one of the items he fed them was “unleavened” bread – remember leaven is a symbol of sin. The angels ate, but the men of the city came and wanted to be intimate with the angels. Lot refused, going so far as to offer his virgin daughters. I have to tell you that at one point of time that passage bothered me, until I realized that God is showing us that Lot was NOT perfect, and his solution was not a perfect solution to protect the men, but his heart was to protect those men – the angels.

Today in reading this, I started wondering about Lot’s sitting in the city gate, because when Lot refused the men of the city they said to him, Genesis 19:9 “But they said, Stand back! And they said, This fellow came in to live here temporarily, and now he presumes to be [our] judge! now we will deal worse with you than with them. So they rushed at and pressed violently against Lot and came close to breaking down the door.”

The leaders of the towns sat in the gate and rendered judgment when people came to them. So Lot was acting in this capacity. Some people are willing to accept other’s judgments until it touches on the thing that is their pet sin – then they get angry. Poke at the wrong place in a person in judgment and they will react.

The angels were able to defend themselves – they also would have defended themselves had they had their original wish in verse 2 where they told Lot, “No we will spend the night in the square.”

Now this is speculation, but I wonder what would have happened to Lot had he not recognized the angels and invited them in the house. Was this a sort of test to see if he had sunk as low as the other Sodomites, or would Abraham’s intercession still have protected Lot? Could this have been a test?

The angels then tell Lot to go and ask his sons in law of the daughters to leave the city – these people thought Lot was joking. So the only ones who will escape this judgment is Lot, his wife, and his two daughters – 4 people – and unfortunately Lot’s wife turned back to look at the destruction, and so only 3 PEOPLE escaped. 3 PEOPLE. Could have been 4, so we also have to remember that even though we can escape a judgment, we are still responsible to obey God and do what He says, or we can be drawn back and perish.

In the morning, the angels tell Lot to take his wife and daughters – but verse 16 “But while he LINGERED (caps mine), the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, for the Lord was merciful to him; and they brought him forth and set him outside the city and left him there.”

He lingered – he was told about the immanent destruction of Sodom and still he LINGERED. God reminded me of times where I knew that I had to make a change and still I lingered. Sometimes God had to drag me kicking and screaming (metaphorically) out of something that was harmful to me. How easy it is to accept the status quo, and not realize that God is serious about destroying something harmful. And it dawned on me that, this being an illustration of what is to come – the rapture and us being pulled out of the earth before the tribulation, that we need to not LINGER, but to be ever ready – one of those five virgins with the oil in their lamps, eagerly awaiting the coming of the Lord, not lingering, holding onto those pet things that are holding us back from being fully committed to Him.

Now listen to this one, I wish I could say that I never, ever did this, but I can’t alas. The angels tell Lot to flee to the mountains of Moab, lest they be consumed. and what does Lot do, read it in verses 18-20 “And Lot said to them. Oh, not that, my lords! Behold now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your kindness and mercy to me in saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest the evil overtake me, and I die. See now yonder city; it is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape to it! Is it not a little one? And my life will be saved!”

How often have we had a little sin, a little one, that we cling to – oh God don’t remove that from me, it is a little one, I can’t go all the way, just this far and no more. The thought came to me that Lot’s decision to remain in that little city Zoar (which means little), may have cost him his wife. I wonder if he had gone to the mountains as told, would his wife have been able to look back? Hindsight is great – Lot should have realized that first God brought him out of the city that was to be destroyed, and then if God wanted him to escape to the mountains, he would have had the strength to do that – God would have supplied that. If Zoar is near to Sodom and Gomorrah then it probably should have been destroyed. I looked up the city, assuming that it would be a city that was a stumbling block to the Israelites, but it wasn’t – yet Isaiah prophesied that the citizens of Moab would flee to Zoar when destruction came on their nation. It was a Moabite city, and the Moabites were not friendly to the Israelites. Also, a side note, Lot goes to Zoar and then in verse 30 it says, “…he feared to dwell in Zoar, and he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.” For all of his pleading to remain in Zoar, God knew best, and Lot ended up living where God wanted him to live.

NOW HERE IS THE POINT THAT CAME TO ME THIS MORNING.

Genesis 19:27-29 Abraham went up early the next morning to the place where he [only the day before] had stood before the Lord. And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and saw, and behold, the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace. When God ravaged and destroyed the cities of the plain [of Siddim], He [earnestly] remembered Abraham [imprinted and fixed him indelibly on His mind]. and He sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when He overthrew the cities were Lot lived.

Abraham stopped after asking God if he would destroy the city for 10 – Here God destroyed the city, but preserved 4 lives – 3 of which survived, the 4th did not obey God’s command. Even for 3, God preserved their lives. And notice that it was due to Abraham’s intercession. We need to be interceding, for soon the wrath of the Lord will again fall, and we want to preserve those lives. What if Abraham had not interceded?

It also dawned on me that here the city was destroyed by fire and brimstone. A foreshadowing of our end times if you read Revelation you will see similarities. But not water – for God promised that he would not destroy the earth in a flood again. Also notice that the angels said, verse 22 “Make haste and take refuge there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there…” The destruction did not come until Lot was safely in the city of Zoar. God will not permit the destruction until we are safely at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Abraham’s intercession protected Lot, and through Lot’s daughters’ incestuous relationship with their father, the Moabites and Ammonites emerged – and these betrayed Israel by joining forces with Assyria.

Sometimes what we pray for is not really in our best interests. Lot has been like a thorn in Abraham’s side – first they had the problem that God had told Abraham to leave family and move where God told him to move – instead of taking just his immediate family, Abraham also brought Lot – then they had to divide the land because both tribes could not live on the same parcel of land. Lot chose Sodom, God gave Abraham Canaan. Then Lot was taken captive, and Abraham had to go rescue him – then he interceded for Lot in Sodom (although I don’t know if Abraham was specifically thinking of Lot when he interceded.), and then the Moabites and Ammonites became a thorn in Israel’s side.

Perhaps Lot was like that little city of Zoar for Abraham.

So here are my musings this morning. What do you think?

Heather

Pastor Don shared this message with us on Mother’s Day. It is a wonderful message. I closed captioned it, so will share it with you with audience comments in [ ] brackets, and in Pastor Don’s own words. This one touched my heart in a big way.

In Mark, the seventh chapter is a passage of scripture that fulfills not only the significance of the song but also of this day that we are so blessed to celebrate. The Lord has a Word for us from Heaven, it is a Word of encouragement, a Word of strength. He is our God and He is faithful.  [Yes, Lord] 

There was a woman who learned this in the seventh chapter of Mark. I want you to pay close attention as we draw ourselves into the story and hear what the Lord has to say to your heart. Beginning in the 24th verse. “From there He…” speaking of Jesus “arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.”… He entered a house and wanted no one to know it but He could not be hidden. ”For a woman…” Can you say, “For a woman?”  [For a woman]  “a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.”…

This woman isn’t just a woman, but this woman is a mother. And there are just some things that may attempt to hide, but when a mother has a desire and a need for her child, she will bust down the walls to get to someone that can fix it. [amen]  When a mother has a need for one of her children, there is no giant too big that he can overcome her or prevent her from taking him out. When a woman has a need for her child, there is no job that is too low to take and no circumstance too difficult that she cannot find a way to succeed. The Bible tells us that she came and fell at His feet. 

This mother was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and “she kept asking Him.” First of all, she goes through the process to uncover where the Master is hiding. She’s not going to let this opportunity somehow escape her just because someone said, “Oh, He’s busy.” … “Oh, He’s a taking a rest right now.”  “Oh, Jesus is not available.” That was not going to cut it for this momma. There was no way. If she had to she would have gone through the roof  to get in the house. She would have rented a bulldozer and come through the front door. 

And then, when she gets in the presence of the Lord, notice that it doesn’t say she asked once and went away disappointed. Oh that we could get the people of God not to give up so easily. [amen] There’s some people that if you, give them a word of correction they’re leaving the Church. If you tell them where to sit, they’re disgusted and giving up on the ushers and leaving. Then, sometimes all you need to do, you don’t even have to have any proof, but if you hear a rumor about the Pastor or some of the elders. Or if you hear a rumor that one of the trustees took 25 cents, that’s sufficient for you to give up on giving. Come on, somebody. If after you pray, five minutes later the symptom is still there, you give up on healing. If you have a dream and you believe that you can be a servant or of service to God, and someone tells you that you need more training and you need to go back to the drawing board, but you think that you’re all of that, so you give up on service to the Lord. Sometimes we quit too quick! We give up too easy. You know, it becomes a problem when you have a lack of vision and your motivational force can only last but for a moment of time when the, the manifestation of what you’re hoping for is just around the corner and you won’t even get down the block. Then you’re going to be disappointed and have to blame somebody. But the blame falls right fully at your feet because you gave up.  You quit too soon…[laughter]  The most important bank account that you could have, to Jesus, is a savings account. For a savings account shows that you have, or at least you’re trying to practice patience, endurance, and the economic value of precious things.  Sometimes we should save something.  People come to me for economic counseling, and I say to them, as I say to you, yes, you want to give unto the Lord, but you also want to become a saver. 

For the economy of the Kingdom of God is that Jesus saves. [laughter]  I’m waiting.[laughter, Amen]  the devil went up to Heaven and he said he wanted to have a battle with Jesus. And the Father says, “Well how do you want to do this battle?” And he says, the devil says, “I don’t care, I just want to beat Jesus at something.” So the Father says, “Well, listen, the latest technology now is computers, so we’ll have a battle on computers.” And so Jesus agrees to it, and they sit down. They bring out some computers, and then the Father, just as quick as He can begins rattling off information. And so satan is entering his information into his computer, and Jesus is entering His information into the computer, and everything. And they’re just going on, just going on. So they’re going on for days and days and just entering it in. And then, sure enough, you know, the Lord realizes that He needs rain on the earth, so the Father sends some lightning bolts down and so the computers crash. [laughter]  And so, the devil is all upset and he says, “My computer’s crashed.”  And Jesus says, “My computer’s crashed too.” And then the Father says, “Well, let’s see what information you have on your computers.” The devil had none. He said, “When the power went off,”  watch now, “When the power went off, I lost all my information.”  [laughter]  Jesus just reached over to the right hand side, picked up His floppy and said, “Jesus saves.” [laughter and applause]  That work for you? 

When you deposit into the Heavenly bank, as the brother just testified. When you deposit that, you are storing up treasure in Heaven. God doesn’t need your treasure in Heaven. It’s stored up there so that when you have a need down here, Jesus said He will open up the windows of Heaven where you’ve stored up some treasure, and it’ll pour down. [amen, thank you Lord]  Lord have mercy. I’m preaching now. This is the good stuff. You’d better plug in and get this. 

And so, when you have a need and you say, “Lord, Lord, if you don’t show up, I don’t know what’s coming up.” Jesus’ll open up the windows of Heaven and say, “You’re just like me. You’ve saved some stuff.” Angel 333,001, [laughter]  take some of this stuff down to them and bless them. 

And did you notice that suddenly, do you understand how it said, suddenly, so this Syro-Phoenician woman, this Greek woman, she goes to Jesus. He is hidden but she discovers Him. She asks, but she doesn’t ask just once. She persists in asking. She asks again and again and again. How do I know?  For the Scriptures said…”she kept asking him…” She what? [kept asking] ”she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.”  This demon was an unclean spirit. Come on somebody.

An unclean spirit. We know some people with unclean spirits. An unclean spirit is something from outside of this daughter that comes in or upon this daughter and instead of going right when she should go right, even though it’s against what’s best for her, she goes left. Come on now. We’ve had some people in here, sitting in the House of the Lord, that have some unclean spirits. That when you’re trying to do the right thing, and you have information to go right, here’s something that just comes upon you and you feel compelled to go left. When you’re given good Godly advice from the Word of God, or from your pastor, or from the elders, and you have your blinders up and you can’t hear what they’re saying, and therefore you’re supposed to be at peace and you’re in turmoil. God’s trying to help you get out of turmoil, and get you into peace, but you can’t follow instructions long enough. You want to take credit for it and you want to think that somehow, but you know, there are demons in the world. 

There are demonic spirits, there are unclean spirits. If you are addicted or driven beyond your will, you may be experiencing something from the demonic realm.  Sometimes a person has a hate or a dislike for something and they just, you know. I was doing some contracting work this week, and playing with bulldozers, and I needed some stone and one of the guys said to me, one of my guys met you.  I said, “Oh, that’s great.”  And he’s come back, and he says, “That’s the nicest black man I’ve ever known.”  [laughter]  Come on, let’s get real. Racial prejudice comes from a demonic realm. Anybody listening to what I’m saying? It comes from a demonic realm. It causes you to think things that are not true about people and, and to move in ways. 

Religious discrimination comes from a demonic realm.  Sometimes the heart of a husband can be turned from his wife and it can be a demon speaking to him. It can be his computer. The computer can  sometimes open up channels and pop-ups can come up that are from unclean spirits and he can spend more time looking at uncleanness, and then he doesn’t want to face up and be a man about it. That it’s his fault, it’s his weakness, and he’ll blame somebody. Blame his wife for his own uncleanness. 

I remember Willie Williams, he’s dead now, and so I can talk about him. Willie had an unclean spirit of gambling upon him. And so every  paycheck, the first place he went, before he went to God or anything else, he went to buy lotto tickets. Lotto tickets. For the cancer that was eating him on the inside of his stomach that killed him, there was no relief in lotto. Come on somebody. There’s no relief. 

And so sometimes we have these unclean spirits that torment us, and the first step, before we can get to the Savior with it, is to get honest about it. You know, some of us are driven by compulsiveness, or hypocrisy, or we, we just are out of balance in our judgment of other people. As if somehow we’re never out of balance. Sometimes we get confused between God’s best and what we want to do. Sometimes your want to’s are driven by unclean spirits. 

So this mother has a daughter. The Bible doesn’t tell us how this demon draws the daughter, or we don’t know if she was a person of rage, we don’t know if she slammed doors and broke dishes, and, and cursed people out. We don’t know if she punched people and was physically violent. We don’t know if she hated herself and cut herself or mutilated her own body. We don’t know how this demon spirit affected her. We don’t know if it made her just sit in the corner in a catatonic state. We don’t know if she had fits or if she just couldn’t control herself in other ways. We don’t have any information. We only know that the mother’s heart was breaking over the fact that her child was tormented and her child was in desperate need of a Savior. That, the doctors and the people of her society had no answer for this condition, they had no answer for what was tormenting the daughter. And so the mother is just compelled, “I’m going to get some help in any way and any how that I can. By somebody, somewhere.” 

And she heard about Jesus, and it popped into her consciousness that Jesus has helped other Jews. He’s done this for the Jews. And she said, “I’m not a Jew, but if He has that ability and that power, maybe He will see the compassion and the love of my mother’s heart and something good can happen for me.”  [amen] 

We say, “Well, Pastor Don, why is this Jewish thing important? Why do you bring that up?”  Let’s read the more of the story.  Come on now. So in verse 27 “But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first...”  Well, He’s not talking about delinquents, He’s not talking about under 12. He is talking about the Children of God. At this time the Children of God are described as the Jewish Nation. The Gospel had not yet gone out. Jesus had not yet gone to the Cross and made salvation available to whomsoever will come. Salvation now only belongs to the Jews, through the Law of Moses. There is no other way to get to God. The only way is to have a fear of God as Peter says in Acts Chapter 10. Whoever fears God and does good is right with God. But the Jews have the inside track. They knew how to get to God. And it tells us what Jesus is referring to is that the children are to be filled first. 

Watch what He says.  “…for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Lord have mercy. Can we get good now? It’s going to get good now. You all ready? In the time of Jesus, there was no such thing as racial discrimination on the basis of color. It didn’t exist. It wasn’t known in their world. When the Romans conquered you, they didn’t conquer you because you were black, white, yellow or green. They just conquered you because you had something they wanted, land and money. That was all that they wanted. So the Romans didn’t discriminate, nor did the Greeks, nor did any of the earlier peoples. But there was prejudice, nonetheless, that had racial roots. When Moses settles in Canaan land, and Joshua leads the people, the 12 tribes, they are other people in the land.  You had Amorites and Hittites, and Jebusites, and Parasites, [laughter].  I just love throwing that in there. Yeah, we had bloodsuckers then and we have bloodsuckers now. So, when we move into the scriptures, we realize though that the Jews were taken into captivity in Babylon. They were there some 70 years. 

There was a remnant of Jews though that were left in Israel, in the land when the majority of them along with Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were taken in captivity to Babylon. Which is now modern day, what?  Iraq. Ok, so they’re in captivity in Iraq, then the Persians and the Medes from Iran move on over and attack Iraq, where Babylon is. But during the process of time, before the handwriting is on the wall, and during that time period of Daniel, guess what. There’s a guy named Nehemiah, who goes to the King and says, “Oh King, I want to go back and rebuild the walls, and rebuild the Temple area.”  So, the King has favor on him, allows him and Ezra and Nehemiah to go back. But when they get there they find that the remnant of Jews that were left there have begun to change some things.  That the religion as it was handed down from Moses had been changed and altered. And they had moved the places of worship, and they had moved the way things were, and they had moved the interpretation of it. Listen, we’re living in a similar time right now. Where they’re moving our cornerstone. They’re trying to move our foundational rocks. They’re trying to give us a different way to get to Heaven. And they’re trying to substitute some other things. 

We even have idiots on the radio and the television that are trying to convince us that the time period of the Church is ended and you should leave your churches. That’s insanity, suicide. For the devil’s thing is to divide and conquer and isolate you. Take you out from under wisdom and power, take you out from under good counsel. Take you out from under the Word, so he can isolate you so you can develop whatever theology you want, and invent some way to get to Heaven, only to find out that when Jesus comes back, He expects to see the Church filled, to see it strong. He expects to see it solid. For He said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. And until He comes, the Church is to be standing and strong.  [AMEN]  I feel like preaching now. We need to understand that anyone that attacks the Church to seek to divide it and destroy it, OH YEAH, we have problems! OH YEAH, we have division! Guess what?  We’re a family. We’re supposed to have problems and divisions. [applause]  That’s what makes us strong. It makes the Church strong, that we don’ agree on everything. That we don’t have it all 100% perfect. That’s what makes you strong. That you learn to love and tolerate and work together even though everyone isn’t always on the exact same page. Lord have mercy!  It’s insanity in our midst.  And we need to get back to the solid rock on which we stand, which is Jesus Christ, the Son of God risen from the dead, that salvation could come not just to the Jews, but could be opened up to the Gentiles. [yeah!] 

And Jesus knows that He is called to bring this message to the Jew first and then the Gentile second. And discrimination had entered. When the original Jews got out of Babylon, and got back in the land, they found a group of people called Samaritans. And the Samaritans had established religion on the basis of what they thought, what they liked. I like having chicken every Sunday. It’s a good thing.  [laughter]  But you can’t turn it into a religion. I like worshipping on the mountain, but if God said worship in Jerusalem, the you’re supposed to realize that Jerusalem is Jerusalem and inventing some mountain of your own, doesn’t make it holy, nor does it make it right. And as a result of that error, the Jews looked on the Samaritans as dogs. And so discrimination began to develop, that because of dress or cultural identification, they knew you were a Samaritan. Then the Jews would shun you.  They’d cross the street to get away from you because you were a Samaritan. You were a dog. 

So what Jesus is saying to her, is you are considered a dog. You are a Gentile. Because either being a Gentile which was not a Jew, or being a Samaritan, which was a half-Jew, if you would.  Both of them all fitted in the category of dogs. They could not be saved. They could only be saved by the laws of Moses, therefore they were outside of the Law. They were outside of God. So Jesus isn’t calling the woman personally, a dog. Hello. He is saying culturally, you’re considered little dogs. Everybody got that? Wave your hand if you’ve got that. Or else you’ll leave here saying, “Lets go call people dogs.” [laughter] I said, let’s not…[laughter]  Let’s not, huh.  Let’s get away from calling people stupid. Get away from calling them dogs. Let’s get away from elevating ourselves by trampling down other people. [amen] Alright. Let’s open our minds and our hearts. As long as I’m pastor of this church, I’m going to do everything I can to see that we stay multicultural. If God sends us a bunch of Polish people, I’m going to have then sing in Polish. [hallelujah]  There’s only three of you here, huh.  [laughter]  You Polish too?  Four. We’ve got four Polish people.  So if you Polish people want to do a Polish dance unto the Lord, and sing a Polish song unto the Lord, come on, bring it.  We’ve got, we’ve got to escape this. The devil has sown a seed in the United States of America that needs not to grow. [amen]  It needs to be ripped up by its roots. 

Now, Jesus has said to the woman, He says, “Let the children be filled first.”  He is making a theological statement, for He was sent to give the Gospel to the Jews first. So He says, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread…” which is the Word of God, it is Himself, Jesus the Messiah, the Children’s bread, the bread that He was sent to His own. He was sent to His own. And then it says, “and throw it to the little dogs.“ The only problem here is, He’s dealing with a momma. He’s dealing with a real momma. No is never no, dealing with a momma. I live with one.  [laughter] 

And so, she has her mind fixed that something is going to happen for my child. And so He, look at verse 28, “And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord…” I’m sure she said it real sweet. [laughter]  Notice how mommas, when they correct you they all get smiling up here but under the table is one of those big swords. [laughter]  You know, and you’d better have the right answer. So she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even“. She’s going to teach Him now. “…even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”… You know, Jesus, I’m sure He smiled when she said that. [laughter]  And I’m sure He looked under the table and said, “You can put down the big sword now.” [laughter]  Even the little dogs.  Here’s what she’s saying.  She somehow has the revelation that the Son of God is not limited nor is He small. [amen] She has a concept in her mind, that the mercy of God, will transcend her perception of her situation because the quantity of God is greater in it’s magnificence that we normally could think, hope, or ask. Somehow she’s got the revelation and the understanding, that just a little bit, Lord have mercy, just a little bit of what Jesus has will take care of a lot of her stuff. She has an awareness that a crumb, she doesn’t need the whole loaf, she doesn’t need two slices, she’s saying, “I’ll take just a little crumb, just a speck. Let me just crawl under the table and get a speck of Your mercy. Just a speck of Your kindness. Just a drop of Your grace, is more than enough to give me what I’m asking from You.”  [shouting in joy]  Don’t you dare limit the possibilities of God. He’s a BIG GOD. [hallelujah] And a little crumb is enough for all of us! Oh, somebody praise Him in here!  [clapping and praise]  Glory to His Name! Glory to His Name

Praise God, as Pastor Don said, that all we need is a little crumb for we have a BIG God.

Praying your weekend is blessed.

Heather

Cheri worshipping!

Oh what a wonderful topic, and taught by someone whom I consider to be very faithful. She is our church secretary, and puts in many hours above and beyond her daily job to serve the church, is an incredible praise singer. and a person I count blessed to call “friend.” Cheri graciously gave me her notes for this teaching which is good, because it is so filled with information and I don’t want you to miss anything. You should know that she was told Tuesday night that she was to teach Friday at lunchtime – she had very little time to prepare this wonderful teaching!

Webster’s Dictionary gives the following definition of faithful: 1. Keeping faith; maintaining allegiance; constant; loyal (faithful friends). 2. Marked by, or showing a strong sense of duty or responsibility; conscientious (faithful attendance). 3. Accurate, reliable, exact (a faithful copy). 4. Full of faith, especially religious faith – the faithful. 1. True believers in any specified religion; 2. the loyal adherence of supporters – faithfulness N.

Cheri told us that faithful implies steadfast adherence to a person or thing to which one is bound as by an oath or obligation; loyal implies undeviating allegiance to a person, cause, institution, which one feels morally bound to support or defend; constant suggests staunch… implies such strong allegiance to one’s principles or purposes as not to be turned aside by any cause; resolute stresses unwavering determination, often in adhering to one’s personal ends or aims.

DEDICATE – To consecrate, declare, to proclaim…dedicated, dedicating. 1. To set apart for worship of a deity or devote to a sacred purpose. 2. To set apart seriously for a special purpose: devote to some work, duty, etc. 3. To address or inscribe to someone or something as a sign of honor or affection.

DEDICATION – Wholehearted devotion.

CONSECRATE – To set apart as holy: make or declare sacred for religious use 2. To devote entirely; dedicate.

RESOLUTE – unwavering allegiance.

Cheri then told us that first we wanted to look at the faithfulness of God, for He gives us the model we need to follow.

We are to be imitators of God. Many of these scriptures need no further comment, but paint a beautiful picture of God’s faithfulness.

Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 119:89-91 Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.They continue this day according to Your ordinances, for all are Your servants.

Psalm 89:1-2; 8-9; 33-37 I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.” (8-9) O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them. (33-37) Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.”  Selah  

How faithful God is. This passage tells us that God is faithful in the heavens. Cheri looked up faithful witness in Strong’s and it is #539 the word “aman” in the Hebrew, and some of it’s definitions are to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet, to be true or certain – of long continuance, steadfast, sure, trusty, verified.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

Hebrews 6:17-18 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

Cheri told us that since it is IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie, than we can know that He will remain faithful forever.

Hebrews 10:23  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

No matter what we do, where we go, how unfaithful we are, God remains faithful. What He says is true and He doesn’t lie.

1 Peter 4:19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

If we believe in Him and He is faithful, we must commit ourselves to our faithful Creator, and He will respond to us by pouring out His blessings to us. God will respond to our faithfulness.

JESUS IS FAITHFUL Revelation 19:11  Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

Cheri then studied the FAITHFULNESS OF MAN WITH GOD.

Her first example was Barry, her husband – pointing that that he is faithful, loyal, loves people, blessed. She can trust him with everything, and he is unswerving in his commitment to everything – to God, to all that he is called to do. Barry is loyal to Pastor Don and is one of Pastor Don’s armor bearers. She said, that Barry has his quirks, but he is faithful, loving and kind. This was bred into him from childhood. She has met people from his past that knew him when he was a small child, and all they can speak about is his kindness, faithfulness and loyalty. As far as she knows, Barry has no enemies from his past. She would trust him with her life.

Pastor Don – Cheri stressed that we have no idea of his faithfulness to everyone here. Pastor Don would drop anything to help whoever needs help. He has a servant’s heart, is faithful, loyal, true, dedicated. We are so blessed to have Pastor Don as our pastor for he feeds us nothing but the finest food. Cheri considers it an honor to work under him.

Cynthia – Pastor Don’s wife, his other half is a good helpmeet, faithful. And because she is at Pastor Don’s side, he is able to do all that he does.

Cheri then mentioned many others in the church that are considered faithful. It was funny because our church is so incredible, that looking around the assembled people at Bible study, each person could be used as an example of faithful. These are people who do what they do quietly, can be depended on, if they commit to something, they do what they say they will do with no wavering. Some of them Cheri has watched grow in the Lord, and she noticed that they are striving to be better. These are people who serve with a smile.

Cheri’s parents, worked so hard to help their children grow, and sacrificed much, when they had little, to put their children through school. Her father was a volunteer fireman, and he brought up his children right. The children strayed some, but her parents laid down good roots and they have all returned to the fold. The sincerity and depth of love that her parents showed instilled those qualities in her family. It was their faithfulness to Cheri that brought out the qualities that God put in her. After she made many side journeys, Cheri can now be used by God at this point in her life.

Someone commented that Cheri also fits the description of faithful for her untiring work for the church, and her commitment to the Lord. (I say, AMEN to that!)

Dedication of people’s hearts to the things of God separate them from people with the “I me mine” mentality.  What we must remember is that God sees all of it.  He looks into the very depth and source of everything. He knows all of our hearts, thoughts, emotional reactions.  He knows the faithful ones, as well as the ones that could care less.  In these last days God is  executing judgment on His Church. I want my faith to be counted to me as righteousness – my faith in God should be displayed by my desire be like Him – faithfulness in the greatest degree – John  15:13: “greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends…” Jesus’ faithfulness to us is the epitome of what we are striving for. In John 10:15 Jesus says, “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”  Can you say that you are so faithful you would die for someone you call a friend?  I have thought about that, ……. I want to believe that I would lay down my life for Jesus….

(Heather’s comment, me too.)

There’s also a practical, simple, daily aspect of the quality of faithfulness… think about it… if we can demonstrate faithfulness in the small things….. Matt. 25:21 – “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things… Enter into the joy of your lord.”

Luke 19:17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’

Luke 16:10-11 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

We are to be faithful to God and then all the rest will come.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

In these days and times, what can we do in our everyday realm? WHAT CAN EACH OF US DO IN THIS BODY AS FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS?

If we are looking to be more and more like Jesus, which all of us should be, then we should start out with the small things…. How about a gentle smile  to someone?  faithfulness is also consistency – if you commit yourself to something, do you follow through and complete what you have said you would do? 

Faithfulness inspires Faith.  The quality of faithfulness is admired by everyone we know.  For those of you that are parents, in order to instill that trust and faith in your children, you have to be an example of that.  Are you there for them when they need you to be?  If you are, then your child will develop a deep trust and faith in you because you inspired it by your dedication to them.  They in turn will grow up to have that same quality – “raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” 

People know that they can trust you because you have proven yourself to be dependable and steadfast…. and what is even better than that is that God knows He can trust you.  Once God trusts you, He will use you in ways you would never imagine or think possible.   Once that trust is there, He will entrust us with more – Luke 12:48 – “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”  I want to be used more and more by the Lord, and that only can come through faithfulness to Him.  Faithfulness inspires Faith.  People can rely on you,  God can rely on you, and you can rely on.

Someone then mentioned that we also need to be faithful in our prayer life. We need to be regularly praying for our family, our pastor, the government, our church. To be worshipping God.

This was an incredibly blessed teaching, and so thorough. I am glad to be able to share it with you.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather

My friend Julie took some pictures during the worship service with Pastor Danquah and forwarded them to me. Thought you would like to see them.

Tommy Playing his saxaphone.

Joanne drumming with praise team behind her.

Joanne’s drumming teacher – he was teaching us an African worship song about Jesus.

Pastor Danquah singing.

I wish you could have heard the joy that was happening in the worship.

In Africa, Pastor Don told us that the people when they worship wave white handkerchiefs, so someone handed out white kleenex, and we started waving the kleenex and then dancing around the sanctuary. I have to tell you that contrary to my usual behavior, even I was dancing.

Linda singing and praising God.

Pastor Don’s wife, Cynthia, and Pastor Don playing his guitar standing behind her.

Cheri worshipping.

Pastor Danquah worshipping

Barry the worship leader for God’s Word Worship Band

Hope you enjoy these pictures. There are more pictures in the previous teaching of Pastor Danquah. Have a blessed day!

Heather

Here are a few more pictures of praise and worship before Pastor Danquah spoke, I am at the mercy of what pictures my husband edited and supplied for me.

Jessica Spradling sang beautifully with two others from our youth group,

And our little ones come up to the altar during praise and worship. Our church has even made little flags and streamers for them to use to worship, we are so blessed to watch them dance with unabated joy of the Lord.

More pictures follow at the end of this teaching.

Pastor Danquah continued on about altars.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ALTAR

1. ALTARS ARE RAISED TO AVERT CALAMITY.

2 Samuel 24:25 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

David made a mistake by having the Children of Israel numbered. This angered God. David was given a choice of punishments, and ultimately chose – 2 Samuel 24:14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. God caused a plague to come upon the nation of Israel, and David prayed to God: 2 Samuel 24:17 And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.

God heard David’s prayer and sent an angel to tell David to build an altar and sacrifice to avert a calamity. David was offered the land and a place for free, but He chose to pay because 2 Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

The land was bought the land and the oxen for fifty shekels.

A sacrifice of value costs. Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver, Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver.

In each of these cases the sacrifice was made and averted calamity. When we come to the altar, whether we are pagan or Christian, a priest (or pastor) speaks on our behalf. We, as Christians, also have the ability to speak on our behalf, and avert our calamity. As we believe, so we speak.

The Moabites were fighting Judah and were losing the battle, the King of Moab:  2 Kings 3:26-27 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

The heathen king understood that sacrifice averted calamity.

2. ALTARS ARE RAISED TO APPRECIATE GOD. We have to thank God, to be happy, rejoice, testify, and raise an altar for all the good that God has done in our lives.

Genesis 8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

When the waters abated, Noah built an altar to God in appreciation of God saving Noah and his family, and the animals on the ark.

Genesis 8:21-22 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Noah’s sacrifice and altar pleased God, and he received a blessing from God, that never again would God flood the earth, and that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

The Lord smelled the sacrifice on the altar and it pleased God. When we appreciate God, God will also honor you.

With Cain and Abel, Abel’s sacrifice pleased God, and God heard him. Cain’s sacrifice was not pleasing to God. When we offer our sacrifice to God, there is no sacrifice that comes without blessing.

3. THE ALTAR IS RAISED AS A PLATFORM FOR DECLARATION. The voice of the altar declares the people’s destiny. Balaam was hired to curse Israel. Before he spoke he had Balak build seven altars and sacrifice on them. Balaam was only permitted to speak the words that God told him to speak, and he spoke blessings over Israel.

As a child of God we can bring our petitions before God, or talk with our pastor and he can agree in prayer with us, bringing our petitions before God. Our pastor declares things to us, and speaks blessings over us. But to do something, we need the hand of God. If we so sparingly, we will reap sparingly. We have the authority to control how much God blesses us and to move God’s hands in a negative or a positive direction.

Idol worshippers go to the altars to have the priest of the altar speak against a person. That priest often makes a sacrifice and speaks against the person, and evil happens. The demons of the world are moved by sacrifice, and since demons imitate what God does. God also is moved by sacrifice (whether it is a sacrifice of praise, a tithe, an offering, a dying of self), and what is declared from the altar means that we will never be the same.

When Isaac was going to die, he asked Esau to go and kill venison, preparing it as a stew, and then Israel would bless Esau. Jacob’s mom got wind of this plan, and had Jacob kill a lamb and prepare the lamb as a stew to get the blessing. An animal had to be sacrificed, Isaac ate, and then he declared his blessing.

If we say that we are blessed, we are blessed. Remember Jabez asked God to enlarge his territory.

4. ALTARS ARE PLACES FOR DIVINE ENCOUNTERS. A place to meet with God. People who are idol worshippers go to altars to hear from spirits and demons, witches use altars. We raise an altar when we want an encounter with God. Remember when Jacob as running from Esau, he laid down with a stone for his pillow and had a vision,

Genesis 28:12-16 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

The angels are ascending up with news and down with blessings. The Heavens were opened and angels were going down and up. Here in church and wherever we are worshipping God there are angels. And this can change our destiny, can alter our lives.

When your heart is right with God, God is obligated to move you to people and places where your destiny can be changed, we receive favor that can alter our destiny. We can become free of the devil, ancestral curses. Remember John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

The place where God met with Jacob, he called “Bethel” which means house of God.

He came back to the same place again. Genesis 35:6-7 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

5. ALTARS ARE PLACES TO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD, WHERE GOD IS IN THE HOUSE.  An altar is raised to remember the blessings and favor from God.

2 Chronicles 1:6 And Solomon went up thither to the brasen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.

We come to the altar to offer and serve God. When we have a drunken husband, we come to fellowship with God, when we have a need to be healed, or saved. Solomon offered 1000 burnt offerings, that cost a lot, even in Solomon’s day. But Solomon was generous out of love for the Lord.

2 Chronicles 1:7 In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee.

When Solomon offered his sacrifice to God, God was pleased and asked Solomon what he wanted. Solomon’s reply touched the heart of God. Solomon asked for wisdom, and God gave him not only wisdom, but above and beyond that riches.

What do you need? If we ask according to the heart of God, God will give to us abundantly. God will give us what is needful for the kingdom. Some things we want, are not needful, and God may not give those to us, but God has no problem with us living abundantly.

Even the demons understand these biblical principles, Kingdom principles, for they operate for the saved as well as the unsaved. We Christians are seeking to destroy the devil and to destroy the devil’s kingdom. God’s children are not fully embracing what we are entitled to within God’s kingdom.

6. ALTARS ARE RAISED TO ENHANCE OBJECTIVES AND CAST DOWN OPPOSITION.

Pastor Danquah told us that we are facing political elections, and people are getting worried about who will be elected, but we are of God, and we do not have to worry about the outcome of the election. God is sovereign. When we connect ourselves to the altar and present our case to God, we know that God listens. God is our spiritual father.

Pastor Danquah reminded us that we are not to go church hopping from church to church, that we are to let our spiritual father, Pastor Don, know where we are going when we go to other places. When we are under Pastor Don’s covering, he need to know what we are doing for our protection. Some people feel that they can live outside the boundaries of a church, having no church home. But if they are doing that, when the enemy strikes, they have no protection. Satan is happy when people choose to leave the church, for they are then unprotected. We need our shepherd and the people around us, as we walk the walk.

8. ALTARS ARE RAISED TO MONITOR ACTIVITIES.  The demon world imitates the spiritual world, and the altar is a monitoring system that allows us to see everything that is going on in the rest of the world. In the spiritual world there is no distance, so the demons and the spiritual beings of God can see things that are occuring 1000 miles away. To be true just to be alive on this earth means that there is probably someone against you, and demons want you to be blind to the energies that are coming your way. We need to raise our voice and talk to God, to let God know what is going on because the demons want to see our downfall. You can always come to God, and He will help you to rise up. We are to be the light that we are. Isaiah 60:1-2 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

We are to arise and stop the foolishness that is going on in the world, to advance the Kingdom of God. We are not to stay only in the church, but to be sold out for God, reach the lost for God. To have our dry bones come to life, and discipling others in the house of God. We are to be eating the meat of the Word of God, not coming to Pastor Don for every little thing, but to be reaching out and helping someone else. When people look at us they should be seeing the glory of Jesus on our lives.

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

We are not battling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.

Pastor Danquah told us that in professional wrestling, the two wrestling often make moves that another person doesn’t see coming. We need to realize that satan does not fight fair and we have to keep on our spiritual armor. We have an edge though, for we are under the blood of Jesus, and Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

HOW DO WE RAISE ALTARS?

BY SACRIFICE. No altar is built without sacrifice. David raised an altar, but would not accept free land, he knew that an altar needed to cost something. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son on Mt. Moriah, the same place that David bought the land to build his altar, and the same place that Solomon built his temple, and the place that the muslims claim is now their temple mount. Solomon sacrificed 1000 animals for a burnt offering.

We need to ask God what He wants us to do with our lives.

BY BREAKING DOWN OLD ALTARS. Gideon was told to break down the idolatrous altar of his father, and build a new altar to sacrifice on. Sometimes we have to break old altars to raise new altars, and gain the liberty.

THE WEIGHT OF THE SACRIFICE DETERMINS THE GRAVITY OF THE BLESSING.

David bought the property to build the altar. In this day and age money is our blood, sweat and tears, and when we raise an altar to God, we sow a seed to God’s kingdom.

God is breaking down our old altars and helping our lives to turn around. Often our turn around is not manifested on the physical level, but in the spiritual first. It is in the spiritual realm before it becomes physical.

We then prayed and healings occurred.

After he spoke Pastor Don shared some words with us and here he led us in a song, Pastor Danquah was sitting after ministering for many hours. This service lasted from 7 PM until almost 11.

We have a tradition in our church when we have been blessed that we give the visiting pastor a group hug, Yes, Pastor Danquah is there in our midst.

We then prayed.

And at the end my husband snapped a picture of me with Pastor Danquah.

I pray your Sunday is blessed!

Heather

Pastor Danquah reminded us to keep our faith up, because sometimes God does not manifest a healing instantly, but as we continue believing in faith, healings will manifest.

One of our praise teams, God’s Word Worship Band (see picture below), brought so much to the service and brought the anointing down. We have five praise teams at our church each with a different sound.

Here is a picture of Pastor Danquah preaching. My husband did not use flash as he did not want to disrupt the teaching, but the lighting was such that it was hard to capture a good image, so this was the best picture.

He had us read two Bible passages which I am including here. Pastor Danquah uses KJV of the Bible.

Numbers 23:1-6 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the LORD will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.

2 Samuel 24:18-25 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

Balak was the king of Moab, and he was afraid of the Israelites. He hired Balaam to curse the people. Even a heathen king like Balak believed the word of the prophet of God. The Prophet’s words will have an effect on you whether good or bad. Balaam told Balak to build seven altars . This was a major undertaking, because a platform had to be raised, and the altars had to be built. It required a sacrifice to go before the Lord.

David had committed a foolish action and God’s anger was being expressed on the children of Israel. David prayed to God to stop and punish him and his family because it was he who sinned. God gave David three options, and David chose to have God punish him. A plague went out among the people of Israel, and then a prophet of God instructed David to build an altar. God averted the calamity.

RAISING GODLY ALTARS.  It is imperative for every Christian to build an altar. Even the ungodly, demonic worshippers have altars. What happens in the spiritual also occurs on the physical. There are preachers who are God’s servants and then there are also demonic influences that can influence people. We do not want to speak against God’s servants, for it is their words that help us to avert the power of the devil.

WHAT IS AN ALTAR?

1. AN ALTAR IS A PLACE OF WORSHIP. It is not a piece of furniture, not built just to beautify the church. It is a place to give reverence to God. To come and worship the Lord. Every form of worship, Godly or ungodly, has altars. The Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and all spiritual people have altars. Remember that satan imitates what God does.

2. AN ALTAR IS A PLACE OF SACRIFICE. There is no altar, pagan or Godly where people don’t sacrifice. Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago and opened the gateway for us to be able to approach the altar. Before that, only the High Priest could approach the altar to worship. Today, Christians do not have to sacrifice rams and lambs before an altar, we bring a different sacrifice.

Romans 12:1-2 NKJV 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.

(Heather’s note, I put this one in NKJV, because when he told us this passage, we all started reciting it from memory – it is an important memory verse for discipleship and leadership, and most of the church knows this verse by heart. Pastor Danquah was pleased that we knew this so well).

Our bodies are a living sacrifice. And our bodies are also an altar of the Lord, so we need to be sure that what we are doing pleases God. Wherever we go we carry our altar (body) with us. We are always in the presence of the Lord wherever we go. We do not need to sacrifice an animal, that is a dead offering. Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We die to sin, and yet live through Jesus. We carry God’s altar wherever we go. God is in our Spirit. We can’t take God’s altar to commit adultery, to steal, to do any sin. We are too holy to go there. We have to remember that we are the Temple of the Holy God, and must act accordingly.

3. AN ALTAR IS A MEETING POINT. Idol worshipping humans also go to meet the spirits. Christians also go to the altar so that our spirits can meet God. Idol worshippers meet spirits and demons, but we go to the altar to meet God. Church is not just a place of fellowship, but it is a place where we go to meet God at the altar. Every person has altars in their life, whether for good or evil. We go to the altar so that what God can put in our life may come to fruition. We never forget the day we came to God. God can open a way for our righteousness, prospects, favor, and relationship with Him.

4. AN ALTAR IS A LINK BETWEEN MAN AND THE SPIRIT WORLD. We are spirits that live in a body and have a soul. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Spirit connects to spirit. Because we are a spirit, we need to connect with the Spirit of God, with the Holy Spirit. If we are not connected to the Holy Spirit, then we are open for other demonic spirits to come in. We want to connect with God’s Holy Spirit so that other spirits cannot take over.

2 Corinthians 5:16a Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh… We need to be careful who we choose to connect ourselves with. We want to be careful who we pick as friends, some who we meet in schools, on the internet, and in our lives are not children of God, but are satan’s children. They can be placed in our lives to draw us toward demonic influence, so make sure that your friends are godly.

5. AN ALTAR IS A CONSECRATED PLACE WHERE MAN DRAWS SPIRITUAL STRENGTH. Even idol worshippers can draw strength from their altars through changing, meditation, etc. Our strength is weak, and we need the altar of God to strengthen us for our lives. The Word of God spoken from the altar can give us strength. We can get filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness for 40 days and nights. When Jesus began His ministry He came in the power of the Spirit. We need to go from just speaking in tongues to deeper in the power of the Spirit where the devil sees you and flees. When we have God’s power in us and draw power from Him it causes satan to fear us. We need to release the anointing of the Lord on our lives and the Glory of God that is on us will trouble the devil.

No Christian needs to fear any demonic spirit or death, or cancer, or HIV, or any other trouble. There is power in the NAME OF JESUS! 1 John 1:4b …because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. We can pray for spiritual strength today.

Do you have a personal altar in your home?  A place where you and your family can lift up the name of the Lord, and God can intervene in your life and the life of your family? Pastor Danquah told us that every Saturday he and his family gather to pray and share the Word of God. He has older children with busy schedules, so they make a time each week to worship together. He does not want the devil to come and take away the blessings on his household.

We need to build an altar, a place where we talk to God and draw strength from Him. We also need to remember that we also have an altar within us, and worship God daily in our walk. We not only sing in the Spirit, but are always praising Jesus and carrying God with us. When we come to Church, we should come prayed up, already lifted up in the Spirit, so that we can add to the worship. We pray in the morning, pray in tongues, pray all day, and be ready for when the fire of the Lord falls upon you so that you can do what you need when you need to. If we only read the Bible on Sunday, the demons can knock us over with a tiny puff of air. We need to be on fire for Jesus, and in His Word and in prayer daily, so that we are a force to be reckoned with.

Remember the seven sons of Sceva?  Acts 19:13-16 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Arm yourself, worship God, and not just for your own selfish purposes. Remember that God is not there to serve only us, but so that we can serve others. Some people have been in the Lord many, many years, some 12 years, some 6, some 2, and they are still wearing diapers, are still spiritual babies. God is wanting us to not only drink milk, but to have the meat of the Word, and to become a threat to satan’s kingdom. God wants us to grow up. In these last days, God wants us strong in Him to avert the works of satan.

Living Word Chapel in the end times will be a place where demons flee, a place of deliverance.

Every altar has someone represented on the altar. Idol worshiper’s altars are represented by priests of the demons and spirits, Muslim’s altars are represented by the Imams. Priests represented the altars for the Israelites. Pastors and priests represent the altar of God. Priests will inform us of what sacrifice is needed to worship God, or god. Is it a goat, money, a personal sacrifice?

In Living Word Chapel, Pastor Don declares the Word of God to us. Pastor Danquah or any other teacher cannot preach at Living Word Chapel without Pastor Don’s permission. Pastor Don speaks life to us, we receive miracles, and teachings to equip us to do God’s will. If you are in a Church and you have no connection to the altar you have a problem. In the role of pastor or priest, the person is representing God. We are not to get angry at the pastor. If we gossip and speak negative about our shepherd, we are breaking a link with God and no blessing can come from that.

This was a long talk, so I am going to continue this tomorrow with more about altars.

Hoping your day is blessed.

Heather