October 2, 2008

• Men of Issachar by Pastor Don

  Here is a transcript of a sermon by Pastor Don that is relevent for this time and economy.  Remember what is in brackets [ ] is said by the congregation.  I kept it in Pastor Don’s words, editing slightly for readability.  Three periods … means a pause during the presentation.  Pastor Don used a member’s Bible and was handed NASB version, so that is what I quoted from.

   

  Have a blessed day,

  Heather

   

  SAY AMEN

  SHOW 103

  MEN OF ISSACHAR

  6/29/08

   

  This Saturday, which was yesterday, we had a meeting of the men’s group.  I wasn’t the slated speaker, I wasn’t supposed to speak or do anything.  But when I woke up, the Lord had given me this dream and I was trying to figure out the dream.  On the way to church, this message, all the parts of it, dropped in my spirit and then when I got here to the church building, Brother Les, while we were eating breakfast said, “Guess what?  You are our surprise guest speaker today.”  [laughter]  But what he didn’t know was that the Lord had given me something to say.  So, I delivered the package to the men only to find out that the greater body needs to hear it.  Men, what do you think?  [yes]  There are aspects of it that I need to share with you. 

   

  So let’s pray, and I’m going to give you this message, then I want to introduce you to another dignitary in the house.  Let’s talk to Jesus.  Father, in Your Mighty Name we ask Your blessings upon the Word and upon all that we have seen today and heard.  And our spirits are lifted up, we’ve got smiles on our faces, and we just ask now, Lord, that you would give us the wisdom to be able to hear what I believe, Lord, is from Heaven.  Give us the wisdom to hear it, and Lord, give us the ability and the strength to carry it out, in Jesus’ Name. Amen [amen] Amen. 

   

  I have always tried to do my best to teach and lead the church, that has a vision or at least an understanding of what’s going on.  This week I was listening to the news and I heard an interesting statistic.  I just want to share it with you.  In years previous, fuel costs, heating home fuel, gasoline for your cars…how many of you drive cars?  Alright, how many of you heat your house with oil or fuel?  Alright.  Heating home fuel and gas…historically has taken up 7% of the income of the American family.  7%.  But now that gas prices have exceeded $4.00 a gallon, and fuel costs, of course have, fuel oil is much higher than that, it will now consume 20%…of your income.  Let me just say that again for those of us that flunked algebra.  [laughter]  Heating oil, heating fuel used to consume 7% of your income…But now, it’s going to consume 20%…And over a year ago, I prophesied to you to get your financial houses in order.  And that everything spiritual and morally that you don’t have nailed down, was going to come apart.  Some of you listened, some of you didn’t.  And so I’ve done more financial counseling in the last 6 months than I’ve done in 30 years of counseling.

   

  I’m going to share with you something else.  I want you to listen very carefully to your pastor.  20% of your income is now going to go in a direction that… is unexpected and unplanned by you…If you don’t pay attention to what I’m saying, you are about to end up in a difficult situation…There are two people, two groups that I wanted to focus on with the men.  Because we sometimes are so enamored with the great heroes of the Bible, that we all want to be like David.  We all want to go out on the battlefield, let’s kill Goliath.  We want to draw our sword and like Jonathan, chop up the Philistines.  But Scripture gives us a picture of other types of heroes that were also great.  Their greatness was different. For example, the sons of Issachar, the Bible says that they understood their times…and they knew what to do for Israel.  Let me say that again.  They understood their times and they knew what to do for Israel…These men of the tribe of Issachar were able to listen to the prophetic word and listen to the word of the women, of the church, of their people, of the tribe.  They were able to listen to all of that. And listen to what they heard about the enemies coming and so forth and so on.  They were able to understand the circumstance and the situation that they were in.  And then they were able to take the prophetic word as well as the practical word, put it together and understand what should be done in Israel. 

   

  But the thing that made them great and outstanding to put them in Scripture, was that they would come up with a plan and they would implement it…Now the greatest historical figure that we have in the Bible besides Jesus Christ, is Joseph.  Joseph was amazing because Joseph was characterized in Scripture as a dreamer.  He was a man who dreamed but he also received visions.  And in these dreams, he received information from God, and then he would interpret dreams for other people, but as well as for himself.  And so we have a dreamer…

   

  But what I want to say to you today is, you very well may be a dreamer.  You may have ideas and concepts.  You may have a vision of things that the Lord speaks to you in the night.  But if you get up in the morning and you’re a dreamer, and you don’t implement a plan, that is a plan for disaster.  [amen]  Let me say it again.  You may very well understand your times, but if you don’t have a plan and implement it, then you are a dreamer who has not the ability to implement a plan, and that is a plan.  That’s a plan for disaster.  So, even though you may dream, if you do nothing with the content of the dream, if you do nothing with the information and the understanding that you have, that is a plan.  But that’s a plan for disaster…

   

  So Joseph, let’s just go through the story real quick.  Joseph was his daddy’s favorite, but his other brothers didn’t like it.  Joseph had a dream about that.  He told the dream.  Sometimes we need to keep our mouths shut and just implement the plan.  We don’t need to be telling people everything.  But, none-the-less, he had this dream about him being greater than his brothers.  His brothers didn’t like it.  And what did they do?  They took him, sold him into slavery.  Now, in slavery, he gets elevated because of dreams and his dream ability.  He gets elevated to different places of positions and power, but he finds out, because of a woman,…who implemented her plan against his dream…he finds himself now in slavery in a prison.  Alright?…

   

  And this is what I imparted to the men.  So ladies, this is not, not against you, but just the reality of the situation.  When Adam and Eve were in the Garden, a curse came upon Eve, which was that her desire would be for her husband, that desire for her husband does not mean that she wanted her husband, it meant that she wanted his position…That she didn’t want Adam to rule over her anymore.  She wanted to pull Adam down, and she wanted to make the decisions.  And so she began making the decisions in the home, rather than consulting with Adam and letting him have his rightful place…Alright?… You ladies OK?… I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to the ladies that don’t go to church…See, they’re screaming out there because they like us. (babies in the lobby)  [laughter] 

   

  So, we’re, we’re out of order in our society because the Biblical model that Jesus gave us is that the man is supposed to carry out his role and function, and the female is to carry out her role and function.  Now, when those come into conflict, and the woman amasses more authority and more power than has been given to her, it turns the ship upside down and everybody drowns.  Now, we may not like that because you women are sitting here.  You’re intelligent, you’re beautiful.  This church has the most intelligent, beautiful, capable, prophetic women on the planet.  But ladies, if you rise up and trample your husbands, the home will be in disarray.  It will be in confusion.  The pressure resulting upon you will be a disaster…

   

  Follow the Biblical model, you’re going to be ok.  Your wife is to be a help meet. That means someone who comes alongside and we work this stuff out together, but when the woman gets out of her position, all hell’s going to break loose.  75% of the men in prison today, 75% of them have no unified family.  The men are gone.  The men are …gone.  Now, I’m not against single mothers.  A single mother has to be strong.  She has to do what she has to do.  She has to stand in the position and fulfill her calling in that home.  That’s necessary.  That’s very necessary.  I’m talking about the unit that is still half-way together.  That has a husband and a wife in the home.  And everyone has to carry out their role in a Biblical way. 

   

  Wife, you may be smarter than your husband, you may be better at math than your husband.  But he’s still supposed to be involved in the process of the decision making in order that the boat be going in the same direction in a unified manner.  Ladies, can you accept that?  [yes]  Is that ok?  [yes]  If you will, a Godly man raised up in his rightful position will never make a decision without consulting you.  He’ll never make a decision and overrun you.  Because, if he is truly a man of God, then he is called to be a husband who loves his wife as Christ loved the Church.  Therefore, he would give himself up for his wife.  [amen] …But he can’t hardly give himself up for you if you are beating him.  I don’t mean physically, but there are some physical.  I had a guy in the church come and he said, “Pastor, my wife’s beating me up every week.”  I said, “What??”  He said, “Yeah, she is beating me up every week.”  He said, “I was raised never to hit a woman.”  You know, and I said, “Well, you shouldn’t.”  I said, but let’s get together and counsel on this.  Let’s find out why.  And the reason was, because she, in her frustration and the difficulty of the fact that she couldn’t get this man to be a man, she was just pounding him.  You know, just beating him.  So, I had the perfect solution.  I bought her boxing gloves.  [laughter]  No, no, no, no. I didn’t [laughter]  I don’t believe I said that.  [laughter]  Yeah…  No, no, we just resolved the situation by what?  Getting him to realize what a Biblical man looked like and he stepped up in that position, and giving her the patience, and teaching her the patience to speak the right words to him to encourage him so that he would, he would get it done.  Amen.  [amen] 

   

  So, what does all this have to do with anything?  Joseph gets thrown into prison because a domineering woman who had her desires, had her plan.  She was just going to over run this man, and, and over run her husband as well as over run Joseph.  Joseph’s in prison.  He interprets two dreams that restore him back to being the number one man, well not back to being, but elevate him to the position of the number one man in the nation, right under pharaoh. He got under pharaoh because he was a dreamer, that when pharaoh questioned him, this dreamer had a plan.  Now, the pharaoh realizes that Joseph is a dreamer, and he needs someone who has the ability to see something from a different perspective.  And so the pharaoh acknowledges that Joseph can see something that he cannot see.  And therefore, he takes the dreamer and puts him in position, not because he’s a dreamer, but because he was a dreamer who also, as a result of interpreting the dreams, had a plan…A dream without a plan is a plan for [disaster] Say it again. [disaster]  Therefore the pharaoh in his wisdom realizes, this man of God, not only has a dream, but he has a plan as a result of the dream.  Therefore, I can entrust the nation to him for he will implement a plan of action and praise God, he’s a dreamer who can implement a plan of action…

   

  Sons of Issachar, they understood their times and they were willing to do what Israel needed to have done…So, let’s take it on a practical plan now.  20% of your income is now going to be shifted from what was 7%.  What’s 7 take away 20? [13] 13% of your income is going to have to be diverted from somewhere…Math is simple.  There’s somewhere, 13% of your income is going to have to be taken away from over here and put into something over here.  I hate to say it ladies, but if you’re getting your nails done twice a month, you might have to go to once a month.  God forbid…But you know, women are not the problem.  Men are.  Do you know why?… [laughter]  Get thee behind me satan…  [laughter]…  Do you know why?  Because women have small, inexpensive toys but they have a lot of them.  Men have a few toys, but they’re big and they’re expensive.  And then, we pull the wool over your eyes, because we can justify our toys.  …[amen] …[laughter]  There’s one of the toys right there.  It costs $35.00 to go play a good round of golf at a decent course.  Do that four or five times a month, it’s hundreds of dollars.  My wife can go get her nails done.  How much does it cost, baby?  She can go get her nails done for $20.  And how long does that last?  2-3 weeks.  So in 2 or three weeks she spent $40.00.  If I go play golf 2 or 3 times, I’ve spent over $100 dollars.

   

  13% of your income is going to have to be moved from somewhere.  You can be like most Americans are going to be.  Most Americans are going to do nothing about it until it’s too late.  They going to take this 13% and push it off onto their credit cards.  Come on, I’m trying to help you. [amen]  What good is church if it doesn’t have some practical application?  I will in October, November, gladly sit down with you and go over your finances and help you.  I will even gladly go into my pocket and the pocket of the church and do what we can to help you.  But our resources won’t be there because of that 13% are going to be gifts, tithes, and offerings… I’m a practical preacher man. I just dress like I’m worth millions.  But the reality is, that I know, I have a dream.  I have to put a plan into action.  I’m trying to say to the men of God, step up in your households, start making decisions.  Be able to say yes.  But also be able to say no.  Because why?  There’s a 13% problem that’s about to walk in our doorway.  I’m asking the women, women you have your way, you have your needs, you know what the budgets are.  You know what you’re spending for food.  You know what it costs to live in your home.  Then sit down with your husband and look it over.  Sit down and make some wise decisions, cause there’s some man who wants a riding mower instead of a pushing mower, who will justify his $2000 riding mower over and against your nails.  And you need to be able to say, “Honey, I really love you baby doll, but you need to push that thing this winter.”  And when spring comes, you need a walking mower…That $2000 riding mower, we cannot afford this year. 

   

  You need to realize that that 13% is coming.  I can’t stop it.  Barack Obama can’t stop it.  John McCain can’t stop it.  No one in the Senate can stop it.  No one in the world government plans to stop it.  It is a part of a global plan, and you better get ready for it.  And don’t tell me I didn’t tell you.  My job is to be a watchman on the wall and tell you.  I told you last year.  I’m telling you again.  Look at your budget, get your financial house in order because 13% is about to come out of somewhere, and go somewhere.  If you have the ability to burn wood, you need to consider what’s it going to cost you to do it?  Who’s going to do it?  How are you going to do it?  If you don’t have  thermal pane insulated windows, you need to consider how to get them .  If you don’t have insulation in your walls, and you live in one of these old houses in Kingston, you need to figure out, get somebody, ask Brother Les or me or somebody, how to pull down the sheet rock and put some R19 in there instead of air, and then put the wall back and sheet rock.  And tell your wife to learn how to spackle and paint…

   

  What is this?  [come on preach it]  … I am preaching the Gospel.  The Gospel is survival…Gospel is survival.  Cause I’m telling you now, come December, January, and February, it’s going to cost you thousands of dollars to heat your home.  One of my neighbors filled up his tank yesterday, 275 gallon tank.  It cost him $1200.  [whoa]  $1200.  So, if you spend a thousand dollars last year for fuel oil, you better be expecting to spend $3000 or something like it…Now, what does the Bible say? 

   

  I want you to turn to the book of Genesis in the 50th chapter.  I don’t even have a Bible.  Somebody find me a Bible….Watch them bring up one of them little print Bibles that you need to…How big is the print in that thing?…That’s wonderful.  You all old like me.  [laughter]  Genesis, Chapter 50.  How you all doing?  You all right?  [yeah]  Wife, your husband is not your enemy.  Husband, your wife is not your enemy.  The good thing is you find out, it’s time for you to find out if your marriage is strong or not.  If you can’t talk about sex, race, religion, and politics, and finances in your house, your marriage is in trouble.  It’s going to take crisis to uncover that.  And crisis and pressure will demonstrate what you’ve really got.  But there’s some husbands who are afraid to talk to their wives about their sexual problems, afraid to talk to them about their mind what’s going on, got special pass codes so their wife can’t see into their computer.  What are we talking about?  We’re talking about confusion in Denmark… Julie knows what I’m talking about.  She’s well read in the classics.  [laughter] 

   

  Genesis, Chapter 50.  Let’s go.  You ready?  [yep]  Alright, in verse 22.  Remember Joseph, he’s now second man to pharaoh.  Pharaoh puts him in position of power.  Why?  Because he’s a dreamer who can implement a plan.  He’s a what? [a dreamer]  who can implement a plan.  But now, if we look at the life of Joseph, what happened to Joseph?  Because he is a dreamer who can implement a plan, people hated him. Threw him into a well, and sold him into slavery.  A woman came against him and what, took the dreamer and had the dreamer thrown into jail.  On and on and on.  Everybody with me?  [yes]  Alright, now, as time goes by, the dreamer who can implement a plan, is now number two to pharaoh.  But there’s a famine in Israel.  There’s a famine.  And so the only place, watch this now, that has food, the only place that has resources is the place where the dreamer implemented a plan….Come on, you can say, amen to something else.  You can say amen to this reality.  The reality show preaching.  He implemented a plan.  There was food in Egypt, when the rest of the World was starving.  What do you think, what do you think Y2K was about?  It was practice for the Body of Christ to get ready for the real deal.  [amen]…Never mind, moving right along.  Moving right along. 

   

  NASB “Now Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household.  And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.”  Now, in all of that, we see that God blessed Joseph all the way into the end of his life.  But before he dies, his brothers come from Canaan Land.  Lord have mercy.  His brothers come from Canaan Land because there’s nothing to eat.  Only for Joseph, who now they didn’t recognize.  They didn’t recognize this guy.  Last time they saw him, he was bleeding in a pit in the ground.  So they didn’t recognize him.  And so they did evil to him.  Is there anybody here that anybody in your family has done evil to?   Come on.  Is there anybody here, your brothers and sisters lied on you and messed you up?  Is there anybody here who, your parents let you down?  Anybody here whose father was not faithful to his call as a father?  My dad was a great preacher man.  My father was a great man of God, but he didn’t have any idea what being a father was about.  His father and the father before him, they, they didn’t teach that. They didn’t hand that down.  He didn’t know he was supposed to come to football games.  He didn’t know he’s supposed to come to my track meets.  He didn’t know he was supposed to spend time with me.  He figured, hey, I, you know, my daddy didn’t spend time with me, why do I need to spend time with my kids?  Some of you have fathers that were not even present, let alone good or effective.  They were total absentee idiots.  Well, glory to God.  And some of us are still wallowing in the pain of what evil has done to us.  We’re wallowing in the pain of our divorces, of the pain of our separation, the pain of the failures of our children, the difficulty that we can’t seem to get our world straight.  And we’re still living under the influence of evil and what evil has done to us.  But today I’m here to give you a message.  I’m here to tell you that if God did it for Joseph, He can do it for you.  [amen] 

   

  Let’s look in the Scriptures here.  Look at verse 15 .  “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong we did to him?  So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.”  And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.“  What are they saying?  They’re saying, we did evil to you Joseph, and we expect that you’re still like us.  You’re still going to hold a grudge and not be forgiving.  Oh, Child of God, that sits here today in this building, if you want to make it through the last of these last days, you must forgive.  [amen]  You must erase the slate of the burden of your pain and get on with your life.  It is time to forgive mother, sister, and brothers and all those that disappointed and hurt you.  For that evil that was done to you came from the evil one who inspires all evil and anything that the devil has done that is evil to you, God has something to say about it. 

   

  Come on, let’s move along.  You ready?  [yes]  Verse 18.  “Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”  But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid...”  [Do not be afraid]  Say it one more time.  [Do not be afraid]  Say it two times fast.  [Do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid.]  So he says, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place?“  That means he does not claim the authority over them like God does.  “As for you….” Let’s read it together, come on.  “…you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.  So therefore…” read it again….”…do not be afraid;  I will provide for you and your little ones.”  So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”  Say it with me, do not be afraid.  [Do not be afraid.]  Did God mean it for evil?  [No]  Did God want to destroy you?  [no]  Does God plan to destroy you?  [no]  No. Who meant it for evil?  [the devil]  The devil meant it for evil…If all that has happened to you in your life has come even through your error, even through your own error.  Some of you are in circumstances that you created yourselves.  My heart is to see you survive and make it, be the People of God with a testimony, standing strong and tall, able to stand in this wicked day and be able to make a sacrifice.  But if you don’t prepare for this 13%,  I pray to God, who knows.  Maybe by August, somebody’ll figure out that, you know, none of this should be the way that it is…..

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