October 21, 2008

• Hebrews 10:19-23 by Pastor Don

  Pastor Don told us that Hebrews 10 is an important chapter to our faith. This chapter will encourage and strengthen you. 

  Given our current financial system, the fact that our government is seeking to make us a socialist nation, politicians are scrambling for a platform that will cause them to take drastic steps to try and ease the financial crisis, and the debt for financial institutions is being passed to us, America is in a crisis.  But we do not have to fear.  Pastor Don said, look up, for our redemption draws nigh. 

  Hebrews 10:19-20 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God,

  Jesus went to the cross, and then entered the Holiest, by His blood, the perfect sacrifice for us and our sins.

  Hebrews 10:21-22  and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

  We had an evil conscience, but water is the cleanser, and what exactly is this water?  It is the Word of God.

  John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

  Jesus was making a distinction between water and Spirit.  The church tends to think that water is physical baptism, but it is not referring to baptism in this passage.

  John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

  This is not physical water, if it was flesh to flesh it could be physical water.  But we can get wet in the flesh and it doesn’t do anything to our Spirit.  But what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

  John 3:7  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

  This water is not the physical amniotic fluid in the womb.  It is not a physical baptism.  We do physical baptism as an act of obedience to God, a sign of obedience to God, of discipleship.  A mikvah, a ritual, but Jesus is talking about being born of the water and the Spirit.

  John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

  No one knows the source.  There are two types of water, and he is talking about the Spirit.  Jesus gave this spiritual message to Nicodemus, a spiritual leader, and the leader was not able to figure out what Jesus was saying, which amazed Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is the breath of God.  We can walk out the door and feel the wind, but we can’t see the wind.  We can see the effect of the wind.  We rely on manifestation to be a witness to His appearance, and speaking in tongues is what we see when the Holy Spirit comes – that is something we can see and observe, and it only comes if we yield to the Holy Spirit.  It is not a logical process. But there have been experiments where people have been wired to brain scans when they prayed in tongues or prayed in deep spiritual prayer, and parts of the brain that are usually inactive show increased activity during the time of prayer.  Praying in tongues and in that deep prayer helps to separate our self from our conscious mind and helps us to get in the spirit.

  Can we believe something we can’t understand or do we have to understand before we believe?  God wants us to act in faith, even if what we are acting on seems foolishness to our conscious mind.

  Pastor Don shared with us that when he first spoke in tongues he was preaching in a church, and he covered his mouth, went into a private place and started praying to God.  He told God that if tongues were biblical and something God wanted him to have, then he wanted that also, but if it was something that God did not approve of, to take it away from him.  Over time, through study in the scriptures, he realized that tongues was biblical and Pastor Don stopped fighting their appearance.

  Jesus was fully man/fully God, and He had the spiritual ability to step outside of his carnality and believe something that you couldn’t understand with your logical mind.  That is the realm of faith.  That’s where miracles occur.

  Water is the Word.

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

  The Word of God has cleansing and spiritual power to sanctify and set apart for change.  To cleanse, to clean us. 

  John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

  1 Peter 1:22-25 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because  “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

  God is able to separate the good from the bad, and wash us with His Word. 

  Pastor Don then pointed out that sometimes it is difficult to accept that we can be Born Again by the Spirit of God, and yet not be Born Again in other areas of our life.  The Spirit of God can change us.  We can receive Jesus but refuse to be Born Again with our finances, our habits, our marriage, we still can hold on to fleshly habits.  But God will work with us from the inside out to begin to change our fleshly behaviors.  We want to do

  Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

  God wants to set us free from those things that are holding us in bondage, but we need to be willing to give up those things and put them into God’s hand.  The Word of God can set us free, but we may not be born again in our thinking to believe that we can be set free.  We need to open our hearts to Jesus so that He can come in and shed His light on our situation.  We need to pray over the things that bind us.  Lord come into my money so that I am not afraid to tithe or bless.  Lord come into my marriage so I can be a better spouse and/or parent.

  Jesus is the Word of God.  The Holy Spirit is the anointing on the Word. God is the word.  A ritual without faith is an empty action.  We want to get away from magic and idolatry and into the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.  We do not want to participate in empty rituals that do not have life in them.  Some recite prayers from rote because they are in the liturgy.  Also, people can have emotions in worship, but if it is empty emotionalism, it has no basis on anything.

  Our words are important.  We have to be careful with the words we speak, they can speak life or death.  Words can help us grow spiritually, but if they are not godly words, they can cause destruction.  When the words are not what we desire, we need to grab them and prevent them from being spoken. Hold our thoughts captive.

  Mark 11:22-26 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

  Words shape our perception, for what you say will come to pass. What you say will come to pass, so you can succeed or defeat yourself by the habitual words that you are prophesying over yourself. Find yourself someone to help you monitor what you are saying.  Give permission to the people around you to correct you when you are speaking negatively, and that ill increase your discernment about what is coming out of your mouth, your negative thoughts and words.  This may annoy you at times, but the end result will be to correct what you are saying. 

  If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we are not sweet all the time, and what comes out of our mouths at times is doubt, unbelief, put downs, and words that destroy our futures.  Action will always follow confession.  If we confess, speak, something long enough our actions will line up with it. 

  If you catch yourself saying something negative, verbally, out loud, repent.  In the name of Jesus I do not want to say that.  I renounce the negative word that AI just spoke.  I will not confess that again. Give a delineated list of scripture in opposition to the negative word.  And pray that God gives you the discernment to accomplish the opposite of whatever we feel is our weakness.  That God gives us the strength and ability to do His will.

  As we grow in this, we will begin to catch the words before they come out of our mouths (the tip of our tongues), and then later we will begin to control the thoughts we are thinking so that we are not even thinking the negative thoughts, that they will not enter our mind. 

  Pastor Don also told us that everything that we think is not our thoughts.  He gave an example of one day driving down the road and the thought dropped into his mind to drive into a tree.  He was not depressed, had no reason to think that, and he realized it was not his thought, so he rebuked that thought and did not drive into the tree   If a thought drops into your mind that comes out of nowhere, that is not customary to you, or a mood or feeling of depression or sadness drops in and there is no reason for that mood, don’t entertain that thought or mood or feeling.  If you entertain it, you will own it, and wear it, it will begin to be shown in your actions and you can make it happen subconsciously.

  Take those thoughts captive. Ask yourself, why am I thinking this?  THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT.   Are  you thinking positive, productive, helpful thoughts or negative thoughts from the pit of hell? 

  Even God had angry thoughts, for example when he wanted to work up his anger because of the Israelite’s worship of the golden calf – but God took His thoughts captive, and instead of anger, showed mercy and grace. 

  Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions.  Watch your actions for they become habits.  Watch your habits for they become your destiny.

  Hebrews 10:21-22 and having a High Priest over the house of God,  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

  Our bodies, hearts, thoughts, mouth, mind are washed under the water of the Word of God.

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

  We need to figure out what we are hoping for, and confessing for with our mouth, and hold onto that without wavering.  Never change.  Hold fast.  When we stop holding onto our confession, then we lose focus, and what we are hoping for won’t come to pass.

  God thought the earth’s design and spoke it into existence.  We are to think our desires, form them in our mind and then speak them to existence, and keep speaking the truth of the Word in spite of evidence.  For example, in these financial times we can trust that in Christ we are well provided for.

  Praying your day is blessed!

  Heather

  • 5:34 pm
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