Thursday night is Discipleship classes and we have been studying 2 Corinthians 10. (Thurs. 10/30/08)

In the Bible the mysteries of life are explained in a way that we can grab onto, that helps us to make decisions.  God loves us so He would not put us down here without understanding the players.

1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

God would not put a steward in charge of something that he could not understand.  We have a responsibility to seek to understand the mysteries of God.

1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

We need to be faithful, and that helps us to understand the unknown, mysteries of God.

2 Corinthians 10:1-2  Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

Here a major mystery is unfolded.  The church in Corinth was planted, and Paul realized that there were problems with sexual immorality.  One of the members was having sex with his father’s wife.  Paul became aware of the situation and began to address it.  The church was trying to be gracious and not hurt the people’s feelings, but if this situation was not addressed then sexual immorality would have rippled through the rest of the church.  Sins that are not dealt with can multiply and become rampant.  This was a sin that Corinth could not overlook.  Jesus gave us a picture of this with the symbol of yeast. 

Pastor Don then told us that it was important to be honest about situations before the problem manifests in a more embarrassing manner.  He gave an example of taking a person to a fancy restaurant like the Ritz Carleton, and the person comes dressed in casual clothes.  If Pastor Don would not tell the person to go home and change into proper attire, they could arrive at the restaurant and be turned away at the door which would cause the person greater embarrassment than if Pastor Don told him in private to wear proper clothes.

Remember in the parable of the Wedding Feast, people were turned away without proper clothes.  For us that is righteousness (not in our own strength, but in Christ).  For righteousness certain rules abide, and we cannot overlook sexual sin.  If the elders say that sex is OK in certain circumstances that are unrighteous, then it could be inferred that you could sleep with anyone in any person in any circumstances. 

Today certain churches are allowing sexual immorality within their congregations.  This is not just homosexuality, but pornography, adultery, premarital sex, etc.  Any sexual immorality is displeasing to God.  In our area there is a Methodist Church where the pastor left his wife and two kids to be with his boyfriend.  This pastor moved to another church, and yet that sexual immorality still is within it’s congregation and the following few pastors also had problems with sexual immorality.  There is no moral basis for sexual immorality.  We need to say NO.  Jesus loves all, even those who have sexual immorality, but He wants them to change their ways so that they can live their lives to His best plans for them.  If sexual sins are not stopped there is no limit to where that immorality can reach to.

Certain organizations that condone pedophilia are lobbying to have seven year olds be declared old enough to decide about sex.  Where does it end?  We need to protect the innocent. The starting point for most of the sexual sins we deal with now is that people did not put a stop to them when they began to emerge.  They did not want to reprimand the person, or deal with the situation.  Today we are dealing with increasing amounts of sexual sin for it has multiplied because it was condoned in the past. 

Paul wrote the Corinthians a very strong letter to tell them to clear up their church.  To get themselves straight and in line with God’s Word.  Paul spoke in a meek and monotone voice, and at one point when he preached someone fell asleep and fell out of the window. Yet this was a powerful letter. 

2 Corinthians 10:2 But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

Paul is giving them instructions as a Apostle, and letting them also realize the great mystery they have been entrusted with.

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

We live in an emotional world, but we do not war in the flesh.  We live in a flesh world, we need emotions.  Sometimes we need a good cry, a burst of anger, but that is not spiritual warfare.  We can’t fight the devil from an emotional standpoint.  The demons are not intimidated by a screaming person.  Jesus never screamed at the demons.  They want to get in your face and spit at you.  Why?  To provoke a reaction.  The demon is not afraid of violence, but the devil and demon is afraid of YOUR FAITH.  In most cases Jesus cast out demons when there was not a crowd.  And when Jesus cast out demons there was faith behind the words that He spoke. 

We have fleshly bodies, minds, emotions, but they are not what we do spiritual warfare with. We do not war ACCORDING to the flesh.  We do not take dictates of our emotions, or let them determine how we do battle.  All our emotions are reflected in our bodies.  When we are stressed it can be tied to major illness.

2 Corinthians 10:4  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

There are two faces of warfare, the flesh and the devil.  There is a war going on inside us.  Pastor Don told us that we could be standing near a Dunkin’ Doughnuts and the flesh could be calling you one way, but our weapon to deal with that fleshly desire is not carnal.  There is no way to consistently win if we only use fleshly weapons.  We may try to beat the flesh down, but that will not help us to break the addiction and bring our body under control.  Yes, we do have to make decisions, but those decisions are easier to make if we realize that we cannot accomplish with the flesh what needs to be accomplished in the Spirit.

Yes, you can smash a computer to keep from viewing porn on it, but that does not totally prevent access to porn.  The man or woman does have to make a choice.  But carnality cannot produce spirituality. 

If carnal weapons are used, we will fail.  But if the Spirit of Man is dominating the Will of the flesh, self control (one of the fruit of the Spirit) helps our willpower to become unbelievably strong.  If our will is not controlled by the Spirit, we cannot do it.  We can’t go after the problem effectively with the will and the mind of the flesh. 

Yes, we can stop for awhile with the flesh, but just a nip of the “dog” that bit you can cause that habit to rise up again, and often that leads us deeper into carnality.  We can’t address problems with satan that way, for he can beat us every time. 

If we have a problem we can yell at the person, add to the garbage of it, stomp around in a fit, try to do it ourselves, or be mad, try to lure a person to the right way, refuse to deal with the person until they change, but all these techniques are just shooting ourselves in the foot, and won’t work.

Pastor Don shared how hard it was for him to get his wife to accept a housekeeper coming in once a week.  He had to offer it for special occasions, and after time, she became willing to accept the house cleaner.  Her work and church duties made it hard for her to keep house the way Pastor Don needed it kept, so rather than yell, he found a solution that worked.  He chose to hire a housekeeper to bless his wife.  Real love says that I will do without to bless you.  This was not battling with the flesh. 

Pastor Don told us that when we have a problem we need to pray about it, seek to understand each other better, and help overcome the confusion of the mind or motivation, so that together you can come up with a solution.  How can we work this thing out?  It takes patience and longsuffering, but we can’t do that from the flesh, we need the mind of God to give us this patience and longsuffering.

Pastor Don told us that we need to find the answer to, what would love do for me to get my way?  Manipulation is only bad if the purpose is to exploit, steal, or do harm.

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds

Mighty IN GOD.  The answer is in God, that we can pull down strongholds.  Strongholds are fortresses, mindsets, engrained habits, things that we look at and say to ourselves, “We’ve always done it that way.” 

Pastor Don told us the story of the Thanksgiving ham, where the wife was cutting two inches off of the base of the ham before putting it in the pan.  Her husband asked her why she did that, and she did not know, only that that was what her mom did.  She asked her mom why the base of the ham was cut off and it turned out that it was because the pan was too small for the ham and that was the mom’s solution to make the ham fit the pan. 

We need to ask ourselves why do I do what I do?  Why do I expect what I expect?  Are my expectations based on hope and my hopes based on strongholds? When we are affected by a stronghold we can’t stop it, and we feel under compulsion to do it.  It is a habit out of control or inherited. If it is negative it is a curse. 

For example if a girl has an alcoholic father who beats his wife, and she marries an alcoholic man who beats her. 

The difference between a stronghold and a curse is time – a curse can remain in a family until the third and fourth generation unless something is done to stop it.  Either the person turns to God and gets free, or they die a spiritual death.

2 Corinthians 10:5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

Imaginations, arguments, theories, reasonings, speculations.  We need to realize that every thought in our head is not our thought.  God can speak a God idea to us in the Spiritual realm, but so can the enemy of our souls speak ideas to us, and we must learn to discern the source of our thoughts.  When our spirit receives a thought it is from another spirit, who talks with our spirit, and then our spirit talks with our mind/will/emotions to let us know what was said.  Our flesh does not always want to hear what our spirit is telling it. 

We also need to realize that just like our flesh has feelings, our spirit also has feelings.  The Bible tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes we can wake up feeling happy and without our realizing it sadness creeps in on us.  Praise and worship can help us to make it through another day.  We can hear from the Spirit as we are driving down the road, and something puts it in our mind to call so and so.  When you call that person, they tell you that they were wishing that you would call them. 

When we are communicating in the realm of the spirit it is instantaneous, there is no distance, time and space.  How do we know we are hearing from the Lord and not something else?  We stay in the Word and compare it with the Word until we can make the distinction.  If we are in a faith area and the spirit speaks to us – the debate is over.  If it is a flesh idea we can always reevaluate it.  

Pastor Don once had the congregation to pray about direction for the church.  His secretary took notes about what was said by members of this prayer group.  20 people said something during the course of the evening.  After the secretary typed up what was said by the people, when it was read it made a complete message.

God will speak to us, but we have to practice listening.  Pastor Don likened it to an FM radio station, where we can lose frequency when we get out of range.  God does not stop speaking the same way that the FM radio station does not stop broadcasting, but we need to turn the dial and find the right frequency.  We need to stop and tune into God to hear what He has to say for us.

We can know by faith that He is always broadcasting.  What God said last Monday if we don’t hear Him then, He keeps saying the same thing until we hear Him, with one exception.  If you reject God, He stops broadcasting and waits for you.

Job 29:21 Men listened to me and waited, and kept silence for my counsel

Arguments and imaginations come quick, but they need to be challenged.  God says something to us in faith.  The devil tries to tell you something else. If you don’t cast down what the devil tries to tell you, then you end up getting pulled into the devil’s argument.  People can argue themselves out of what God has promised them.   We are to cast down arguments and everything that pits itself against the Word of God.  This calls for discernment.  We need to get rid of things that take up air space that is not what God is saying. 

God can give us a good idea and the devil will substitute a bad idea to take away our Godly one.  The ideas planted by the devil will seem like good ideas (we would not follow bad ideas), but they will replace a God idea.  If God is telling you to start a business, then do it, but He will not tell you to start an illegal business.  Sometimes we can get dissatisfied with our marriages, and satan will plant the idea that the next marriage will be better.  But that is not the case, we tend to pick the same sort of person or someone worse.  

God cannot bless us if we are overlooking something God wants us to do.  So, satan will tempt us with things that look good and Godly, but they may not be what God is telling us to do.

We need to hold every thought captive to Christ.  Take our thoughts captive, think about them and see if they line up with Christ.  If they do accept them, if not, reject them.

Pastor Don gave the example of a toy train set with switches that can switch a train from one track to another.  If you get an idea that is of Christ, satan will try to switch us to another track, getting us off of what God wanted us to do. That other track may also be good works and helpful, but it is not what God is wanting us to do at this time.

If we end up with thoughts that are not of God, we need to switch them for Godly thoughts.  We do that by the Law of Substitution. 

We were told to imagine a red elephant, we did.  Then Pastor Don told us to not think of a red elephant.  It is hard to do when you have that image in your mind.  The only way to get rid of the red elephant image is to think of something else.  It is the same when we want to replace an ungodly thought with one of God’s we have to start saying what God would say, reciting scripture.  We can’t think two thoughts simultaneously.  One is offset by another.  So when we have those thoughts that are not of God, start saying something that is God’s Words. 

When your brain implants an idea, synapses build a picture of it in your memory.   Pastor Don then told us that if something happens at a young age, for example if a child is sexually molested at a young age, those images remain, and in order to heal and get past that pain, something needs to be substituted for it. 

Pastor Don told us that we have to reinforce a picture of what we want to happen and begin to think about that.  Traditional psychology often has a person go over and over their past, reliving it and making the images even more vivid.  When a person who has been molested thinks about God or Jesus often they cannot think of him as father, for their father caused them pain.  It takes time to learn that God and Jesus are not like our earthly fathers, and then we can substitute images of God and Jesus for our earthly father, and then true healing can occur. 

What happens is that as we accept Christ in our lives, He begins to change us and our pasts will be healed and we will be changed.

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

Our physical brain begins to change as more of Christ’s words enter our lives, and our old brain synapses die, and we gain a new mind – the mind of Christ.

We ended the Bible study by reciting the following two verses together.

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.

Hope you have a blessed New Year, and may this year find your mind being renewed as we walk closer and closer to the Mind of Christ.

Heather

We have been going through the book of Hebrews, getting a handle on faith.  Our proof text is:

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We then spent time looking at Hebrews 11:4.  If you look at previous posts you will see that we are covering this chapter verse by verse, and looking back to the Old Testament scriptures that are covered by the verse.

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

Able and Cain’s story can be found in Genesis 4.

Genesis 4:1-2 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

In this day Adam and Eve and their sons knew that what they had came from God.  The idea of sacrifice to thank God was already in effect.

Genesis 4:3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.

We will see as this chapter unfolds that Cain brought plants, not animals, as a sacrifice - but we suspect that they were not the first fruits, just any old fruit.

Genesis 4:4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,

Abel understood the sacrifice and brought the firstborn of the flock and offered it to God, and God accepted it.  He gave the best part to God.

Genesis 4:5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

Before the Mosaic covenant and the prescribed offerings, the Old Testament people lived according to their wisdom and limitations.  We get caught up in the order of how things were done, forgetting that with God it was a heart issue.  In the case of Cain, even though there were no Mosaic laws, God saw that in Cain’s heart he could care less and was acting out of rote.  But the heart of Abel was more in line with God’s. 

Pastor Don reminded us that there are sins of omission and commission.  Cain knew what to do right, but chose not to do that.  Abel gave God the best that he had, and purposed in his heart that he would bring it to God.

There is obedience that involves just making the requirement, and then there is obedience that comes from a love relationship with God, wanting to make God happy. 

The focus is on the best part of the offering.  Pastor Don asked us what are we bringing to the world, what they had before, or the best part of the offering and worship. 

Sin had just entered the world, and at this time Cain and Abel could be 200 to 300 years old.  They lived in the valley with others who were the progeny of Adam and Eve, and there were many children.  As time went by, by the time of the Mosaic covenant, the people were no longer permitted to marry close relatives, for the gene pool had become polluted and the people were weakened.  Sin was beginning to take effect of their bodies.  The Pharaohs of Egypt still intermarried their close relatives and their gene pools weakened. 

The wall of separation between God and Cain and Abel was not too thick. They were still talking with God in a close relationship.  Cain had immediate feedback from God regarding his sacrifice.  As sin increased in the world, the wall of separation increased, and a period of darkness began on the earth.

Notice that when God corrected him (as a loving Father would), Cain got angry.

Genesis 4:6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?

Sometimes we get angry or annoyed at things that shine a light on our weakness.  We need to be serious about examining ourselves.  We at times will be angry about the fact that our own emotional attitude points out weakness and exposes us as we are.  So we put blame on something or someone else to distract from the fact that our weakness was exposed.

If I’ve done wrong, I try to fix it that it looks like my brother made me look bad, but really I was the one in the wrong.  We get disappointed with God and disappointed with everyone around us.  We look at the other person and decide that they are not elevated to where we thought they should be so therefore the other person is the one that God is working on.

Cain would have been better to put his emotions on hold and observe what Abel was doing, and examine what he did wrong.   God was responding to him in love, wanting him to do the right thing.

Genesis 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

God hones in on the central point of the problem, not Abel but Cain.  When frustrated we don’t check ourselves out.  Cain should have checked himself out.  We need to learn how to rule over our sin.  It is not always warfare with satan that causes the problem, but we have to check ourselves out.  Don’t let sin in the door, don’t get caught up in pride and false humility.  By faith it is soon over.  By flesh it may never be over.

Cain could have taken verse 7 and turned it into spiritual warfare, when it was flesh warfare.  The devil made me do it, but all he needed to do was to get over his self.

Genesis 4:8  Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Pastor Don wondered what the conversation between the two was that brought about the result of verse 8.  If Cain invited Abel into the field, it could have been premeditated murder. Cain’s answer to the problem was not obedience to God, but rather to get rid of Abel, then God would not be able to compare the two.  The elder brother was conniving.  There is a law of God without the Mosaic law.  Even before the Mosaic law, there was still good and evil.

Genesis 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”  He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

God comes down and visits.  Cain answers God’s question with negative sarcasm.  He put up a wall between himself and God because of His guilt.  Sometimes people do not realize that they are doing that when they think they are testing God’s affection toward them, and looking for affirmation.  The premise is will God still love me if I do bad?  Or maybe might makes right.  Can sarcasm really solve anything here?

We pick our enemy – When we seek to destroy the one that you want to have affirmation from it can be deadly.  God could have slapped him down right then and there.  “Yes, you are your brother’s keeper.”  When we try to locate ourselves, we realize that there is physical location and emotional location.

Genesis 4:10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

The earth groans from blood spilt.  God looks at Canaan land and decides that the 12 tribes have to get out of Canaan land and go to Egypt, prophesying they would stay in Egypt for 400 years before they could return. The land was filled with pagan worship, child sacrifice, and idol sacrifice.  It would take 400 years for Israel to reach a large enough population to purge the Canaan land of this sin.  When Moses brought the people to the land, there were over 1 million people, but there was a major level of sin and blood there.

Hebrews 12:24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

God heard Abel’s spirit voice from Abraham’s Bosom.   Both Christ and Abel were keepers of sheep.  Cain chose to till the soil.  With soil tilling there is a sense of personal advantage and materialism that comes from tilling the soil.   Whereas protection and caring arises from caring for the sheep.

Genesis 4:11-13 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!

Notice that Cain mentions that the punishment is greater than he could BEAR, not greater than he DESERVED. When we go through stuff it is because of what we have created in our lives, but God never intended us to go through those things, our wrong decisions brought it on.  We won’t receive change until we change, and we can give ourselves more than we can handle because of our wrong decisions.  Pastor Don told us that we need to be quick to repent and quick to say I’m sorry.   God can send a rescue squad or a crop failure.  But there are two problems when we sow seed from wrong choices, we can receive forgiveness in the supernatural but the ground may not cooperate with us. We may not be productive in certain areas because of what we committed, said and done.  Sometimes we relive our memory, can be distracted  by too much seed, too many mistakes.  In the places we sinned we may not be able to be productive.  We won’t see any level of productivity if we are filled with heresy.  Sometimes we need to go back to the place we failed and make a different choice; sometimes we need to go back and turn up new soil.  (Heather’s comment, in a former Bible Study Pastor Don talked about detors.  Imagine the lower case letter “d” If the straight line of this letter is the path ordained by God, and we make a wrong choice that leads to a detor (the curved part of the letter).  We can make a right choice and get back to the path (straight line) that God planned for us, but we will miss all the points between the curve that we miss because of the detor).

Pastor Don could have continued with his popular music career or he could choose to go back into ministry. He chose ministry.  We need to realize that some things do not bring out the best in us.  For Pastor Don, the popular music career would have led him to areas that would not be beneficial for him.

Genesis 4:14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”

Pastor Don asked us what we saw in this verse, and someone mentioned that Cain spoke his own destiny.  We can speak our own destiny.  But this was not the destiny God had given.  What Cain said put up the wall between him and God.  Cain lived out the Words that HE spoke, but God may have said different things if Cain had not spoken his own destiny.

The second point about a spiritual problem is that God can speak productivity into it, giving Cain a way to change to line up with God’s will.  Cain should realize that this is the Word of the Lord for him.  And God can take what was meant for harm and turn it to good, if we line up with God’s will for our lives.

The problem is that we do not receive the Word of the Lord, wanting to hear something else.   But God is clear in His word.  1 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  We, in America, are in need of doing this. 

Genesis 4:15 And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

Therefore, God gave Cain what he said for himself.  Yet, God’s mercy and protection is evident in Cain’s life.  The mercy of God never fails. 

Genesis 4:16-17 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.

Enoch comes from this terrible situation.  Even from this sin situation, an outstanding child was born. 

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

In the faith chapter (Hebrews 11), Abel was declared righteous for he made his offering by faith.  God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Remember, Cain and Abel’s situation happened before the Mosaic covenant.

Have a blessed day. 

Heather

Pastor Don sometimes opens up a Bible study by asking those attending if they have any questions and then answers them extemporaneously.  I love hearing the questions and answers.

One person asked about what the book of Zechariah was about . 

Pastor Don told him that it was half history, half prophesy. It speaks about the establishment of the Temple and the prophetic message, the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.  The priesthood and the Temple is covered as is the Messianic coming of Christ and how the Jews would respond to it, mentioning about the piercing of Christ.  The momentum of the anti Jewish group was quickly being established and they would bring an attack on Israel.  Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah, and all the Jews had to do was search the scriptures.  The Jews of Jesus’ day should have been capable of tracing the lineage of Jesus back to the High Priest.  It mentions the fee of 40 pieces of silver thrown into the temple, the dirty money, and how it would be used to buy a potter’s field.  Also mentions the Day of the Lord, the vengeance of God against those who hate, reject, and are apostate.  It also mentions the 70 year Babylonian captivity, because the Jews did not obey God’s commands.  Most importantly it covers how you can obey in a sincere or an insincere way. 

Someone asked about the Jewish Feasts and Sabbaths. There is mention of the Sabbaths and the Holy Seasons. The 7 feasts are holy,  Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of First Fruits , The Feast of Pentecost, The Feast of Trumpets, The Day of Atonement, The Feast of Tabernacles.  There is also a celebration of Hanukkah which was established after the Macabbean revolt.  The Macabbes recaptured the temple and cleansed it from the defilement that had been performed by it.  The had to use the ashes of the red heifer, and light the lamps but they only had enough oil for one day.  It took 7 days to make new oil, and God kept the lamps burning for the full 8 days needed to make new oil.  The menorah has 9 candles – one candle is higher than the others and is called the servant candle (a picture of Christ) and that one is used to light the other candles.  Jesus is the light of the world.  Jesus is also our light, for we know that we are the temple of God.

At this time of year, there is a procession to the temple with those processing carrying lights – a procession of lights.  Symbol of Christ’s return to the temple.  At this time of year those celebrating Christmas celebrate the birth of Jesus, but most probably it was the time of His conception (Jews do count time in the womb as the first year of life).  Jesus was probably born in September, for that would be when the shepherds would have their sheep in the field. 

Pastor Don continued to tell us that Jesus’ family history was not from the aristocracy of Israel, but from Nazareth, where no one felt that a Messiah could come from.  This allowed all people to identify with him.  If he came up from the aristocracy who could relate to him?  But all can relate to Jesus. 

Then someone asked about the flood and where humans came from if only Noah and his family were there.  Pastor Don pointed out that the earth then was not as it was today.  People lived longer, the oxygen was more prevalent, and there was a canopy around the earth that kept the destructive radiation of the sun from reaching the planet (now that the ozone layer is deteriorating, we have more problems with sunlight).  It was like a terrarium with no need for rain. During this time of no rain, when it had never rained on the earth, Noah built a boat, this was a very prophetic act of Noah, for because of the canopy the earth remained moist and did not get dehydrated, and there was no need for rain. 

Today people are finding skeletons and deciding they were millions of years old based on their shape – assuming that it implies that people were evolved from monkeys.  But there have been people doing research to decide what a person’s skull would look like if they lived 400 or more years, and the teeth would be larger, the nose would grow, eyebrows would have greater definition, in fact it would look like some of these skulls that are said to be related to the apes.  Most of the skulls and bones in the museum and the drawings said to show what the person would look like are blatant lies.  The scientists will not tell the truth, that they take one bone from one part of the body and use their imaginations to draw what they think a body would look like.

God tells us in His word that one day is as 1000 years and 1000 years is as one day.  When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they did die in one day – no one on earth has ever lived to be 1000 years old, some have come close, but none over.  God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth, and they, through their disobedience, turned it over to satan, and that began to create a deadly environment for people.  Virtue went out of the soil, the soil began to be depleted, and they had to live off of the earth.  Sin was on the earth, and this was passed down through the generations.  Men began to multiply, and because life was so long, they could have many children and the population increased.  Because the gene pool was not polluted at that time, intermarrying did not have the repercussions that it has today.  As time went on, the rules about marriage began to change because the gene pool was more polluted, and marriage to close relatives was forbidden by the law.   But the population at the time of Noah was tremendous for the people lived long and had many offspring. 

Pastor Don also pointed out how wrong scientists have been in their assessment of dinosaurs.  For example, the vegetation at the time of the early years was very large and tough and required larger teeth to chew and process.  The T-rex was probably not carnivorous, for its teeth were only embedded one inch into the jaws, not deep enough to tear and chew meat, but perfect for tough vegetation. 

Then a question was asked about the Holy Spirit, how in the Old Testament it rested on a person, but is within the believer in the New Testament, why the difference.

Pastor Don pointed out that salvation was a process that is only possible according to laws in effect.  We may not get what we want when we want it.  Mercy calls for justice.  It is hard for us to be merciful and just.  What stops us from giving a 3 year old permission to drive a car?  It is because they are not ready to drive in many ways from physical to mental. There is justice in not letting them drive a car. 

We have a problem when God says “No.”  Often what he tells us is, “later,” for His purpose is to bless us, and we cannot get blessed if we are receiving a gift we are not ready to receive.  Not everyone has his ministry and marriage just right, yet.  Sometimes God gives us time to get healed and to work on those things in our lives that we need to resolve before we are mature enough to handle our ministry or marriage.  God waits until it is the right time to say, “Yes.”

Pastor Don said, why would God deliver you from cigarettes if all you are going to do is go back to smoke?  God will wait until you are really ready to give up smoking, then He will deliver you. 

We  need to be patient for it takes a while to grow up (mature) and step into the full benefits of what God wants for us. 

Pastor Don could have had a career in professional music while he was out in the world – before becoming a pastor.  He played professionally and had the talent, but never got that hit record.  He realizes now that he would have destroyed himself had he gotten that hit record back then. 

We need to realize that God wants our character developed enough for the blessing to be available to us. 

Obedience is not optional.  If God says, “Don’t,” don’t.

When the Holy Spirit comes, God comes.  The Holy Spirit can’t come and leave His glory somewhere else.  He is God, and we can’t ask Him to show up and not want God there too.  The Holy Spirit manifests.  There is no way for the Holy Spirit, Jesus, or the Father to walk through the door and we are not affected.

If Jesus showed up in this building, He would not come without His glory.   When He shows up, something has to change, to manifest, and it changes the atmosphere.  That is the difference between a church service and CHURCH SERVICE (where the Presence of God shows up). 

Sadly, many churches do not know the presence of the Holy Spirit, and if the Holy Spirit showed up they would not be able to identify it.  They may detect that there is something different but not know what that difference is.  Something has to give. 

Most people know the Presence of the Lord.  Even people who do not know Him, can detect Him.  The music, singing, and atmosphere changes.  They do not always recognize the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

In the days of the Old Testament, God’s mercy made it so God showed up, but His justice limited when and how he could show up.  That is why they could not look at His face and live, and why there were rules about who and how God’s Tabernacle could be approached.  God is Holy and we are not.  God taught the people what to do and how to do it, so that an atmosphere of worship could be created that would permit God’s presence to show up.

God showed up personally in the Garden of Eden and walked and talked with Adam and Eve – there was no sin.  They felt no shame around God.

We take years and years of marriage to learn to be comfortable around our spouses, and we still have shame when we are undressed in front of our spouses. 

When Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God’s command by listening to satan, they hid – they had shame and were aware that they were naked (without God’s glory).  God did not change, they changed, and they hid.  Sin entered into the World.

The reality of getting to know God is getting to know yourself without shame, not hide in a closet or sneak around. 

Pastor Don had us laughing about the kinds of clothes the people on earth would make with the fig leaves – Jordache Fig Leaves, etc. , but no matter the big name on our clothes or what we are hiding behind, God meets us with out appearances.  He knows everything. 

Before Pastor Don was born again, he was in the car snorting cocaine, and one day the realization hit him,  God said to him, “I see you.  If you keep getting high He sees you.  Jesus is seeing you do it right in front of Him.”  Nothing is hidden from His eyes.

The disobedience of Adam and Eve changed how they could relate to God.  God cannot be around the presence of sin, and He needed to provide a way for us to get back to Him so that we can hang out with HIm, so we needed a savior so that our sins would be redeemed.  God knew that if He hung out with us in our unclean state we would die.

Yet God did talk with Moses and Enoch walked with God, so it was not impossible to have a relationship with Him.

God made a way for us to come into His presence.  Because God is just, if we came to Him in our sinful state God would either have to kill us, or find some way to tone down His violence against sin, or to increase our righteousness.  There had to be repentance and atonement for sin. 

Man’s sin caused man to be kicked out of the Garden.  Mankind made the decision to let evil rule their life. We also make decisions to let sin rule our lives through wrong thinking, disobedience, etc.  God sees us as we are, and He knows our sins, even our secret sins.

The light and presence of God destroys sin, and yet God has perfect Justice.  God tells us that He will be merciful to us, but we have to deal with our sin.  God’s presence changes the atmosphere, and and hidden sin will bring out feelings of shame and condemnation.  Sins cannot hide. 

Since God wants to hang out with us, have a relationship with us, under the Old Covenant, the best that God could offer was to cover over the sins, and He created a system of sacrifice so that we could spend time with God, but our sin was still there, so our relationship was not in the fullness of intimacy, but we had a chance to be closer to Him.  The sacrificial system that God set in place for the Jews was a temporary covering that had to be repeated every year, and for each sin.  But Jesus came down as the perfect sacrifice, and His sacrifice dealt with our sins permanently and for eternity.  It made it possible for a better intimacy with God.  Jesus sacrifice was perpetual, eternal, an eternal sacrifice, so that man had a change of heart.  Jesus took away sin for all time and for all things.

God sees our hearts, and we need to believe this in our heart.  Faith is greater than any other thing of earth.  The power of sin has been destroyed by Jesus’ sacrifice. 

In the Old Testament sin was covered over, with a covenant with God.  But it was only a partial covering for the blood of bulls and goats could not fully atone for our sins.  Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, and at the proper point of time He came to the Earth and gave His life as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  He will come again and Tabernacle (be with us). 

Jesus told us that until that time, He would send His comforter to be with us, the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit would be perpetually available to us here on earth.  God would write the law on our hearts and the Holy Spirit would help us to obey that law.  God is no longer at a distance, His Spirit is within us, and will help us to deal with our stuff. We HAVE BEEN delivered, so it is time for us to do something.

Being in a relationship with God is a choice you make.  The Holy Spirit is in us when we make that choice and He will never leave or forsake us.  He will not walk out on us no matter what we do.  He is FAITHFUL, so how can He be anything but ASSURITY, PEACE, HONEST, TRUSTWORTHY.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit rested upon people, but in the New Testament it is an inside job.  Jesus was Spirit-filled, and we find that the greatest miracles and wonders are done by those who are spirit filled.

Jesus fed the 5,000 (more like 15,000 if you count wives and children), with a few loaves of bread and fish.  They had a picnic.  But why did Jesus feed them?  They had spent 3 days listening to teachings without food.  Jesus knew they needed food. The power of the Holy Spirit working through Jesus multiplied that food to feed thousands.

Ephesians 4:7  But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

What is the measure of Christ’s gift.  Jesus was given the Holy Spirit without limit, all the power of God was available to Him while He was on the planet.  We also have all that power and can access it, it is the gift of Jesus Christ.  We have all the power in Heaven and Earth given to us to use with no limit.  Grace entails the ability and gifts of God.  Why did we get it, we see it in verse 8

Ephesians 4:8 Therefore He says:  “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

When Jesus ascended He left the planet, but captivity was captive.  It is for this reason that we have authority on earth, and satan is not our captor.  We do not need to wait for Jesus to do something here on earth about the problem of sin, Jesus ALREADY DID something, and then He left us with all His power and authority to deal with our circumstances here on earth.

Adam and Eve were happy sitting in the Garden, and enjoying all that God gave them.  Then satan comes and asks a question – Did God say?…  Eve says yes, and chose to disobey God, doubting God’s Word.  She did not believe God, and that’s the problem we all face.  When are we going to believe what God says?

Pastor Don says that his job as a pastor is to get people to believe that what God says is the truth, and it will turn out just as God says.  We tend to think that God REALLY did not mean this or that, and try to switch what God said to fit our desires.  But God tells the truth and He stands on His Word.  His word does not change due to customs or traditions of our day and age.  His Word stands. 

Eve ate the fruit because it LOOKED good.  So much of what satan presents us looks good, but he does not show us the ugly side of what he is presenting.  Why can’t we be content, happy and blissful, which we can only be if we trust God.  TRUE FREEDOM comes in complete dependence of God.  It does not make logical sense to our selfish selves, but truly God has our best at heart and knows what will work best for our lives. 

We all believe certain lies when it seems to be to our advantage.  But the truth is those lies will lead to our disadvantage.  We think that certain things are true for others, but that somehow if we disobey God we will not get hurt by it. Satan uses the media to make us feel that we are “missing” something by obeying God, that somehow God does not want us to have pleasure or good things in our lives.  The media works at making us feel that way.

To get blessed we need to develop the ability to obey God, especially in these last days. There are sins of OMISSION and sins of COMISSION, both are sins and can leave us in a bad way.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

God wants to be with us, but some of the stuff that we love puts a wall between us and God.  He can break through any wall, but does not want to force us.  He wants us to ask Him in.  So He waits until we are ready to accept His promise and a new level of intimacy that we have not know. 

In retrospect, when we look back at our time of living in obedience to God we will see that it is worth every moment to get to know Him.  Our sins will not pervert God, but they do pervert us if we don’t believe that He is the propitiation, the sacrifice.  He loves us no matter who we are or what we were.  Where the rubber meets the road, we can trust that God is with us.  He has a plan, but we keep trying to do things our way, and we need to get back to His perfect plan for us.

Mercy without Justice is out of balance.  Jesus gave gifts to man, and the Holy Spirit is the best gift.  He is a person we can know Him and He knows us, corrects us, talks with us, and helps us to know God’s will for our lives.

What a great question and answer session we had. 

Hoping you are getting all you need done for Christmas.  We are having a peaceful, quiet, and simple Christmas this year.  I am just grateful that my children are all home for Christmas.  Praying your Christmas is blessed!

Heather

This is a transcript of Pastor Don’s Sunday service – I did not get a chance to copy the video over for you, but this is a wonderful, timely message.  I pray that you have a blessed Christmas!  Remember, three periods is a pause, what is in the [brackets] is what the congregation says.

SAY AMEN
SHOW 112
ON THE WAY TO CHRISTMAS
12/14/08

My goodness!  There are many people that attack the Christian faith, but I think sometimes without thinking, how would you take the words of a carpenter, a nobody, coming from a nowhere town, and He would say this phenomenal statement:  “The words that I am preaching to you right now are going to cover the globe and then the end of the world will come.”  Who would even think that, I mean, do you know how many carpenters there were then?  Thousands and thousands of guys and this one guy says, “Guess what, what I’m preaching to you guys now is going to be here when the end of the world comes.”  It’s just, to me, that’s enough reason to believe that Jesus is Lord.  Right there.  Just that testimony alone because hundreds of thousands of other people lived and died and passed from the scene.  And we don’t know anything that they said.  And we have a handful of guys like Plato and Socrates and so forth, and most of their documents we’re not even sure that they say what they say. 

And here, Dr. Luke has written to this guy, Theophilus, who has passed from the scene of history, but he’s given us this recorded account.  I think that it’s really, really, really wonderful that when Theophilus got this book, written, not as a book but written as a correspondance, that Luke felt complelled, that since he was there from the beginning, since he knew all of the Apostles firsthand, up close and personal, that he would take the time to write down so that 2000 years later we could read it.  Now in his account, he points out to us in verse 2 that he is talking about not heresay – He’s talking about people that were eye witnesses, eye witnesses.  These people saw what went on. 

And it’s phenomenally important for us to remember that most of these eyewitnesses were willing to die for the truth of the testimony.  And most of them did.  And a funny little thing that comes to us from the book “More than a Carpenter” Josh McDowell, says this, a lot of people, a lot of people will die for a truth but very few would die for a lie… A lot of people would die for a truth, but not many people would die for a lie.  If Jesus had not risen from the dead, if He had not been seen by eye witnesses, why would you then be martyred for a lie?…  Just some basic Christmas things to think about. [amen] And so when we get to this next passage, we’re going to see the announcements that were made to reliable people in the text, and I think we can gain some strength from it.  The reason is because these scriptures were written that we could draw strength, that we could draw an understanding, but more importantly, that we could become believers because of what was written. 

So in verse 4 it tells us, I’m sorry, Verse 3, “…it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all the things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account...”  So he’s going to give us an account that is orderly and in succession.  Then in verse 4, “…that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.”  So from this we can ascertain that Theophilus had been instructed in the Gospel.  And the reason Dr. Luke is going to clarify and put it in an orderly account was so that he could increase the certainty with which Theophilus already had instruction, had information, but he is saying, if we put this in an order, in the order that it happened, the way that it went down.  Then he is saying, it should have a positive effect on lifting your faith…

That’s why we go to church.  That’s why we go to Bible study.  That’s why we buy Christian books and tapes.  In order that we might what, build our faith, stengthen our belief system, so that in the difficult times of life, when difficulties come, we can still be strong and centered knowing that the account was done orderly, effectively, has not been corrupted or tampered with, and as a result of that, we can do this thing.  Come on church, we can do this.  We can do this.  We can live the Christian life.  We can walk this out.  We can do this.  We may not have suffered like Christ.  We may not have been eyewitnesses to His account, but we’re eyewitnesses to the testimony of the truth of the Scriptures, for as time goes on, we continue to test what it says here.  And we must realize we can do this. 

Last Sunday I said something that just keeps reverberating through my head.  And that is, that time is the enemy of our faith.  Time’s the enemy of our faith.  We want instant faith, instant manifestation, instant deliverance, instant healing.  We want everything quick.  We want the perfect marriage overnight.  We want the perfect boyfriend overnight.  We want the perfect financial plan overnight.  We want, we want to just get in, get out, and have everything – boom!  Just like that.  But guess what?  You wouldn’t be able to hold onto it if you got everything you asked for just like that. [Thank you Lord] You wouldn’t have the character to be able to stand through it, or to keep focused, or to hold on.  And you wouldn’t be any good to yourself or to anybody else.  So it takes time.  The testing of your faith and the building of my faith is going to take time. 

So, let’s see what God is willing to do here.  God is willing to have, not just Jesus come, but He’s willing to have someone come before Jesus to clear the path for him.  He’s not just going to have the Messiah come unannounced.  After all, He is the King.  And when a king comes, we announce Him.  (trumpet sound)  And they go, “Hear ye!  Hear ye!  Here comes the King.”  And the other trumpets go (trumpet sound)  “Hear ye!  Hear ye!  All asleep, wake up!  Arise!” [laughter, amen]  (trumpet sound)  You can tell I love the trumpet thing, you know.  Ok, you ready? 

Verse 5, let’s see how it goes down.  “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah.  His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.”  So we know these guys are hooked up.  “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”  We need to get an understanding of that.  Verse 6 is telling us they were keepers of the Law and the Commandments.  That isn’t easy to do.  You had to know when to wash dishes, what dishes not to wash.  When to sit, when to stand.  When to go out and when to come in.  What do do, what to  … dadddah daddah, daddah.  The list was endless.  There were over 660 laws that had to be maintained and kept.  Alright, and so they’re both righteous, blameless. 

“But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.”  You know, sometimes we get carried away with this, and we think that everybody ought to have a baby.  And well, these were righteous people and they don’t have a child.  Ok?  So it’s not like you don’t have a baby, and it’s like you did something wrong.  You know?  Sometimes that’s just the way the DNA and the genes come together, and it’s not a good hook up.  You didn’t know that when you asked her out… You know.  But everything doesn’t work out in the womb.  And I’m sure they were trying. 

“So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell…”  His lot, meaning that they chose lots to figure out which priest would serve at certain times, “…to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.  And while the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.  Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.” 

Now before we go on to that, we need to explain something.  Sometimes people have a hard time separating tradition from fact, and fact from spiritual things.  We were at a dinner the other night, with some people that are friends of ours and all, and they started talking about church stuff.  And you know, when people know I’m a minister and a pastor and all of that, they hedge their bets on what they’re going to say and how they’re going to say it.  And after he said what he had to say, I just said, “Well, wait a minute.  We have to celebrate, we have to celebrate within the context of tradition is one thing, and history and archaeology are another.”  It got a little quiet around the table.  Cause people had to start thinking.  The people at the table were predominately Roman Catholic.  And so, I was very politely saying that all of the traditions that we participate in as Protestants and Catholics do not line up with the accuracy of history and archaeology.  Anybody got what I’m saying?  [yes]  I’m not putting anybody down, or making a bad thing.  I’m just saying that, you know, when the Easter Bunny jumped out, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Resurrection of Christ.  [amen]  The little red fat guy coming down your chimney in the ghetto would get shot.  [laughter]  you know,  it’s just some things…  Listen I’m not bah humbug about Christmas, I just feel I have a responsibility to Luke and Theophilus, that he went through all of that so that we have some things straight. 

The Jewish priesthood by tribe had their responsibilities and those fell according to the Jewish holidays and according to the Sabbaths.  So, all we have to do, I’m not going to do it now because it would just take too long, all we have to do is to look up and we can see when the tribe of Abijah was responsible for what was going on in the Temple.  Cause they would move it around.  That has never changed.  They have kept that for over 3000 years.  It falls the same, Temple worship, was decreed and established through the time of Solomon, and they haven’t moved that mess around.  Even since the Temple has been destroyed, the Jews have kept reading the same scriptures at the same time, except for one change, and that was 1000 years after Jesus Christ, they didn’t want the Jews to identify that Jesus was the Messiah, according to Isaiah 53, so they moved that scripture.  Other than that, they still read the same scriptures every Sabbath and in Temples globally, worldwide. 

So, all we have to do is ask Abijah, when did he serve?  What was the time of incense and all?  And we know exactly that.  Then all we have to do is add to it six months, which was the time that Elizabeth is going to get pregnant and the next few verses and we know that Jesus was already in the womb at the time that she did that.  You’d take the six and the nine months and we put them all together and we could figure out that Jesus was not born December 25, He was conceived December 25.  He was born out of the womb, at between Rosh Hashanah and the Feast of Tabernacles, which is September, October.  And if it was an early Sabbath, early Holiday, it might have been the end of August… So, we’re not guessing at this stuff.  And then when we add to that the astronomy that we know, we know when that constellation that the Magi, these guys are not magicians, they’re astronomers, they are kings, they are wise men, they are following a major constellation that just moved in the sky. 

Now, let me ask you a question.  How many of you in the past week saw those two very bright stars, very close together in the sky?  How many of us will remember that years from now?  The brightness of them.  The closeness of them.  And they were there every night.  And then they began to separate.  We could have decided we’re gonna follow this one to the right and that one to the left and ended up in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  [ha]  I thought that was funny, ok.  [laughter]  So all of this is what you just saw.  I just looked at it and I said, OK, Jupiter, the Lion of Judah, you know, and Venus are appearing in the sky bright and very close together.  Which means to me, He’s coming soon. [yeah, amen]  Love is coming soon.  And there’s more and more.  We will see more of this as it progresses. 

What we have here happening is through the process of serving as the priest in the Temple, according to the order and the division, we realize that this great supernatural thing is happening in verse 11.  “The angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.”  Can you imagine, you know, he’s making the incense, and you have to understand that he’s making it in a private place.  He’s not making it out in a public place.  And then all of a sudden, boom, there’s this angel materializes.  Verse 12.  “And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him.”  The angel says, always trust an angel that says this, “…Do not be afraid….”  [amen]  

When the angel appeared to Mohammed in a cave, he told him it was time for him to be afraid and get on his knees and humble him and worship him or he’s going to kill him.  I don’t think he was receiving the same angel of the Lord.  Alright?  And that’s the telling of the Muslim so you know, they can argue with that, but our, our angels appear in Old Testament and New Testament, and they don’t want you to be afraid of them.  [amen]  Hallelujah, huh?  Just to think, a messenger from the throne of God doesn’t want you to be afraid.  You’d better have some awesome fear and respect.  I don’t know what’s happening, we’re runnin’ out of that.  But we’re going to get that back in the name of Jesus.  [amen] 

And so he says in verse 14, I’m sorry, 13, he says, “…Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard;…”  Everybody say, “My prayer is heard too.”  [My prayer is heard too.]  “My God hears my prayers.”  [My God hears my prayers.]  “And He answers.”  [And He answers.] 

And He says, “…and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.  And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.  For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.  He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.  And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.  He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of….”  who?  [Elijah]  “…Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  Wow!  Isn’t that somethin’ huh?  “And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this?  For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”  “And the angel answered and said to him,…”  Oh, yo, “…I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But…  behold, you will be mute and not be able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in your own time.”  …

You know, we have this very dangerous teaching out right now, that God is not a God of judgment, He’s just a God of love.  And we fail to realize that if you are a person of love, you have to have judgment.  You can’t have love without judgment.  That’s called letting the children run amuck…   You cannot correct anything, or bring it into order if we don’t judge it and set it in order.  Discipline is required of you.  You have to discipline each other.  We have to discipline ourselves.  Why?  Cause we’re learning something.  We’re learning.  We’re learning not only to obey God, but we’re learning how to control ourselves.  We have to learn how to control ourselves.  And then, when we learn that, we’re given more responsibility and then that responsibility means that we have to learn how to judge and discipline that.  Everybody wants their own way.  Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, everybody wants their own way.  Everybody wants to do their own thing.  But you cannot be held accountable to do the right own thing, given the freedom that you think you deserve without discipline, because you wouldn’t know what to do. 

So Zacharias, serving in the Temple, should know God and should know when he’s in the presence of a Godly angel, right?  But his flesh overcame him in a moment, now he has won the first Pulitzer prize of you can’t talk.  [amen]  (chuckles)  His wife’s probably happy, you know.  I won’t have to hear from this guy for nine months.  I don’t have to hear from this guy.  It is really funny, when you think of it.  My wife and I are trying to develop a nontalking system of communication.  Yeah, yeah, you got to have that.  We’re trying to, besides making faces at each other, I mean you know, there’s some other things like, holding hands and being able to squeeze a certain number of times to communicate what you’re trying to say.  [amen]  You know, when we get it figured out we’ll let you know how to do it.  You know, like 14 squeezes means [laughter]  I left the refrigerator door open and the oven is on and please call me later, or something.  We’re going to work it out. 

But, Gabriel, this is an angel who stands in the presence of God, and I want you to understand something.  He is an ambassador with the full authority of the Kingdom.  [amen]  He’s not sent as some little flunky here.  He is sent as an ambassador.  He has full responsibility for what is spoken by the God that he serves.  And so when he brings his message, he’s to be believed.  [amen]  He’s to be believed.  In the same way, [laughter]  the pastors should be believed.  [amen]  We’re not just chopped liver.  Evangelists, prophets, pastors and teachers, if they walk in the righteousness that, and they perform their duties correctly, they’re to be believed.  [amen]  Not me, believe the office.  Don’t believe me.  Don Moore’s a shaky dude.  You know, he’s from the Bronx.  How much could you trust him?  But in the anointing, you believe, you believe, believe.  And act upon it.  The Word of God says, believe God and what will happen?  Anybody know?  Believe God and you will [comment]  no.  Believe God and you will be established.  [glory]  Believe his prophets and you will prosper.  [amen]  That’s in the Word here. 

So Zacharias, himself, missed a great opportunity.  And so, his punishment, God is a God of judgement.  You make mistakes, God’s going to straighten you out.  Let me tell you this, is there any other Word that God is going to speak to Zacharias that he’s not going to believe?  [no]  Not after nine months of this.  He’s going to remember every thing God said.  He’s going to become a walking Bible here.  So he says, he could not speak to them.  So in verse 20, “But behold, …. you will not be able to speak until…” what?  “until it’s fulfilled.”  Verse 21.  “And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long…”  They wondered why is this guy gone so long.  Well, he’s got problems.  In verse 22.  “But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.“  I mean, he’s in the presence of Gabriel, when he came out of there he was like…  [yeah, right, laughter]  and nothin’s coming out of his mouth. 

Whoah (clap)  sometimes we need a Holy Ghost experience where we know we’ve been in the presence of God and it causes us to change.  Our countenance changes, our mind changes, our ideas change, our thinking changes, and he’s been in that presence.  “So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house.  Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months…”  Why five months?  I mean, come on now, she’s an old lady.  Her husband can’t talk and now she’s pregnant.  How’s she going to prove who did it?  Verse 25.  “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.  Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel…”  This guy’s busy.  “…was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.  The virgin’s name was Mary.“  Actually it’s not Mary.  Who knows what her real name was?  [Miriam]  Miriam, see there’s some things we should have just left alone.  [amen]  You know, Paul’s name is Saul, it should have stayed that way.  We would have stayed tied to our Jewish roots, you know. 

Anyway…”And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”  But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.  Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid…“”  What he’s saying is do not be dismayed and there’s no need for fleshly fear, even though there’s some awesome respect that should be going on.  “…you have found favor…” 

The Word that she uses there for “favor”  is grace or Charis.  You have found empowerment.  God is going to empower you to do something.  You have found favor, you have found grace in God.  Now, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name …Jehoshua…”  Jehoshua is the actual name that is used there.  So there’s no doubt she’s calling Him the Son of God.  She is saying that You are God in Sonship.  She’s calling Him God.  And the name Jehoshua, means Jehovah, the Healer.  Names are real important, boy oh boy.  Yeah, you get the whole story right there, boom.  You’ll go home.  “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.  And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”  Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be since I do not know a man?”" 

Now this is different from Zacharias’.  Zacharias was saying, “Oh I don’t believe any of this can happen.   How can this possibly happen?”  She is saying, “Ok, I believe it can happen, but what about the sexual part?”  Everybody understand that?  She is saying, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”  She means, intimately.  I have not had intimacey with a man, so how am I going to end up pregnant?  In other words, she believed the whole thing.  [amen]  She believed the whole thing… That’s why she is, phew, to be honored.  High among women.  Cause she was a believer… You know, she was a believer. 

What a wonderful idea, just think…  God looked down on the earth and found this teenage girl, that if God said it, she believed it.  She just wanted to know, well what’s my part in it?  I just believe it.  God, if You say that’s what’s best for me, that’s what’s best for me.  God, if You say that’s what’s going to happen, that’s what’s going to happen.  I mean, Mary was exceptional.  Does that make her, does that make her God?  No.  You know, should we put her on the same pedastal as Jesus Christ?  No.  No.  Is she co-redeemer?  No.  But she is to be honored above women.  For at a very young age, she was willing to give her life, because she believed what the angel said. 

We had a visiting pastor speak at our woman’s luncheon in November.  Her name is Aldy Perez and her testimony is incredible.  Aldy’s daughter translated for her mom. 

Mark 9:23 ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God.”

What does the word “impossible” mean?  Definitions are:  something inconceivable, unthinkable, vain, hopeless, useless, impossible, inaccessible, illogical, insufferable, etc.

In our lives we face impossible situations that we cannot deal with on our own.  When we go through the impossible, when we feel that it is impossible for “I”, we need to remember Jesus Christ.  Before Him everything is always possible. 

In Mark 9:23, if it is impossible for us, remember, that nothing is impossible for Jesus.   The man in this story of healing was a desperate father, desperate for his son who was demon possessed.  He foamed at the mouth, was violent, thrown into the water and fire, and the father of the boy comes to Jesus.  The father gets close to Jesus.  Mark 9:21-24 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”  “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” ” ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”  Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

The father said to Jesus, “If you can…have mercy on us.”  Jesus loves it when we believe that everything is possible with Him.  Jesus didn’t look at the boy and say “Forget it, it’s not important, no problem, leave him.”  Jesus showed that this was important to Him.  Imagine crying out for your child and then hear God say, “if you can believe anything is possible.”  The man immediately answered, “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.”  Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and the boy was healed.   Mark 9:25-27 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

Jesus is the WORD OF AUTHORITY.  There is no authority that compares with Jesus.  He gave the WORD and it became true.  IF you can believe.  This required action from the Father, not from the child.  IF you can believe you will be healed.  It was the man’s option to believe.  IF you can believe you will have your answer.

Aldy then spoke about her story, which she called the story of impossibles.

She came to this country from Venezuela in 2000.  She and her husband’s purpose was to work in the church, their family was a ministry family.  Her husband was a pastor and they had two daughters one 3 months old, the other older.  They moved to Connecticut and worked with Pastor Angel Hernendez, and pastored the church with this pastor.  Their church grew from a few members to a very large church. Then in 2002, they started another church in New Haven, Connecticut, a church that went from 0 to four members during the first service (her, her husband, and her two kids).  They just praised the Lord and the presence of the Lord came to their church and they received a touch of God.  New people started to come a week later and after 2 years they had 40 members.  During this time there were many trials and satan kept trying to interfere with their ministry and attack the church.

After their church became established and they were comfortable in their position, God told them that they had to move, they were not to stay with the church that they had established.  They told God that it was impossible that they couldn’t leave, they had worked so hard and the church was established.  But God told them not to stay there, to move to Kingston, New York.  They left their church in good hands and moved to Kingston.

At first they did not understand why God wanted them to move here.  God speaks and God is in the lead, and they obeyed His directions.  But those who are in God’s will and doing God’s purpose will willingly do His will.  They were new in Kingston, having moved here in 2003, and pastored the church that they newly founded.  Aldy then had a son, their only boy in America. Many years went by and there were trials with the work that they were doing for the Lord.  Their church grew, everything was under God’s control.  They thought things were fine, and the church was established.

Then in 2007, Aldy told us when the impossible stands before us, give thanks for the impossible. 

Aldy was not feeling good.  She was tired, had headaches, and was overweight, which affected her health.  Her knees hurt, she had a heart murmur, ear infection, and many other infections.  Her whole body was on fire with fever.  She and her husband went to Albany to get these symptoms checked out and to have many blood tests. 

The new treatments she received seemed to be working and she was getting better.  But November 13, 2007 she received a phone call at 9 AM.  Her husband answered the phone and the doctor told her husband the terrible diagnosis – leukemia, the worst kind.  Aldy told us, imagine your husband telling you this while you are sitting at the kitchen table.  Aldy said she was in shock and kept saying that this cannot be, this is impossible.

A pastor From Florida had already spoken with them a few months previous to this and given them words of encouragement and blessings.  They were in God’s will, doing what God wanted, and yet this terrible diagnosis came to them.

Aldy told us, imagine having a death sentence over you.  A word of encouragement feels good when that happens. 

They called the doctor and made plans go to the hospital to have tests. The ten days before the hematologist’s appointment were the worst days of her life.  This was very hard for Aldy and she was still in shock.  Her thoughts kept going to her three children.  She and her husband would look at their faces and then ask God what do you want us to do?  Aldy said that she thanked God for her husband and his encouragement of her.  They gathered their children who were now 12, 9, and 6, and talked to them about the situation, and they prayed.  Her 13 year old daughter gave a very mature answer.  She told her mom that the same power who healed her father would heal her mom.   The other children said the same thing, that God was going to heal Aldy.

November 27 they went to the specialist, a good doctor, and for the first time saw the results of the bone marrow exam, a painful procedure.  Aldy had leukemia of the worst kind, but it was very common to treat.  Aldy told us she started to cry, and wanted to be strong but couldn’t.  Her treatments would start the next day. 

She entered the hospital for chemotherapy, a very strong dose of this for her leukemia was very aggressive and they needed to start the treatment right away.  She sat in the car with her husband next to her and she cried.  She said a prayer to God (Heather’s note, I took down as much of this as I could), “Lord you know. You brought us to you, and everything that is an impossible, is not impossible for you.  You will do your word.  Because of you, we are healed.  We say to you God, I don’t accept this.  I rebuke it in the name of Jesus.  You know everything Lord.  I will come out victorious.”

She went through her first day with an attitude of faith.  She knew God would come and do the Impossible and it would be something big.

November 29 she started her chemo and had a week of chemo – seven bags of chemo, one per day.   It was very strong and the doctor told her that she would physically deteriorate as the bad cells would die, but also the good cells would die.  But this was the only way to treat this leukemia.  This was what the doctor said, but this was NOT WHAT GOD SAID.

The first five days were great then she felt a bit dizzy.  She was joyful in the hospital singing and playing praise music, giving glory to God.  Five days after this seven day chemo treatment she felt there was great progress.  Then her blood numbers and platelets then started to drop.  She began to feel weak and dizzy.  She had to go to the bathroom and her stomach hurt.  She had a lot of headaches and morphine had to be administered.  It was horrible.  When she went to the bathroom she would bleed a lot, not just in her urine but from her nose and moth.  Everywhere.  She was very weak, and liquids began to stay in her body.  Her weight ballooned to 200 pounds, a huge weight for her small frame. She was feeling very weak and had much pressure from the pain and was very sick.

Her doctor told her that she had to be moved to intensive care.  She would close her eyes and praise God.  She felt very close to God and felt His presence, and knew that He was with her.  As her body deteriorated her spirit grew.  She told God that she knew He was with her, He was in the same boat as her.  Aldy remembered the time when the disciples were in the same boat with Jesus and there was a storm raging around the boat.  Jesus was in the boat with them, but they were still afraid and woke Jesus up.  He calmed the storm.  Jesus told them, “Oh ye of little faith, why are you afraid?” 

The word stayed in her heart and she went to God with her fears.  She told God that in her storm He was in her boat.  She asked God to tell the storm to be calm.

Aldy asked us, “What is your storm?”  Don’t forget that Jesus is in your storm. 

Aldy knew that Jesus was there in her storm, and she was to stay in the authority of His Word, to just be still.  The doctor sent for her husband and told him to be prepared for the worst.  The nurses watched for the worst, and all felt that she was about to die.

December 9, after 10 days of treatment everyone was waiting for her death.  She could not stand, and she had to go to the bathroom with someone.  She was all bruised from sitting on her bed, and every time someone touched her a bruise would form.  She fainted in the bathroom and someone picked her up.  All of her was in pain, her legs, knees, arms, body was in pain.  She said to God. “You are God. You are God.  I know I will not die.”

Aldy’s husband was desperate. He prayed and heard the voice of God. He was told to proclaim with his mouth that God is good.  It does not matter what he sees about Aldy.  God is good.  Her husband said that even if Aldy dies God is still good.  God is Lord, and Aldy was in His hands.  There was a war of prayer, fighting for Aldy’s spirit. 

December 10, Aldy had a beautiful experience with God.  This was during the worst part of her treatment, and one night she laid on her hospital bed, closed her eyes, and saw curtains.  The room got dark and she saw a terrible darkness at one end of the room.  On the other side was a beautiful light.  There was a battle for her life, but God was in the brightness of the Light and He told her, “I will heal you.”  She received the Word of God and started to speak about His love for His kingdom.  He showed her that the city of Kingston was a great darkness, that there was a cancer in the city.  That it was taking over the whole city the same way that Aldy’s cancer was taking over her body.  God then told her that he would show her that as he healed her body, He would heal the cancer of the city.  Then she understood the purpose of her cancer.  How God had permitted this leukemia so that he could show her how he would heal the city.   She started to see terrible sins that were practiced in Kingston – witchcraft and many things that are not right.  Sexual perversion and things she had no idea existed. God showed her that this was the cancer of her city.  She saw children who were abused, violence, and heard their cries.  They cannot see the Lord.  God told Aldy that he was going to heal the cancer in her body with the brightness of light the same way that he will renovate Kingston.  And then told her, “I am the Lord. I am real.”

December 11, at 10 pm she was having a nice experience with God, a beautiful revelation of the Lord went through her whole body, and showed her all the intoxication in her body.  God told her what to eat and what not to eat.  He told her that He would instruct her how to live, and she would have to leave her old lifestyle and ways.  When you eat this it will heal you, if she ate what God told her not to eat it would not go well with her body.  Often we get sick by neglect of doing and eating what is God’s best for us.  God told Aldy that He taught his people how to eat healthy.  When we break his rules then we start to have problems. 

Then the Lord told Aldy, “Now I will heal you.”  She started to feel warmth going through her whole body.  She could feel the Lord, as waves of warmth went through her body.  He was healing her.  He told her I am healing your body.  I am healing your blood with my blood. She felt power for 2 hours.  At midnight she got up out of bed and started to run.  She felt so good and so strong.  God will make her flower.  She saw God making her a beautiful flower.  Aldy was healed with the power of God.  Her bruises disappeared, she spoke in tongues, and began to scream with joy.  One of the sisters in the hospital ran into her room to see what was going on.  She told the nun that Jesus healed her.  She was filled with the fire of the Lord and it made the pain go away, and she received her healing.  The nun noticed a brightness on Aldy’s face.  Jesus had healed her.

Aldy called her husband and he came to the hospital fast.  In her phone call she called him, honey.  He thought it was weird that the nurses called him that, then he realized it was Aldy that called him.  When he saw Aldy, she was up and praising the Lord.  She told him, “Honey, the Lord has healed me.”  Then He started praising God.  Lord you are so good.

The next day the doctor came in and saw her sitting and saw the brightness in her face.  She needed Aldy to take one test.  And Aldy told the doctor that she had an experience with God and He healed her.  The doctor did not understand, and still wanted to do a test.  Aldy agreed to the test and the doctor did the bone marrow test. 

Aldy told us, “Amen, Hallelujah, and the joy of the Lord is my strength.”  The extraordinary strength of God gave her strength.

Psalm 103:1-5 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Aldy could feel that good feeling of God in her.  After taking the test, and waiting three days for the results, the doctor came in with the papers shaking her head.  She said to Aldy, “I don’t know what happened.  Your leukemia has disappeared.  It’s as if you never had it.” 

God is real.  He did it!  Aldy was totally healed in 13 days.  Dr. God did it!!! God is good. 

Many of us have obstacles in front of us that seem like giants.  They look like they are planted in one place and will not move. But IF you can believe, EVERYTHING is possible with God.  Aldy believed, and receive her healing. We too can believe and receive. 

Now Aldy and her family are working to heal the cancer in the city of Kingston. God told Aldy, “My power and authority is with you and any who are sick will be healed.”

Aldy then prayed with us for healing of the things that we need healed in our lives.

Her website for the church is www.montedeoracion.org where there are pictures – the website is in Spanish.

I am praying this testimony blessed you.  I love hearing other’s testimonies because it helps to build my faith in God.

Have a wonderful Saturday.

Heather.

See Part 1 here. 

Pastor Don took us back to Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it (by faith) the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

The invisible realm becomes physical.  That is the right process of producing something on the physical plane.  Believing in faith is the invisible aspect of what is in the material realm.  We need to wrap our minds around the fact that the invisible is greater than what we can see or perceive with our senses.

When we got saved we prayed, believed, repented and it was done.  Do we think our salvation was not fully done, only 10% done?  Why would it be different for other things that we pray and believe for our betterment or protection?

We were not saved out of hope, but out of faith.  We believe in the sovereignty of God who is our Father in Faith.

Do we have faith in faith, or faith in hope, or faith in our need?  Or is our faith in God?  If we put our faith in His hands, shouldn’t we leave it in His hands?  Faith will work.  Hope will lead us to believing and to faith.  God in His sovereignty knew that what we needed to do was believe in faith, and to speak faith.

Moses was told to speak to the rock.  He had enough faith to honor God and speak to the rock.  Speaking to the rock would have been sufficient to provide water for the millions of Israelites, but Moses succumbed to frustration with the Israelites and struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock.  Moses did it wrong.  God could have closed up the rock, but in His sovereignty He still brought forth water.  God provided water for the Children of Israel. God was moved by what would be for the ultimate good, in spite of Moses’ error, but that error made it impossible for Moses to enter the Promised Land.

God answers our prayers, but it may not look like we think it should look like.  If we have faith to believe that God will supply the answer it is a done deed.

John 14:12-14 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

We pray in His (Jesus’ name) for His mission.  Sometimes our mission is not what God wanted for us or is God’s best for us.

John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

God established faith.  Our faith may be imperfect, but we can ask for what we need in God’s name.  God doesn’t look at our circumstances.  God’s faith is not shaky.  God knows that He speaks and it is done.

We need to pray to be patient to realize that it’s going to be alright.  No matter what our circumstances are, it will be OK.  I am not afraid.  Yet, we need to realize that God is sovereign and He has things in His control and in His perfect timing.  We often get impatient. We hope for something, pray in faith believing, and at the end of our prayer say in the name of Jesus. Then we wait impatiently, and it doesn’t come the way we think, or as quickly as we think it should and we begin to speak words of doubt and unbelief.  When we committed our situation to God we needed to give it to God and leave it with God.  We also need to listen to God’s instructions and act on them.  Sometimes we wait for someone to make it happen, when God wants us to take some steps in faith.  We need to abide in Him and trust in His sovereignty that things will be good in the right time.  When we get in our spirit that our prayer is answered, we need to change our prayer to, “Thank you God for providing _____.”  We may not see the thing with our physical senses, but we know that in the spirit God has made the situation change, and we continue to pray in faith believing, knowing that God will release it at the right time and that it will manifest.

If it is not the right time for it, you either prayed amiss or with the wrong motive. We need to get the Word of the Lord on it. 

Mark 10:29 So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,

Notice that the people left house or family for JESUS SAKE and the GOSPEL’s sake.  We all have stuff in our lives that we have to deal with.  Some of the stuff is our own making.  We want to make sure that what we are doing is for Jesus’ sake and the Gospel’s sake.

Mark 10:30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

We are to receive these things NOW.  People like to claim the first part of this passage, but tend to ignore that these things come with persecutions.

Matthew 6:31  “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

Do not worry SAYING.  Notice that we will have what we say, if we speak our abundance or our lack. In this passage the person was worrying “SAYING.”  No matter our circumstances, we need to be careful what we say about them.  Remember faith comes by HEARING and hearing by the Word of God.  We hear what we say, and we can have faith for both good things and bad things. Be careful what words come out of your mouth.

Matthew 6:32-33  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

We all seek these things and God knows our needs.  But if we seek the kingdom of God FIRST, then we will have these things added to us.  The Gentiles will witness the abundance of God in our lives, and this will be a powerful witness to them.

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is a SUBSTANCE of things hoped for.  We begin our process to faith with hope.  If we ask in CHRIST, the things we hope for.  What kind of things?  Kingdom things.  Our niche in the Body of Christ, ways to serve Him.  God will give us the desires of our heart, and if we ask for things, in Christ, our asking will center around what will help provide for the betterment of the Kingdom of God. 

God will not withhold any good thing from us, and He wants to give us things so that it brings glory to the Lord, and so that we are well positioned to work for the Harvest of the Lord, and to be a blessing. 

Can we ask for things and receive what is not for our best interests?  Yes.  Pastor Don talked about a member who wanted a house, and while this house outwardly looked good, it was the worst possible house for her.  She prayed and claimed that house, and they got the house.  It turned out to have so many problems and required so much money for upkeep, that they realized they had made a mistake, and sold the house, choosing the house that was a better fit for them and for their ministry.  

God will sometimes let us learn by our mistakes.

If you have the hope for something, use faith.  Faith energizes hope and creative power is released in the spiritual realm.  On earth we are in Chronos time (hours, minutes, seconds) but God is sovereign and He is not in our realm of Chronos time.  He is above and beyond our limited dimension of time.  In God’s time, our request will be granted, but we need to have patience to wait in Chronos time while our request is manifested.

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Anything that we look at on earth was made by faith.  The invisible realm becomes manifest in the visible at the right time.  We will accomplish His (God’s) will in the earth, and finish on schedule.  In the process our faith will be stronger, and we will learn to speak things as they should be spoken to the Glory of the Lord. 

Psalm 27:13-14 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, 
and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!

Someone brought up Isaiah 55:8  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

When God does not seem to answer a prayer, people fall back on Isaiah 55:8. But if you look at Isaiah 55: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. we see that God is speaking to the wicked, who will not know God’s ways or thoughts.  But we, as believers, have been given the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to help us know His ways and thoughts.  We need to keep our focus on God and He will direct our paths.

Delight ourselves in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart.  He can even place godly desires into our hearts.  There is a big difference between good ideas and God ideas.  If we get thoughts that are not of God we can reject them, and choose to agree with thoughts that line up with God’s will.

When a true supernatural idea drops into our spirit – say to call someone from church, that thought will keep persisting, and if we ignore it, we may miss a God appointment.  But if we listen to the godly thought and call the person, we may be used by God for His good purposes.

Hearing God’s voice, and discerning that it is God’s voice, is the most important thing we can do when we want to line up with God’s will for our life.  When we choose to line up with His will, it makes life easier for us.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

We want to take all our thoughts captive to Christ.  Not every thought is a God thought and we need to discern what is of God and what is not of God, and hold those thoughts captive that are of God.  When our hope on the inside is attached to faith, then it lingers, and the Spirit of God, will help us in the situation.  Pray to have patience to wait on the Lord.

We went overtime in this Bible study, but it was well worth it.  God has so much richness in His Word, and I count myself so blessed to be able to attend this Bible study.  Hoping you have a great day.

Heather

(Heather’s comment)  At our Friday Bible studies we have been having a wonderful study in Hebrews, Chapter 11.  In this study we are savoring the lives of all the people of faith mentioned in this chapter.  Sometimes we get through three our four verses, other times we get through half a verse.  So I hope you enjoy this excursion into Hebrews Chapter 11.  During a Beth Moore study, Beth Moore had us imagine that we were walking down the halls of an art museum and there were pictures of all the heroes of faith.  She had us imagine what scene would be painted about Abraham, Noah, etc.  Then she concluded with something that so wowed me.  She said, write in your Bibles Hebrews 11:41.  There is no verse 41 in Hebrews 11, but she told us that God keeps an album of when His children act in faith, and that these people in Hebrews 11 were early ones, but God adds to His album, and Hebrews 11:41 is our verse – we were told to write:  “By faith  (your name) …. ”  And record what we do by faith in God.  I like that image, for we are often encouraged to step out in faith.  Oh, if you are ever near West Hurley, New York on a Thursday evening at 7, or a Friday afternoon at 12:30, come to our Bible studies you would be so welcome.  My notes do not do the Bible studies justice. 

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Hebrews 11:1   Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Pastor Don told us that often when people are saying they are in faith they are really wishing and hoping.  They have the wrong definition of faith. 

Pastor Don told us that if he decided in his mind to call a car a bicycle, but he does not tell us that he has changed the word that he is using for car to bicycle, we won’t communicate clearly.  So if he told us to go out in the parking lot and get on our bicycles and ride, we would look out on the parking lot and see our cars, not realizing that he was using the term bicycle to refer to car.  We would have the wrong definition of “bicycle” in Pastor Don’s terminology and that would cause confusion. 

From the beginning of time people have used the words grace and faith and mercy, but have in their minds differing definitions.  Faith will not work for us if we don’t have the right definition.  When we have the wrong definition, when the meaning is confused, and things don’t work out the way we conceive them, we tend to say it’s the other person’s fault.  We don’t say I messed up.  We think the other person messed up, and we don’t admit where we are wrong.  We often blame God, when it wasn’t God who messed up. 

When we pray and don’t get answers, we begin to think God is a bad parent or ineffective.  We don’t realize that we erred in asking or that God would answer in the process of time and our impatience got in the way of God’s response. 

Grace implies God’s ability to empower us to do something.  The church’s definition of “grace” is unmerited favor but grace is much more than that, it is favor and power to do what God ordains. Pastor Don said that if he leaves a car in our driveway, and gives us the key and the registration, we are then empowered to drive ourselves to Kingston.  If we sit in our house and moan and groan that no one is going to drive us to Kingston, yet we have the empowerment in the form of a car in the driveway to do so, is it that Pastor Don didn’t give us the ability to do so, or is it that we didn’t utilize what power (the car) we had to get to Kingston?

Pastor Don then shared about Paul’s thorn in the flesh, not a physical ailment as some would suppose, but really the fact that everywhere Paul wanted to minister there were people coming out of the woodwork, instruments of satan, to buffet and interfere with the message of the Gospel. God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.”  God was not saying, “my unmerited favor is sufficient for you.”  He was telling Paul that God gave him the tools and through the Holy Spirit the power that Paul needed to deal with the situation.    God was saying in effect, here’s the keys to the car – drive yourself to Kingston.

God is saying, get moving.  God wants to steer, but He can’t steer a parked car.  “Grace” is God empowering us so that we can do His will.  Faith is God’s given ability to us so that we can believe it.  The wrong definition leads to confusion and we don’t get things done, and end up blaming God and then the whole thing shuts down on us. 

We are all control freaks and whining babies.  It is one thing to say, “God is sovereign.”  But we don’t really believe that.  God is sovereign and His Holy Spirit will help us.  God has relinquished to us free will, and often we delegate our trust to things that do not work, thinking God is not sovereign over that situation in our lives.  We need to fight for the freedom and power that God has delegated to us.  We are responsible for the choices and actions that we do.  Find out what are the rules of the universe.

God made everything by two principles.

1. The principle by faith, God believed it and spoke it into existence.  God set the universe in space and time.  It was first a picture in His mind, then He spoke it into existence.  He believed that what He said would exist, and He released creative energy to bring it into existence.  He formed it all out of nothing.  Speaking something without faith does not result in the formation of it.

2. The principle believe what he spoke had to happen.  The release of the Word matched to faith causes something to change.  The Word of faith is a release of substantive creativity.  When faith speaks, substantive creativity begins to happen. Angels were powerful  Angels in the supernatural realm see things through the eyes of spiritual beings.  Faith is a creative energy.  We  may not see the creative energy in the natural, but in the realm of the Spirit things are happening.

In the natural realm we have become convinced that SEEING IS BELIEVING.  Substance is required for belief, but that is the reverse of what God’s plan for faith is.  We want people to SHOW ME… then I will believe. But God wants us to believe, then He will show us.

All of us are not that spiritual. 

Romans 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 

God took a 75 year old man (Abraham) and told him he would have a son.  That promise did not occur until Abraham was 99 years old.  God in the present (when Abraham was 75) spoke it, but God was speaking for a time in the future.  Yet, when God speaks to Abraham about his forthcoming son, God used the past tense.  I HAVE MADE YOU.  This, in God’s mind, was already done.  God made it in His mind even though it was many years before the son was born.

We are made in God’s image, and in this we are like God.  We have the ability to formulate something, see it in our mind, and speak it into the future (good things and not so good things).  As humans we give it our best shot, but like God, in our vision we see it, and speak it into existence.  Abraham heard God and believed God and it was counted to Abraham as righteousness.  When God speaks it is not based on what He sees, but what He formulated in His mind.  What God spoke is a process of creation that must take place.  But to take place parts must be assembled.  Everybody wants instant healing, but often that kind of healing doesn’t come instantly.  There are things that must be put into place first.  We have choices to make in our lifestyles that can also affect our health.

God calls what does not exist as though it does, it is a creative picture in His head. It is not what He sees in circumstances.  In the mind of Christ, He sees Abraham as the father of many nations even though Abraham was old and had no children. 

Romans 4:18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

What was SPOKEN.  Hear what faith says.  Decide to believe.  What do we believe, according to what was spoken.  It was spoken into existence.  It IS substance.  It is not “going to believe (in the future after it manifests),”  but “believe (present tense) even though our circumstances do not show that it is in existence.  When we believe (present tense) the natural has to line up with the supernatural.  In our minds we believe it is the other way around.  In our mind we are control freaks and want our control to be dominant.

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

All manner of evil desire. Little kids, when they are young, have no concept of sin or evil.  For our pot luck lunch someone had a few cookies on a plate in front of her.  There were little kids present. Pastor Don pointed out that if this little child (2 years old) wanted a cookie, and went up and took the cookie off the plate, they would not realize that they had done anything wrong.  If the person with the plate of cookies had put up a sign saying, “Ethel’s cookies, do not touch.”  The little child could not read the sign and would not be accountable for what was written on it.  They see the cookie and take the cookie.  Before the age of accountability they do not know the law.  If the child reaches for the cookie and Ethel slaps her hand the kid doesn’t understand why they were slapped.  It is better to explain to the child before resorting to punishment or else that punishment is only teaching the child that someone bigger has more strength to hurt the child – or might makes right.  Until the age of accountability, there is no concept of sin.

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

When we are little and do not know right from wrong we are alive without the law. Pastor Don pointed out that sometimes people accuse him of things that he did not do knowingly – they ascribe motivation to him that was not his intent.  One example he uses is that on a Sunday he was leaving his office and in his mind going over the points of his sermon on his way to the pulpit.  When that happens he does not always notice people in the lobby, or go over and give them a hug or a greeting, his mind might be focused on something else entirely. One member got offended because he did not greet her and the truth was that he did not see her.  He told her that she could come up to him if she wanted a hug.  He had not deliberately slighted her.  Pastor Don then said that when we have had troubles in our past, and had messed up human relations, it is a shame that we don’t wear a sign that describes that.  You know, “I was abused as a child. Therefore I am edgy and defensive concerning you and I don’t like men in authority.”  When we meet people  we like, we see the best part, but there are dragons in our closets.  If we don’t know what those dragons are, we end up stepping on the person’s toe, offending them, and then they start building a list of grievances. 

Pastor Don pointed out that when a person gets hired, everyone is a good worker for two weeks, then you find out what kind of worker they really are.

It takes more time to work out stuff.  It takes a long time to become aware of who people really are.  When we come into the world we don’t have a clue.  We don’t know all the slick things, needs, responses, etc.  Kids need to learn the rules.  As kids they have an open relationship with the Spirit of God, and kids will believe what we tell them.  That is why Sunday School is so important.  We can tell them the truth at a young age, and build foundations that will keep them connected to God before the flesh and culture begins to affect them.  Little people naturally have the gift of faith.  They believe God hears you when you pray.  They believe Jesus died for me and Jesus is coming soon.  We don’t want to lie to them.  And often we put worldly things to them that can confuse them, for example what does a rabbit bringing eggs have to do with the resurrection?

Once we grow to the point where we can read and understand the commandments, then sin is revived.  We begin to be aware of sin and then sin is revived and we die. 

Pastor Don gave the example of driving the car down Route 28.  In the early days there were no traffic signs listing speed.  We could go as fast as we wanted. Once a speed limit sign is placed on the road and we go faster than the speed listed on the sign we break the law.  Before the sign there was no law and no sin of speeding. 

But in this day and age we are now in a period of lawlessness and in the book of Judges, God even told us that every man did what was right in his own eyes.  If there was no police, no DA, and no one to tell us what was right, some people would habitually do lawless acts. 

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Power in the universe is based on faith and the spoken Word. We have access to the power of God, and if we agree with what God spoke, and line up with that, the end is good.  If we see something and the end of it is opposite to God, then no good will come out of it.  We make choices not in faith, and out of alignment with God’s will, and then we end up with things that are not good, even though it is what we spoke.  Then, of course, we blame God for the bad things in our lives, but it is really our choices out of line with God’s will that produced the negative.

Hebrews 11 teaches us that God gives us the grace and ability to do things.  Faith is like electricity in the universe.  Faith comes with power and ability.  Electricity is a current, and if it is unharnessed, and used in a wrong manner it will kill you.  If you plug into it in a correct way, it will work for you.  Faith has the power to destroy and it also has the power for good.  Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.   Faith is is a substance not seen - the WARRENTY or DEED. If we buy a house or real estate and are given the deed, people assume that they have the land, even if they haven’t seen the land – it may be 15 miles away, but they have the deed.  Pastor Don has a time share in Florida, he signed the papers in New York, and when the week of his time share comes up, he gets in the car and drives to the time share, knowing it is there even if he didn’t see it when he signed the papers.

In the process of faith, we begin by hoping – getting a mental picture of the thing, and then as time goes on it crosses over into the realm of faith, and then we accept it as a fact.  When we believe in faith, then we begin acting out of faith and not out of hope.  As far as people around us are concerned, there may be no change in circumstances, but our faith has grabbed a hold of the picture.  We have the deed. 

Our natural is built by faith of the person in the supernatural realm first.  Faith is the electricity a believer uses to access it.  We can rest in hope and not cross into the realm of faith, into the realm of seeing it as accomplished.

Pastor Don told us that our expectations can cause disappointments.  Why?  Without Godly hope and faith our expectations cause disappointments.  Many people divorce because they have unrealistic expectations about what their marriage will be like, and when these expectations are not met, they become disillusioned and choose divorce. 

If we have ungoldy hope and faith and expectation in the relationship, no amount of giving can fix it, and we take it out on the person who can’t fix it, and blame the problem on the other person.  Really, the problem is not the other person, but our expectations. The only effective answer is to wait and seek God, lining up with His will in our life.

Do you love this study in Hebrews 11?  The study continued and we actually spent time in the book of Hebrews.  I will share the second half of the study tomorrow.  Praying your day is blessed.

Heather

You can read Part One here.

Pastor Don continued by saying that when Jesus called the apostles to follow Him, they did not follow him blindly, they had information about him. We are not asked to have blind faith.

Luke 5:1-3 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

Jesus taught the multitudes.

Luke 5:4-5  When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

Someone in our group pointed out that Simon obeyed Jesus, but just barely. Jesus told them to let down their NETS (plural) and Simon only let down his NET (singular).  It was a lot of work to do this letting down of the nets. But because he heard the preaching, he obeyed the rabbi – the teacher.

Luke 5:6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

Their net was breaking – might not have happened like that if they had put down the NETS (plural).

Luke 5:7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

Jesus is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and even the fish obeyed Him.  Remember the disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing.  Now they had an abundance of fish, so many that the boats were beginning to sink.

Luke 5:8-10 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”  For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”

This dispels the myth that the disciples were poor – they were partners in a fishing business. And notice that Simon Peter recognizes that Jesus is Lord and falls down at Jesus’ knees.

Luke 5:11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

They chose to follow him because their faith in Jesus had grown.  God will not ask for our faith without supplying something to help us build our faith. Remember when Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist pointed Jesus out to John’s disciples as the Lamb of God.  John and James chose to leave John the Baptist and follow Jesus. 

Pastor Don reminded us that John knew what went on during the crucifixion and the events of the testimony because he was well known to the priests and pharisees.  He was also a disciple of John the Baptist, so when Jesus came through, He came with the recommendation of John the Baptist.  These disciples had information.

God will not ask us to do anything to get us to the next level without giving us the grace (power) to do so.  We have to go through stuff, and then step into the next level, to step into ministry.  When we face harder tests it strengthens us, we must not go back but have to go forward.  We need to be tempered so that we can better yield ourselves to him.  When these guys placed their faith in Jesus and rowed out and cast their net, they had something to have faith on.

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

This is a verse that can be twisted by those who preach.  This is a guarantee from God.  God is on the throne and we are not, when we are in the body in the same place as God.  When our body keels over, our spirit goes to be with the Lord, and our body is buried on earth. 

Matthew 24:27-28 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

When there is the rapture, there will be dead carcasses and the eagles, and carrion will gather. 

2 Corinthians 5:9-11 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

There will be hell and judgment, do not believe teachers that tell us differently.  God holds us responsible for what we permit, and He is the perfect Judge. He looks at the situation relative to what we had to go through, that caused us do do what we did.  We cannot pretend to know who God will bring to heaven and who he won’t.  Those who do not know Jesus will still be judged and God will take all their lives into consideration. We can believe that His judgment is just. God will pay attention to what we do once we are saved as well. 

Pastor Don talked about Lester Summerall’s book Alien Entities and told us that everyone has will power, and no matter how much satan has taken over a person, there is a point where that person will draw the line and go no further.  In this book, Summerall talks about a woman in an insane asylum who was possessed by satan.  She had major injuries and was kept in a locked room.  Summerall walked into that room and the demons were exorcized.  He asked her why she did not give herself sexually when she was possessed, and she told him that she determined that she would not give that part of herself to the demonic entity.

2 Corinthians 5:9-10 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Why?

2 corinthians 5:11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

We have an understanding of how sin, life, death, and the system of God works.  This can move us from pretending how wonderful we are, and realizing that we are at the mercy of God.  God is merciful.   When we look at our brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to be careful not to judge them, for we don’t know what they’ve been through.  God tells us that we need to be merciful, be kind.

2 Corinthians 5:12 For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.

We often get caught up in appearances, but God is looking at our heart. We need to judge the heart of things. Often we say one thing and do another.

2 Corinthians 5:13-14 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

2 Corinthians 5:13-14 AMP For if we are beside ourselves [mad, as some say], it is for God and concerns Him; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit, for the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died; it is the love of Christ that compels us.

It is the love of Christ that compels us.  As we absorb the truth of this passage we will begin to see Christ change us.

2 Corinthians 5:14  For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

The love of Christ compels us.  If Christ died for all, then all died.

2 Corinthians 5:15  and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

This is heavy stuff.  If Christ died, then we all die.  He died for all of us.  We identify with His death, and then we have to die too.  Our living is no longer for ourselves, but for Jesus – we die to self. If we are convicted of our sins, then something in us dies.  We, once we come face to face with our sins and are convicted, can’t deal with our sins in the exact same way we did in the past. 

Jesus’ death was no easy death, he suffered tremendous pain that we cannot even imagine.   As we begin to identify with the Cross, it makes us begin to pray, “thy will be done.”  When we understand this and identify with the death of Christ (He died for us), when He died, we died.  There is no way for us to stay detached.  We need to accept our responsibility for our sins, and our hurting of others. Christ paid the sacrifice for us, we are indebted to Him.  We owe Him a debt.  We want to find a way to help someone else, love compels us.  We want to help as many people as possible, for we are aware of our mortality.

 2 Corinthians 6:16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

Christ died for us, and we owe a debt to Him.  We pay that debt by serving others but we do not gain salvation by serving others, it is something we do out of love for Jesus.  We know Christ not in our flesh, but in our Spirit.  And we can know Him through the Spirit.  We want to live by the principle that is popular today, “pay it forward.”

2 Corinthians 6:17-18  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

The concept Corinthians Chapter 6 is that God did something and the Spirit in us guarantees that we are citizens of Heavenly realms.  Our fleshly man has changed.  If we identify with Christ’s death, we can’t pay Him by works, but we, through the love of Jesus, will reach out to help others for Christ.  Therefore we are a new creation.  We have our identity with Christ, and we owe a debt we cannot repay.  We are now a new creation, subject to the Heavenly realm, no longer subject to the earthly realm.  We cashed out of the Kingdom of Earth.  Now we are an Ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Money will not rule a Kingdom person, who having citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, sows a seed for the advancement of the Kingdom.  When ego and pride changes, we begin to realize what really is important, and our perspective changes.

In John 21, John and some of the disciples went back fishing, but that was not what God wanted them to do in His Kingdom.   He wanted the disciples to preach the Gospel and they could afford to do that.  Their father was the captain of a successful fishing fleet, and the sons never laced for finances.  It is a myth that the disciples and Jesus were poor.  They had sufficient for their needs.

To keep us focused on what is important, all we need to do is look at the Cross.

2 Corinthians 6:19  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

We looked back at verse 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

In other words, we still have sins and some unrighteousness in our flesh, but when we identify with the cross and with Christ, it is not imputed to us, we are covered by the blood of Jesus.  Although some of the seeds we sow on earth that are sinful may reap hell on earth, and problems as a result of those sinful seeds.  We must deal with it now, but there will be a judgment seat of Christ.  And although satan will try to accuse us, our sins will be covered, and Jesus will be glad to see us because we identify with the life and death of Christ.  We are new and different, although we may still have some fleshly problems hanging around us, our spirits are new.

2 Corinthians 6:20-21 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The Word of God (Jesus) is our righteousness, it is nothing that we can do.  Jesus took all of our sins and for those who believe Him our sins will not be imputed to us.  Jesus took our pain, suffering, life, death, upon Himself – The Word (Logos) became flesh.  Jesus put on a human suit.  He wants us to look at our words and make sure they line up with His best for us. 

Time isn’t so long when you compare it to eternity.  Some seeds take time to grow, but there will be changes and growth as we grow closer to Him.  We need to ask ourselves how important Kingdom thoughts and being a new creation in Christ is to us.  Let us become reconciled to God, and be ambassadors for Christ, because through Christ we become the righteousness of God.

Hoping your day is blessed.

Heather