Last night I heard a powerful teaching by Dr. Leon van Rooyen from Global Ministries and Relief, Inc.  www.gmrinc.org   This was part of the Kingston Fire Revival being held at the Vineyard Church in Kingston, NY. www.vineyardchurchny.com/  You can watch the Vineyard service tonight (4/29) live on webcam and hear Pastor Leon teaching at 7, NY time. I am typing this teaching in the hopes that you will read this, and if possible, watch Pastor Leon’s teaching online tonight or come to the Vineyard in person. This is a revival that is touching many lives with the Power of the Spirit, and has been ongoing for many months now.

We sang a song before the teaching called “From the Inside Out.”  by Hillsong.  The chorus is:

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
my heart and my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

That is what we are seeking to do with God, to live and love Him from the Inside out. 

Pastor Leon asked those who were attending who wanted a double portion of the anointing.  Needless to say, most raised their hands.  The way to an increased level of glory is to not quench God.  God’s Word is like a two-edged sword.  What God wants is not for us to be posing in our worship and service to Him, but to be who we are.

God does want to raise us up in leadership, power and authority.  But not for the acceptance, approval, and promotion of man.  Many look more to outward appearance and acceptance, and are working for the approval of man, which is not what the real work of God is.  What we need to be doing is from loving God, and seeking God’s approval.

The same intensity that we approach worship and praise to God should be the same intensity that we approach ministry.  We don’t want to quench God.

Quench means to put out the flame.  We are the ones who put out our flames.  God gives us the flame, but we have the power of choice.  We want to connect to the place where our vision meets God’s plan for our lives and then the flame will burn brighter.

The truth is, THE WAY UP IS DOWN.

Some go into pseudo humility, or service that is not from the heart of love of God.  We may fool those around us, but God sees through us.  What we are seeking is not earthly rewards but crowns to cast at Jesus’ feet.  What we do needs to be done from the Love of God.

There are Christians who try to do the least possible and call it grace.  True grace empowers us for ministry.  We want to embrace ministry with faith and delight.

To receive a double portion will be determined by our motives, our attitudes, and or love.  TO GOD BE THE GLORY. 

The anointing never came to one lazy person in the Bible.  Moses was looking after his father-in-law’s sheep (not an easy task to work for your father-in-law), Elisha was plowing the field, the fishermen were mending their nets, Matthew was collecting taxes.

We want to be hungry to do the will of God.  Acts 13:36a “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers,…”

We don’t want to die and not be able to say, “I did all that God entrusted to me.” 

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

It is the blood of Jesus that saves us, and the blood speaks louder than guilt or shame from our past.  Every sin has been dealt with by Jesus taking our place on the cross, and His work is FINISHED.  We are a new creation, with new priorities, new motives.  The old has passed away and we are growing by the Word of God. 

Sometimes though we forget our first love, we lose the passion that came when we were first born again and we need revival to help us get that born again passion, again. 

We can’t live out of our past experience, but we need to live out of the present work of God and advance. God wants to raise us up to be powerful.

Pastor Leon read from Acts 2:17-18 out of two translations New Living Translation and King James.

Acts 2:17-18 NLT ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy.

Acts 2:17-18 KJV And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

Pastor Leon told us that significant works of God draw children and youth – that they see things.  Children are the future of the church. 

Notice that God poured out his spirit specifically on SERVANTS.  Why?  Because the rest do not care a rip.  Servants serve out of love.  Remember the bondservants, who, when their time was up would go to the doorpost and let their master pierce their ears with a nail, showing that they would serve their master for life.  We go to the cross to be pierced because we love Him.

Know that God does not think of us as servants, we are a sons of God (daughters of God).  We are not servants in relationship to God, Jesus secured for us intimacy with God through His sacrifice on the cross. We can approach God with boldness. Our approach to God is no different from the relationship that Jesus had with His Father. We can approach God with a sense of inclusion and acceptance.  We do not grovel, for we have this inheritance through Christ.

I approach the Father as son/daughter.
I approach the Church as servant.

We know who we are in Christ, but when we come to the church and the world we come as servants.  Yet we also have the right to stand before God as Son.  We can stand before any man without a sense of inferiority for we know Who and Whose we are.  His Spirit resides in us.

If you look at Paul’s epistles you see that he often addressed his letters, “Paul a bondservant and Apostle.”  Notice the order, servant first than calling.  Paul was a servant of love, not of slavery. Paul was a servant by choice. 

God pours out His Spirit on servants for He wants people healed, delivered, set free. 

Modern day church people are often consumed with self, carnality, apathy.

Jesus was the son of God.  Philippians 2:5-8  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

If people would humble themselves there would be less church splits and leadership problems. There would be peace and unity in the house.  We want to make ourselves a servant so that we can win more for Christ. 

Pastor Leon told us that the outer garment that we wear is not the garment of our anointing, but the garment of the servant.  If we want to be able to minister in the strength that Jesus ministered, we need to be servants.

Phil. 2:5a Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…

In our attitude we want to be a servant.  In Greek the term servant is “doulos”. It means one who serves even to the point of disregarding their own needs and interests. 

The power of the Spirit is poured out on a servant.  Servant hearts attract the anointing.

John 13:2-3 And supper being ended,^g]’> brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Elisha, after serving, kept going with Elijah wherever Elijah wanted him to go and serve.  Joash wanted to get the mantle and thought he could hoodwink God and the prophet.  But what is inside of you will be revealed by words, by acts of your hands and by the direction of our feet.

Elisha gave King Joash every opportunity to get what he desired.

2 Kings 13:14-16 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

Elisha put his hands on the hands of King Joash.  This was to pass the anointing – Elisha’s hands were anointed.  But the touch of anointed hands without an anointed heart to receive it does not get a mantle passed.

2 Kings 13:17 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the LORD’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.”

This was a prophetic direction from Elisha – that you will strike the enemies, victory is in the heart, victory is in your hand.  This was a prophetic key for King Joash, saying that there would be victory over the nations.

2 Kings 13:18 Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped.

Notice that Elisha did not tell King Joash how many times to strike the arrows. 

2 Kings 13:19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”

Elisha was furious for Joash only struck three times, not five or six times.  Notice that three is one half of six.  This showed Elisha that Joash was HALF HEARTED.  Half hearted people are carnal, rowdy, weak, and not fully seeking victory.  Joash would have partial victory.

When we are half hearted we only get partial victories, we only get what our heart is capable of receiving.  We are to be living from the inside out, the heart issues of life, heart words, heart filled obedience to the Lord.  The heart creates our capacity of what God will trust us with.  He wants us to have the right hearts so we can change our world and grow the church.

2 Kings 13:20-21 Then Elisha died, and they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

This shows us that Elisha had plenty of anointing that he could have passed to King Joash, enough that even his bones could raise a dead man. But the amount of anointing received by King Joash was proportional to the capacity of the king’s heart, not Elisha’s anointing.

We want to have the hearts of servants. If we want to get great, we need to serve.  The mother of the son’s of Zebedee wanted her sons to vie for seats next to Jesus, but their hearts were not ready for that.  They would have to share the cup of what Jesus had, and even that did not guarantee them special seating, that would be determined by God and the condition of their hearts.

If you want to do great work for the glory of God, it is possible.  Anyone can do great things for God, but what limits us is the capacity of our heart, the right motives and the nature of the servant. On the day of Pentecost there were those in the upper room in one accord with servant hearts, which is why the power of the Holy Spirit could impact their lives.

Mark 1:29-31 Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.

Aren’t you glad that Jesus lifts people up?  Notice that Simon’s mother-in-law was healed and then she SERVED THEM. 

When you serve someone else, you serve Jesus.  You can only serve THEM, and when you serve THEM, you serve HIM. 

We can’t love God and hate our brother.  If we love our brother it is the same as loving God.

To receive the anointing we MUST START WITH THE BOWL AND TOWEL. Put on the garment of servant and do what needs to be done, to serve others.  As we serve others, He raises us up.  But the first thing that we must do is SERVE HIM. This reminded Pastor Leon of the hymn, “He touched me.” When Jesus touches you, you want to serve.

Many people want the touch of God, but without the responsibility and service end of it.  They want to be called into ministry and empowered, but not to serve God, just to glorify themselves.  Jesus comforted people, healed the sick, cast out demons, walked on water, and WASHED FEET.  What Jesus did here on earth HE DID TO THE GLORY OF GOD. 

You spell MINISTRY – HARD WORK.

We want the double portion, but it won’t come to someone unless they are willing to do what God wants them to do.

Before Elisha got the mantle, Elijah took him to Bethel, Gilgal, and other spots.  Elisha refused to leave Elijah, and because of his faithfulness and service, Elisha did get the double portion.  Elisha had the heart of a servant.

Luke 12:48b For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Romans 12:11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord

We want to keep our fires fueled, and keep ablaze by serving the Lord. This is not by effort TRYING to do something to the glory of God, but by developing what God gives us and what he has given us the fire and passion to do.

Romans 7:6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

The motto of the Salvation Army is SAVED TO SERVE. 

Peter began to preach.  We need to begin to do, not just enjoy the anointing (although there is a time and place for that and the joy of the Lord), but we want to get on with the work of God.  Love makes us a servant, and that servanthood is done with grace and empowerment.  The law cannot make us a lover of God, it makes us a victim of judgment.  The Grace of God and the Love of God, and the Passion for God is what causes us to serve. 

If we fall down and worship God, we get to the place of servanthood for worshippers must become servants.  We can’t serve before we worship.  The power of God changes us and we get revived, changed and empowered for service.  We want to be conformed to be like Him, to serve like He served.

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.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

God wants us to serve Him and be in His perfect will. He wants to give us a yoke – not a miserable yoke, not forced slavery, but that we choose out of love to serve Him.  The right way to serve God is from love.  We want to remember that He served us at the Cross, that he took our place, died for us so that our sins could be forgiven. We want, for love of God, to go the second mile, not for earthly rewards are applause, but because of love.

Jesus told the sons of Zebedee that they would be baptized with the baptism that Jesus would receive, but that he could not determine where they would be seated in heaven. 

To be great, we need to be the servant of all.  Without the heart of the servant, the things we do will end up in squalor.

These revival meetings that we are having here at Kingston are not just a series of meetings, not an experience for our lives, but they are also meant to change the entire region by the Spirit of God. To shake it to its core.  God wants us to do great works.  

God believes in you. God trusts you. 

We would not be here except for the forgiveness of God.  But for what purpose?  So that we can carry the power of God to the generations, so that His Church can grow. The prodigal’s return was a choice.  God brings change into people’s lives and hearts, delivers them from hell.  This is a testimony of the blood and power of the Cross.

We want to be like Jesus.  Jesus made himself a servant.  He took it upon Himself.  He did what was needed to be done to accomplish God’s will.  Jesus humbled Himself. He didn’t do what He did to be selfish or ambitious, but He did it for God, so that God would be glorified.

The church in America is bound by selfishness, and we want to learn to become selfless. 

Philippians 2:3-4 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Philippians 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

We want to look out for others with the right heart.

1 Corinthians 9:19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;

We are the body of Christ, and as such are servants of all people for God’s glory.

Galatians 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

God is wanting to raise up anointed people.  Don’t be like King Joash, seek the greater anointing through service.

Pray that God helps you to empty yourself of everything that is not of Him.  Less of me and more of God.  All of God, none of me.  John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

Jesus knew who He was.  John, Paul, Jude, etc. were bondservants and apostles.  Know that we will get greater power when our servant heart is increased. 

Superstar preachers like we see at times, who are so glitzy, expect to be served by others, and do not have the heart of a servant.  The greater you are in the Kingdom, the greater the degree that you serve.  Your become greater and your responsibility to serve also becomes greater.

Ministry is I SERVE YOU, not you serve me.

The love of God keeps us together, and we serve because of the love of God and our love for God.

Praying this teaching convicts and blesses you.  It sure did bless and convict me.

Heather

Hopefully today I will be able to enter another Bible study, but this morning something my husband emailed to me (yes, from across the room) made me laugh out loud and I thought today we could use a good laugh.  This is a 2 1/2 minute comedy sketch with Johny Carson and the actor from Dragnet, Jack Webb.  It is called “Kleptomaniac”.  I hope you enjoy. 

Have a blessed day!

Heather

You can read Part one here. Pastor Don continued by reading the following faith scriptures.

Matthew 8:23-27 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”  But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Matthew 9:37-29 When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

We need to have faith – to believe, to say that it is mine. I got it.

Mark 11:23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

We need to SPEAK to it and it is a done deal.  We need to release our faith.  When you pray with someone you need to believe in AGREEMENT.

If there is no other person, you can agree with the Holy Spirit.  I know by faith, but to reverse a condition we also need the agreement of the Holy Spirit.  God does not give us authority over anyone else, but we do have authority over ourselves.  We do have authority to speak over our children and family by faith, but as they grow older and of the age of accountability, we need to speak in agreement, we cannot override their will.  If you are praying with people who are in unbelief, only God could override their unbelief.  We can work with neutral faith, or faith, or hoping and wishing. 

Pastor Don talked about supernatural faith, telling us that to do a creative miracle takes more than simple faith. 

Moses did not stand at the Red Sea and know what was going to happen.  He had the faith to know that if He obeyed God, God would show up.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same^c]’> and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen

Notice, there were some doubters even after all they experienced with Him, and after His resurrection.   We need to be patient for everyone’s ability to believe is at different levels.

Pastor Don talked about mustard seed faith, and said that that is a mystery that is lost on many people.  The mustard seed is the size of a ground up piece of pepper, it is the smallest of seeds and grows the largest bush, a bush tree with a singular trunk.  It can grow as high as 8 feet and spreads out wide and round.  If given time, the right soil, and circumstances it can grow so big that birds can hide in it. 

The mustard seed cannot be cross pollinated, it is singular to itself.  Mustard seed faith can move a mountain.  We cannot have MORE faith, you either HAVE faith or you DON’T have faith.  You don’t get greater quantities of faith, one person does not have 2 lbs. of faith while another has 10 lbs.  Faith does not work quantitatively, it works QUALITATIVELY. 

Faith can’t be cross pollinated with doubt.  We either have faith or we don’t have faith.  We can’t decide we have 70 or 80% faith, and the rest is doubt and unbelief.  It is either we are in faith or we are working towards being in faith.

It says in this passage that some doubted.  The Apostles saw Jesus daily, they were with him until the end of His earthly ministry.  There were more than just the 12 Apostles (Jesus’ inner circle), there were other followers and women who came with Jesus.  Judas was replaced in Acts 1, and the replacement was chosen from those who were also present with Jesus during His ministry, even though he was not an Apostle at the time.

Anyone who doubts there are miracles needs to watch a baby being born, and you cannot help but be touched by the fact that the baby is fearfully and wonderfully made.

We all have faith for some things but not others.  For example, when Jesus was asleep in the boat and the storm came up, the disciples came to Him for help, fearing that they were perishing.  Jesus had told the disciples that they were going to cross over to the other side, and the disciples should have known that that would happen, but they woke Jesus up and he calmed the storm, then called the disciples, “Ye of little faith.”  Jesus was not saying that they needed bigger faith, but he was in effect asking them, didn’t you see the fish and the loaves, the supernatural multiplication power, the raising of the dead, the healings?  How the Power of God altered the natural things, and thus they were not acting in the faith and knowledge that the waves and wind could be affected by faith.  The disciples had fish and loaves faith, healing of the sick faith, casting out demons faith, but they did not have waves faith.

It is the same with us, we have certain categories in our lives where we have faith, and in other categories we don’t have faith.

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

NOW FAITH IS, FAITH IS NOW.  It is existing right NOW.  It is the absolute NOW.  Either you believe it right now or you are looking for or believing toward faith.  When your believing for has reached the end of itself it will be faith.  Until then you are wishing and hoping.  You need to keep wishing and hoping until you get to faith. 

You need to do Mark 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God

Have faith IN GOD.  If you believe you will have what you say you will be able to speak to the mountain. We need to stop thinking in terms of doubt and unbelief, and if the situation does not seem to be changing, we need to keep speaking the truth of God to it. If we keep speaking doubt about our situation we will go from wishing and hoping to negative faith.  To get back to faith we need to do Mark 11:22-24 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

What you desire in your heart speak out of your mouth. If you want a good marriage, don’t go complaining about your husband.  If you want your children to behave, don’t go speaking about their brattiness.

If you are speaking about what you hope to come, you are not at the position of “IS”.  You need to get to the place of I know that I know that I know.  To move from wishing and hoping to believing and receiving.  To do this move you need to speak. When we get to the place of I know that I know that I know, even if what you are believing for has not manifested, you need to take the next step which is to thank God for what is mine – even if it is still in the heavenly realm and has not manifested here.  At times we give up too soon and find ourselves back at doubt and unbelief.  We need to examine ourselves if things are not manifesting to see if we are in doubt and unbelief.  We can believe in our head but have doubt in our heart,.  Faith says, “This is mine, I have it NOW.” 

Pastor Don talked about how he wants a boat, and if he was moving from no boat through wishing and hoping, and then he gets to the point of NOW I have it, if someone asks him where the boat is, he would tell them, “I don’t know, but I have it.”

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

God is the eternal NOW. God has faith for Pastor Don’s boat, the only way to get help from God is being in His presence, for where God is, faith is.  Faith is like electricity in the natural world.  Faith can work for good or evil, just as electricity could be used to shed light on a situation or kill someone.  Electricity does not care if it is good, bad, or indifferent. The devil can work faith the same way we do. Our faith has to line up with the will of God.

John 14:12 “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.”

We can do greater works – this does not mean greater qualitatively, but quantitatively.  We will heal more blind, raise more dead, lift up more crippled. When we know the authority of the believer, we will be able to do greater quantities of works.  What makes it possible?

John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will^{And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars};”  He says, “and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.” 

Verse 4  How many of you’ll here?  [here]  Didn’t go home yet, right?  [no]  You ready?  [yes]  This is it, here it goes… I was preaching this sermon, “Nevertheless I have this against you,”  Say, “He’s got this against us.”  [He's got this against us.]  “…that you have left your first love.” 

In my Bible I have an “amen” written there.  I have an amen written there because at one point, sometime in my spiritual life, when I had this Bible, somebody preached a sermon about your first love.  And I was so moved by it, I wrote “amen” right after it.  I was all excited.  And all of us have heard, you know, different – “Oh you left your first love.”  And their interpretation of that, you all ready?  Wave at me.  Their interpretation of that is the same as mine was.  Which was, you used to be in love with Jesus and you’re not as in love with Jesus as you used to be.  And you need to be getting more back in love with Jesus. 

So the Church at Ephesus, they left their first love.  Their first love was they were in love with Jesus, and they left Jesus, and they’re not acting as much in love as they should.  [Jesus]  And I could preach that boy.  I  could preach that.  People’ll shout and carry on, jump up and down, and receive it.  [amen]  I’ve ministered that.  Oh, you left your first love.  You need to get back to your first love.  You know, and I thought that was what it was all about.  And we need to love Jesus more.  And I could preach that now and everybody would just leave here screaming going, “Yeah, I need to get back to loving Jesus.” 

Let’s see if that’s what He meant.  Cause in this vision, in this dream, He told me something else.  He said, “Read a little bit further.”  [amen]  Why do we stop?  Let’s read a little bit more.  Everybody still here?  [yes]  Watch what He says.  Verse 5.  “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place — unless you repent.” [repent] Can we do this again?  [yes]  Look at verse 4.  “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”  And He says, “Remember…”  Can you say, “Remember?”  [remember] Remember, remember, remember, remember.  [remember, remember, remember, remember]  Very good, you remembered that.  “Therefore from where you have fallen;”  He wants you to remember that you have fallen from someplace that you used to be that you’re not there anymore.  He says, remember that, and then do something.  “Do your first works.”…

Now, we go, “yeah. Do my…my first work is my first love. Fall back in love with Jesus.”  That’s not what it says.  [come on]  That’s not what He says.  So the sister at the table says, “Pastor, what’s wrong with the Church?  What’s wrong with it now?”  I could come up with my answer, but the Spirit of the Lord spoke through me in the vision.  And He said, read that again.  And read it a little further… I woke up preaching this sermon.  My wife rolled over, “What are you doing?”  And then I began telling her about this…

And I thought to myself, I got it Lord. I see it.  I understand what He was saying… He’s not saying just fall in love with Jesus all over again.  He is saying, your first love.  What was your first love?  Your first love, if you’d think back, don’t get righteous on me.  Because everyone of us, everyone of us, crawled out from under a rock, to get to Jesus.  [amen]  Come on now, let’s tell the truth.  We were walking around in our stupidity, when Jesus saved us.  [yes]  When He knocked on our door, and we finally had the sense to let Him in, we weren’t all that.  [all right now]  I don’t care how old you came to the Lord, you weren’t all that when Jesus finally rang your doorbell and you let Him in. 

And He is saying, “Your first love is for you to remember where you fell from.  Stay with me now.  And, after you think on that for awhile, repent of who you used to be.  Remember what He’s done for you, and then do your first works.  You say, “Well, what was our first works?”  Our first work was not opening a food pantry.  Our first work was not feeding some starving person.  Our first work was not lifting someone out of the gutter and getting them a job.  Our first work was not joining the church and working hard to become a deacon, or a recognized person.  Or people getting a label put on you.  Our first work wasn’t getting into position.  Our first work wasn’t coming in, and I’m over the dance team, I’m over the praise team, I’m over something.  Our first work wasn’t doing any of that!  [amen]  That wasn’t our first work! 

Our first work was that we were still had repentance in our heart, when we first loved Jesus, so much so that we were glad to do the first work, which was tell somebody!  [whew, yes!]  Tell somebody… We couldn’t hold it to ourselves.  I remember when the Shekinah glory of God fell me, I didn’t care who rejected me, I had to tell somebody.  I didn’t care what they thought about me.  I didn’t care what gutter I crawled out of.  I wasn’t ashamed to tell people that I was a drug abuser.  I wasn’t ashamed to tell people that I was lost and confused.  I wasn’t ashamed to tell ‘em that I’d walked away from the Church, the Church of my father’s when I was little.  I had forsaken that and gone out into the world to make a name for myself.  I was no longer ashamed of that. 

I just wanted them to know that I met somebody who could do something about anybody!  [amen]  Glory be to God!  I couldn’t hold it back.  [hallelujah]  I couldn’t hold it back.  I didn’t just look for people that were saved, so that I could walk like mine did with someone who wasn’t afraid of the name of Jesus.  I didn’t care whether they knew the name of Jesus, or not.  I was just looking for somebody that wanted to hear what happened to me.  [yep] Glory to God!  These are tears of salvation not pain.  God saved me.  He did something to me.  He picked me up and turned me around, and I was just so grateful. 

I would sit in a restaurant and wait for an opening with the waitress.  I didn’t care if I was buying a new suit, as the guy’s putting it on me, I was looking for an illustration to tell them that this new suit is only a picture of what the Lord has done for me.  [come on]  I’d stand in a line at Wal-Mart, and I’d be saying, “Praise the Lord. Thank you Jesus.”  Just in the hopes that I’d either annoy somebody to death or somebody would say to me, “What are you excited about?”  [laughter]  Remember your first love.  Do you remember when you decided you had to finally tell your parents?  [yes]  Do you remember that moment when you decided, I’ve got to tell mom about this?  Something’s happened to me.  Have you, have you gotten so dead that you forgot when you had to tell your best friend that the drinking, drunken party was over?  That you had a different party to go to.  [yes, chuckles]  Do you remember that? 

Do you remember when you had to tell your buddies, “Listen, listen, listen, I’m not, that four letter word is stricken from my vocabulary now. And it annoys me when you use Jesus’ name in the context of a curse word.”  Do you remember when you had to get that together in you to get up enough nerve to say, “Listen, in my presence from now on, don’t talk like that.”  Do you remember that?  Do you remember that when you, there were certain things that you used to smell.  You liked the smell of them and then all of a sudden, you decided, oh, that stinks.  [laughter]  And they don’t smell so good.  And then you had to open your mouth and tell them why you’re, you can pass it but pass it by me.  Oh, don’t get quiet like you don’t know what I’m talking about.   [laughter]  You know what I’m talking about… You say, “Well, I don’t smoke that anymore, I’ll just stay here until I get a contact high.”  [laughter] You all, I’m preaching the truth here.  Just telling the truth… Lord have mercy.  May God forgive us. 

But, when we had our first love, when we were in love with our first love, we did the work of our first love, is that we had to go tell somebody… We weren’t ashamed of it.  We had to tell somebody.  One of the brothers in this church had a testimony that Sunday was his day to wash his car… But that first Sunday that he didn’t wash his car, he had to tell somebody why.  [hallelujah]  Another brother in this church, he was like building cars.  You’d just put parts in his garage and he’d make a beautiful machine.  And he loved that beautiful machine.  But you know, someday Jesus came into his life, and that became secondary to his existence.  [amen]  Lord have mercy!  Some of us had to turn off, turn off the things we used to watch and make a change, but we weren’t sad about it.  We were glad about it.  And we had to tell somebody.  We had to do the first work. 

We had to do that thing that we used to do, that used to spring up inside us.  We weren’t ashamed to invite somebody to church then.  In those days, we were excited.  Guess where I’m going?  I’m going to church!  Why?  I want to hear some Word. There’s some music going on.  Where are you going?  I’m going to a party.  Who’s going to be there?  My Lord.  I’m going.  You should come with me.  Well I don’t know, I don’t know about that.  That’s too bad, but when you get it together, I’ll be here to tell you about it.  Do you remember? 

Can you remember when you crawled up from under the rock and Jesus saved you?  Do you remember when He touched you?  Do you remember when He spoke your name and down in here, and you reverberated on the inside?  And you said, somebody somewhere is going to hear about this.  I’m through keeping it a secret.  I’ve got to tell somebody.  Somebody… somebody’s got to know about this thing….

I remember when I got healed.  I remember the first time I got healed.  It was from diabetes.  The doctor said, “Young man, you’re going to have, for the rest of your life you’re going to have to take this, this, and this.”  Gave me a little blue thing to put on my keychain.  He said, “You need to start the medication right away.  Your sugar is so high you could go into a diabetic coma right now.”  I said,… I’m not advising you to do this but I had a word from the Lord.  The Lord told me in my office on my way to the doctor’s.  He says.  “Fast 10 days, I’ll heal you son.”  [my God]  The doctor asked me what am I going to do.  I said, “I’m going to fast.  I’m going to fast and pray 10 days.”  He said, “That alone, that alone will mess all over your sugar levels.”  He said, “You can’t do that.”  I says, “Listen, I’ll see you in 10 days.”  [yes]  Praise God Almighty!  [amen]  Praise God Almighty!  I just went home.  I didn’t tell anybody about it.  I said, “I’m going to take some time off.  I’m going to take this week off.” 

I don’t advise this unless you have a Word from the Lord.  [amen]  Cause you can’t, you can’t do, you can’t get to where God wants to take you on your stubbornness.  [amen]  You’d better have a Word from the Lord.  [amen]  The end of those 10 days, I went back.  He checked my glucose, my dextrose, my nostros, by glusos, my vostros.  He checked everything he could check, and my blood sugar is at natural, normal levels.  [hallelujah]  Now, I’m just giving God praise.  I’m looking for somebody to tell.  Somebody to tell!  That the curse that ran up through my grandma, it ran through my papa, it stops here with the third generation.  [clapping and shouts of joy]  It stops with the third generation.  Curse be broken, over me In the name of Jesus.  I had to tell somebody. 

The first person I had to tell was myself.  [laughter]  I still had that little blue thing on there saying I’m a diabetic and if I go into a coma, flip it over and it says call this number.  I had to take that thing off my keychain… Did you see that?  [yep]  I took it off my keychain.  Then I says, you know, I’d better get that because I left it on the ground.  I says, some junkie will find it and use it for something.  So I picked it up, you know, and threw it in the garbage.  Cause I don’t want anybody else to have it. 

Listen, I’m telling you that your first love, your first love is the joy of the expression of gratitude and repentance that God put in your heart…when you first got saved, when you first came to know Him.  [yes]… I wrote down a few, just to back it up.  Cause you say, well that’s just you Pastor Don.  No, it was the voice of the Lord speaking to me.  Can we do a few of ‘em? 

Go to Mark, chapter 5… Mark, chapter 5.  Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings!  [yes]  He’s the Master over all things!  [amen]  Principalities and powers must bow at His Name!  [yeah]  The authority He put in your heart, let it out!!!  [yes]  Stop saving it!  Shoot. 

In the 5th chapter of the book of Mark, Mark Chapter 5, in verse 15.  Mark 5:15.  “Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.  And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine.  Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.  And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon possessed begged Him that he might be with Him.  However, Jesus did not permit him, but said” … do your first love… “Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.”"  Now watch it.  “And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.”  [amen]  Lord have mercy. 

Go to the book of John, chapter 7.  How are you all doing?  You alright?  [yes]  Book of John, chapter 7, verse 45.  John 7:45.  When you go back to your first love, you will defend the name of Jesus.  Shame on you if you stand around people that are putting Jesus down, speaking against your church, grinding your pastor into chopped liver, and you silently stand there and let them abuse that which God has ordained as holy.  “Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”  Why didn’t you arrest Jesus they are saying?  Verse 46.  “The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”  How many of you ever had Jesus speak in your heart and you went, no man spoke like this?  Nobody has ever been able to straighten you out, but when Jesus gives you a line of criticism and gets you back where you’re supposed to be, nobody spoke like that.  [amen]  And then he says, watch how men do.  “…”Are you also deceived?” … “Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 

They’re going to curse you.  Yeah, they’re going to say, make fun of you.  They’re going to put names on you.  But guess what?  You need to be like Nicodemus.  Nicodemus had one conversation with Jesus, look how it changed him.  “Nicodemus (he who had come to Jesus by night, being one of them)  said to them…”  He had to open his mouth and do his first love.  “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”…”Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”  They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” … When are you going to defend the Gospel?  Nicodemus, he just stood up and he said, “Listen, are you going to accuse Jesus…based on no information?” 

And the information they had was wrong.  All they had to do was read the book of Isaiah 7th chapter for it says, that a great prophet would rise up out of Galilee… When are we going to defend the faith?  When people say things against the Bible, when are we going to stand up and tell them, no, it’s accurate, it’s true?  It’s archeologically and scientifically accurate.  It is the greatest book that has ever been written.  And every enemy that has come against it has fallen and it is still the greatest book [amen]  that has ever been written.  [amen]  Lord have mercy!  [yes, amen]  …

Had a muslim guy tell me, oh the Bible just contradicts itself.  I said, “Give me the contradictions.”  He gave me everything that he thought was a contradiction.  I just wrote him out the scriptures and explained every contradiction.  [amen, amen]  He’s still trying to figure out how the koran could say that God made everything in six days and then in another place it says he made them in eight days.  He’s still trying to get back to me on that.  Moving right along… [chuckling]  Mohammed couldn’t even figure out how many days did God do it in.  Two different places in the koran it gives two different times, two different dates.  The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. 

You just don’t have enough information because you have a contradictory mind.  You need to defend the Gospel against confusion.  Can we move right along?  I love you people… When I grow up I’m going to try and be a pastor somewhere.  If they won’t take me in the city, I’ll get a church in the country.  [laughter] 

Alright, go to John, chapter 9 … verse 30.  Chapter 9 … verse 30.  I don’t have enough time to do this, can I just tell you about, but I can’t do the whole thing.  “The man answered and said to them, “Why, is this a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from: yet He has opened my eyes!”  This is the blind man by the pool.  “Now we know…”  This is, watch this, this is do your first love.   This guy just got healed by Jesus.  Listen to him preach.  He says, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”  They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and you are teaching us?”  And they cast him out.” 

There’s some places you should be glad to get kicked out of.  [come on]  Come on.  But if you don’t do your first love, nobody’s going to kick you out.  They’re going to think you are in complete agreement with everything that’s going down.  [hallelujah]  You know, until you open your mouth and do your first love…listen to me. 

What happened, when you had your first love, you invited people to your house.  And you set traps for them… You invited them to your house and you fed them.  And then you looked for an opportunity to tell them, listen, I got born again.  The Lord came to me and talked to me and you’re my friends… What happened to those days? 

Below is the video of a very helpful sermon on Spiritual Discernment by Pastor Don.  I have also included the transcript.  It is the closed captioning format so the words in [brackets] are what the congregation said.  I count myself so blessed to sit under the teaching of Pastor Don.

Say Amen
Show Number 119
Developing Spiritual Discernment
3/15/09

Last week one of the members asked me to do some teachings on spiritual things.  And I want to continue with that vein.  But we have to realize that there are different things that happen in our environment, but without spiritual discernment we don’t know whether it was God that did it or we don’t know whether it was the evil one that did it.  And we have to develop spiritual discernment so that we know, not only who the players are, but we know what activities they’re carrying out in our lives.  Anybody understand what I’m saying?  [amen] 

If we don’t develop spiritual discernment in these last days, we will be devoured by our own minds.  [uh huh]  Our own minds will devour us because we won’t know who’s who and who’s doing what.  Now, there are two key ways and two key words that I want to focus on today that help us understand who’s acting.  Who’s playing a role.  And there are not enough devils and enough demons to go around.  [amen!]  I don’t know where we got this concept, but when satan was thrown out of heaven with the fallen angels, he only was able to muster up about a third of them.  And God says that there are billions of angels.  [hallelujah]  Well why?  Because He has made an angel for each one of us on the planet. 

We all have a guardian angel.  Do you guys know that? [yeah] Mine has spoken to me at different crucial times in my life, when I should have gone left and I went right. You know, he kind of slapped me upside the head and straightened me out.  I remember one very important time that I was coming home from college with one of my closest friends.  And we were on the Ohio Turnpike and it’s traffic going this way and traffic coming this way.  And I was reading a book, interestingly enough on Greek Mythology for one of my college classes.  And as I’m reading the book this very gentle voice said to me, “Don, there’s going to be an accident.”  And the angel then said to me, “But you’re going to be ok. … Everything’s going to be alright.”  I closed the book realizing that this was a supernatural voice and it had not foretold me of evil that was going to be destructive.  It told me of evil which we were going to be redeemed from.  [amen]  So I reached over and I put my hand on my college buddy’s shoulder, and I said to him,  I said, “Jerry,”  I said, “there’s going to be an accident but we’re going to be alright.”  At that moment, a semi truck went by us and we hit, you know, black ice.  We hit this ice, our car at 60 miles an hour spun around backwards.  We went down the embankment between the traffic and came up on the other side into the oncoming traffic, and two cars whizzed by us, and we did another 360 and went down back into the divider and, and then the engine just stopped.  I began to laugh, he began to pass out.  [laughter]  … Because I had the assuredly of that voice that spoke so calmly to me that we were going to be alright.  Needless to say, after we yanked him out of the driver’s seat and got him over in the other seat, I got behind the wheel and there’s cars are stopping cause people saw this. And the people we whizzed by that would have been killed came and they pushed the car a little bit out of the snow.  I got in, very easily drove the car back up onto the Ohio State Turnpike and drove all the way to New York City, with no problems.  Nothing wrong with us, nothing wrong with the car.  [praise God! Hallelujah]  But there was something in my spirit that said that was, that was my angel.  Today I can’t explain to you how I know.  Now, years later after having heard the voice of the Lord, I notice the difference.  But I knew that that was, the peace of it, an angel speaking to me. 

We have to learn to discern the voices that speak, for they are constant and they come and they go at different times in our lives, but with functional different purposes.  Here’s what messes us up most of the time.  Most of the time.  We create the devil bigger than he is.  [amen]  It’s big God, little devil.  First of all, the devil is not everywhere all the time.  He doesn’t have that ability.  He is a finite being and God is infinite, so he can only be a few places at a few times.  Then the second is, he, his organization is built like an army.  So he has some people, some demons, here, some demons there, some whatever.  But he’s only got one third of it covered.  So, he cannot possibly, listen to me church, he cannot possibly be tormenting all of us all at the same time.  [amen]  We have to help him.  [laughter]  Well, glory.  [amen]  We have to help him.  He doesn’t have the ability to be everywhere all the time.  And so, he has to make us think that he is, and so his demons will plant a seed that’ll get us thinking in a certain direction, and then usually we will help them.  We’ll help them hold us there.  Okay? 

Now, one of the ways that that happens is a very important word.  Can you say the word, persecution?  [persecution]  Can you say the word, persecution, persecution, persecution. [persecution, persecution, persecution, laughter]  Huh?  Now that word, persecution, has some very interesting Biblical meanings.  And Jesus uses it many different ways.  He talks about different types of persecution that would come.  And too often, sometimes in the Body of Christ, we assume that He is talking about Him bringing that persecution, when actually He is talking about satan will bring this type of persecution.  Okay? 

Now, I wrote down the Greek for it because I thought it was an interesting word.  It’s diogmos.  Can you say, “diogmos?”  [diogmos] Good. You said it wrong. So did I.  But does it matter?  No. What matters is the meaning of it. Now, let’s look at this word diogmos, and understand what it says when it says to persecute.  The interesting thing is when we first look it up, it says, “to pursue.”  It means, watch this, “to follow after, to cause to suffer, or to press forward.” … [hmmm]  Ok, persecution, to pursue, to follow after, to do what?  To suffer, to cause to suffer or to press forward. 

So let me give you a few Biblical examples of this.  Jesus says,… umm… let me give you a couple examples.  Ah, yes.  Matthew Chapter 10.  And you don’t have to go there cause I’m going to go fast, so you know, write it down though so you can study it later.  In Matthew Chapter 10, in verse 30 Jesus is talking about what it’s going to take to be a real disciple of Christ.  And He says that you will have, God will give you, you know family.  He speaks of family and He speaks of lands and then He says this, “with persecutions.”  So we could assume that God is saying to us, He’s going to bless me 10, 20, and 30 fold and so forth, and 100 fold.  With all of these blessings, and God’s the one that’s going to throw in persecution….ha hnh, hnh, unh, unh…unh…. Well I’m going to tell you about that one.  So, He says it’s going to be with persecution.  Well, hold on now… hold on.  Let’s be careful here. 

There are certain things that God does and certain things that God permits.  [right, amen] … And there’s certain things that happen because we violate or break covenant.  [amen]  The devil doesn’t have all authority.  He only has authority on the earth because that’s what Adam gave to him… Therefore, he only has authority on the earth in proportion to what we give to him.  [right]  Alright?  Adam and Eve gave him the covenant or the authority or the contract on the earth.  God said that’s going to be for a set time, a set period of time.  And He says, at the end of that set period of time, the Messiah who’s going to be of her seed is going to come and is going to what?  Reestablish things…. In the mean time, God establishes with us another covenant.  His covenant is that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  That is perpetual.  Can you say perpetual?  [perpetual]  Can you say, without disruption.  [without disruption]  His promise to us is perpetual and without disruption. 

But, His blessings are conditional.  [right, yep] … That won’t get a big Amen, but [amen] … His blessings to us are conditional.  God says, if you do this, I’ll do that.  He says, I will to do this, but you shall do that.  I shall do this, and you shall do this.  And so we get caught in this thing.  But conditional, part of that conditional situation is what?  Is our responsibility to act in a responsible way.  [amen] 

Now, if we break down the word responsible, there’s a good way for you to remember your part in that.  Responsibility – responsibility is your ability to respond. [um hmn]  Or, watch this… your response to your God-given ability.  [amen] … You can do it either way.  Your ability to respond, responsibility.  You have an ability to respond.  Or it can be your God-given ability to respond.  Our your response to your ability.  Any way you cut it or slice it, it works out the same way.  Doesn’t it?  It means, what are you going to do about what you’re going to do.  (laughs)  What are you going to do about what you’re going to do. 

Therefore, we have to, we have to take the Biblical way, and God is saying, listen, my blessing includes certain things.  My blessing of wealth, includes something.  My blessing of family includes something.  You know, we should come to church because we need family.  We need a family bigger than our family.  [amen]  You know, most of the family that you grew up with are idiots.  So, you really need to find some other family that can bless you.  [amen, laughter] … Well, let’s tell the truth.  See you have to love them, but they don’t have much to give you.  You know.  So you have to, you have to realize God wants you to have a larger family than just your nuclear family.  You need them, you know.  We have to look out and help each other, baby sit.  We have to help each other find cars or houses or lands.  Ah, that’s what He’s talking about then. 

He is saying if you come in the Body of Christ, there’s something that’s gonna happen that goes beyond what your nuclear family’s going to do.  Because He’s going to enlarge your family.  He will give you, it says sisters and brethren, motheren and fatheren. [laughter]  You know what I mean?  I’m a better father to many of you than your own earthly father was.  [amen]  Thank you baby.  Cause most of you, I’ve not thrown over my knee and slapped and spanked.  [laughter]  Thank you Jesus!  [laughter]  Not looking forward to that either.  Amen.  [amen] 

So, God will provide that for us, but it’s going to come with persecutions.  Now, God isn’t the author of that, He’s not going to pursue you with ill intent.  The root of the word persecution in the English language means to bring hostility… or evil upon someone.  To pursue them, to follow them to do something ill to them, bring something bad.  I’m going to persecute you.  I’m going to bring something ill to you. 

Now, we have a problem because we have an interesting concept that comes out of that type of persecution.  And that is, a complex… You ever heard of that, that psychological term?  You have a persecution complex. [that's right] And that displays itself in the form of paranoia.  Paranoia is you think everyone’s thinking about you.   Everyone’s out to get you.  A persecution complex is everyone is plotting and planning to do evil unto you. 

Now, we see this in the Body of Christ in very simple ways, where we get this devil mentality where the devil’s always, he’s the active one, he’s the active one.  You know what I mean.  You drive your car off the edge of the road cause you’re not paying attention.  You go, “The devil me do it.”  [laughter]  You know, the devil’s in the Bronx stealing a car and all of a sudden… he didn’t have anything to do with you.  [right, right]  Right?  And then we get these persecution complexes in the Body of Christ.  You know, I’ve had people leave the Church, not because of me, but because of some of you all.  You looked at him.  And he went, “Pastor Don, I can’t come to your church.”  I go, “Why?”  “The people are looking at me.”  [laughter]…  How am I supposed to respond to that?  You know, if I tell the truth, I’d say, “Yeah, you funny looking.  They ought to be looking at you.”  [laughter]  But, I can’t say that.  But that happens.  Believe it or not, that really, really happens.  And it happens that people say, “Well, I sat next to someone and they felt weird, somehow.”  You know.  Amen. 

And what happens is we allow people to get in our heads because we’re over focused on who?  On them rather than on the Lord.  [amen]  You know, you should come to church and spend a little while in church and not be able to say who was there Sunday.  [amen]  Except say, “Jesus was.”  [amen]  “The Holy Spirit showed up.”  [hallelujah]  You know.

 And then the other way that the devil works us is he makes us appoint to people greater ability than we should give them.  You know, people should not have the ability to make you sad, or make you happy.  They shouldn’t have the ability to drive you out of the church.  They shouldn’t have the ability to drive you in the church.  And they shouldn’t have the ability to drive you out of your mind.  [amen]  Glory be to God.  [hallelujah]  Jesus had hundreds and hundreds of followers. 

The Biblical account gives us, you know funny, but don’t you know if He fed you fish and loaves you’d follow Him.  I would.  You know.  The only reason I don’t follow Colonel Sanders is I have to pay for the food.  [laughter]  But if Colonel Sanders was free, I’d follow him.  [laughter]  You know, come on, free fried chicken and biscuits with macaroni and cheese thrown in and baked beans.  Man, I’d follow that guy.  [laughter]  It’s the only reason I’m still with my wife for forty years, she can cook. [laughter]  She has her own money and she pays for the food.  So, I’d follow her in a minute.  [laughter] 

So we have persecution and it takes these different forms, but here’s the key.  You ready?  I wrote it down.  Persecution, ill treatment, harassment, hostility, and you ready?  Everybody say, “I’m ready.”  [I'm ready]  Worry, and bombardment with questions.  When the devil pursues you.  When he decides to persecute you, he bombards you with questions.  You can’t shut your mind off.  Your mind is just spinning this complexity of your rational thought processes and you get caught there long enough in your irrational thought processes, you will be persecuted.  (clap) … I’m trying to help somebody.  [amen, come on]  Cause, see, we too often defend our worrying.  We put a label on our worry and our stress. 

There are some husbands that follow their wives around asking them question after question after question.  That husband is persecuting you.  [whoah]  And there’s some women who just follow their husbands around, question after question, yappa yappa yappa yappa.  That’s persecution.  That is ill treatment and it is harassment.  [amen]  How am I doing Juma?  When I grow up I’m going to be a preacher.  [amen]  Alright?  How’s the Sunday School lesson?  Alright with you guys?  [yes] 

Alright, so, let’s look at some other verses, how Jesus uses this thing, He says in Matthew 5:11, He talks about they will revile you and persecute you.  Well, he’s not talking about Him, He’s not saying Jesus will revile you and persecute you.  He is saying that the people of God, he is saying that the evil people will be used by demonic forces to do what?  To harass you, cause you to worry, and ill treat you.  They will justify it, but the fact that they justify it with religious tradition or authority does not make it God.  [Come on, come on, right]  Doesn’t make it God.  Alright? 

So, we have to recognize that when, when we become obsessed with an idea, and how do we determine that it’s irrational?  Listen, if you can’t get relief from it, it’s irrational, and if it’s irrational, it means then that there isn’t a solution.  How often do we get worried about things that we can’t do anything about?  [laughter, come on]  Lord have mercy!  I’m trying to help you.  After you look at your checkbook and you can’t pay the bills, you need to just close the checkbook and not worry about it.  [come on]  It’s irrational to keep worrying about what you can’t do anything about.  You only make but so much money and you only have so many bills. If you cannot pay your bills, you might as well go fishing.  [laughter] 

That’s assuming, you know, you’re not, and I recommend that movie to all you ladies and guys, I mean.  The, what is it?  The obsessive/compulsive shopper lady.  What was that dear?  [Confessions of a Shopaholic]  Yeah, Confessions of a Shopaholic.  You know, this is not the time season to be in bondage to material things.  This is the time period to be in bondage to the Lord Jesus Christ.  [hallelujah]  To be hooked up and chained to Him in an irresistible way.  [my God]  In an irresistible way.  An irresistible, undisconnected way.  And the reason is because, this – yeah we got time for this. 

This annoying process that the devil brings upon us, we have to fight it.  You can’t just, you can’t just accept the fact that you don’t think right….[oooo come on that's right]  You can’t just accept that.  You can’t just accept the fact that you’re living in a house with someone who doesn’t think right. … What?  Because the devil will use that to persecute you.  He will bring what?  Irrational harassment and hostility of worrying and bombard you with questions.  [amen]  Just bombard you, just like, just keep it coming.  And you’ll go, wait a minute, I can’t think, I can’t think.  I can’t think.  How many of you will be honest, I see it dear.  How many of you are honest about this?  Be honest about this.  How many of you have ever, ever used a thing or a method to escape?  [laughs and comments]  … We’ve got half a dozen blatant liars in here.  [laughter]  Just out and out didn’t raise their hands, didn’t pay…

Listen, the worries of life will cause you to want to escape.  [amen, that's right]  You husband will cause you to want to escape… your wife will cause you… your children… [yep]  I can remember coming home from work, I’m not ready to deal with those three little knuckleheads.  I remember sitting in the parking lot praying for strength [laughter] and patience so I could go inside the house and act like I love them.  [laughter] … Until you begin telling the truth, you can’t get fixed.  [that's right]  We have to learn to acknowledge what’s busted and broken and then we can say, “Man, I did take an escape today.  I was supposed to go to work and I called in sick.”  You know, “I wanted to have one glass of wine and I drank four bottles.”  …  [laughter]  “I drank all that…”  What are you talking about? 

You know, it’s crazy to me.  To hear someone say, “I need a cigarette.”  What?  It’s a drug. Yes, so you need the nicotine.  Why?  So it can make you more nervous.  But yet, and still you say, “I need to relax.  Let me have a cigarette.”  [laughter, that's the truth]  What?  It’s an irritant to your nervous system.  And then you add coffee to it.  [laughter]  If I could get rid of the coffee, I could get all the cigarette smokers off of dope.  [laughter]  Let’s tell the truth.  Cigarettes is dope.  It’s nicotine, drug, and it affects your mental and physical system.  Let’s call it what it is and start telling the truth.  [amen] 

Golf!  [laughter]  What are you talking about?  I saw a brother the other day going on tee, look at brother Ray Stevens, golf can be what?  It can be a drug, it can be a way of escaping.  I mean, all of these things.  Why is pornography so big?  … They don’t need the sex.  They’re addicted to what?  They’re addicted to distracting themselves from their realities that they’re dealing with.  Huh? 

Shopping….cooking…  Mrs. Moore would you step out, I want my wife to step out.  [laughter]  Do you know sometimes when the pressures of life are on her, she’ll cook?  She doesn’t know I know, but you know, you live with a counselor, I mean, 30 years I’ve been counseling.  I learn to observe behavior.  If she’s really had it with me, had it with the world situation, she goes in the kitchen and cooks.  [laughter]  Cause while she’s cooking she’s just looking out that window, she just gets into a different space and she’s cooking.  And she’ll say things like, “Don’t bother me now, I’m cooking.”  [laughter]  Come on, wave at me.  Is she smiling?  Is she smiling?  Is  my wife smiling? 

Ok, I’ve got three minutes left.  Now, let’s wrap this up.  Let’s get a conclusion to this thing.  When we look at these different scriptures, I’ll give you a couple more.  Matthew Chapter 5 verse 10, it says that persecution for righteousness’ sake.  It says in Matthew Chapter 12, it says that the prophets were persecuted for the sake of the Gospel.  When we look at those scriptures, it says, it says something to us about understanding persecution.  In Matthew Chapter 13 verse 21 it says that persecution will arise because of the Word of God…

So, there’s two different aspects of persecution.  One is persecution will arise because you’re stupid.  Persecution will arise if you don’t balance your checkbook, you don’t pay your bills, pressure.  Pressure is going to come.  Things are going to get out of wack.  If a husband doesn’t attend to his wife, if he doesn’t remember.  I bought my wife flowers last night.  Nice purple flowers.  When I walked in the purple flowers matched her purple outfit.  I didn’t plan that, cause I didn’t dress her this morning.  [laughter]  But, what I’m saying is, if I don’t do that, circumstances and situations in our relationship will get stressed.  And then she will bring persecution on me.  [laughter]  We’re just telling the truth here.  You follow me?  We’re just telling the truth here. 

But here’s the point.  When the evil one brings persecution on us, it’s either because we’re stupid, we messed up, we’re either in sin or we’re still not dealing with our deep rooted problems.  There’s some deep rooted stuff that, if we don’t deal with it, it will continue to cause what?  The devil has to do what?  He has to go before God to get permission to oppress you.  He can only get permission from God to oppress you if, by your sloppy behavior or violations of your covenant, you have opened the door.  And God has to say, “He’s my child.”  Same thing he said to Job.  He says you can’t touch his soul, but have at his flesh.  How many of you all figured out your brain is flesh?  [hello]  Ok, so, if you’re worrying and stressing and your thought life is disrupted, it may be demonic.  If you are worried and oppressed, fear, you’re worried and you cannot control it.  You can’t stop it, it’s probably being demonically aided. Because, if you’re walking in the love and the truth of God.  It says, God has not given us a spirit of fear… so that fear did not come from the Lord.  [amen]  It just wandered in your mind. 

But, there’s another type of persecution that comes that has great validity and must also be addressed, but needs to be understood.  And that is, persecution for the sake of the cause of the Word…  That persecution, well, I don’t want to put “good” on it.  You don’t want to be inviting it.  Listen …. there’s enough crosses for all of us.  Let’s not be in a hurry to get up on one.  Persecution for the Word’s sake, meaning, because of your righteousness and because of your activities.  Because of your prayer life, because of your sanctification, because of your dedication, because of your commitment, because of your fellowship, because of your faithfulness, because of your servanthood, because of your determination, because of your fight on the battlefield to destroy the enemy, because of your love for the brethren, because of your desire to see them benefited and blessed, the devil targets you.  And he will oppress you.  He will persecute you.  He’ll come after you.  But guess what?  It’s in that one that you can begin making your declaration.  [amen]  It’s in that one that supernatural help will come from Heaven. 

Gabe came down to Bible study telling us that Pastor Don asked him to open up the study – he taught this wonderful lesson without having time to prepare, the only time to prepare was the time it took to walk from upstairs in the church to downstairs where the Bible study was. God put Abigail on his heart to teach and I think Gabriel did a wonderful job. 

Gabe used the NLT version of the Bible and I found it interesting to hear a different translation of this story of Abigail. We read the story pretty much completely before doing many comments.

1 Samuel 25:2-9 There was a wealthy man from Maon who owned property near the town of Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and it was sheep-shearing time. This man’s name was Nabal, and his wife, Abigail, was a sensible and beautiful woman. But Nabal, a descendant of Caleb, was crude and mean in all his dealings. When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, he sent ten of his young men to Carmel with this message for Nabal: “Peace and prosperity to you, your family, and everything you own!  I am told that it is sheep-shearing time. While your shepherds stayed among us near Carmel, we never harmed them, and nothing was ever stolen from them. Ask your own men, and they will tell you this is true. So would you be kind to us, since we have come at a time of celebration? Please share any provisions you might have on hand with us and with your friend David.” David’s young men gave this message to Nabal in David’s name, and they waited for a reply.

The name “Nabal” means fool and he certainly will act foolish.  The young men gave David (soon to be King) message.

1 Samuel 25:10-18 “Who is this fellow David?” Nabal sneered to the young men. “Who does this son of Jesse think he is? There are lots of servants these days who run away from their masters.  Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I’ve slaughtered for my shearers and give it to a band of outlaws who come from who knows where?” So David’s young men returned and told him what Nabal had said. “Get your swords!” was David’s reply as he strapped on his own. Then 400 men started off with David, and 200 remained behind to guard their equipment. Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s servants went to Abigail and told her, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed insults at them. These men have been very good to us, and we never suffered any harm from them. Nothing was stolen from us the whole time they were with us. In fact, day and night they were like a wall of protection to us and the sheep. You need to know this and figure out what to do, for there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family. He’s so ill-tempered that no one can even talk to him!” Abigail wasted no time. She quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two wineskins full of wine, five sheep that had been slaughtered, nearly a bushel^c]’> if even one man of his household is still alive tomorrow morning!”

Verse 22 – this is not how a king should be talking!

1 Samuel 25:23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed low before him.

Abigail shows humility by bowing down to David. Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Abigail had a spirit of humility.  First, she responded to what her servant said.  Then she acted immediately, and now she bowed to the king.  Without a spirit of humility pride can get in the way. 

1 Samuel 25:24-25 She fell at his feet and said, “I accept all blame in this matter, my lord. Please listen to what I have to say. I know Nabal is a wicked and ill-tempered man; please don’t pay any attention to him. He is a fool, just as his name suggests.^e]’> and he lay paralyzed on his bed like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck him, and he died.

Romans 12:19  Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.

Instead of taking vengeance on her husband for his irresponsibility, and instead of David taking vengeance, the Lord dealt with the situation.  The battle is the Lord’s.

1 Samuel 25:39-42 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord, who has avenged the insult I received from Nabal and has kept me from doing it myself. Nabal has received the punishment for his sin.” Then David sent messengers to Abigail to ask her to become his wife. When the messengers arrived at Carmel, they told Abigail, “David has sent us to take you back to marry him.” She bowed low to the ground and responded, “I, your servant, would be happy to marry David. I would even be willing to become a slave, washing the feet of his servants!” Quickly getting ready, she took along five of her servant girls as attendants, mounted her donkey, and went with David’s messengers. And so she became his wife.

She received her reward for her faithfulness – she married King David.  She must have been a lonely woman being married to a fool, but her obedience and reverence paid off. 

We are going to be married to Jesus so our actions here on earth need to also exhibit such wisdom and humility.

Because Abigail stood in the place of righteousness, God was able to unfold the better plan.

Pastor Don added a few more bits of information – pointing out that most married guys do not teach on Abigail.  But he wanted to share a bit more background.  Now it is NKJV unless otherwise stated.

Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said:  “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

Then Pastor Don asked if someone had their Amplified Bible with them and we read the passage in the Amplified – Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy and the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children. Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

Most interpret this as God speaking this over the woman as a curse, that her husband shall rule over her, and she had desire for her husband.

The problem is that the desire to do well came but was frustrated for the ability to rule was taken from her and given to her husband. 

Abigail was aware that she was more intelligent than Nabal, and had better people, financial skills, organizational skills, and politics.  Yet she was subordinate to Nabal.

If a woman learns how to honor, respect and yield to reality that is God ordained, not embarrassing her Nabals, and correcting them, she will end up elevated and lifted up with honor and respect.  She will be blessed.

Pastor Don pointed out that the man being in charge is hard on the man for most men die sooner than women because of the responsibility of ruling.  We are to cover our husbands. And one of the side benefits is if something goes wrong, it is not our fault.

Abigail knew when everything was awry and coming down and also knew that if she did nothing not only would her husband be attacked but in that day and age family and children could also be killed.  She was smart enough to see the political side of it.

Why did David marry her?  David knew that she was smart and that she honored and respected her husband. David knew that she would protect him, covering and honoring and respecting her man.

We prayed a prayer of Abigail – Pastor Don led us to pray that we would learn honor and respect in our marriages.

We pick the way we live and whom we marry.  We have to accept responsibility for the choices we make.  Get ourselves under control and ride it out.  Nowhere in the Bible does it talk about soul mates.  If a person is God ordained for you, why is it that relationships are so hard?  Marriages are made, not born.   The two partners in the marriage start out willful, and a relationship needs to be built, responsibility for the relationship needs to be developed between both parties, and when that begins to occur character is formed.

We then went on into our study of Hebrews – guess what – Hebrews 13!!!!! A new chapter!!!!  I will type that tomorrow.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

Our church’s women’s group invites a speaker once a month to share with our group.  We had a pastor’s wife, Ruth Faircloth, who is an evangelist come to share her testimony with us – she is from Faith Church of God.

Ruth told us that praise plants seeds.  We need to glorify the Lord.  He is still walking among us.  God wants to pour out His blessings and we can see the miracles of God.

2 Kings 4:2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

God is calling for the anointing of women.  Everyone who knows Jesus can be anointed.

The Hebrews used oil to anoint their body, for strength, health, and beauty.  They called their elders to anoint.

Our families need to be healed and restored, and that starts with a Godly woman.  You have the authority to speak.  Sometimes God wakes us up at 4:00 AM to pray.  We are to be obedient.

The Shunammite woman had a plan.  She took care of the prophet of God.  We need to do what we need to do, what we are guided to do by the Holy Spirit.  We may not know why we are doing it at the moment, but we are in the plan of God.  She walked in Godly ways and this woman recognized God’s man.

2 Kings 4:2-6 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased.

She was prepared and ready to be able to listen.  Our ministries and our spirits hold onto some of the same stuff, then we wonder why we are not changed.  We want to hear and obey God, and that is what brings change.

2 Kings 4:8-22 Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.” And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there. Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.” So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.” So he said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. Then he said, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!” But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her. And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”

The woman prepared.  She fed the prophet, and then realized that he needed a place to sleep, so she built a place for him, a permanent place.  She did not know why she was doing it at the time, except to take care of the prophet.  But she was setting herself up for a blessing.  When her child died, she called on the prophet to revive her son.

Ruth told us that April 10, 2008 she was told that her son was in a car accident. On the way to the hospital she saw her son’s car, it was totalled in such a way that she knew that it was very bad for her son.  Instead of focusing on the state of the totalled car, she began to pray more and got to the hospital.  Her son was in such bad shape and on life support and classified as brain dead, but they flew him to Westchester hospital. His brain was broken in five places and bleeding.  The pressure on the brain was hurting brain function.

She kept praying, “Lord, Lord you have promised that we can ask anything in Jesus’ name and you will give it.”  She kept the faith and drove to Westchester hospital.

The doctors at the hospital gave her son an MRI, and the family was called and told about the son’s condition.  They did not believe the testimony of the MRI.  Ruth held onto the fact that the God she serves will make her son well.  She planned to sit back and see what God would do. 

The Shunammite woman went to Elisha and told him that what he proposed about her having a son was such a good promise that she did not want him lying to her.  She told him that he was a man of God and that he should not tell her a lie.  God does not lie.

Ruth began walking in faith for her son, and was almost about to give up, but she kept praying.  Two to three doctors came up to her and suggested that she was not hearing what they were saying.  But what the doctors were saying about her son being brain dead did not line up with the Word of God.  They were waiting for the first 24 hours to pass.

At 6 AM the phone rang with unexpected news.  The town supervisor called and let them know that their house blew up, there was nothing left.  Ruth became like the Shunammite woman. She knew who satan was, and nothing was left of her house.  She sat in a chair outside the hotel and said, “Lord, thank you for my son’s life.  I can’t lose both the house and my son.  Because the house blew up, you need to give me back my son.  This increased her faith. Walking in faith.  Had her son not had the accident, the entire family would have been dead in the blast, but they were all at the hospital so no one died in the house blast, so although it seemed like bad news, it was good news.

She continued walking in faith.  God wanted her to walk in faith for He knew that people were watching. She began celebrating the life of her son and prophesying to her self that if she asks anything in the name of the Lord it will be granted.

What was good about her son being in the trauma room is that only parents or close relatives could go into those rooms, and because of her son’s accident she had access to not only her son but to all the other patients and family members in that trauma room.  She was able to minister to many people who did not know Jesus. 

Ruth already knew that her son would be all right, so she went on a mission to tell others that God is God and she went room to room to touch the lives of others in that trauma area. 

Ruth also told us that like the Shunammite woman, one day a pastor and his wife and family from Africa came to America and they needed a place to stay.  Ruth and her family split their house up, and shared it with this family.  What she did not know at the time that they housed that family from Africa was that God had a plan of action already in place and their obedience to share their house helped to set it in motion.

2 Kings 4:36-37 And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.

Now Ruth’s son is at home – he was in a coma for five months.  What makes this a miracle was that his brain was broken in five places and bleeding.  Most with this kind of brain damage do not survive, or if they survive they are in a coma.  Yet her son is one of the 7% who came out of the coma.

Ruth realized that if she serves Him and is obedient, He will take care of her needs.  We need to know when to prepare for God.  God has sent us to prepare.  Holy men and women do what is pleasing in God’s sight.  So often we try to please our brothers, sisters, husbands and mothers, but what is more important than pleasing man is to please God.  God sees what you are doing and who you are doing it for.  God gives you just what you need.  The Shunammite woman did not need Elisha to speak to an army or the king for her, God knew what she needed, the woman needed a son.  There is a difference between any old man and God.

Prepare yourself, your gift is your gift.  God gave her exactly what she wanted, and she received her son.

Ruth’s family lived in the house that they had for 13 years, and were paying the bills for the house, only to find that they were going to lose their house due to some irregularities in the paperwork. Their house, which they paid for, was being sold out from under them.  Even though they did the paperwork, somehow the house was not listed, and they were going to have to move.  When these troubles came they could have cried and found themselves in a weak place, asking why is this happening to me? But they prayed about the house.

God had a plan and had started setting it up years previously when they housed that African family.  God had a plan and He would carry it out.  When God calls you get in line with what God says.  Ruth prayed and told God that she would do whatever He wanted.  So, on the day when the family was in the throes of moving out, someone called and asked Ruth to minister.  She wanted to give an excuse and back out because of all the work that needed to be done for the move, but she remembered her promise to God and went and ministered. Ruth said that when God tells you to what to do, you need to obey.  She ministered about the goodness of God. 

In April her house blew up, in September of 2008 her son came out of a coma.  She moved into a house that she ended up buying – it was not the house she wanted. She went to a Rod Parsley meeting in a pouty mood, and at the service she saw an image of her house coming down.  The house was like a mansion and had three dormers.  She thought this was to be her mansion in Heaven but was told that she would live on earth in this mansion. 

Someone is watching us to see if we are faithful and how we deal in trials.  Ruth kept praying.  Five years ago she saw this house and her son at home.  Now her son is at home and she has the exact house she saw in the vision including the three dormers. 

When we give God something, prepare something for God, God is getting ready to open up and give us the desires of our heart. 

While Ruth was at the hospital with her son, her house blown up, etc, people put some money in her hand, and God directed her to give that to another mother at the hospital.  She obeyed, even though she and her family could have used that money, and the woman cried because she had no way to get to her child, and that money provided the needed transportation.

God wants us to stay steadfast, faithful and live for God in the little things.

The house blew up and she held onto God.  She realized that if her son had not been in the hospital, that there would have been 8-9 bodies in the rubble, for the house blew up in less than three minutes.  God hid Moses in a basket, Jesus in a manger, and God kept her family safe. 

God will work it out.  He is a good God and we need to learn to wait on God. Nothing is too big for our awesome God.

The Shunammite woman wanted a son and God gave her exactly what she wanted.

Now Ruth has a son at home.  He has lost 10-15 years and is learning how to live and reason again.  He is a young man, and when Ruth looks at her son she sees him fully recovered and preaching the testimony of what God has done in His life. Many of her son’s friends were very distressed by the accident and the state of her son.  Ruth needed to mobilize their faith, so she had them march around the fish tank in the hospital and at the 7th time around the tank they shouted.  One of the young men told her son that God must have something special with your mom, for what she did is the reason you are alive, for God to get all the glory.

The doctors kept sending in pastors, priests, social workers and in desperation the head of the Hospital to try and convince Ruth of the impossibility of her son’s survival.  Ruth asked them if they ever had someone in a similar condition survive and they told her yes, one.  She told them, well now you have two.

When she had the money and gave it to that woman, she found out that this woman’s son had been in a coma for six months and the woman had no money to come and see him.  This money was a blessing for the woman and rebuilt her faith.  We have to obey when we hear from God. As we prepare for God’s people, God will work out the problems.  

God has already covered us, He is looking for faithful people in unity. He will see how we walk.  What God is looking for is people in agreement waiting to see what God will do.  We won’t see many miracles if there is fighting in the house of God. 

In our lives, God has predetermined events in our lives, and our obedience to God is what sets these events into motion.  God knows who will obey and if they will obey for God is not tied to earthly time, He knows past, present and future. 

God is the God of faithfulness looking for faithful people, not phonies.  When things are good we too need to get up and pray, just for joy, for relationship with Him, not just when we need things.  Stand seeking God and connection with God, realizing what an awesome God He is.  God will never leave you or forsake you.

Ruth gave the example of how in Exodus God opened up the Red Sea, all Moses did was to be faithful and GOD will do it.  Some of us are not faithful.  but with God all things are possible.  When you repent, and believe, we can stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. 

Instead of taking the ventilator off four months after the accident like the doctors suggested, Ruth sought God, went to the secret place and prayed.   God told her to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.  Instead of giving in, Ruth claimed, “Thank you God, you said it and that settles it.”  That is what God is calling us to do, move quickly when it is a move of God.

When her son died, the Shunammite woman moved quickly to get the man of God.  She had told Elisha not to lie to her, and she believed that he would not lie to her, therefore her son would not be dead.  And her faith was met for her son lived. 

Ruth’s son will preach the Word of God.  God woke him up out of the dead situation.  God will complete what he started.  Lots of young men were brought to God because of her son.  This caused the church to grow and blessings to multiply. 

The church must stand for the truth, because there are many people who will see, and these people need the Lord Jesus.

Is this not a powerful testimony?  Every woman in our woman’s group was blessed by hearing what Ruth shared. It sure built our faith and I pray it builds your faith.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

Oh guess what? We are on Chapter 12.   I know it must seem like forever that we have been on this chapter, but each week we discover more and more. Trust me, we will get to Chapter 13 one of these days, but this Bible study is so interesting.  Most of us use Thompson’s Chain Link Bibles (this cryptic comment will be clear in a few minutes)- guess what, I know for a fact I am getting a new one for my birthday, my margins are so filled up and so I asked my husband for that as a gift.  Sigh, he is making me wait UNTIL my birthday to get my hands on it.

Anyway in Bible study we read Hebrews 12:25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven

This flies in the face of those who don’t want to be judgmental.  If we hear what God says and not obey why should we escape what God decrees?

Hebrews 12:26-27 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake^i]’> Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

God is powerful and He tells us that in these last days a whole lot of shaking will go on.

Now here is where the Bible study turned interesting.  One day (in my spare time) I want to go to a Concordance and do a complete study on this, but Pastor Don divided up the room and had us look in the back of our Bibles at our concordances and look up scriptures on the following words. SHAKE, QUAKE, MOVE, and HEAVEN(S) about what God prophetically said. Bible concordances do not have as many references as Strongs, but it gave us a good picture.

I will show you what we found,

QUAKE

Exodus 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain^b]’> and earthquakes in various places

SHAKE

Haggai 2:7  and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations,^e]’> or shot with an arrow.”^g]’>)  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,  (28) Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may^j]’> serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

The Kingdom of God cannot be shaken.  We looked back at Hebrews 12:27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

There is a removal of those things that can be shaken and that will leave what can’t be shaken. God is bringing His Spiritual Kingdom and it will get rid of that which is physical and not moving in a consciousness of the Body of God’s Revelation.

God knows.  Jesus went and prepared a place for us.  In Heaven we will have the beauty that we think we will miss because of the end times. 

Someone recommended a book:  The Church that Will not Be Raptured

There is a point reached where those who can’t see, can’t see.  Some people fear being blinded by truth and they keep on their shades and stay in the darkness.  Difficulty or tragedy on earth sometimes opens them up to see things differently.

Pastor Don shared with us that in 2014 and 2015 there will be major eclipses that will occur on Jewish holidays. 

The question is, when do we start counting the 7 years of tribulation?  We want to keep teaching to our unsaved friends and family so that when we are gone (raptured) they will turn to God.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may