Dr. Leon van Rooyen president of Global Ministries and Relief, Inc. P.O. Box 47599, Tampa, FL 33646,  spoke at the Kingston Vineyard in April.  I put up a few of his other teachings (see links here and here).  I thought you would enjoy these notes, even though at some times during these talks I stopped writing, for God was speaking to my heart in a big way.  Sometimes, believe it or not, God wants me to listen and not take notes she says smiling. Dr. van Rooyen gave me permission to post these notes on Xanga.

Sat. Evening 4/25/09

He was Born Again during the Jesus People movement. 

Pastor Van Rooyen said that when he became a believer he believed everything that the Bible said, and if someone told him something was no longer practiced, that it was for the early church but not today, he just assumed that they were not a believer – because BELIEVERS BELIEVE.

The more you learn, the circle of your ignorance gets bigger.

We are to worship, pray, and stay open. 

When God’s not in a thing, get out.

Do what God is doing and that will make you successful.

If God is against something, don’t do it even if family and friends approve of it.

What I think is of no importance, but what is important is what God thinks.

As Pastor VanRooyen gained knowledge, he got more God desperate. 

1 Corinthians 14:32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

1 Corinthians 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Self control is not to shut good things out of your life but to shut sin out of your life.

God’s plan for His church is Glory and Power.

Habakkuk 3:1-4 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth. O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.  Selah  His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. His brightness was like the light; He had rays flashing from His hand, and there His power was hidden.

Revival – God came.  There is a difference between the omnipresence and the presence of God.

Revival means: again to live.  To bring those who are in strength to greater strength.

Revival will change you and change the Church from the pulpit to the members.

We need revival hearts, open to what God wants.  We are creatures of habit. So often we pray for change and when change comes, we are resistant. We need new priorities and order. Revival brings restoration of what is lost, stolen, or destroyed.

Christians magnify the process, but we need to look forward to the glorious church and a changed life.  God does not promise his working will be comfortable for us. We can’t stay in the same place, we need a paradigm shift. 

We need to be emptied so we can be filled.  This is not a time to grieve or complain or blaspheme God.  The more thorough you are emptied, the more you will be filled and moving toward your destiny, something that is good for us and for others.  Something God prepared before hand from the foundation of the earth.  Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

We need to be desensitized to self and sensitized to God.

“Be filled with the Spirit,” is not an option, it is a command.

Spirit filled = God’s presence.

There are those who are E2R – easy to receive and H2R – hard to receive.

Revival should be spelled – RE-BIBLE.

Sun. Evening 4/26/09

Acts 2:16-21 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’

There will be an OUTPOURING, INFILLING, and OUTFLOWING.  The best is yet to come, signs, wonders, miracles, and an increase in the supernatural.  We need to extend our faith for these things.  God will work unusual miracles and when people see these signs and miracles they will be astounded.

Outpouring – Acts 2:1-2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Signs – visible signs Acts 2:3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.

Monday Night. 4/27/09

Weightiness of God’s Glory – What God wants to do.

We want to live the Acts kind of life.  We are writing a new chapter in Acts – Acts 29.  (Heather’s note, in a Beth Moore Bible study – Believing God, Beth has us add Hebrews 11:41 in our Bibles with the words “By faith (fill in you name and what you believed in faith)

Acts 4:25-26 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the LORD and against His Christ.’

There is a wave of resistance to what God wants to do.  The enemy wants to stop God’s plans.  We want to exalt God, not the enemy, yet we do not want to be ignorant of his devices.  What God is up to, the enemy is trying to stop.   We need to tell the devil that he has had enough time in our lives, now it is time to stop it.  Satan may have hindered me, slowed me down from advancing, but we are an advancing army for the Lord and satan has no power to stop us.  We need to be actively in pursuit of the will of God, even if the devil tries to hinder us.  The devil tries to burn bridges, blow up roads, and slow down our advance.  If our resources are cut off we can’t fight – for we won’t have ammo.

God is doing something here, and the enemy wants to slow down what God is doing.  We need to remember that the battle has already been won, and we need to keep our focus on what God wants us to do so that the enemy does not stand a chance to slow us down.  We cannot be ignorant of his devices, but we also do not want to give the enemy power.

We know who and whose we are and what we have at our disposal.

1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world.

Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

We are more than conquerors. But there is an antichrist spirit that does not want to stop ordinary Christian Church as usual, but this spirit of antichrist wants to stop Anointed Christian Spirit.

Without the anointing, authority, and the Word we are easy targets.  We operate in the power of God. 

Remember the seven sons of Sceva  Acts 19:14-15 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

We need to discern if it is of God, and we need to know God and we want to be known and feared in hell.  When God is up to something the devil is also up to something.

When the Holy Spirit came on Jesus IMMEDIATELY the devil sought to take Jesus down and stop Him from fulfilling His destiny.  Jesus led ALONE into the wilderness and when Jesus was filled by the Spirit He was not a mere man, but an anointed man.  Jesus overcame the devil by the Word, and the devil had to withdraw. 

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

The GOD WE SERVE IS MIGHTY!!! The devil is a liar, a deceiver, who works behind the scenes using people to slow down the advance of the revival and the revival must advance.  Souls hang in the balance, and lives depend upon God.   We are the instruments and carriers of Him, and we need to stay in the Lord, put on the whole armor of Lord, and do God’s will.  WE ARE CALLED TO VICTORY.

The cross was the embarrassment of the devil, and Jesus made a public spectacle of the principalities and powers that tried to defeat Him. 

Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

We share in His authority, and are Jesus’ first fruits.  We are Jesus’ body and He is our head, and the enemy is under His feet (and since we are the Body of Christ that means the enemy is under our feet).  When the oil is poured on Jesus’ head, it flows down His body, which is us.

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.

Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the LORD.

The Lord we serve is mightier than the enemy.

Numbers 10:35 So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said:  “Rise up, O LORD!
Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.”

God arises and His enemies are scattered. 

Deuteronomy 28:7 The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

The enemy will come up with strategies to slow down the advance.  God is doing an accelerated work and that is causing the enemy to rise up and try to slow it down. 

We do not need to be as afraid of the devil as we do of ourselves.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemy.  Pogo (the comic) says, “I have seen the enemy and he is us.”  We can yield to our minds.  But the weapons of our warfare are full the pulling down of strongholds, and we need to take our thoughts captive.  Sometimes when we worship we are just going through the motions. 

God is putting us in revival so that we get to be in recovery mode, and then after a time God wants to turn the revival spirit into outflow.  When something flows out there is an igniting.  In the book of Acts after one outflow 3000 became saved.  One miracle caused 5000 to be saved.

Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Our passivity gets on the inside of us and we tend to watch, not do.  If we want to possess the land it cannot be out of our mind, but rather out of our spirit.  For our country to be America the Great, God needs to be the source of the outflow. 

We cannot be indifferent and be empowered.  We wage warfare with zeal against the enemy.  It is a holy war, a war of virtue for the minds of the people to be freed from the spirit of the age.  The god of this world is blocking this change, and only God will be able to change.  God can cause political change when there is a spiritual invasion of fire.  We need to realize that there is a purpose beyond the natural.  Casual Christians do not care about the state of the world.  Spiritually minded people carry power and authority. 

When Pastor Van Rooyen was new in Christ, he saw a vision of villages in Africa and preaching the Gospel.  It was so real to him that he could see the people, the thatching on the roofs, the holes in the walls, everything in great detail.  This led him to his ministry and missions.

When the righteousness of God is revealed it is from faith to faith, hearts are ignited in hope and faith.  People are saved into the glory and purpose of God.

We need to preach the whole Gospel.  Salvation that is based on hype isn’t.  There is a Heaven to gain and hell to shun.  We exist for the glory of God.

Revival separates you to be sensitized to the purposes and plans of God. 

Pastor Van Rooyen spoke of some of the opposition he received from African witch doctors when he would preach.  They would gather and try to make the lights go out, to work their magic on people.  When they saw that God was stronger than their magic, the witch doctors converted.  Even to the point of consenting to be baptized in water, something that most Africans would not want to do for they felt that the spirits traveled in water, but came to realize that the God of the Gospel is stronger than their gods of witchcraft and magic. 

When he preached in Africa signs followed and that is what drew people to begin to realize just how powerful God is in comparison to their idols.

Acts 4:25-26 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘ Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the LORD and against His Christ.’

In the anointed Church miracles, signs and wonders take place and people begin to race to the Church. God wants us to work signs, wonders, and miracles through our lives.  He wants us to have a greater anointing, authority and hope. 

There will be those with critical attitudes, but don’t be offended.  God is up to something much greater than the devil.  The Glory of God will come on the earth. 

Pastor Van Rooyen spoke of an African village where a 14 year old girl who was active in the chorus at her church and led worship, could not wake up for she was in a trance of the devil.  Lynne Bell, a missionary, prayed, bound and loosed, shouted and the Spirit of God fell in the room.  In one split second a snake like a python came out and left the room and the girl recovered.

In Togo there is voodoo and witchcraft practiced in a particularly black and strong way.  When Pastor Van Rooyen was speaking his first interpreter was struck down, he thought by the Holy Spirit, and could not speak. This happened to two other interpreters.  Then Pastor Van Rooyen had a check in his spirit that this was not of God.  He gave a shout of authority and the witch doctors ran down the street screaming as the angels chased him. 

James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Flee means run in terror.

We need to be submitted to God and to one another, and we need to watch out for each other.  There is no authority in rebellion.  Rebellion is the spirit of witchcraft. 

1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.

The measure of humility will determine the greater authority. 

Remember the centurion, Matthew 8:8-9 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Jesus marveled at his faith, the servant was healed. 

Wives are to submit to their husbands, not to abuse are manipulation, but in a place of love.  When a person is loved, submission comes easy.

Pastor Van Rooyen does not like pastors who get carried away in their pastoral authority, having to be served by people, sitting on thrones on the altar, and then these pastors wonder why the devil reveals them.  Power does not work out of a place of rebellion, but in a place of authority.  Miracles take place when apostolic authority is in place.  A higher level of supernatural force is found when there is government and order.  If you are in submission you can raise your voice in authority and the demons flee.

Warfare takes place to slow down the advance of the Church. People and principalities and powers will come against the Church, but if we have the zeal of the Lord and are under authority and the umbrella of God, we can effect the reign of evil and there will appear unusual signs and miracles. 

When we are under authority we are sanctified (set aside) and the anointing separates us.

David was a young boy working in the fields as a shepherd, but he became a King and a conqueror.

Why did the devil cut Samson’s hair?  It was because that Nazarite vow to not cut his hair – which was an outward sign of his separation unto God.  When Samson’s hair began to grow the anointing returned and he did greater damage to the enemy by pushing down the pillars than he did in all of the rest of his life. 

With the anointing a boy can kill a giant with a stone as David did.

When the glory of the Lord rises in you, we can wage warfare that strikes a killing blow to the enemy.

This was a study where a lot of group discussion occurred, but the verses for the Word are important so I included as much as I could of the main content of this study.

Callin began by showing us a book entitled Advanced Bible Course by Kenyon.

He pointed out that not all Christian books are 100% Biblically based, and reminded us that a little leaven (false ideas) leavens the whole loaf.

The book of Acts was written by Luke, and it speaks about  The Word, the Name, and the Holy Spirit.

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness

That Word of God is the Logos.

We need to get to God one on one.

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.

Notice it says I beg you (beseech you), that shows His love for us. Pleading for us.  To present our bodies as a living sacrifice – pick up our cross and follow Christ daily.

Malachi 1:14 But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished— for I am a great King,” says the LORD of hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.”

The first sin is disobedience.

Salvation is immediate, but it is also perpetual, for we grow from glory to glory.  It is eternal.

Adam and Eve walked away from the eternal. Jesus was 100% human when He walked this earth.

Sacrifice is from the beginning.  God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve.  If that animal had not been killed to cover them in the blood of the animal, God would have had to kill Adam and Eve for no evil could stand in God’s presence.  From that original disobedience God started a campaign for redemption and salvation.

LOGICAL WORSHIP.  Our worship is logical (reasonable service Romans 12:1-2) Reasonably prudent individuals will worship God.  We spend our lives conforming, but what are we conforming to?  The world or God?  If you live in the Now, and under the Blood and led by the Spirit you will be successful. The only thing we have is the NOW, perpetual.  We have dominion.  Without the Spirit we can get caught up in our past successes or we dream of the future.  When we renew our minds, we become more and more like Christ.  Psalm 107:20 He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;  it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Anything else but God’s Word is a counterfeit. We need to be ever vigilant and make sure we are in the Word daily.

Matthew 9:17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Mark 2:22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

Joshua 1:5-9 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Romans 14:5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

No one can stand before you if you are working in the spirit.

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We need to know the Word of God so we can decide if an idea we have is a GOOD IDEA or a GOD IDEA.  A God idea will pay 100% more. 

Sometimes we want a map, but if we have a map with everything planned out, then we are not operating in faith.

GPS – God’s perfect system.  That is our Inner witness. If you are in fear you are not in the Word. 

Hebrews 10:19-23 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 4:11-12  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

If you wrestle with scriptures to make them say what it doesn’t you do that to your own destruction.

Then Callin spoke about the parable of the talents.  Talents equals not only money but skill, ability and knowledge.  We need to use all our talents to the glory of God, not being a pew sitter.

We can get distracted, pulled off course.  So we need to discern ourselves through the eyes of God.  We need to be on the offense so that we proactively do not fall into darkness, evil, sickness, or disease.  Our defensive weapon is the shield of faith.  Ephesians 6:16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

And the sword which is the Word of God. Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

When we are facing situations, we need a Rhema Word of God, a Word that is alive and powerful.  Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

This division of soul and spirit is our reasonable sacrifice (see Romans 12:1-2 above). No suffering is in vain.  If we are in line with God’s will and sacrificing from the heart.   God knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts.

Callin spoke of King Hezekiah, that God left Hezekiah so that he could see his heart.  2 Chronicles 32:31 However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

God knows our thoughts and intents.  Sometimes he lets us be in situations so that the content of our heart becomes apparent.  We need to come to a place where we take authority over our lives and begin to implement the Rhema words in our life.

Hoping you enjoy this study on the Word.

Heather

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Pastor Don began by saying time is not what you think it is.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  God does not change.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word, the Logos, pre-existed before Jesus of Nazareth.

There is a Trinity, Godhead.  We need to expand our understanding of God-ness.  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  The Word released IS a PERSON, speaks for God and is God’s representative.  The Angel of the Lord mentioned in the Old Testament is a pre-incarnate Christ, that Angel of the Lord is not speaking as a angel, but as God.  The Angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham, telling him he would have a child.  He did not announce it like Gabriel did.  Adonai = Angel of God.  Elohim = breath of God or Spirit of God.

Pastor Don pointed out that he is a pastor, teacher, husband, and father.  Although he cannot separate himself out physically, he does function in all those roles.  He is not God.  God can do this without losing mental consciousness or spiritual context.  We can’t understand that for we are created beings, but we are created in the image of God, so we too are triune beings.  We have a mind (soul), body, and spirit.  In that way we are similar to God, but in a material state, we are limited in what we can function within.  But God is not limited by the physical.  He is not bound by our thinking or our definitions.  We cannot define that which created us.  We want to create God in our image.  If the created thing could understand the creation or the creator, the creator would be equal to us.  No creator can create anything equal to himself.

Hebrews 13:8 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Yesterday – Jesus the son of God existed before Jesus of Nazareth.  And, today, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of man does not exist, now Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, returned to full deity and glory.

Pastor Don pointed out that it is very important to us to know that when Jesus of Nazareth was on earth, He was fully man, and did His signs and wonders as a man.  For us to realize that we have the ability to do signs and wonders it is important for us to see that Jesus was God man and He did His healings as a man on earth.

Luke 22:69-70  Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.”
Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.”

Jesus called himself Son of Man, but He was also Son of God.  But for the time He was on earth, He called Himself Son of Man.

John 20:26-28  And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Thomas said to Jesus:  My Lord and my God.

In the book of Revelation, John was unable to stand before Jesus because of the glory.

Yet it is important for us to see that Jesus was a man, he was bitten by mosquitos, whacked his finger with a hammer, etc.  Yet He was not your average man, for He lived His life without sin.  We too are sons of God. 

Jesus said that He did everything He saw His father do.  We can begin to seek how to imitate Jesus and Jesus told us that we are gods (little g, not big g – God).  We have sin, bad ideas, do stupid, but Jesus told us that everything He did we can do also. 

The key is the power and authority that Jesus gave to us over death, disease, emotions, frustration, and He allows them to flow through us, as we open up to Him.

Jesus came to earth as a man, functioned as a man and then returned to Glory.  When Jesus puts on the glory of all creation, He has power over sin and death.  In the glory He was not bound by space, time, and earthly concepts, and in the glory people did not know him.

We have Christ in us, the hope of glory.  When we were born again there were some things (sinful) things we gave up, but we took on the anointed one, Christ in us, the hope of Glory.  We have Christ’s anointing and we are led by the Holy Spirit.  We can be the best we can be.  Once we are saved, we have Christ in us. 

When we permit Jesus into our “houses”  He is the ultimate Home TV redecorater.  He will not let us leave furniture, curtains, decorations that are ungodly, He will redecorate.  But He will do it with our permission for He is a gentleman.  Being born again is a process.  Jesus comes in and if we tell him, “Don’t touch that Lord.”  He won’t, He will wait until we give Him permission.  Jesus will still be in us, but we block some of what He could do in our lives if we don’t let Him redecorate.  Jesus wants to redo our kitchens, but we tell him he can’t do that.  There is mold under the cabinets, the pipes are bad. Etc. 

After awhile, as we grow spiritually in Him and in His Word we will invite the Holy Spirit in to lead us in our redecoration.  If you want to know more about the Holy Spirit, read John chapters 14-17 to learn more about Him.  The Holy Spirit will lead us into truth.  He is going to redecorate stuff and some things have to change. 

If we dig our heels in and refuse to change, it shows what we love more than Him.  We can grieve the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will not be able to function as well when we tie his hands.  The Holy Spirit can’t bring certain people to our house (us) for we could get distracted. Let the Holy Spirit come in and lead.

Pastor Don told us that the Holy Spirit changed him and his teaching dramatically.  He taught Sunday School in the flesh, then received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the people in his Sunday School class knew a difference.  They bought him a Bible and wrote in it, “You can teach now.”  The Holy Spirit helps Pastor Don to teach the Word and touch people’s hearts in a nonoffensive way.

The Holy Spirit equips us to do what Jesus did.  Jesus goes to John the Baptist for baptism and then the power of the Holy Spirit comes on Him.  Then the Holy Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness.  That is the one place we don’t want to go, for it is a place where we will be tested.  Yet if we don’t go through those tests we won’t be able to remove the old furniture and it can take years and years for us to grow to the point that we would have grown with a season in the wilderness.  God wants to move all the old furniture, to have us die to self.  He wants to bring in all new stuff, so he may leave us in a barren place so that we can see how prideful we are. 

A lot of people we deal with when we are not tried yet.  We struggle and try to deal with situations the way we are, and we feel we have to do it ourselves, instead of being led by the Holy Spirit.  It is pride that causes us to do that and a lot of old baggage that needs to just be left behind so God can give us new.

We tend to make Jesus small in our minds or compartmentalize Jesus.  Who is Jesus?  We often answer my teacher, pays the rent, etc.  He is all of that but much, much more.  He is Yeshua, Savior, etc.  We can’t take just part of Jesus and discard the rest.  He is all of that and more.  Jesus of Nazareth had a three year ministry (some feel only one year), but John said that there were not books enough to contain all the miracles he did.

Yes, He was Jesus of Nazareth, but He was more than that.  He is also Jesus, Son of God.  We need a bigger picture.

Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Every eye will see Him.

Revelation 1:8 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,”^d]’> “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Jesus said this.  We see him totally, in all of it, now our eyes are to be on who He is, the beginning and the end.

Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet

This is something different.  Jesus of Nazareth, as a man spoke.  Now as God, Jesus sounds like a loud noise, like a trumpet.  His voice changes.  Jesus’ eyes are the eyes of total truth, life, love, judgment.  Are you ready for that?  Jesus sees it all, nothing is hid.  You can’t say, “I was walking in faith,” when you are in doubt. 

Revelation 1:11  saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,”^g]’> to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

He is saying to write this, get this down.

Revelation 1:12-13 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.

He is LIKE the son of man, but a whole lot else is going on here.

Revelation 1:14-17 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,^i]’> the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.

He was to write what he saw. Our attitudes should be like that of the apostles.

John 20:26  And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”

In the earthly experience, Jesus is resurrected in this scene, but He suspended His glory for the time being because He had work to do on earth.

John 20:27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

He instructed Thomas to touch his scars in his hands and put his hand INTO His side. Blood is not Jesus’ life force anymore, so Thomas could put his hand into the hole.

John 20:28  And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

There is no discussion beyond this, Thomas came to the conclusion that Jesus is Lord and God. 

What we lack in natural ability the Holy Spirit can supply.  We are born again and equipped with the Holy Spirit.  God gives you wisdom and the Holy Spirit.  If God’s in you and you permit Him to move the furniture, you are no longer the same as you were before He came in you, then you can brag on God.  God has the ability to gift us and as you are willing, you can tell about it and give God the glory.  If you take the glory to yourself, the glory will leave you.  God will make you exceptional, but there will also be persecution when that happens.

We need mental training. all that Jesus did, He did as He saw His father do, and He did it under the anointing of God. 

We then looked at the demon possessed boy in Mark.

Mark 9:14-15 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.

Notice:  Immediately.

Mark 9:16-19 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?” Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”

Jesus commented that this was a faithless generation, at that point they had failed to cast out the demon and the reason was they did not use their faith.  They had the faith for they had done similar things previously, but something was different in this situation, and they did not exercise their faith.

Mark 9:20-21 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.

Notice that Jesus asked the father for information.  Why is he asking the father?  Isn’t Jesus God and shouldn’t Jesus know this?  Doesn’t He know everything?  This flies in the face of tradition.  But Jesus of Nazareth was man and if the anointing is not present He doesn’t have the words of Wisdom to know the answer.  So Jesus comes on the scene and asks what are you talking about?  Jesus was not always “on” in the Holy Spirit. God is the Healer.  Jesus wanted to ascertain what kind of demon it was, so he could know why his disciples couldn’t cast the demon out.  The Holy Spirit had not told him. 

When Jesus was ready to minister the Holy Spirit would help. 

Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,^c]’> with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

Various strange doctrines are other religious beliefs.  The devil doesn’t only serve steak dinner, but puts out a buffet to try and attract everybody.

We stopped here, for it was late in the afternoon.  But what a great Bible study!

Hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Heather

One of the members of our church has spent many years studying creation and evolution, and has amassed an incredible amount of information.  He spent two Bible Study sessions showing us power points, videos, and quotations and scientific papers to help us grasp what is being taught, so that we can better understand creation vs evolution.  This was so detailed that there was no way to take the notes necessary to present this completely so I am going to touch upon some of the main points that he shared. 

We covered in great depth some of the basic concepts.

Species – a group of natural populations that mate and reproduce themselves.  That can only happen if you are of the same species, if not there can’t be any offspring.  This is called REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION.

Darwin in his Origin of the Species used fossils to try and prove, but fossils cannot show if there is a way to reproduce.  MORPHOLOGY – gross differences (for example a dog has four legs, a human two).  We can have variation WITHIN a species, but no mating between species.  So a human can breed a different type of a dog, but it is still a dog.  Different breeds/same species. Dogs can be developed (he showed a daschund) Now a daschund cannot survive in the wild the way a dog closer to a wolf would be able to survive – it’s little legs would make it ill suited to survival in the wild. So when there are changes across a species it is not always for the best.

Darwin spent time on the Galapagos Islands and studied finches and their various beaks. He realized there were different styles of beaks for different kinds of work.  He presumed that over millions of years the different types of beaks developed.  And that is ok for it again is within a species.

Edward Blyth in 1835 stated that he was a creationist, but that he stopped at natural selection, creating variation within a species.  But did not think that animals evolved into another species.

Reggie showed us an October 1991 Scientific American which was pro evolution. This article pointed out that climate changes on the Galapagos Islands caused a drought and that beak shapes and sizes shifted around, but never did one species develop into another. 

We then looked at the study regarding the PEPPERED MOTHS that was done in the 1800′s and covered DIRECTIONAL SELECTON.  The gist is that because of industrialization and pollution the white moth became spotted with dark spots.  But this was not evolution, just natural selection and there were disputes about the accuracy of the reporting of this scientific paper.

Evolution is one species changing into another.

Artificial selection – man doing it (as in dog breeding)

Natural selection – variation within types.

Entropy – the tendency for matter to become disordered. It is natural for a system to move from order to disorder and chaos.

If evolution is true it is the only natural process that is contrary to entropy.

NATURE OF MUTATIONS – a mutation is any alteration in the structure of a gene.  DNA is responsible for replication and if damage occurs in the structure of a gene, then the organism mutates.   This can also be caused by ionizing radiation and chemicals.

Our body can repair damage.  But at times mutation is accidental and random.

H J Muller who won a Nobel Prize told us that mutations were truly random.

He studied fruit flies, for they had a new generation every 10-14 days.

He had 1000 fruit flies as a control group and 1000 fruit flies with low levels of ionizing radiation. 

Control group 100 mutations of some sort
Ionizing group – 400 mutations (the mutations in both groups were things like stinted wings, missing of eyes, leg missing, etc.)

Yet a surprising result occurred in both groups:

Control – 5% were resistant to radiation
Ionizing – 5% were resistant to radiation

The percentage was the same in both groups, when he had expected that the one with the radiation would have developed a greater percentage of fruit flies resistant to radiation.

That kind of blows apart the theory that cockroaches will be able to mutate to resist radiation of a nuclear sort.

Evolution depends on a false idea.

Sickled Cell Anemia – red blood cells are misshaped.

Now when a person has this kind of sickled cell anemia they are resistant to malaria, but that does not become a survival advantage for the person, for they suffer the affects of the anemia.

We spent some time talking about the SUPER BUGS.

That now there are certain bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, but it is found that these only grow in certain situations such as hospital wards where the environment is perfect for them to grow and infect people.  Take that same virus and put it out in the wild, in the woods for example, and it does not survive.

We then watched a video about the SAVANT SYNDDROME.

And we discovered that savants have advantages in a specific area, for example playing music, calculating math, knowing the day of the week a particular date falls on.  The musician we saw was blind, and unable to see or function well.  But put him in front of a piano and he could reproduce any song he heard. 

But if these savants were put out in the world to survive on their own they would not be able to do so.

It is believed that one mutation affects many characteristics.  DNA is like rungs on a ladder, and most mutations affect a few rungs on the ladder but their mutation is unnoticeable.  There are a few examples of beneficial mutations, but most do not make the life of the species better.

Downs Syndrome, has specific characteristics that affect the person’s mental capacity, finger size, and also the person has cardiac problems.

In most circumstances mutations are created by man, not by nature.  Charles Darwin believed that truly beneficial mutations would give an overall advantage to the survival of the species. 

An example was give about taking a part a TV and leaving the parts in the parking lot – that if left for some time in the parking lot there would be little chance that the TV would come together again and work, much less come together improved.

In order for a species to evolve in complexity there would have to be an increase in the base pairings of the DNA ladder, and new rungs would have to be added. 

Today evolutionists have gong to a pro-evolution, anti God stance.  But they cannot answer where the extra rungs of the ladder came from.  Evolution does not address mutations.

Mutations do one of three things:  

1. deleting the existing information,
2 scrambling existing information, and
3. duplicating existing information.  Never does a mutation add new information.

Viruses, are they life?  Viruses can take over the genetics of the cell, they attach themselves to human DNA. 

If we all evolved from a single cell, where did that extra DNA come from?

Dr. James Allen in his research on fruit flies pointed out that in 40 generations no new fruit flies ever appeared.

Dr. Creadie said that there is no new information in a cell. So this new information had to arise from some where.

The fossil record does not support Darwin for the sudden appearance of complex life in the Cambrian Explosion, said to have occurred 540 to 550 million years ago occurred all over the entire world.

Stephen Gould in the Structure of Evolutionary theory says that there is a lack of evidence and the same scenario of subpopulation isolates had to be reproduced countless numbers of times. 

The next thing is the idea of Irreducible Complexity.  An example of a Rube Goldberg machine was used.  If one piece of the complex machinery is missing the whole does not work.

Then we were given the example of blood clotting and how that works.  We have five quarts of blood and if our blood did not clot we could bleed to death. That could not have taken millions of years to develop.

We were shown an example of how the heart works with the ventricles and the atria, and how the whole heart is irreducibly complex.  If one part did not work our circulatory system would fail.

There is a drive in living matter to perfect itself,

Then the idea of symbiosis, where two animals interact with each other to the benefit of both.  Evolution can’t explain that.

EVOLUTION CANNOT EXPLAIN THE ORIGIN OF LIFE.

If there is not much evidence for evolution, why do so many believe it? 

Some say rational reasons – for if truth is existing in science it is seen through direct observation, but for evolution direct observation is not possible.  We make a hypothesis and observations to see if they support the hypothesis.

There is a confirmation bias in the study of evolution where a person goes through the data and picks out information that confirms what they want to prove.

Dr. Reggie Boenig then pointed out that people come to the discussion of evolution and creation with their own biases, and that they are really not willing to change their bias, so that the discussion is somewhat fruitless.  Most come with tough questions like my grandmother died after I prayed for her, where was God in that?  Or they don’t want to submit their lives under authority, but the real reason for an evolution and creation discussion has nothing to do with the science or proofs behind it, but rather with theological issues. 

I hope you found some useful information in this presentation.  There was far more that I was unable to capture in notes.

Heather

Here is the link for Part One.

Pastor Don was talking about how there will be struggles in our lives but those who are successful will persist and the successful ones persist the longest.  We need to realize that it is NOW faith, and to realize that the victory is just a matter of time if we persist. 

There is a greater reality than what we see in the natural, and if we focus on the natural only, we get locked into our circumstances. 

Pastor Don talked about a Pastor’s meeting he went to where the pastors attending spent 30 minutes whining about all the problems of their ministry, and then asked Pastor Don why his was so successful, why he doesn’t seem to have the problems that others seem to have.  He pointed out that he is careful about how he defines the problem with his words.

Some people define others by statements that lock a person into a negative character, and it is not always true.  They say things like, “You NEVER listen to me.” Is that true?  No.  Maybe sometimes the person doesn’t listen, but NEVER is not true.  Also, perhaps the way the person was talked with causes them to stop listening.

Elijah thought he was the only one left who was faithful to God, yet God showed him that there were hundreds of others hidden away that were faithful to God.

Our negative speaking can get us to the point where God is not hearing our prayers, and God will decide to permit what we say to happen.  Pastor Don asked why is divorce larger in the church than out of the church? 

Not all negative thoughts are thoughts that come from us, the enemy will drop thoughts into our mind. We have to discern who is speaking in our thought patterns.  The flesh will fabricate a lie to trap us.  We have to discern the voice of faith, the voice of despair and our hearts.  We need to confront the dark throughts that are in us, and realize that we need to negate those negative thoughts that are not ours.  If you are driving down a road, starting out on your journey in a great mood, and all of a sudden you have the impulse to drive into a tree and end it all, you need to discern that that thought did not come from you, should not be acted on and should be banished from your mind. We do not have to accept a thought like that and go off the deep end.  We need to negate and rebuke that thought.

If we are not spiritually attuned we can be locked in time and not in faith.  We begin to see our lives as a series of events. 

Pastor Don told us that manhood and Christlikeness are synonymous, that the only way to truly be a man is to be one who is responsible and who will treat others as Christ treated the church.  A true man is learning to live in faith time.

He also told us that screaming at teenagers about their mistakes is counterproductive, for not only do teenagers make mistakes, but grownups also make mistakes.  Far better to discuss things in a way that will be received.

Romans 8:26-30 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us^b]’> with groanings which cannot be uttered.

In this passage Paul is speaking to believers, and what is he taling about?  About what we do when we don’t know how to pray.  He is talking about prayer, when we are weak, confused, and not able to know what to pray.  We have all prayed wrong prayers that if God answered them it would be a total disaster for us.  If God gave us all that we asked for we would not be able to sustain it. 

Jesus told the crippled man to pick up his mat and walk.  Jesus was looking for that man.  Jesus is looking for you.  Jesus is all over our case. Jesus also told the man to go and sin no more for if he sinned, that sickness would return even worse.  The man was probably 48-58 years old for he was crippled 38 years.  He had no friends, no one to put him in the water.  Jesus, in this, is giving the key to staging our healings. We need to be in the presence of God, to feel the manifest presence of God.  As we seek God’s presence we begin to get better at that.

In order to be completely healed, in order to be changed you have to not keep doing the fleshly things, and realize that this is the last I am doing this.   God does not want us to keep repeating the same sins over and over.  The first thing Jesus did before healing was to sit people down and teach them so that their belief would be built.  Strongholds can be broken by the truth of the Word.  We need to be resolved so we don’t have to do this again.

Everytime we say something isn’t, we are speaking it into existence. For example, we should not say, “I am not sick.  I do not have ____ disease.”  We need to speak and thank God for our healing, that we walk in divine health.

Pastor Don told us that praying in the Spirit helps our weakness, for we don’t know how to pray.  The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.  Deep tongues, groanings, no words are the way that He does that.   In verse 27, the “He” is the Spirit of God.  The Spirit of God searches the hearts of people and helps us to know the mind of God.

When we are in the Spirit and praying in the Spirit, we can be used by Jesus to pray a prayer that needs praying – it may not be a prayer meant for us or our family.  If we are praying the Holy Spirit may drop in and have us pray for an unknown person on the other side of the world – just because we were available and in the Spirit.  We may never know what the prayer was for or who would be touched by the prayer.

The Holy Spirit will intercede for the saints according to the will of God.  When this happens, then the next three verses are true.  God needs our permission to do anything on the planet.  When the earth was created God told Adam that he had dominion over the earth, Adam gave that over to satan, so we are reclaiming that dominion.  God holds His Word above Himself, so He does not act without our asking.

It is always God’s will that we be healed, so we do not have to ask God if it is His will that we are healed.  It is His will.  But we don’t know what we ought to pray, unless we have a Word of Knowledge about the situation.  So praying in the Spirit can help us to pray correctly for a person. 

The Spirit knows what to pray for and how to pray for God’s purpose so it helps us to pray in the Spirit.  We can pray in the Holy Ghost for a situation until we get more information. 

We need to spend time in our personal prayer praying in the Spirit.  We also need to remember the words spoken over us and collect them, rebuking those which are negative and seeing which ones are prophesies that come to pass. 

Hoping this helps you.

Heather

We are learning about the Believer’s Authority.

The fabric between space and time is fluid, not rigid like we believe. In the reality of this, God is. 

Genesis 1-4 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was^d]’>) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

God did not think the earth into existence, God SPOKE.  He told Abram that He was going to make Abram the father of many nations.  Notice that God made Abram this BEFORE it existed.  For this to happen, God had to have a concept of time and of earth in time that we are not aware of.

GOD GOVERNS TIME BUT IS NOT SUBJECT TO TIME.

Faith can dominate and interrupt time.  God operates in faith. God is cognizant of change. He did it before and now brings it to our attention. God is in Heaven, cognizant of our chronos time, but faith is not bound by time.

Notice:  ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD.

The Holy Spirit says that God calls sometingh that does not exist in time as if it exists.  In time and out of time – but it is not tick tock time, it is chronos time.  We have to discern that our words have reactions in the flesh.  We need to accept the power of words, and not try to negate the power of words and the creative spirit.  It is like electricity which can do helpful things or kill you depending on how it is used.  Electricity in and of itself is a power, but how it is used will determine the outcome.

Faith is not bound by time. But it can take time before what we are believing in faith manifests in tick tock time. We call those things that be not as though they were.  We are told to speak to the mountain, refuse to be bound by symptoms.  Speaking faith to be cured. FAITH IS NOW.  Not going to be.  YOU ARE. 

Abram was the father of many nations.  God changed his name to Abraham (which means father of many nations) forcing him to speak into existence the reality that he was the father of many nations. Everytime he introduced himself he was saying, by saying his name, “I am the father of many nations.”

We are not bound by what we see in the outer realm in our senses. Our circumstances are not the truth.  In faith the time line of earth does not exist, we get out of that limitation.

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.

Notice that it says “SAYS”  Saying is everything.  Why no doubt in your heart?  Your head and thoughts are all about chronos (tick tock) time.  If we operate from our head we are bound by what we see.  We need to speak to the situation, to speak faith, not what we see with our senses. When we spend our time whining about our situation we are speaking our situation and it makes it harder for us to free ourselves from it, for we are speaking the negative.

When it says do not doubt in your heart, it is talking about the inner man. The inner man is not bound by our circumstances.  A mom can talk to her child after they have flunked math and instead of berating them for being stupid, she can say, “You will do great things.”  It can inspire the child to do better, and then the parent can help.  Speak life into that situation, not condemining the child to thinking they are stupid.

Then it says BELIEVE what HE SAYS. The Bible tells us that the power of death and life is in the tongue.  Notice the order – death and life.  Most people switch those two words around.  Most of us give the power of death more power than life.  But Jesus conquered death, hell and the grave.  With our tongues we can speak life into situations, or we can choose to speak our situation and death.  If we let our lips speak our circumstances and the flesh, it does not help our situation.  Far better to speak the truth of God.

What we call life, is really death.  Death is first than life.  We tend to live in sin and carnality until we become born again, and then we have true life.

So often in our circumstances we give up too soon. Pastor Don gave the example of a wife married to a husband, and she starts speaking about the negative things that she sees him doing, that is speaking death over the relationship.  She thinks that the husband is not sanctified, but her speaking is only hurting the relationship, not helping.

When we become born again we see the light and recognize the darkness.  But when we begin to emphasize where a person is in darkness we are finalizing their reality with our mouths.  When we call things the way they are (circumstances) instead of speaking words of faith, it will not help to change the situation.  We need to speak that they are growing toward the light, calling those things that be not as though they are.

We have to be careful what we sow with our mouths.  Our words can create our worst nightmares.

Pastor Don said that if someone calls you stupid, you need to do something to cancel that statement.  You have to use your ability to negate what they are saying.  To tell yourself that you are not receiving what they are saying.

Pastor Don also told us that the best way to change somebody is by changing yourself.  When you speak, let your words be seasoned with faith. 

Pastor Don had a positive dad and a mom that often spoke negative words over him.  He told us he had to fight for survival.

Power of positive speaking:  If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t talk.

If the devil is working against you to destroy you, you have to say, “I’m not receiving. I’m believing and speaking something different.” 

Those who have a victory are not those who have no struggles, but those who persist and keep going forward. 

I am going to stop here for today, and will finish this Bible study tomorrow.  Our Bible studies run anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours, and I figured you might like the study broken up into two parts.

Have a blessed Friday.

Heather

Hebrews 13:7  Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

There are spiritual imitations in the world.  We need to discern who the person we are following is ruled by.  People who rule over us should be following Him, we follow THEIR FAITH, not the person. No one can put themselves over you.  You can put yourself UNDER somebody.  Someone has to subjugate themselves and say, “I give authority to you.” 

The Jewish Temple priests held authority.  The Catholics tried to imitate that kind of authority.  Martin Luther broke that authority. 

Our American spirit does not do well being supervised.  It seems to be the natural instinct for us to defend ourselves and rebel.  The Church of Africa does not have that kind of authority issue because they are used to a matriarch, a patriarch, or tribal authority. They yield themselves.  The Latin American church also is yielded.

The culture the author of Hebrews is speaking about is the early church which was under the apostolic order.  Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead for lying to the congregation.

We want to submit to the authority of our leaders for they have gone before you.  Remember those who are ahead of you, who speak the Word of God, mimic their faith for they are bearing fruit in front of your eyes.  This gives us a better understanding of what we are facing. 

Responsibility gives the person the authority.  When authority is exercised you do need to ask yourself, where does that authority come from?  If the pastor or the person in authority over you is doing something that does not line up with the Word of God we need to question them about that.

God placed His Word above Himself. If God is doing something that seems contrary to His Word, it is possible that we do not have the whole picture. 

Our pastors do not need to tell us everything that God is showing them.  If our pastor is under God’s authority, we need to find out if there is something that we are not seeing, and are we misunderstanding.  Respectfully we can question the person we are under the authority of. 

Pick a person and put yourself under the respect of their office, following their FAITH.  This should be someone that you have watched and seen that they are faithful to God, to His calling, to His responsibility.  Are they faithful?  Do they know they are to serve? 

A good example is Bartimaeus.  The disciples tell him to shut up and not bother their master.   Yet Jesus had the time and faithfulness to heal his blind eyes. 

Notice how we treat each other and the outcome of their conduct. 

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This sentence seems to come out of nowhere, but if we look at it in context, it makes sense.

We looked back at Hebrews 13:4-7 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”^b]’> Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

All of these verses point out that the one we should be imitating is Jesus Christ. And He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What was expected from Him yesterday and today, we can expect tomorrow.  Jesus is faithful. 

Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried about^a]’> of the LORD where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down,

Eli could not see – he lost his vision, and could not minister to God, did not know where the ark was, if the lamps went out in the temple.  The word of the Lord was rare in those days, no widespread revelation – why, because Eli lost his vision.

WITHOUT VISION THERE IS NO REVIVAL. At the Vineyard people were taking steps for revival even before the Vineyard church began their 21 day fast this past January.  God does not do anything on earth with out revealing it to His prophets.  God orchestrates revival. REVIVAL NEEDS PEOPLE WITH VISION.  To sustain the revival you need people with vision.

2 Kings 25:7 Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.

Zedekiah was bound with bronze fetters and taken to Babylon.  WITHOUT VISION THE DEVIL TAKES YOU WHERE HE WANTS YOU TO GO. IF YOU LOSE YOUR VISION YOUR LIFE IS A GRIND.  He was bound, had no vision, lost his anointing, and at best separated from God.  WHEN WE ARE CONNECTED TO GOD WE GET ANOINTED VISIONS. 

Samson’s hair grew, and a young lad came next to him – a young lad with eyes – new vision (Pastor Leon’s speculation).  And when Samson pulled the temple of dagon down, his last battle was his greatest victory.

THE CHURCH HAS LOST ITS VISION AND ANOINTED EYES.  IF YOU HAVE LOST YOUR VISION YOU CAN GET IT BACK.  You can do the works you used to do.

The Lukewarm Church – Revelation 3:17-18 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see

Jesus told them to buy eye salve so that they could anoint their eyes and see.

God gave vision to Abraham, Genesis 12:1-4  Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Abraham went out of his country to a place God would SHOW him, and God would then make him a great nation.  VISION TOOK HIM OUT OF HIS FAMILIAR PLACE TO A NEW PLACE. 

WITHOUT VISION YOU WILL NEVER GO OUT OF THE WAY FOR GOD.

God told Joshua, Joshua 6:2 And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

God told Joshua to SEE.  God has given you what He wants to give you and if you can see it, you can possess it.

When the Israelites were ready to go into the Promised Land, Moses sent out 12 spies into the land and 10 came back with a bad report.  They said, Numbers 13:32-33 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants