Revival is still continuing at the Vineyard Church in Kingston, New York (you can watch it online).  Last month Roy Fields came back to worship with us.  He started the Revival back in February, and then Pastors Steve Smith and Vaughn Jarrold have been continuing it.  And it has been growing stronger and stronger, touching many lives, with many lives being won to Christ, the equipping of the saints, signs and wonders.

Roy had a day where he could come back and visit.  During this time we had two evenings of worship, but Roy also taught a lesson at the Fire School of Ministry Saturday Morning.  Roy gave me permission to share my notes from this teaching with you.  If you are anywhere near Kingston, New York, you would be blessed coming to this revival.  Likewise, if you are anywhere near where Roy Fields is leading worship, I strongly suggest attending.

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Worship by Roy Fields May 16

 

If a person does not know how to worship, don’t trust them.  The heart of what we do is to make God something in our hearts. 

 

We first read the whole account about the Woman at the Well.

 

John 4:1-6 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

 

Jesus was wearied by the journey.

John 4:7-10 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

 

Jesus was saying in effect that if you knew who you were speaking to you would never talk to me that way, and you would have asked.

 

John 4:11-14 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

 

John 4:15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

 

She is finally ready to ask for this water, she wants to receive it now, and realizes she has to pay a price.

 

John 4:16-17 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’

 

Jesus already knows her life.

 

John 4:18-19 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

 

She now sees Jesus as prophet, but does not have the whole picture.

 

John 4:20-23 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

 

NOW IS …

 

John 4:24-26 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

 

Most people attend a worship service and want a quick, spiritual high, to give them their worship fix, and then go home and nothing changes in their lives.

 

Jesus wants us to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

 

Worship is more than a song.  People write songs with an eye to making a hit and then having them sung in churches.   Worship can never come out of that.  It will not take a person to a place where they connect with God.  If it’s about you, you missed it.

 

The purpose in your heart needs to be:  I am going to touch Heaven in my worship, make a decision to take it into my personal life, and beyond the walls of church.  Worship is not about a place.  It is out of the Spirit of man and rises up and presses through so that we touch God for ourselves. 

 

So often we worship what we know.  This woman had NO clue who Jesus was.

 

Who do you think you are?  Roy said, I serve God.  Jesus won.

 

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

 

Jesus will complete the good work He has started in you. 

 

We have a choice – to attach our heart to what we are doing or just have an appearance.   We want the nature of our heart to be lifting up to Jesus.  We want to attach our heart to what we are doing, and to the anointing for it is real. 

 

We want to build our own relationship with God, not depend on the Pastors to build one and pass information to us.  We want to get a word from God for ourselves, through our relationship with God.

 

In the wilderness, God spoke to the nation Israel and they did not want to hear it, they wanted Moses to speak with God and bring God’s message to the people.  And later on in their history, God gave them leadership of kings.

 

Roy told us that the 10 Commandments was a marriage covenant, not a set of laws.   When we look at them this way we see that God was telling the people of Israel that He loved them so much that He wanted their lives to go well.

 

The Jews spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt.  They were beaten, their daughters raped, fathers killed off, and their dignity was lost.  The Jews also were shown how to treat people by how the Egyptians treated them, so they learned to not value life as much, to kill, sleep with other wives, covet, lie, steal, etc.  So God gave them the Commandments to show them the right way to live and deal with people. 

 

When the Jews were freed from slavery in Egypt about 3 million left Egypt, but it took a long time to get Egypt out of them.  The people were walking, complaining, and even though there were great signs and wonders, the people did not trust God to orchestrate their freedom.  God wiped out the Egyptian army, and at Mount Sinai God set out to reprogram their thinking. God wanted the Israelites to express His life on earth, not kill like the Egyptians, but to live God’s values on earth.  The people said that they wanted to live that kind of life that God presented. 

 

The Sabbath was made for us.  We are not a machine, we need a chance to be at church and to rest and worship.  It isn’t to just to sit in church.  Many have become numb, having no emotion toward God.  When the Brownsville Revival occurred in 1996, people’s lives and hearts were touched.   People began to be on a journey and an adventure with God.  The anointing begins from the heart.  And when that happens it is no longer a cold religion.

 

Jesus was mean to religious people.  He whipped those who were making God’s House of Prayer into a den of thieves, he kept pointing out that the scribes and Pharisees were missing the mark. 

 

Judas thought that the Kingdom of God at hand was the overthrow of the Roman government.  He wanted Jesus to make people’s lives better.

 

What really needs fixing is our hearts, and that can shake a nation. Worship in Spirit and in Truth.  If we touch God, He has our hearts.  People need to focus on God, not themselves, and lift God up.  If you realize who you carry inside of you, it will last a lifetime.  Job 13:15a Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.

 

We determine in our hearts that where our feet touch the ground we have dominion.  Where our feet touch the ground gives us opportunities and we need to walk in dominion, not in our circumstances.

 

We want to meet with Jesus, let go and say, “I need to touch Jesus, feel His presence.  It is all about Him.”  When we do that, He turns it around and makes it about you, who you are in Christ. 

 

VISIONS AND DREAMS

 

Our heart turns and our visions and dreams line up with what God wants.

 

John 4:22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

 

We know what we worship.  Some think that just singing is worship.  But you can sing the words, “I love You, God.”  And the tone of your voice makes a difference.  One tone can be rote singing, the other can be heart felt.  It’s about being real with God. 

 

The safest place is to open up your heart to Jesus. 

 

Where will you be in five years?  We have a choice – God gives us free will.  God will let us be put in situations and then see what we do with free will. 

 

Believe the Word.  Some of our best encounters with God are when there is nobody else there. 

 

Life is a fight and our connection to God is what can calm us to deal with our situations. We have the choice to live our regular life or do what God has called us to do. No one can take your worship out of you.  Paul and Silas worshipped even after being beaten severely and stuck in prison.  When their chains came off, none of the prisoners escaped and their worship brought the jailer and his whole household to salvation. 

 

Paul tells us that he is content in everything.   He was a worshipper.  Our hunger for God can inspire others to worship Jesus.  Just worship Jesus.

 

Roy told us that worship does not know denominational lines.  One night he was in a Catholic church and the 80 year old women were singing Silent Night, and the power of God came into that church. 

When we sing, allow the words to become something to us.  Receive what the person has partaken through the words, and it will add to what you are hearing.  God sends people who help us build up to what we can become.   Imitate them and grow closer to God. 

 

1 Corinthians 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.  

 

Paul tells us to follow Him as He follows Christ. So should we follow others who follow Christ.

 

Matthew 2:1-2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”  (Heather’s note:  I put verse 1 in for context.)

 

Hebrews 1:6-9 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.”  But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”

Why, because He hated lawlessness and served God with His whole Heart. In the Garden Jesus told God, “Not my will but Thy will be done.”

Bring what you carry to worship.  We all have gifts.  Embrace the gift by practicing it.  Practice His presence.  When we worship, we want to practice worshipping with all our hearts.  Seek to go deeper and higher in worship. If we have never been in that realm of Glory, how can we take people there? 

An army is being assembled at the end of the harvest.  Signs and wonders follow those who believe – and in King’s Fire International there will be signs and wonders.  We want to be used of God and useful to God, bearing fruit to the last wherever we go.  In order to do this, we have to learn how to worship. Keep seeking God, go past everybody else so you have something to give and one credential you need is to BELIEVE. 

Draw your line in the sand.   Know that dreams do come true.  Yes, you can lose your confession. 

Roy gave us the example of John the Baptist, who knew Jesus was the Messiah even in his mother’s womb.  He saw Jesus at the Jordan, saw the Holy Spirit descending, and hear God say that Jesus was His beloved Son.  He knows Jesus is the Messiah. 

Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down and the first place Jesus is sent by the Holy Spirit is the desert for 40 days.   We pray the Lord’s prayer, “Lead us not into temptation.”  Yet Jesus was led into temptation and resisted satan and satan fled.

John the Baptist is in captivity, in a jail cell and wondered about Jesus, had doubt and unbelief, wondering if Jesus was really the one.  Yet he had heard God, said that Jesus was the Messiah, but because of John’s circumstances doubt and unbelief came in.

Judas was around Jesus, but his relationship and motives were wrong.  He did not get the message Jesus was teaching, and Judas’ heart was not for God and the people. 

We want to let God be known and see lives changed.  As we worship we are setting ourselves up for a great pouring out of the blessings of God.  We need to know that our God is a strong tower and righteous.  We want to know this and be sure of it in our hearts.

Roy told us that in Australia he led 40 meetings in 8 cities in 53 days.  During this time Roy said that he sang many songs over and over – such as I am free.  But when he sang it, each time he sang it he sang the worship song as if it was the first time he ever sang that song – he sang it with his heart set on worshipping God.  Get the song into our innermost being.

Jesus told us to Remember, when we eat the bread and drink the cup, what he went through.  Yet people became offended at Jesus’ Words.

John 6:54 (for context) Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  John 6:66-69 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

When Jesus asked his disciples if they too were going to leave, they replied, where else can we go. 

That’s what it takes for revival to flourish.  We are staying here for the long haul.  Even against all opposition, stick with Jesus.  We might have to separate from some friends. 

Matthew 7:13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”

Nobody is exempt.

Rodney Howard-Browne had a dream when he was 8 years old, about an ocean of people falling off of a cliff and going to hell. Jesus was watching the scene and smiling with his arms crossed. Rodney asked Jesus how can He smile at this. Jesus told Rodney that if he does not do what God called him to do people will go to hell.  If you are not doing what you are supposed to do, they will go to hell. Jesus told Rodney that He did everything that He could do (on the cross).  So it is up to us whether people’s lives end in tragedy and death.  And Jesus showed Rodney four people climbing up a narrow road to the Cross, going after Jesus.

Roy told us that he wants to be known in hell.  He wants satan to say, “Oh crap, Roy’s awake and we have to fight again.”  He wants to be a great thorn in the flesh of the devil.

Rodney asked Jesus who’s going to tell them?  Jesus told him, You’re going to tell them. 

As we walk as disciples of God and our lives reflect that, it is a spiritual washing, and those in the environment around us begin to change. 

Believe the Word for Yourself.   God I believe.  God, You have everything I need between You and me.  If you really believe this, your life will change. 

YOUR CORPRORATE WORSHIP WILL NEVER EXCEED YOUR PERSONAL WORSHIP.

If you want your needs met, fulfill other people’s needs. 

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.

God knows His Word.

 

2 Corinthians 10:1  Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

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.

Many of us have a focus that God’s got to do something for me.  God has to stand up and fix the setback. But that is self-centered and we need to get things into perspective. 

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

There are things that God expects us to do for ourselves.  Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

It is not written in the Bible that God helps those who help themselves.  We have to put ourselves into position.  If we are not seeking God first, it is like working without a head.  We do not put self first in our scenario. 

God comes first because He knows us better than ourselves.  He knows what is best for us.  He knows the order that is best.  When we get in trouble it is often that we have a wrong assessment of ourselves.  We justify and make excuses for ourselves.

2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

Paul is pleading.  He is saying, I know who I am and how I behave.  It takes maturity where we can accept the responses of people to us.  We justify that they treat me that way because (fill in the blank) but we are all sending out a message and receiving a message.  We try to put the blame on others.  We are usually the last ones we check out.  What are we putting out?  We need to get a handle on what we are putting out.  People don’t listen to themselves.  We want others to hear us.

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

Paul spent time thinking about the way he responds.  He knew that he could be emotional and blurting out things.  He knows what has to be dealt with and how he has to be bold against some (not all).  He planned a measure of boldness and divided it up as to who gets what. 

It is scriptural.  He saw that there were those who think of him according to the flesh and segregated them out. 

Self introspection is who we are when we look in the mirror, not the confusion and sickness in our brain.  Some of us are still fighting old battles. 

Someone brought up memories that cause pain and Pastor Don stated that when we are healed the memories are facts that are not laden with emotions. 

So often we are not aware of what we are projecting.  How many layers of denial have we put on these things? 

If pastors do not have some transparency toward the people, people will get the wrong idea that their pastors are perfect, and that makes it hard for them to approach their pastors when they are hurting.  Pastors have their frailties and successes, have been knocked out, beat up, scarred and hurt.

James 5:13-18  Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses^c]’> fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,

The works of the flesh are EVIDENT.  So we can discern when we are in the flesh and when we are not.

There was a great song called “Jesus take the wheel.”  A few of the verses are:

Jesus, take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can’t do this on my own

I’m letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I’m on
Jesus, take the wheel

Pastor Don said that he wants to hear a sequel to this record – six months later when there is another decision to be made who has the wheel?

It takes courage to say I give you permission, to tell me when I am out to lunch.

SABATAGE – SABA is a wooden stave and they would stick that into the machinery to stop the gears.  We sabotage our flesh.  When broken we have needs and wants that we seek from the flesh.  This can jam the Spirit up.  Our spirits become loaded with feelings of unworthiness, discrimination, and going through spiritual motions.

People come to Living Word Chapel hoping for a 30 day fix it Church, but often our healing is a process that you will get fixed, get some word and get fixed, and then get some more word and get something else fixed. It can take a lot longer than 30 days to get fixed.

We need a clear vision of what we are supposed to do.  The passage tells us that the works of the flesh are EVIDENT, but that is not true for everyone.  No one may have helped us get to the place where the works of the flesh are evident to us.

We looked at what the works of the flesh are.

Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,^d]’> drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

BUT

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Notice, it does not use the word “EVIDENT” for the fruit of the Spirit.  The spirit of flesh is evident.  The fruit of the Spirit is more FELT than TELT. 

Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

We crucify the flesh – like Jesus on the cross.  It is a powerful process of strongly killing what the flesh wants us to do.

If we are in the flesh we are under the law (verse 18-21)  But when we are in the Spirit there is no law, for we are being guided the way God wants us to be, and our love for God will keep us from doing what are the works of the flesh.

We are to WORK out our salvation with fear and trembling.  We do not work for our salvation, but once we are saved we begin the process of growing in Christ.  We fear (love, awe) the Lord and that is the beginning of wisdom.  When we seek to do what God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit wants, we begin to change and then there is no need for the law. When we know the Lord, we will know the Spirit of the law.

When we have looked in the mirror and identified the flesh, then excuse making is over.  The blame game is over.  We take credit for what we have done.  Pastor Don told us that we all have baggage to carry, but we can keep the handle and drop the baggage.  Only God can forget, we can remember, but we don’t have to carry the load.

Jesus came to give us access to the Father, before He ascended He descended to preach the Gospel to those who are captive.  Jesus went to the cross to make us free from sin and death.  The law is written on our hearts, we do not need to be under the law because it is written in our hearts.

Galatians 5:25-26 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

If we apply these truths we will get to peace, and realize that we don’t have to defend, when God corrects us or feel judged.  We don’t have to judge others, envy others. 

We want to examine our words before they come out of our mouths.  Don’t say them if we will ultimately have to defend or explain them.  Our flesh, if we are not careful, will try and present things in a contentious way.

Our walk of life is the way we live.

A lot of good stuff to take in this Bible study for me!!!! Hoping your day is blessed.

Heather

We are not emerging to be as effective as what we are called to do without the price of self examination.  We can get conned by the devil if we are not noticing what we are doing.  People attribute God ability to the devil, attribute godness to a fallen angel. God can read hearts, satan can’t.  Satan is not infinite and omnipresent. He needs legions of demonic spirits to get his work done.  The work is often done by reaction, not action.  He is bound by the same rules God put on Himself. 

The only way God can operate on earth is by getting permission from us.  God gave us dominion, and God puts His Word above Himself.  Anything wrong with us, sickness, mental illness, etc. if we want to deal with it from a strong place, we have to define it according to the Word of God. 

Sometimes we wake up in a great mood, in the middle of the day it seems to be a good day, but as the day progresses we begin to see it is not going to be a great day.  There are many times when our mood change is not because of our circumstances, but because there are forces in the world that can have an effect on us. 

We need to know what authority has been given to us.  Devils and demons are ready to come into any door we open to them by casual conversation or our actions.  If we get up and say, “I hope I have a good day,”  and a demonic force hears that, they know that they have a way to get at you. 

Demons are not everywhere.  There are only 1/3 of the angels that fell . Demons are dead spirits of the nephalim and anakin that were destroyed on the earth because of the flood. 

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

What happens to us is according to what we have faith for.  God is waiting on you, but so is the enemy.

John 8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

Jesus is speaking to the scribes and pharisees. Jesus knew the plan they had to take Him to the cross.  But the truths Jesus is speaking is not reaching these scribes and pharisees.  Sometimes when we share the Word of God with others we too can see that that truth is rejected by them.  You can minister to certain people and feel like you are not getting anywhere.  You can’t judge people during that time period.  Some of the people closest to you need someone else to minister to them.  We need to believe that, since God saved you, He can save them.  Acts 16:31 So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.  Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Remember, those around you are looking at your walk, not listening to your thoughts.

John 8:38-39 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.”

Follow Abraham’s example.

John 8:40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.

Abraham did not do this.

John 8:41-42 You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

Here is another criterion, to love Him (Jesus).

John 8:43-44  Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Here is the punch line.  When we do not listen to Jesus we put our resources on a liar. 

Not all are Children of God, many hate God and do not want to be His Child.  And God will not force Himself on them, for to them being with God would seem like hell.  He waits until they want Him.

Many people come to God through many different paths.  If God is their father they will begin to distinguish the voice of the Spirit and the voice of different spirits.  They will hear Yeshua and begin to see that they were looking for God in all the wrong places.

In 1803 a missionary went to the Native Americans and started talking to them about God and one of the Native Americans said to the missionary, “Oh, you are talking about the Great Spirit.”  God will speak to the hearts of all people of all faiths.

Right now we see the muslim faith seem to increase, the taliban are moving into Afghanistan, sharia law is being enacted.  The muslims are going into villages and killing Christians, beating and murdering children and believers.  Police stand by and do nothing, but the muslims do not tolerate other religions.  Yet we are seeing instances where good muslims are hearing the voice of Yeshua, even when there are no people there to tell them about Him.  We need to remember that allah is NOT Jehovah. That mohammed and Jesus are not buddies.  Once the muslims get a toe hold in a country they seek to increase the muslim population, close down churches, and at some point get into power, then they will begin to punish those who do not adhere to the muslim faith. 

Everyone does not have God the Father and His love in their hearts.  Many hear other spirit voices that are not of God.

Matthew 7:13 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.

This is from personal instructions that Jesus Christ gave.  These instructions are 3-4 chapters long.  After speaking and teaching a model prayer, he is talking to people who want to be his disciples. 

Matthew 7:14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Evangelists get up and say get the Gospel to the world, thinking that our job is to save the whole world.  Saying we want to save West Hurley and surrounding areas.  The truth is that we want to save all chosen for salvation, but we don’t know who those are.  Yes, God does not want any to perish, but there are many who do not want God in their lives.  We can present the Word and it will not be heard.  What we need to do is to keep speaking the Gospel truth to everyone and waiting for those who are wanting to receive it.  When the Gospel is preached to the ends of the earth, the end will come – so we want to preach the Gospel everywhere, but that is not saying that all will receive the truth of the Gospel, just that they will hear it preached so that they can make a decision.

When we fish in the pond we hope that we will catch fish for the Lord, 10, 20, 20,000, or more.  To fish, we pick a spot that looks good on the surface – trees over the water, rocks, and figure out where the fish might be under the surface and cast our line there.  We could be dead wrong. 

Sometimes when we share the Gospel on the surface it looks like it fell to the ground, but we don’t know what is going on under the surface of the person we reached out to. 

The Wisdom of the Bible is that God has put in unholy places special blessings in our lives.  What looks like something that is bad and gone wrong, can lead us to that narrow way and into salvation.  God speaks to us individually and uses our way of looking at the world to reach us.

Verse 14 is difficult.  When we come to the Lord, it does not mean that our life will be easy.  People suffer as Christians and face challenges.  Paul never married.  Many of the early Apostles, and many Christians died martyrs’ deaths.  Jesus never married.   And there are persecutions that many Christians face for their beliefs.

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

Jesus is getting even more personal here.  This is why we need to examine ourselves, where we are and who we are messing with.  Know when you are being had.  It is easy to get lost in the glitter, the charisma of a leader, but you need to look and examine yourself to see if you are being had.  You need to test the fruit of prophet.  For example, Todd Bentley, people did not discern all about him.  Some made judgements based on external appearance and tattoos, but what the real problem was was a problem of lust.  So what about those lives that Todd Bentley touched?  Does his actions invalidate what happened in those lives and those salvations?  No. GOD WILL USE WHO HE HAS TO GO GET TO WHO HE NEEDS TO.  But if the vessel being used is impure, it will be judged.  We want to get under someone who will teach us the truth.

Jonathan Edwards used to send a person to pray before he entered a town for revival.  They prayed and fasted for weeks, then Jonathan Edwards showed up.  Pastor Don told us of a time when Jonathan Edwards went to a town and at a dance hall someone asked him to dance.  He said that he prayed before everything he did. He began to pray and the musicians fell down, the people there fell down and finally he was the only one standing.  All fell under the sovereign power of God.

When a revival comes, God drops in on His Church, and touches lives.  He gives us an opportunity to taste and see that the Lord is good.  The revival does not have to be propped up, or the fires of revival fnneda.  God’s got more for us.

Acts 2:17 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.

When it says “pour out”  it means liberally, not a sprinkling, not some at a meeting and others don’t.  Everyone will prophesy. 

Acts 2:18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.

God’s Spirit is so strong that even the heathen will prophesy.

Acts 2:19-20  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.

These signs are also part of these days.  In Israel in 1994 they had a blood moon, but it was not a global blood moon.  In 2012 – 2015 there will be eclipses during the major Feast Days.

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved

These outpourings of expressions of God’s love will mean that we won’t have to find the fish, but the fish will come to us.  Right after September 11 there were many who came to church and 12 got saved.  Of those twelve, only two remained. 

The Gospel is preached to 2/3 of the world and only 1/3 is left that hasn’t heard the Gospel. 

Discernment is from God.  How do we discern His mind when we have to make a decision?  We have to know ourselves and know God well enough, so that we can see it, judge it according to God’s Word. 

When people do not know God, they get upset, when they see one miracle happening to one person and not another.  They don’t understand all the reasons behind what happens and they tend to get angry at God.

To tell the difference from a revival and a meeting you have to go to Acts 2 to see – in Acts 2 you see that in that outpouring EVERYONE gets wet.  At a meeting some get wet, but not others. 

Because God is moving doesn’t mean that everyone is in the flow.  A cloud can be raining where you are and that’s a meeting, but it’s not an outpouring.  When God does an outpouring everyone gets wet. 

To discern, we have to be committed to hearing the Word of God no matter what He says.  I will obey what he says.  If I discern it is of God or not of God, we have to act according to what God would want. 

We have to be sure we know ourselves, that we make a decision that is not from our flesh, but from our flowing in the Spirit.  Be willing to examine ourselves.  Am I in the Spirit or hanging out?  we have to be a prayer person and say, “I am not afraid.”  Fear cannot occupy the same space as discernment.  Fear can cause you to see it differently. If you are afraid, you can’t discern.  There is no room for judgment.  Just because a person is oppressed with a demon does not mean that they are evil.  We need to discern spirits, discern spirits of a person and discern when to act or not to act regarding what you observe. 

We don’t know why God is showing us what He is showing us.  Sometimes it is for our information, or for future times, other times it is to act immediately.  When a great spiritual leader falls, someone should not judge the balance of their ego.  Their flesh needs feeding, unless that person is truly humble, they may have other areas of weakness.  People can fake being humble.

STAY HUMBLE about what God shows you and don’t get puffed up.  Ask questions.  “Now Lord, what do you want me to do?”  If you don’t do these steps, God can’t trust you with discernment.

If our ego is not under the humbling hand of God, everything is not in good order.  Some things need to be done privately, not publicly.

Pray the Daniel prayer to ask God to show you the secret hidden things.

Daniel 2:20-23 Daniel answered and said:  “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers;  You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king’s demand.”

Daniel stayed humble.  He kept his focus on God and serving God.

When we go to meetings and revivals we need to pray that God shows us what is the wheat and that we can spit out the tares.  At meetings devils are coming and going and it is possible to catch one.  So we need to walk into the meeting prayed up and covered.

What we are doing is not as important as what God is doing.  Some people who pray for others in the group shove people down.  Some choose to do courtesy falls just to get away from a shover.  Make sure that the person is operating in the direction of God, listening to God, and obeying God.  Know that God covers us and pray, “Lord, if there is something I need to see, direct my eyes to it, focus my eyes on it so that I see clearly what it is you want me to see.”  Maybe we are not going to a meeting for ourselves but to minister to a person.

Examine and see the people leading the meeting.  Are they pulling for an offering or believing God for an offering?  Yes, people will ask for offerings, but there is a point where the line is crossed.  Are they believing God for provision?  Know the purpose of the meeting.  Some want impartation, and come up even when the leader has said that they were praying for another reason.  Pastor Don shared how at one meeting he attended the leader wanted to pray for those suffering depression, and at first a few people went up, but after a time when the power of God was touching those, more from the congregation came up for prayer – many who did not have depression.  The leader saw that and told those people that they were disobedient to God, and would most probably go home depressed. 

Try to avoid sitting in the back of a meeting, for that is where the most doubt and unbelief is.

I know this is a lot to take in, but Pastor Don was responding to questions in the group.  It was hard to figure out where to split the study into two parts.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather

Below is a great sermon by Pastor Don Moore at Living Word Chapel. I have included the video and the closed captioning.  The words in [brackets] is what the congregation says.  So you have a choice to either read, watch or both.  Praying your day is blessed.  Heather

SAY AMEN
I WANT MINE
5/3/09
Show 122

Alright.   Now!  I’m on a roll here, I’m just grooving.  Did you get the Gospel?  Jesus died, put us in position, we’re in the Kingdom.  We have a new inheritance, we have a new Daddy.  Everybody got that?  [yes]  Are you sure?  OK, cause we need to live like it.  We really, really need to live like we have the inheritance given to us from Daddy.  I want you to go to the second chapter of Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy. (singing)  Deute…Deute…Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy. Alright.  It’s in the front of your Bibles.  Here we go.  Now, in the second chapter, in the second chapter of Deuteronomy…you there?  [yes]  Can we go?  [yes] 

“Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, as the LORD spoke to me, and we skirted Mount Seir for many days.”  Can you say, “Many days?”  [many days] “Many days.  And the LORD spoke to me, saying:…” Everybody, let’s read.  ["You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward."]  Now, are you ready?  Now, watch what he says.  “Now command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory…”  Of your who?  [your brethren]  “…your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you.  Therefore watch….”  Who?  [yourselves]  Watch who?  [yourselves]  Watch who?  [yourselves]  Watch who?  [yourselves] “…watch yourselves carefully.”  Carefully.  

Well, let’s see why.  Why does God say that?  Verse  5.  “Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.”…

I want to talk to you about transference of the blessing… God knows who He has given what to whom.  In this particular case, has He blessed and is He going to bless the Children of Israel?  Yes, He’s going to bless them based upon what? Their obedience.  But more importantly, based upon their inheritance.  They are also the servants of God.  They are under His care and under His responsibility. 

So, God has made promises to Moses and the Children of Israel.  He says, for forty years you’re going to wander in the wilderness.  That forty years is about to be up and they are about to go get their inheritance.  They are about to go into a land that flows with milk and honey.  They’re about to go into a land that has running water.  They’re about to go into a land  that has two rainy seasons, the former and the later, the spring and the fall rain.  They’re about to go into an area that has good soil, good ground, that everything grows. They’re about to go into an area that vines of grapes are big and the fruit is big and the land is fruitful. 

They’re about to go into their inheritance which is a blessed place to be.  It is considered by God to be the most important place on the planet because it’s where He wants to rule and reign from, so He created it so it has the possibility of great excellence.  And He’s saying, that’s the place I have for you.  But He says, to get there you’re going to have to go through some places that I have given as an inheritance to someone else, for some other purpose.  And, even though you may want to possess their stuff, He is saying, you have to overlook that, go past that, because I’m trying to get you to some other place.  [amen]  Come on, somebody.  I’m trying to take you to the place that I picked for you, that I designed for you.  The place where your inheritance is, I want to take you there, but right now, you’re going to have to go through this place. 

And the first place of beginning is, stop going around the same mountain again and again. You’ve done that.  You keep doing that.  You’re not going to get anywhere.  Stop it and turn northward.  In our lives, it takes an acceptance of change and a refocus of our direction. Now last week, two weeks, I prayed for you for change.  But now, you won’t change unless what?  Unless you point yourself in a different direction with what?  The desire to obey God, but also the desire to step into your inheritance.  Not somebody else’s stuff!  Your stuff. God has provided for you your stuff. He’s not going to take somebody else’s stuff and give it to you because He has already set aside your great blessing.  He’s set aside for you the Kingdom, and He wants to give you part of His kingdom. Not somebody else’s stuff. 

You don’t have to come into church and eat and fight somebody to run some committee or to run some group.  You don’t have to move in and try and take over the usher board or the dance team or move in and try and take over sister Cheri’s job.  Or move in and take over Pastor Don’s job.  He’s got a job just for you.  It’s perfectly matched to you.  It’s perfectly designed for you.  It’s already set up for you.  You don’t have to sing like sister Joy.  You don’t have to sing like Elaine Jones.  You don’t have to preach like Pastor Don.  You can’t anyway, so why try.  [laughter]  But He’s got something for you to do. 

But you can’t get to it if you will not stop going around the same mountain, the same way.  Now what we have to understand then, is that there is a process to leadership and there’s a process to position.  And things don’t happen quick in the Kingdom of God.  [amen]  They don’t.  I mean, there’s just some things just take forever.  But the other things that should be done quickly, they shouldn’t take forever.  Those are the things that we’re just going around the mountain.  We don’t get them done.  We don’t get our work done on time.  We just don’t progress.  We’re still doing the same thing we were doing before. 

There’s some Sunday School teachers still teaching the exact same way as before.  And they shouldn’t.  They should be progressing.  And their ministry should be different.  Say, amen.  [amen]  You, as a member, sitting there, whether you’re a member or not, sitting on your behind.  You shouldn’t be in the same place and position today that you were three years ago.  You should be chaffing at the bit to do something.  And there’s some things that Pastor will say, that maybe you should this, might take a year.  Might take two years.  Might take five years before you’re ready to step into it… Might take awhile.  Because why? 

You keep going around the mountain, but also when God points us to go North, there’s still a process we have to go through.  We have to learn how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes He just whispers in there, I want you to do this for Me.  And you go…that was the devil.  [laughter]  That was, that was the devil.  It was the devil talking.  And we just begin to fight with God. 

Now, let’s look at this verse here, again.  Look at this verse, verse 3. “You have skirted this mountain….” how long?  [long enough]  How long?  [long enough]  And He says, turn what?  [northward]  That means turn northward, He’s saying go in the upward position, in the upward direction.  Go north, or go in the upward direction.  And He says, you’re bound to pass through territory of  your brethren.  The sense of you.  They will be afraid of you.  Watch yourself carefully. 

Well, what’s the Lord trying to tell us spiritually?  There’s a spiritual truth in this.  I can remember as a young boy, being called to the Lord.  I can remember, as a young child.  I can remember, age seven, understanding the basic Gospel, that I needed a Savior, and Jesus was it.  I can remember hearing, I can hear the Sermon on that Sunday night when I walked down the aisle, seven years old.  I still remember what the pastor preached about.  The fact that it was my father has little to do with it.  I remember what he said.  And here’s what it was. 

I would rather live my life as a Christian, die, and find out that there is no God, than to live my life as if there was no God.  Live my whole life as if there was no God, die, and then find out that there was.  [Praise God, yeah.]  Seven year old boy.  I got that!  [amen, laughter]  I stood up, walked down that aisle, preacher looked at me and said, “Son, do you know what you’re doing?”  I said, “Yeah, God good, devil bad.”  [laughter]  I want that.  I want to live my life, I want to live my life as a Christian.  [amen]  I understood that.  Just that simple principle.  Simple principle. 

We have to understand so deeply, so deep down, that we’re sure that we’re sure that we don’t want to live the life of the world anymore.  That what our brethren have, what Esau and the brethren, what they have, we don’t want their stuff.  So the seven year old boy, I was sure for the Kingdom of God.  As I got a little bit older I started thinking, well gee man, I’d like to have a hit record like Jerry Butler.  Most of you all don’t even know him, (singing) “Only the strong survive.  Only the strong survive.  You’ve got to be strong boy, keep it all…hunuhn, hunnanah, keep your head up high.”  You all don’t remember that record, you’re too young, or you’re too old.  I don’t know. [laughter]  You’re probably too old.  But then I desired, I wanted that. 

Why Jerry Butler?  Well because he wasn’t a great big star, that he didn’t have a life.  He could still ride on airplanes and all, but his writing was so good that he was making all this money from song royalties, and yet when he performed, he still had his great fans, but he wasn’t too big and he wasn’t too small.  He had just a beautiful niche in between, you know, these giant stars like Sam Cook who died young and these other guys that were one hit wonders.  I wanted to be somewhere in there. 

God’s not going to give me his stuff… God’s not going to give me his stuff.  It didn’t matter how good I could write, or how good I could sing.  From the age of seven he had put his anointing and his stamp on me.  [hallelujah]  And he had set aside some stuff for me.  He had put some blessings aside that had my name on them.  That nobody else could touch until I got there.  And just the fact that I’m on a side journey, going around a mountain and going around a mountain and going around a mountain, and wanting Esau’s stuff, God is saying, “Don, I don’t want you to have Esau’s stuff.  I want you to get your own stuff.  And your own stuff is perfectly matched for you.  But Jerry Butler’s stuff is not matched for you.  I got your own stuff.” 

David is going to kill Goliath.  What does Saul do?  Saul wants him to wear his armor. David’s a little shepherd boy.  He tries to put on Saul’s armor and can’t even walk in it.  You can’t kill the giants that God has established for you to kill, wearing somebody else’s armor.  [amen!]  You’re going to have to do it, your stuff, your way.  You’re going to have to realize that you have a way of talking to unsaved people that they will open their heart to you.  You have a way of talking to employers, that they can see you, cause why?  God is opening doors that you can’t open for yourself.  God is opening ways and possibilities that you can’t get yourself.  God has a plan for you that nobody else can take from you.  And it doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are.  You’re still in the process of becoming what he’s called you to be.  He still has a plan for you.  He still has a surprise for you.  He still has a goal for you. He’s got it.  It’s right around the corner and it’s better than what you can perceive. 

Some of you think that your job is a great occupation, but actually it may be raising up a spiritual child just in this building.  You may have a spiritual child that you’re going to raise up, that lives next door to you.  We have a member of this church that, his father denied him for all of his life.  But there was a man next door that took him on as a son and took him everywhere he went and to do jobs and to learn stuff.  You might have a calling like that.  You don’t know.  You don’t know who God is going to put in your path, that you’re going to save, that you’re going to redirect their life.  You may be the next one to raise up the next Don Moore, or raise up the next Jerry Butler.  I wonder where he is now.  He’s in church somewhere, trying to get back to where he was supposed to be, huh.  [laughter]  I don’t know.  Jerry, if you’re watching this show, please, you know, call me.  I want to know what you’re doing today. 

Now, so God has this thing. I want, can I talk to you just from my notes?  I wrote down a few things while I was driving, I don’t recommend that. [laughter]  I don’t recommend it.  But it’s just the way sometimes when the Lord’s speaking to me, I catch it.  And here’s what He wants you to know. 

There’s a transference of blessings.  Just as God is going to transfer the blessings that He has for Moses and the Children of Israel, He’s going to transfer that to the Children of Israel.  He’s not going to give them somebody else’s stuff.  Everybody got that?  He’s not going to do that.  There is a transference of blessings.  For example,… I mentioned this already, God has a special anointing for you… He has a special anointing for you.  It may be a simple thing like being able, being, having a gift of hospitality.  But that you can open your heart and greet people better than I can… You might be what I call a Holy Ghost hugger.  Swine flu or not.   You could probably hug people and make them feel the love of Jesus more than anybody else.  You may have the gifts of healing, or gifts of touch.  You may have the ability to go through your go through, watch this, and be able to communicate to someone who’s about to go through their go through and give them the victory.  [hallelujah, amen] 

We have a lady in this church and my heart goes out to her because she suffered the same thing that my brother did.  My brother lost his 19 year old son, in an unfortunate automobile accident.  And I said to her, I says, “Girl, you have a gift.”  She doesn’t think of herself as very gifted.  But she has a testimony that she can give to anyone who’s gone through that tragedy, that I can’t give, and many of you can’t give.  When she says, “I have been through that, I’ve lost a child.”  She can say it with a conviction of experience that can touch the heart of another person in a way that I couldn’t.  Some of us have been through sicknesses and we say, I wish I’d never gone through that.  Some of you have been through a divorce that was really tough.  You wish you hadn’t gone through it, but guess what?  Divorce isn’t going to stop.  By the time Jesus, till Jesus comes.  And so there’s going to be people that need your touch.  They’re going to be people that say, “You can get through this, girl.  You can get through this, boy. You can make that, somehow.” 

There’s a transference of anointing that can happen.  We can help trade our sorrows and transfer what? Transfer not the sorrow, but the blessing that comes from having been sorrowed.  I’m not saying, let’s all run out and be sorry.  I’m saying that there is a blessing when you get the victory over sorrow, that you can transfer that blessing, having been through it.  I wrote this down. You ready?  [yes]  There’s a transference of blessing of coming from poverty… into wealth… There’s a transference of blessing. 

The Children of Israel wanted to take what Esau had, not realizing that what was in Cainan Land was even more prosperous for them.  Don’t think somehow, Oh Child of God, I don’t want to make you feel bad but God’s not going to bless you through lotto.  You might win $40 or $140.  You might even win a million…But that’s not the way God really wants to bless you… I’d better move along.  Looking at me, looking at me kinda quiet, now. [laughter]  Ok. 

Every believer in here needs to get this on their lips.  “I want mine!”  [I want mine.]  I want mine.  You need to, from in here, say, “I want mine.”  I want what’s mine.  I want what God has set aside for me.  I want what’s mine.  I want to lay hold to what’s mine.  What is it that God has provided, that’s mine, I want mine?  I want my own stuff.  When we look at that with the right idea, look at this. 

Sara messed up.  Sara’s married to Abraham, and Sara tells his concubine to go in with her husband, to bring forth a child.  The child that Hagar brought forth was not her child.  But what did she want?  She should have been going to God and saying, “I want mine … and I’m willing to wait for it.”  Ok, Jacob.  What did Jacob do?  Jacob fell under the spell of his mother.  And his mother had a plan to what?  To steal his brother’s birthright.  Jacob should have looked at his mother and said, “Esau’s birthright is his, as the first born.  Momma, I understand your plan, but I want mine.”  I believe he shoulda said, “I believe that the blessing that Daddy will speak over me for myself is going to be better than stealing the blessing that my brother’s going to get.”  He should have said, “I want mine.”  King David looks off his porch at a beautiful woman,.. beautiful woman.  And he decides, who is that?  And they say that is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.  And right then something should have gone off in his head.  That’s Uriah’s wife.  I want mine.  I want my own.  It’s even more pathetic when we realize that at that point he was closing in on 100 wives anyway… Now, that’s what you call a greedy, lustful man.  Right? …

The Holy Spirit knows what you need.  The Holy Spirit knows what He has provided for you.  Right now, as America and the world are going the way that they are going, … now is the time for you to get yours.  To believe that God will still prosper you in an unprosperous land.  That God will still provide for you even in a land where there’s lack.  That God’ll make a way for you even if you lost your job.  Or even if they’re trying to take your job from you.  Cause, if it’s your job that God has given you, they can’t take it from you.  [amen] I don’t care what hoops they jump through, God will keep you right there. 

When you look at wealth, don’t let the television convince you that somehow you should have all that glamorous stuff because God has carved out something else for you.  [yeah]  I’ve just, I was just as happy in our little two bedroom trailer as I am now in a house with 6,000 square feet.  Cause at least in that two bedroom trailer, I could always find my wife.  [laughter]  Now I can yell at the top of my … and I have no idea were she is. 

God wants you to have yours.  He has provided for you an inheritance even in this difficult time.  And all you have to go is this, just raise your hands like this.  Just raise your hands like that.  Say, Daddy.  [Daddy]  I want mine.  [I want mine.]  I want what you have for me.  [I want what you have for me.]  Thank you, I receive it right now.  [Thank you, I receive it right now.]  Just make that your prayer.  Just make that your prayer.  No matter what, just make that your prayer.  Leave here today feeling good. 

I feel better already.  I feel better already.  Cause see, I’m not after anybody else’s ministry anymore.  You know, I’m not after, you know, I don’t need a mega church with 15,000 people.  Why, because I know how much of a headache 300 is, so why would I want 15,000?  [laughter]  But I thought about it the other day.  You know, Joel Osteen and these guys, they don’t have what I have.  I get to know all of you on a personal level.  I get to know you all, hug you, know you by name.  Joel Osteen, he don’t know, he can’t do that.  Could you imagine him walking, walking off the podium, and start greeting people?  After he gets past 20 people, who are on his staff, he’s starting to mumble, he’s starting to say something, “Hey, brother.  Hi, sister.”  He can’t go, “Hey, Mike.”  He can’t do that. 

I want mine.   I don’t want anybody else’s ministry.  I don’t want anybody else’s stuff.  I’m not envious of anybody else out here, coming or going.  I want mine.  I don’t want you women out here.  I’ll minister to you, but I got mine.  She’s something else to behold.  She’s fantastic.  I’ve got a great wife.  Amen.  [amen]  So you don’t have to worry about Pastor Don falling into sexual sin.  Listen, if you were married to Cynthia, you’d have no problem.  [laughter]  Ain’t nothing out there any other woman in this world can do for me.  She just smiles and it lights up my world.  [awww]  Nobody else can do that. 

You got to get your mind set to be content with what you have, where you have it, and begin to do what?  Begin to just thank God, I got mine.  I got mine.  I got mine.  I’ve got an old beat up red truck.  Runs half of the time. [laughter]  It’s mine, but I’m glad to give it to anybody that wants it.  [laughter]  Cause, maybe it’s really yours. [laughter]  Lord have mercy!  Don’t worry, I’m not going to grow up.  I’m just going to keep staying right like this.  I want mine. 

Say it from your heart, “I want mine.”  [I want mine.]  I want mine, Daddy.  Oh Daddy, I want mine.  I want mine.  I’m not looking.  Listen, Buddha can’t do anything for me.  Mohammed can’t do anything.  I have my Savior.  His name is Jesus Christ.  I am His, and He is mine.  I am His, and He is mine.  And I don’t need to go anywhere else.  I need to just get this one together.  I just need more Holy Ghost knowledge.  More Holy Ghost wisdom.  And He has that for me. 

Come on, put your hands up here and say, “I’m smart.” [I'm smart.]  “I have wisdom.” [I have wisdom.]  “I have capability.”  [I have capability.]  “My aptitude,”  [My aptitude.]  “is not bound”  [is not bound]  “by my capability.” [by my capability]  “because God”  [because God]  “declares my altitude.”  [declares my altitude.]  I want mine!  [I want mine!]  AAAAAAAAAAA  See some of you all can’t do that.  Come on.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAA  [AAAAAAAAAAAAA]  You know what that was?  That was a child calling out to Daddy, and giving Him the whine.  [laughter]  The positive whine.  [laughter]  You know, I want mine, Daddy!  [chuckling] 

But see, my whine has yes at the end of it.  I know I’m going to receive it.  I know I have it.  It’s going to be ok.  I’m just a stepping stone.  You know what the Bible says?  It says that if you seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things will be added.  So I looked up what are all those things, that the Gentiles seek after.  I found out that Gentiles seek after houses and lands…  I found out that Gentiles want, what do they call those TV’s?  Flat screen TV’s.  [laughter]  Right?  I found out that the Gentiles want vacations.  Don’t the Gentiles want vacations?  [yes] 

Russ, when are you going to take her on a vacation, man?  [laughter]  Huh?  She left and went on vacation without you?  [laughter]  That means you ain’t doing right.  Get in my office I want to talk to you.  [laughter]  Come on.  Every husband in here, you should take your wife on vacation, four times a year.  [amen]  What are you talking about?  Don’t give me that face.  [laughter]  Don’t give me that face.  So you mess around.  Somebody else’ll take her on vacation.  [it ain't that bad.]  Four times a year.  Four times a year.  [I want mine!]  Every season.  [laughter]  The women’s retreat is not a vacation.  [laughter]  The women’s retreat is not a vacation. 

Come on, my sermon is over.  So let’s just talk for awhile.  When you say, I want mine, you have to up the bar.  What God wants for you is better than what you’re doing.  [come on]  What God wants for you is better than what you’re doing.  [amen]  What are you talking about?  Four times.  I take my wife away, spring, summer, and winter and fall.  Every season I take her away.  [clapping]   She’s beautiful in every one of those seasons, she looks totally different.  And why does she look different?  Because why?  I take her away.  It don’t cost a lot of money… It don’t cost a lot of money.  [laughter]  What’s she saying I do?  It doesn’t.  It doesn’t cost a lot of money.  It doesn’t cost a whole lot of money.  All you have to do is begin to pray and believe God, He’ll make a way. 

We have a member of this church, I needed to go on vacation.  I prayed, I said, “Lord, Lord, we need to get away.  We need to get away.”  That week, you know, I called her name but then you all would be bugging her, that week she walked in my office and said, “Pastor Don, have you been praying for a vacation?”  I said, “Yes, sister.  Why?”  She said, “Well, we own a cabin on the lake.  Here are the keys.  Go whenever you want.” 

What are you talking about?  My God is God!!!!  He knows what you need!   And will give it to you!  You need to open up your heart and raise your level of faith and believe that He wants to prosper you!  He wants to bless you!  Coming and going!  Stop going around the mountain of lack and believe that He wants to bless you!  Stop thinking the way you’re thinking!   Change the limitation!  Take off the limits and believe God to raise you up and to bless you, to provide for your needs and abundantly provide!  Believe God!  He wants to give it to you!  [amen]  He’s looking for you.  Stop going around the mountain with the same excuses.  We don’t have the money.  You don’t have because you didn’t ask or you asked amiss.  But, if you’ll ask, He’ll grant it to you.  [amen, Jesus, hallelujah]  Jesus is Lord!  [praise God!]  Jesus is Lord!  [clapping]

We made a presentation for Diversity Day at the local high school about our trip to Israel.  One of our members made a slide show of some photos of our trip.  Thought you would like to see it.  The music is from Don Moore and the In His Name Singers.

As believers we are sold a bill of goods as true by those who do not accept all that is in the Bible as true for today. God can see the end from the beginning.  God does not function in Chronos Time (clock time as we know it on earth).  If we could realize this our outlook would change for we would believe that God’s perfect timing was in effect.  But our perception of Chronos time gets in our way all the time.  God’s timing is different and if we could realize that He moves at the right time for us, then we would not get caught up in Chronos time and things would not seem so boring and wrong.

Psalm 17:3-5 You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. Concerning the works of men, by the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer. Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip.

The Prophet David was saying that there is a period and time of testing for the believer.  God knows the mind of us and is giving us a testing of the heart.  Our hearts elude us when we think we want one thing, but we really want another.  Be careful.  On the surface what we respond to does not always come from our heart but from our brain.

In the natural we can be politely nice to people we don’t like.  Be social and polite.  We can do it to God. Yet in our heart we can think they are a pain and we don’t like them.  God has tested our heart and as a result, God can decide if we are qualified and able to be put in position for the Kingdom.  God directs our steps.  When we let God direct our steps it is a benefit to the believer, but we need to qualify for it.  If we don’t have a right heart, we are not in a position to be led. 

The authority for the believer has conditions.  The love of God is unconditional, but if we qualify we also gain authority.  There is a difference between blessing and status.

Our status with God is that we are acceptable and He loves us.  That’s a blessing for we are blessed to be a child of God.  But for further blessings we have to qualify.

We are the pride of God and He is our loving Father.  When God moves He will abundantly exceed our expectations.  It is not tit for tat.  For one little nice thing that we do for God, God does 50 or more for us.

We need to open our heart and let God in.  When He comes in He will move the furniture around and redecorate.  God wants to open up the secret compartments of our hearts.  We have learned self protection, don’t open up to every person.  But some relationships are progressive over time, and we open up to a deeper relationship.  We want to try and hide things from God, but God knows the things in our hearts and thoughts.  The devil can’t hear our thoughts, he can only watch our behaviors and see our thoughts through what we say and do. 

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

The things you think in the night, your good and your bad thoughts, God can visit you there.  We want to give our whole lives to God, and let Him transform our thoughts and minds, to be more in line with His perfect will for our lives.

Psalm 17:4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.

It is what we say that helps to keep us out of the paths of the destroyer.  We can speak negative into our lives or positive, it is our choice what comes out of our lips.

Psalm 17:5 Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip.

To qualify we don’t want our footsteps to slip.  We know we can’t get out if we are hiding stuff and not ready to go to where God wants us to go.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all^a]’> on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Notice that in this the earth was without form and void – God does not create a mess. God made all things perfect but something happened to cause the earth to be without form and void.

We know what precision it takes for our universe to operate.  In verse 1 there was order and everything was in it’s right place.  Verse 2 something happened to cause the earth to be without form and void.  What happened?

Darkness was on the face of the deep.  We really don’t know what that means.  But then after that, God goes through the process of creation – reestablishing order.  For things to stay in order there needs to be someone to have dominion on the earth. 

God redecorated the earth and told Adam and Eve to keep it nice.  God’s plan was that man was going to keep order on the planet. 

Wherever God’s presence comes he will set things in order.

Practicing dominion here is a heart issue.  The condition of the heart is immediately obvious for our mind shows our heart issues.

Psalm 18:1 I will love You, O LORD, my strength.

I WILL – we choose to do it.  He gives us a choice to make.  We can choose to love or not to love – to love God or not to love him, to treat others with love or not to treat them with love.  We can overlook shortcomings in another – if we are looking for perfection on earth we will not find it for we all have stuff that makes us imperfect.

We need to get past the heart issues and speak to our needs.  For example if you husband leaves his socks on the floor you can choose not to be offended.  We love someone not to hurt them but to help them.  If we will love people then we will change toward them and they will change toward us.

If we let God into our hearts, we open up hidden places and we get more blessing and power, and we need to do this to reap benefits.

We have to get honest with God.  Lord I am working on it, I am trying to get it right.  Don’t pretend that you have it right.  You can’t step into the anointing without a humble heart and bold faith.  David did not kill Goliath without stepping into Biblical faith.   Let our feelings of unworthiness stop.

The book of Acts is also for us, for it shows what we can do.  But we have to open our heart to it and want to qualify ourselves to step into boldness and get it.

We thought about a song that is often sung at our church.  “The presence of the Lord is here and I’m going to get my blessings right now.”  This seems carnal, but to qualify for blessings from God we have to go get them.  With the right mind we can have the greatest blessings of God.  So how do we qualify?  We want to line up with the thoughts of God, but how do we know what God is thinking?  Some use Isaiah 55 to tell us that we can’t know what God is thinking – but that is stinking thinking.  We then looked at the passage of Isaiah 55 that seems to say we don’t know the thoughts of God.  We looked at it deeply to see what it was really saying and who it was talking to.

The passage is Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,  nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

If you take these verses out of context it sure seems that it is saying that we can’t know the thoughts of God.  We eliminate anyone from knowing God’s thoughts, and belittle ourselves.  So let’s look and see who is he speaking to?  What is He speaking about?  What does it mean?

God’s talking.  Who is God talking to?

Isaiah 55:1 Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money,  come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

There is an availability of sustenance for anyone, outside or inside.  All we have to have is need, and we can get it.  It is free.

Isaiah 55:2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.

There are two kinds of bread – carnal (earth bread that we can eat) and spiritual bread.  If we spend only on carnal things we will not be satisfied.  We need to have wise use of money for spiritual things.  Make wise decisions and eat what is good.  Let the soul delight itself in abundance – this is about something more spiritual, not just more bread.  How do we get this spiritual food?

Isaiah 55:3-4  Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you—the sure mercies of David.  Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people.

God is directing us that if we want something spiritual, soul bread, spiritual food we have to come to God.  LISTEN ATTENTIVELY.  Come to God.  HEAR it in your ear and receive it in your heart and mind.   Be careful how you hear.  We can hear something with a critical ear, sometimes we hear foolishly.  We do not always discern what we are hearing.  We have to hear, analyze it and decide if it is from God, and then let it get to our minds and heart.  It is there that we have the authority of the believer.

Open up our heart’s secret places to God.  God’s not going to smack you down, but He will help you clean it up.  All we need to do is make an effort to open up to God and He will bless you.

When we hear and open up our insides to God we shall have the Zoe kind of life.  Zoe means to live – the God kind of life.  We are not just alive physically, but we will have a good life. Yes we will have problems, but there will be a peace and excitement and an abundant life even in the midst of our challenges.  Our soul is composed of our mind, will and emotions and our soul will be happy.  Is God afraid of swine flue, poverty or the economic downturn?  No.  We have an everlasting covenant with God.  This passage is talking to us, for we are sons of David through Jesus Christ. 

Was David perfect?  No. But he had a heart for God.  David stole Uriah’s wife and had Uriah killed.  He violated his covenant as king.  He was not a great father.  But He did know to repent and lean on the mercy of God.  He opened His heart to God and God called David a man after His own heart. 

There is no sin too great that God can’t use us.  Everyone God uses has had sin in their lives. Biblical examples of this are David, Paul, Peter, etc. Jesus is the only one without sin.

Isaiah 55:5  Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you.”

Even though we have shortcomings, God will make us a special example to men.  We are the head and not the tail.  He endues us with power and authority, in spite of our shortcomings.  Why?  Because God has glorified us. 

Jesus is our present reality.  The Kingdom of God gives us authority, and helps us with what we do not know.  We are led by the Holy Spirit, who helps us to know the mind and will of God, and the Holy Spirit speaks what Jesus speaks.  The King is the Father, and we are under His benevolent dictatorship.

The unsaved call for the Kingdom of God, they look for us, and not know why.  But we draw them to us, for we are ambassadors in the Kingdom of God.  We are serving in the United States of America as Ambassador of the Kingdom of God. Our nation is the Kingdom of God.  God glorifies us and places His anointing on us. 

Some may wonder how can I be a sinner so long, and all of a sudden – miraculously be a believer.  Our God is able.  Our past is closed to us and God remodels us to serve in His Kingdom.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.

God is talking to us.  We believers are glorified by Him because He is always near. The above passages speak to those who are believers, then Isaiah speaks to those who are nonbelievers, the wicked.

Isaiah 55:7 And the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

God is talking to us about the wicked.  God is seeking to reach the wicked, and what they need to do is to return to the Lord, and God will have mercy on them.  Therefore if man changes his thoughts and returns to God, God will forgive him. 

Am I wicked and unrighteous?  We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  When we were wicked or have our wicked thoughts we are not having God’s thoughts.  Therefore then, the following verses would apply to us. But as the righteousness of God verses 8 and 9 do not apply to us.

You can’t separate verse 7 from verse 8.

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

We reversed this passage.  When the wicked forsake God’s ways, then God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. 

A Spirit Filled Believer has God’s thoughts.  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit and are righteous because of Jesus, then we are thinking God’s thoughts. As the righteousness of God, we can get righteous, good ideas.

Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

What we do when we are righteous. 

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.

Our minds will come to come to power in our callings, blessings and success if our heart is open and ready to receive.  God says that we think like Him when our hearts are open to God and have changed.  When our hearts are opened to God we begin to think right and get God’s thoughts.  We can then hear what it is that God is saying through our hearts.  We can discern if it is God or not God. 

We want to work at opening up our hearts and exposing to God those hidden secrets and not pretend that they are not there.  God already knows about them.  When we can open them up to God we can be healed.  God can return us to righteousness.

Then we need to begin to question our thoughts and ideas, are they wicked or righteous?  We can determine to only do those things that are Godly.  We can seek how we can be a blessing rather than a curse.  How can we improve a situation instead of making it worse.

We can then step into all the promises of God.  God has no problem with us realizing that we get something when we serve and obey God.  God does not mind wise servants. 

God wants us to open our hearts so He can heal us, open our ears so that He can speak to us, and open our minds so that He can change our mind to be more like His.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather