Month: July 2009

  • Authority of the Believer – unworthiness by Pastor Don

    First, one of our members shared her testimony and read a poem she wrote about unworthiness.  I need to speak with her to see if she is willing to let me share what she wrote, if she does I will share that with you at a later date.

    We can get God to act on our behalf taking steps that God provides.  We won’t get God’s cooperation if we are walking our own way.  God wants the best for us.  John 14-17 lets us know God’s heart for us.  God wants our joy to be complete and He wants us to be successful, happy, and have a long and fruitful life.

    Pastor Don shared that he used to feel very unworthy to be used by God.  He had grown up in the Baptist church and then went and lived the life of a musician, including playing an instrument in Harry Belafonte’s band.  His lifestyle during his rebellious years was not pleasing to the Lord, so when he came back to the Lord, and God wanted him to be a pastor, Pastor Don felt unworthy.  But unworthiness is a trick of the devil to keep us down and to keep us from doing what God has planned for us to do.  But for years, satan kept Pastor Don down using unworthiness. 

    Then Pastor Don heard someone singing, “Just as I am without one plea…”  And the power of God hit Pastor Don.  He realized the message, but had trouble receiving it.  But the truth was that God wanted Pastor Don to be His child, just the way God wants us to be His child.  God perfects us when we fail. 

    When Pastor Don went off to college he felt he didn’t need God.  He felt his parents were idiots, and that he could figure things out for himself.  He also found out he was wrong in this.

    When we act in the authority of the believer we may think that our choices in life are ok and no problem, but if we step back and look at it honestly, we find that it isn’t.  That what we thought was ok was really empty, even though we think in our minds it is ok, something in the back of our head keeps saying that something is wrong with this picture.  God will put conviction into our minds, satan will put thoughts of unworthiness that keep us from moving forward.

    Pastor Don, as a saxophone player for Harry Belafonte got sick, was loosing weight, and couldn’t perform the way he used to.  He had sarcoidosis, a disease where his lungs were eating themselves up. His weight dropped from 180 pounds to 139 pounds and he was spitting up chunks of blood and lungs.  He couldn’t stop coughing.  His doctor told him to go home and get his house in order for he was going to die.  The most time he had left was five years.  Yet Pastor Don was young and was aware that his wife’s father had died at an early age and he didn’t want to die, didn’t want to leave his wife and children. 

    He grew up Baptist, and the best that he had to hope for under the Baptist belief system was that God would be with you IN your suffering.  Occasionally a miracle would happen, sometimes people get better, others die. 

    The doctor gave Pastor Don massive doses of cortisone to ease things, but it did not help much. Cortisone is a drug you can’t give up cold turkey.  Cynthia, Pastor Don’s wife was in church and she heard the voice of God and that voice told her, “I will heal him.”  She told Pastor Don this and that made Pastor Don think about the possibility of healing.

    Another memory that Pastor Don had was that his father had a stroke and his mom told his father to face the wall and ask God for 15 years like Hezekiah did.  His father’s stroke kept his father from preaching and his father did not want to live if he couldn’t do what he was called to do.  His father prayed and received his healing and had those 15 years of life to the day. And his father went back to being pastor, preaching, and serving God for those 15 years.

    Pastor Don turned to the wall and prayed something like this.  Lord, I haven’t served you, haven’t been good in the church, and I am not going to make any false promises.  My wife’s father died at 46 and I don’t want to see her a widow.  I want to see my kids grow up.  I want to live.

    After that prayer, he was watching the 700 Club on TV and Ben Kinchlow was praying.  He said that he saw a young man with an incurable lung disease, being healed.  Ben told this man to stand, lift his hands and the power of Jesus would touch him and heal him right now. 

    Pastor Don lifted his hands and received his healing – 30 years ago.  The power of God came on him.

    The power of God is also called the glory of God.  In Hebrew it means a heaviness, kind of like honey poured over you.   Your legs get wobbly.  Someone described it as velvet nectar.

    God touched Pastor Don. He went back to the doctor, went back and felt better.  Then some ideas from satan came to him, ideas telling him that he was not worthy to be healed.  But that was a lie from satan.   The doctor was so surprised at his healing, found out that Pastor Don stopped taking cortisone – an act that could have killed him, and pronounced him healed.  Pastor Don says he has the medical records to prove it.

    A few days later, after he received the healing he had a night from hell, when all the symptoms came back on him.  But they left and he has kept his healing.

    It is the Authority of the Believer to be healed.  After God heals us, though, we have to do work to maintain our healing.  We are not taught how to hold onto our healing, and many lose their healing for the devil comes in to steal the seeds. 

    There were voices speaking inside of Pastor Don’s head telling him how unworthy he was, that he should give up and die, that healing is not for us, that it is just a psychological episode.  But there was also something in his mind telling him to hold onto his healing.  He did not know how to do that. 

    Pastor Don began to study about miracles, books and tapes on healings and miracles started showing up at his house and he read and listened to them.

    Usually when you are terminally ill your friends disappear.  But there were many Christian friends who stayed and helped him to gain these teachings.

    When lying symptoms come you need to stand in faith.  Many receive their healing on Sunday but by Monday they have confessed their sickness again and do not hold to the confession of healing.

    Matthew 13:11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

    There are mysteries in the Kingdom of Heaven that are only open to the believer.  To the non-believer and those outside of the Kingdom of Heaven they are closed. Out of the mouth of two or more witnesses is confirmation.

    Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

    What is faith?

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

    Faith is a SUBSTANCE, something physical and tangible.  It is EVIDENCE, and it becomes tangible evidence of something.  It may not be here in the natural, but we know it will be here in the future.  It is as real as if it was tangible.  It is a I know that I know that I know. Even before it manifests to us in the physical it is as real as when it arrives in the future.

    FAITH IS NOT QUANTITATIVE.  You can’t pray for more faith.  Praying, “If I had more faith…” it is not Biblical.  We are told that faith the size of a mustard seed (a mustard seed is about the size of a grain of pepper), that is a tiny bit of faith, and with that faith we can move mountains.  We don’t have to believe to get more faith – we are given a measure of faith.

    The Church has mistaught people, telling them that we need quantity, that we can do more, but all we need is that mustard seed of faith to do stuff.

    FAITH IS I KNOW I HAVE IT, not I’m believing for it.  But believing FOR is a process towards getting to faith.  

    When we are sick we have choice – we can believe that we won’t be healed, we can begin the process of believing for our healing, or we can make a decision and say I KNOW I am healed.  It is a choice to believe. 

    Most people who say that they are believing in faith are really wishing and hoping.  You need to believe – to know that you know that you know.  Therefore those who are wishing and hoping are not in faith. 

    Faith is the SUBSTANCE, the EVIDENCE.  Without that you can’t please God.  Faith isn’t something we can figure out in our minds. 

    All the facts that Pastor Don knew about his life was that the doctor told him that he was going to die. 

    Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

    There are two positions we need to have according to Hebrews 11:6.  1. We have to believe that HE IS and 2. that He is a REWARDER, He is going to give me something.  God will give you something.  God doesn’t have to respond to wishing and hoping. 

    Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them

    When two or three are gathered together in Jesus’ Name, He is in the midst of them. 

    Wishing and hoping does not have people gathered in one accord. 

    Children have greater faith than adults – they are not taught to disbelieve.  Pastor Don told us about a revivalist in Oklahoma who was called to pray for rain and he told the people that at the end of the next night there would be rain.  The next night only one person, a 10 year old girl, brought an umbrella.  The rest did not have the faith to believe that it really would rain.

    FAITH REQUIRES AN ACTION. 

    IMPOSSIBLE – you can’t tell nonbelievers God is going to show up for them and not believe that He is. 

    People pray, “If God wills.”  Do we know His will?  His will is expressed in the Word of God. 

    Leave the “if” out. 

    Pastor Don spoke about a skeptic, Josh McDowell who sought after God.  Yes, he sought after God to disprove God, but to do that he began diligently seeking God – to disprove Him.  God manifested His Word to Josh McDowell and he became a believer.

    The Holy Spirit will help you locate people, showing you how to approach them.  There is not a rote way to pray. 

    We need to know if the person really wants to be well.  Jesus asked the man at the Pool of Siloam if he wanted to be made well.  Pastor Don was praying for someone and found out that they really did not want to be healed.  They wanted a certain healing but not a complete healing for if they got that they would lose their social security disability. 

    If you have “maybe” thinking prayer does not help, but prayer can help you get to the point where your faith kicks in and you begin to believe. 

    Who can say that Heaven is a better place than earth?  We know that it is, yet many on earth are still afraid to die, afraid to go to that better place.  We all have so much stuff we want to do right here on earth, and we are not ready to die.  But Pastor Don has visited many people in the hospital where their families are praying for the person to live and not die, but when the family members leave the person in the hospital is telling Pastor Don that they are ready to move to the next place, but their families are holding them back from that.

    Romans 10:8-9 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”g]’> brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks

    From our mouths we can confess good and evil.  We can be positive or negative.  If we are feeling unworthy, we will speak unworthy, and believe unworthy.  Negative confessions also have power and will manifest.  We need to watch what we are saying.

    Mark 11:22-25 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

    In Christ we trust.

    Pastor Don spoke about his big brother and at times having a big brother made it difficult in the Bronx for Pastor Don to stand on his own, for he was always Jerry’s little brother.  So Pastor Don, as a youth, would be ready to fight to “prove himself” and someone would whisper to the potential combatant that this is Jerry’s little brother, and the person would back off.  But sometimes being the little brother of Jerry was a good thing, such as when Pastor Don, short and not bulky, wanted to join the football team and the coach let him in because his brother had a fight and a determination about him, and the coach figured that Pastor Don would have that same sort of determination.

    The truth of the matter is that we are unworthy, we have messed up.  We have made wrong decisions, and the direction we would go in our own strength is the wrong direction.  In our witness we are Judas at times. 

    Romans 3:10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

    When we confront the evil one, we want our Big Brother (Jesus) with us.  We can have faith in our Big Brother, for He has declared that He is there for us.

    Pastor Don’s brother, years and years ago before his brother got saved, was a warlord of a Bronx gang, so Pastor Don was Papa Jumbo’s little brother. As his brother, there was a protection placed around Pastor Don.

    When we are in a relationship with God, God is above any powerful situation that can come against us.  It is not WE who are all that, but GOD is all that.  We come with the package.  We are under the covering and protection of HIS name. 

    If I have the same heart determination, God will use me in spite of my past and the sins I have done.  I am not worthy in myself, but I am worthy IN HIM.  The devil is scared to death of you for He knows WHO you are hooked up with – the King of Kings, Lord of Lords.   That we are the righteousness of God IN CHRIST JESUS. 

    Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

    We tend to believe that we needed to live such a holy life for Him to use us, but we were not Holy on our own, it was He who made us Holy.   It is not what WE do, but BECAUSE HE DID.

    Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

    God is the one that put me in this place of being accepted in the Beloved.

    Ephesians 1:7-9 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,

    We have REDEMPTION IN HIM.

    Ephesians 1:10-11 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, bothb]’> is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

    We are not here for our glory but for HIS GLORY.

    Praying this teaching blessed you. 

    (Heather’s comment) I am so grateful that I came to Christ although I wish I had not waited so long to make that decision.  Trust me, the 40 years I spent in the wilderness not believing in Him were horrific.  I have found such peace and joy and happiness in these past 7 years.  Sometimes I wish that I could go back and redo those 40 years, but now I see that it is those years that give me a heart to reach those who are still deluded into thinking that they can do things on their own.  We really need HIM, for it truly is IN HIM that we have righteousness, peace and joy.

    Heather

  • Isaiah 2: 12-22, idols, Job by Pastor Don Moore

    Thought you might like this picture.  Pastor Don used an umbrella to demonstrate being under the covering of God. And then took the umbrella a way to show God removing the covering through sins of omission and commission.

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    Isaiah spoke for his time period and what is to come. 

    Isaiah 2:12-22  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up— and it shall be brought low— upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols He shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the LORD and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily. In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the crags of the rugged rocks, from the terror of the LORD and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily. Sever yourselves from such a man, whose breath is in his nostrils;  for of what account is he?

    What is the day of the Lord, when will it come and what will it attain?  The terror and judgment of this is not for us.  This is like God telling sinful mankind, you’ve had your day, now this is mine.  We were made to rule and have dominion but that dominion was usurped by sin, and people have turned their backs on God’s plan for their lives. 

    The history of mankind – 6000 years and at the end of that time will come the Day of the Lord.  God let mankind have it’s way up to a certain point, but there will be judgment.

    Genesis 3 to the end of time. 

    Deuteronomy 7:9-10 Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.

    God’s wrath is for those who choose to hate Him. 

    We then spent some time on the 10 Commandments, especially the commandment about idols and carved images.  The discussion was intense, showing that people had real concerns, and after one question was asked, another was raised until one member of our group mentioned that the intensity of the discussion indicates that those asking the questions have an unquietness within them, and that should be an indication to not do what is causing such unquietness. 

    Deuteronomy 5:6-7 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.

    Deuteronomy 5:8 You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

    Don’t go there.

    Deuteronomy 5:9-10 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

    No carved images for religious purposes, for if you do that it is like hating God.

    Deuteronomy 16:21-22 You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God. You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.

    Deuteronomy 17:1 You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.

    Pastor Don spoke strongly about idols in churches, and said that if he put up a poster or a sign or anything and he saw anyone go up to it and pray to it, cross themselves or anything, it would be taken down and destroyed.  When we deal with idols we worship from the flesh and through the eyes. 

    The truth is we have idols that others may not be aware of, anything that takes a greater place than God in your life is an idol.  In the Last Days God will strike down the idols and things that are not pleasing to him.  We see God doing this all throughout scripture.  Even the bulls that the Israelites made in the wilderness were ground into powder and the Israelites were forced to eat that.  Gideon was told to tear down his father’s idols. 

    Our flesh likes these things. But the end of Deuteronomy 5:9 (see above) tells us that God is a jealous God, and those who worship idols hate Him.

    A major discussion about idols ensued and various people had questions about angel figurines, what happens to them because their parents had statues of saints in their house, etc.

    Regarding parental use of idols, Pastor Don reminded the people of the following verse.

    Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

    God is always willing to modify punishment if people repent and meet His conditions.  The God of the Old Testament is not different from the God of the New Testament – for the laws hold true – God does not change His mind. 

    God slew many in the Old Testament who disobeyed, it seems like there is a lot of killing in the Old Testament.  We bring our punishments on ourselves by our behavior, the seeds sown, which is why Joy Pollard often tells us to pray for a crop failure.  Deuteronomy 27, 28, 29, and 30 talk of what occurs if you choose to obey God or disobey God.  There are blessings for obedience.

    For example Deuteronomy 28:1-2 Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God: Then it lists the various blessings, in the basket, family, etc.

    Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: There are curses listed for disobedience.  Notice that the curses will come and OVERTAKE you. 

    We expect blessings, but when curses come we often do not expect them to come.  We start asking questions like, why did God do this to me?  But when we think that is is God bringing it on a person, it is not.  It is more like God removing His covering, His hand of protection off of a person and then the enemy comes in.

    We don’t always see what evils God has averted from our life.  The devil goes to and fro seeking whom he can devour.  The devil is seeking all the time, and is waiting for an opening in our life, an opening we provide when we sin.

    Pastor Don had one person stand up and another person pretend to try and hit them. Each time a fist came toward the person, Pastor Don’s hand came and intercepted it so that the fist did not touch the person.  That is like God deflecting blows of the enemy from our life.  If Pastor Don removes his hand and does not stop a blow, the person may say, “God did this.”  But God did not do that, God just didn’t deflect a blow from the enemy because the person was out of line with God’s will.  So when the Bible says that God put a curse upon someone, satan always is ready to step forward and do it.  It is God withholding protection.

    Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

    Deuteronomy 28:20 The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.

    When it says that the Lord will “send” it really means the Lord will remove His covering. 

    One example is the book of Job.

    The book of Job answers the question about why the righteous have to suffer, yet at the end after the suffering Job gains 7 times as much because Job stayed faithful to God.  But what could have permitted satan to put these things on Job?  Job was not perfect.

    Job 1:1-3 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.

    Job was like the Bill Gates of his time period, and had many possessions.

    Job 1:4 And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

    This is dicey – the sisters should not have been partying with their brothers.

    Job 1:5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursedb]’> also came among them.

    Sons of God, nephalim, angels.

    Job 1:7 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

    Looking for anybody who he can usurp.

    Job 1:8-9 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”  So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

    So satan tried to come up with a reason why Job was serving God, saying it was because he was compensated for that.

    Job 1:10  Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

    This shows that satan had already tried to get to Job or else he wouldn’t have known about the hedge.

    When things are going well in  your life know that you are blessed, don’t be prideful thinking you did it yourself, realize that God set up hedges around you.  That is why we can prosper in a recession, because God has placed a hedge around us.  If something isn’t working in our lives it is important to do a careful self-examination – making sure we have dotted all the “i’s” and crossed all the “t’s”.  It can be a tiny sin that leaves an opening for the enemy, forgetting to latch the screen door.  Ask God to bring to your remembrance what you need to correct in our life. 

    For example, our word is our bond – check what we have said, done, the little things.  Make things right.

    Job 1:11-12 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

    All he has is in your power but now his person (soul & spirit).

    Job 1:13  Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house;

    They were still sinning, and the fire of God comes down.

    We begin to see that his children are killed, the servants killed, the livestock.  Virtually everything but Job’s wife who told him to curse God and die.  When such disasters happen to property and people often God is the one that gets the blame.  How come?  Insurance calls it an act of God, but this was brought about because of something Job did that removed the hedge of protection around himself.

    What was Job’s reaction.  Unlike most of us who would have complained or blamed God, Job worshipped God.

    Job 1:20-22 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

    Job was wrong in thinking that God did this to him, but Job did not say, “God, You did the wrong thing.”  Satan took away from Job, but God did remove the hedge of protection.  When we are in God’s permissive will (not His perfect will for our lives) and things go wrong we often feel that God did that.  The truth is that if Job did not hold his children to a standard of righteousness, and that opened up the gate to satan. 

    Also Job was not in faith for faith and fear cannot coexist and Job said:

    Job 3:25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.

    The righteous behavior of a righteous man gives no indication of doubt and unbelief to the devil.  The devil can’t read what is going on in our heads, he can only hear our prayers, our words and read our actions.  That is why praying in tongues defeats the devil’s ability to hear what we are saying.

    The koran tells people that allah sets traps for the righteous and pulls them down.  God does not do that to us.  It is by righteousness and faith that we counter satan who is the accuser of the brethren.  The accusations of satan are only valid if there is sin.

    David was a man after God’s heart, and even though he committed fornication, adultery, and murder, he realized and repented for he had sinned against God.  David was not perfect, but when his sin was exposed He did not give excuses, he told God, I did wrong, and accepted the punishment that God meted out.

    God upheld Job, but Job was also lifted up in pride.  Just like we often do, he forgot the sins of omission, and in Job’s case that was the sin of not disciplining his kids. If Job (or us) were all that, then the devil would not have had a right to pull him down.  God permits that to pulling down to happen to Job.

    Job 24:1 Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, why do those who know Him see not His days?

    We will recognize the end days if we know God, and see what He does. 

    Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

    God will do nothing without telling His prophets.

    Job 24:17 For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; if someone recognizes them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

    The later days.  We then looked at some scriptures regarding the Day of the Lord.

    Ezekiel 13:5 You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the LORD.

    Jeremiah 30:7-10 Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. ‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds;  foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the LORD, ‘nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid.’

    If salvation is from afar, it means it is not near, but it will become near and Israel will return and have rest.

    Jeremiah 46:10 For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates.

    This is Iraq

    Amos 5:16-20 Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this:  “There shall be wailing in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ they shall call the farmer to mourning, and skillful lamenters to wailing. In all vineyards there shall be wailing,  for I will pass through you,” says the LORD. Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?

    Not pray for the coming of the Day of the Lord, but, as Pastor Don says, pray, “Lord, get me out of here.”  We do not want to stick around for what’s coming on earth.

    Obadiah 8-15 “Will I not in that day,” says the LORD, “even destroy the wise men from Edom, and understanding from the mountains of Esau? Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. In the day that you stood on the other side— in the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem–even you were as one of them. But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity; nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress. You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped; nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress. For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; as you have done, it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head.”

    Zephaniah 1:7-9 Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; for the day of the LORD is at hand, for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has invitedg]’> brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?

    Jesus is not talking about trees, trees are a symbol of people.

    Luke 21:29 Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.

    Fig tree is Jews, all the trees are the Gentiles.  This is not speaking about revival but about harvest.  The trees that produce no fruit will be killed, they will not be revived.

    Luke 21:30 When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near.

    What is budding is the people – and summer, the season is near.

    Luke 21:31 So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.

    When you see the budding of the trees (people) – not just Jews but also Gentiles. 

    Luke 13:6-9 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after thata]’> give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

    Jesus had authority over ALL flesh.  ALL flesh means ALL flesh.  All peoples, people groups, attitudes of the flesh, such as bad temper, foot-in-mouth disease, addictions, cancerous flesh, fleshly desires, TB, diabetes, lyme disease, yellow fever, and at the end of Jesus’ ministry, this authority will extend to all nations -.

    Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

    There is no partiality – God is not a respecter of persons.  All men from All nations can come to salvation.  God is all embracing. 

    1 Corinthians 15:35-39 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of fleshc]’>

    Jesus has commissioned us and given us authority.

    Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefored]’>

    Mark 16:15-18 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; theyg]’> but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

    Jesus spoke about God like no one else spoke, he called God, “Father (abba).” 

    According to Jewish law a son is born in his Father’s house, and owns everything, and has the same authority as the father. 

    In our culture a child is not called an adult until the parents say so, but that is not so in Jewish culture, where the child has Biblical authority when they are 12 1/2 and there is a passing of authority.

    Mary was only 14 years old.  God gave tremendous authority to her.

    Pastor Don told us that we would be shocked to realize that in other cultures around the world there is no such thing as the “terrible 2′s”.  Our culture is the only culture with rebellious teenagers.  He told us that he and his wife promised never to speak the words, “terrible 2′s” over their children and they never saw it as terrible. 

    If a rule is set, the rule is designed to be broken.  Romans 7:7-12 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”e]’> Ford]’> all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

    All the kingdoms of the world.

    Luke 4:6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

    Satan had the authority to give Jesus the Kingdoms of the earth because Adam gave them to satan.  The sons of Adam are giving this authority to satan on an ongoing basis.  Jesus did not accept the Kingdom from satan.  If he had accepted the kingdom from satan, satan would have taken it back and taken more. 

    The leaders of nations give their hearts and minds to satan.  Pharaoh did, deciding to oppose God.  Idi Amin, Hitler, and if you look these leaders who did such evil were all involved in the occult. 

    Even in America there are roots of the occult in our government.  Pastor Don pointed out that even on our dollar bill are occult images – such as the all seeing eye.  Pastor Don went over some of the symbols – and I am going to give you a link I found that clearly delineates what Pastor Don shared and some more – this is a link of mine, not given by Pastor Don.
    http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20Government/Federal%20Reserve20Scam/satan_on_our_dollar.htm

    He went over it very quickly, but the above link covers what he spoke about the pyramid, what the Latin means – new world order, the fact that 1776 was not July 4th but rather the date of May 4th which is connected with the illuminati in USA.  The all seeing eye of horus – is a pagan god, that will come to rest on the world.  The plans for the new world order have been in existence for a long time.  Notice that we often speak of the Almighty dollar.

    God is not pleased with this.  And we are beginning to see signs of how our government is leaning toward the new world order and anarchy. 

    Luke 4 tells us that satan is prepared to give authority to Jesus.  He is willing to give power to many, make them rich and famous, so that they can serve what he wants them to serve.  This plan is still going on today.

    But the final reality is the sovereign will of God.  Right now we are in the permissive will of God, and that lets satan get away with his schemes and gives us the choice to accept or reject these schemes, but there will be a judgment.  When God is ready he will act and all of satan’s plans will come to nothing.

    Adolph Hitler got leadership of the country and killed the Jews.  He confused the minds of the other nations such as England, France, Danish, Swiss, etc, who couldn’t decide what to do with Hitler – kill him or let him be.

    He did what the Palestinians are currently doing – take a little, then say, “I’ll be good.”  Then take a bit more and say, “I’ll be good.”  Rapidly gaining more and more territory. 

    Pastor Don will continue with John 5:25 and prophetic time and authority.  But I will leave that for tomorrow.

    Praying your day is blessed.

    Heather

  • Isaiah 1:7-19 by Pastor Don

    You never know where God is leading you until you get there, then you put the pieces together.

    Isaiah 1:7-9 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Unless the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah.

    In Israel there is a Feast of Booths/Feast of Tabernacles.  And in gardens there are huts and booths at the time of harvest where someone is assigned to protect the harvest.  The owner or a watchman would be present during the planting and the harvest to keep animals away.  The person protects what is entrusted to them.  The daughters of Zion were left, the rest of the nation was displaced. If God had not left a remnant, there would have been destruction like that of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Before the destruction they were mighty, had rights; but there was sexual perversion and idols. 

    Many have a wrong image of what the last days will look like.  The most abused word these days is “revival.”  To revive is to take what is dead and it is brought back to life.

    At harvest time there are plants and a watchman to keep an eye on things until the last days.  God is not looking for revival, but to preserve a remnant.  The dead churches are dead and will not be revived.  God is only looking for a harvest.  Harvest is different from revival.   Dead churches will not receive a breath of new life, why would God want to revive what was not working?  God will take the harvest from the field that has been planted and the seeds sown. Going inside and outside the church for a harvest. 

    Jesus spoke parables about the workers and the vineyards.  The remnant will not need to be revived, it is a remnant. Judah – praises – living in harvest.

    Restoration – not fully dead, but it will gain a new vision of God’s design, and bring things back to what it once was – before it became deadened.

    Revival – take the dead and bring it back to life.  We assume that what it was when it was alive was good, but that is not always true.

    Would you want the Baptist church to be revived to what it was in the 40′s or the 50′s? 

    Pastor Don was the son of a Baptist preacher and he told us the order of service – something that was inflexible.  He had us laughing as he imitated some of the various people, and gave us the following commentary.

    First there was come in and a call to worship.  Then morning prayer done by Deacon Jones Ray who wanted to show how prayerful he was – theatrical performances that fed the flesh of the people.  He had five minutes to exercise that flesh and tried to preach as good as the preacher.  The deacon who prayed could be replaced if the preacher felt threatened.  Then there was the welcome to the visitors – a rote exercise of politeness and false humility. Then there was the opening hymn – which was psalms and praises to God – the hymn had to be old – the older the better. A reading of a passage from the Old Testament.  A hymn, gospel or spiritual.  Then the New Testament scripture.  Then there was the meditation of the day – if the pastor was threatened he did it himself.  Then there was the offering – white gloves and all.  Then the offertory song – the most fleshly talented person would sing so that people were happy giving, it was upbeat.  Then there was the announcements usually done by a female secretary (never the pastor’s wife).  Then there was the church anthem which was a high brow music performance of the choir with lots of musical gymnastics to show off talent. Then the sermon.  Open the doors of the church and a call for salvation.  Salvation prayer, and then dismiss the congregation. 

    Every week the same order was in place and some of the members would sleep asking to be awakened for the sermon, but it was done by rote, not much of a move of the Holy Spirit.

    God does not want to bring something back to what it was, not back to the 1950′s and Old Time Religion.  HE WANTS TO RESTORE US TO WHAT HE WANTS US TO BE.  He will not bring us back to the way we were before – WE ARE NOT GOING BACK.  God wants to TAKE AWAY THE GARBAGE AND LEAVE US WITH THE TRUTH, TO ADD STUFF WE NEVER HAD.   Bring us to the model he has in mind for us, to our fullest potential, to be all we can be for Him.  This is not our vision, not the glory of the Baptist Church in the 1950′s, the Catholics in the 1600′s, or any other old tradition.

    It will be an ORIGINAL DESIGN, what HE WANTS IT TO BE, for it has never been the way God viewed it as perfect.  HE IS BRINGING US TO WHAT CHRIST DIED FOR.

    Hosea 6:1-2  Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.

    Revive and restore.  On the third day he will raise us up, by this restoration we will be able to stand in His presence, and that will be a place we have never been before.  Why?  So we can live in His sight.  He will strip away all until we come to the truth, to make us to what He originally said we were to be. 

    When steel is refined it is heated to a high temperature, and then beaten to a point so that as it’s molecules reform to the shape that the refiner wants it to be. 

    We need His help in this for we often try to go to the furnace and beat ourselves but we are so weighted down with unworthiness.  We think that if we suffer more then we will be worthy to be better.  Martin Luther cracked glass on the stairs and climbed up them on his hands and knees to atone for sins.

    God revives us and He does it for He knows what He had in mind when He started.

    This sense of unworthiness is negative pride – still not letting God do His thing, or believing that God has made it worthy.  We can’t restore ourselves to the image God has for us.  We have to let go of the hammer and say, I’m good, God has it. 

    Yes, we will have bad hair days, even Pastor Don has some.  What you see in the mirror is not a mirror image, but what you are feeling.  God restores you to better than what you had in mind.

    Hosea 6:3 Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.

    The latter and the former rain, at one point Israel had two growing seasons.   In AD 70 the Temple was destroyed.  Israel lost their latter rain, but still had rain in the spring.  God has reestablished two growing seasons since Israel has been back in the land in 1948.  The second growing season came back. 

    What God establishes in the physical he does to tell us what He is doing in the spiritual.  When it was “spring” time in Heaven, God sent His Holy Spirit and 3000 souls came to the kingdom.  Everyone thought that they were drunk, but they were just under the influence of the Holy Spirit. 

    To be most effective for God we have to be doing something that makes no sense to our conscious mind (seems impossible to our conscious mind, yet it is of God), and sometimes it seems that we have lost our dignity.  And speaking in tongues seems like that to our conscious mind, as it made those in Israel seem to be drunk.

    Signs and wonders and gifts of the spirit are being restored with the latter rain, and the harvest in these last days.  We don’t do anything. We do what He does.  There is no new formula for evangelism.  We must prepare to follow what God tells us to do.  We are not trying to do the work to bring in the harvest, we are just obeying God, being available.

    The first harvest was the barley harvest – it was a common grain and was available to common man.  Barley was quick, cheap, and it was the people’s grain.  The barley harvest is like the people outside of the church who have backslid.  In the later day, we will be reaching many people for the Lord.  We need to have a one minute testimony ready.  “Can I tell you what happened to me? …”

    Hosea 6:4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away.

    Ephriam and Judah are Southern Israel.  Judah is the tribe that was in Jerusalem. Judah – Yadah means praise.  They were sons of Joseph, and their faithfulness went away as the early dew.

    Hosea 6:5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and your judgments are like light that goes forth.

    God is bringing them into restoration, to be like He designed them. He hewed them with the prophets and brought light.

    Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

    We don’t get what He has for us by working for it, it is through His kindness and mercy that God gives it to us.  How does this happen?  We get to know who He is, and it brings us to our knees, and what He has to offer becomes important to us.

    Pastor Don said, what if a husband brought home a gift for his wife. To give her a good gift, the husband needs to know her, and then the gift is more precious to her.

    Hosea 6:7-8  But like mena]’> and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,

    One heart, to Israel he will restore them, by giving them a NEW heart.  Not revival, but correction.

    Ezekiel 18:1-2 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,  “What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

    His Word will go forth, and no longer are the children cursed to the 3rd and 4th generation. The following passage of Ezekiel shows this.

    Ezekiel 18:3 As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.

    Not use it in Israel.

    Ezekiel 18:4-13 “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die. But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right; if he has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor’s wife, nor approached a woman during her impurity; if he has not oppressed anyone, but has restored to the debtor his pledge; has robbed no one by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing; if he has not exacted usury nor taken any increase, but has withdrawn his hand from iniquity and executed true judgment between man and man; if he has walked in My statutes and kept My judgments faithfully— he is just; he shall surely live!” says the Lord GOD. HE SHALL LIVE  If he begets a son who is a robber or a shedder of blood, who does any of these things and does none of those duties,but has eaten on the mountains or defiled his neighbor’s wife; if he has oppressed the poor and needy, robbed by violence, not restored the pledge, lifted his eyes to the idols, or committed abomination;  if he has exacted usury or taken increase— shall he then live?  He shall not live! If he has done any of these abominations, he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. HE SHALL DIE

    Ezekiel 18:14-17 If, however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done, and considers but does not do likewise; who has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor’s wife; has not oppressed anyone, nor withheld a pledge, nor robbed by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing; who has withdrawn his hand from the poor and not received usury or increase, but has executed My judgments and walked in My statutes— he shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live!

    He will not die for the sins of his father.  The soul who sins is the soul responsible and will either die or live.  God’s plan will do something about salvation in life (Jesus). 

    Revival:

    Ezekiel 37:1-3 The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”

    Ezekiel tells us that only the Lord God knows, so Ezekiel can’t answer if they can come to life.

    Ezekiel 37:4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!

    Ezekiel obeys, not knowing the answer yet, just obeying God.  There is much life by a praiser of God.  Speak to the dry bones, not if they deserve it, why they died, or became as they were, just speak to them.  Let God do the revival, you don’t know where their mind is.

    Ezekiel 37:5-7 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.

    Ezekiel did as God commanded, he obeyed.  If there is a twinge in your heart, talk about Jesus, say it and who knows which dry bones will be revived.

    Ezekiel 37:8-14 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’”

    Pray for them, and God will revive them.

    Pastor Don realized that we had yet again strayed from Isaiah, so we read some of Isaiah to close the study. 

    Isaiah 1:10-13 Hear the word of the LORD,  you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: ”To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says the LORD.  ”I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.

    No more futile sacrifices.

    Isaiah 1:14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.

    All the feasts and traditions that man made up, God is weary of.

    Isaiah 1:15-17 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.

    Yes, we can do these things.

    Isaiah 1:18-19 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;”

    We ended on this upbeat note with this fantastic statement by God.  We will go into some of these verses in more detail when Pastor Don teaches the next Isaiah Bible study.

    Heather

  • How to treat our Spiritual Father by Pastor Don Moore

    1 Corinthians 4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.

    Fathers warn you.

    1 Corinthians 4:15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

    Teacher/tutor

    1 Corinthians 14:16-21 Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

    There was an apostle on the inside looking at the way things really are.  He was a true spiritual father, and not just a teacher, instructor, or giving information. 

    What if Pastor Don did not tell us the truth, not tell us what the Word of God really says?

    How do we treat our spiritual father?

    There are a whole lot of people who can teach you stuff, but that does not make you their child.  Your spiritual father is chosen to give you a wake up call, and so that you can imitate him and learn so that you can grow closer.  You may have your spiritual father 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, or 50 years.  You don’t just listen to what your spiritual father says, but you imitate his life. Model yourself after him. 

    Your spiritual father will make your life part of his prayer life.  He will visit you in the hospital, help you with your life issues, and will give you guidance. Your spiritual father does not just show up and preach the word and go home.  For some pastors, prayer for their congregation is not an integral part of their life. 

    As Kenneth Hagin says, some do not have enough faith.  That if faith was dynamite, they would not have enough faith to blow their nose. 

    Some can give information and knowledge, but they become puffed up.  If a pastor tells you something that is not supported in the Word, then you have to choose whom to believe.  Some move from one church to another and share what they learned at the first church, becoming puffed up with information.  At least tell your new church where you got your information and have the courtesy to tell Pastor that you are leaving your former church.

    God works in your life through spiritual fathers, and you know that this is where I need to be planted, serve and raised up.  If the sheep are left out wandering they will get killed, the wolf, bear, and lion will eat some.

    Your spiritual dad puts fresh meat (the Word) on the table.

    We may watch TV personalities like Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, etc. and help support their ministries, but when you are down on your luck, when there is unlooked for trouble, when you need help they are not going to come to your house to help you.  You cannot go up to Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar or any other TV evangelist and share your troubles with them and have them spend time helping you sort out your life. 

    We need to give respect to our spiritual dad. 

    We belong to Jesus, but Pastor Don is our Shepherd.  Every 4 1/2 years the sheep wander off.  People move around – and when they do they move in and out of churches.  74% of church growth is just people moving around.  They will stay until the pastor stops feeding their flesh.  If you are not serving, just pew sitting, the pastor may not stroke your flesh, and then the person wanders to another shepherd’s field.  People need to serve the pasture where they are being fed.

    If they choose to wander off, that is ok too, but they should at least have the courtesy to go up to their pastor and say, “I’m wandering off.”  (Heather’s note, I have seen Pastor Don welcome back wandering sheep with love.)  When we are in our Pastor’s fold, he will try to be a mega blessing to our lives.

    If we go somewhere else and learn anything, we also have the responsibility to tell Pastor about it.  Share it with Pastor Don.   What if we have wandered off and picked up wrong theology or lies?  Or if there is something fantastic that we learn somewhere else, we can share it with our pastor and all the sheep are blessed.  Sometimes we can’t recognize Biblical error until we fall or are dying in our faith. 

    If you wander be sure that someone will tell Pastor Don that you are there.  If you are learning good things, share it with him.  Also, it is is not great if Pastor Don or your shepherd learns from another pastor that you are now at their church, instead of hearing it from you.

    We are to imitate our pastor, see what he does, where he goes, how he lives, and begin to imitate him as you see how he walks with the Lord, and we can grow by imitating the good things that he does.

    The problem that parents and pastors have is that while they treat their children the best that they can, they can never satisfy all of their needs.  If a father, in the role of father, has done his best for the child, but if the child has it in his head that the father has neglected or abandoned him (even if it is not true), there is nothing that a father can do about that perception. You can’t treat all your kids the same.  If in the confines of their mind they are unsatisfiable, there is nothing you can do.

    Some preachers never preach good enough for you, will never be there enough.

    What is a father?

    How can we find out? 

    Pastor Don looked it up in the dictionary.  A father is a man in relationship to a child or children born from his fertilization of an ovum. 

    God ordained fathers to penetrate into darkness and bring forth life.  The seed does not go in there and stay, but emerges out of darkness into the light.

    Adam, because of his sin, was denied the ability to have his son be the Messiah, for he failed to act in the role of head of his family, and protect his wife from the wiles of satan.  In fact, when asked what happened, he blamed God – blamed the woman YOU gave me.  So instead of the seed of a man producing the Messiah, it became the seed of a woman.  God had to step in.

    The next definition of father is a man who has continuous care of a child, especially by adoption.  Adoption is a willful decision to step into the life of a child and see him/her brought up under continuous care.   You have responsibility for the child.

    There is no greater love than the love of the adoptive father who says, “I chose you.”  God chose us for adoption.  Most men run from responsibility. 

    America has permitted man to be cheated of their rights, rights to have a father or a husband in the life of the child.  People wonder whose am I?  Man needs to know whose is his. 

    When a man steps into fill the role of the father/son relationship, it shows that a woman is not sufficient to her self.  We have a Heavenly Father and we need to belong to Him.  Our culture is forcing people to have bad father relationships, and it causes many to not believe in Him.  People change relationships like clothing.  We need to be interconnected.

    In the 60′s people were singing songs like “I am a rock, I am an island.”  But songs like that are not the truth. 

    The next definition of father is progenitor, forefather, originator, designer, person who deserves special respect. 

    When dad speaks with purposeful design.  Pastor Don’s son told us what his father often told him, “You are a Moore, you are made of the good stuff.” The setting is part of the origin and design. We need to speak possibilities, what the child is good at.  Women are messed up if there is no designer (father) to speak possibilities into her life, planting the reality of how God designed her. 

    Many parents call their children stupid, ignorant, never amount to anything, and that has more impact on their lives.

    The fourth definition is Christian theologian who is regarded as special and authoritative, religious, first person of the trinity, spiritual theologian. 

    The father is the spiritual head of the family.  Mother’s can say, Let’s ask Daddy.” 

    Establish writings or speak into existence.  Special authoritative possibilities or religious leader.  You have authority. 

    Pastor Don has written a great book (which you can read at the following link) called Not Forsaken Healing the Father Wounds. These are for sale on In His Name Ministry site along with his other books, (two new).  You can also view teachings and learn about resources available.

    I think that it is very important to treat our spiritual fathers with respect, for they have sowed much in our lives and have blessed us so much. 

    Heather

  • How to get rid of ants and roaches by Pastor Don Moore

    This is an interesting sermon, and it gave me much to think about.  Praying that this sermon blesses you.  If you don’t want to watch the video, the transcript is below the video.  Remember what is in [brackets] is what the congregation said.  Have a blessed day.

    Say Amen
    SHOW 124
    6/7/09
    How to get rid of ants and roaches

    Amen.  I want you to look in 1 Corinthians at just a couple of verses and then, from that we want to get into the Word here.  Alright?  Verse 6.  1 Corinthians, verse 6, Chapter 2.  Chapter 2, verse 6 “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which god ordained before the ages of our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  But as it is written:  “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”  But God has revealed them to us…”  Come on, can you say, “He revealed it to us?”  [He revealed it to us.]  “…through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”  The Lord add a blessing to the Word as we discuss this issue. 

    I want you to just look up here.  I’m going to talk to you about some wisdom that the world has missed, in that God in creating everything, He gave Adam the responsibility of naming everything.  And Adam, as he named all the different animals, he may not have been aware of it but most of the animals that exist down here were created from images in God’s mind of things that were in Heaven.  I think though that there is something else that we can learn concerning this, and that is that there’s a lot that we can pick up by examining the behavioral traits and identifying the character and the nature of many of the animals that surround us.

    We’re blessed here because we live in the woods and all and we see more wildlife than most people.  But the different animals that we see have personalities and characteristics and things that they do that we can draw great information from.  I can remember very much, one time I was on an acid trip, which I don’t recommend, but [laughter] on this particular, in this particular instance, as the psychedelic drug hit my mind, and we were at a party at the time, I wasn’t expecting what happened.  All of a sudden, as my mind is being warped by the drug, as the drug is warping my mind, all of the people at this party took on animal characteristics.  I looked at certain people and I saw this person is an orangutan person, this person here is a horse person.  Oh, look at that, there’s a rabbit person.  And whatever.  And, as a result of that, you know, it wasn’t terrorizing, it was quite funny to realize that as we look at people, we can see that. 

    How many of you have ever noticed that people that have dogs, for some reason, over the years, they begin to look like their dog?  [laughter]  Some cases, even act like their dog.  [laughter]  Which is very interesting to me why we pick certain dogs that we pick, not thinking that the dog is going to become a reflection of you or maybe you’re a reflection of the dog.  You know, it’s almost like picking a husband or a wife.  Moving right along.  [laughter, oh yeah]

    But we look like animals. And we have, you know, there are gopher people, people that look like gophers.  And there are people that, have these different animal characteristics.  So, today, if you would.  I’m dead serious, but I think that it would be wise, since the wisdom of God is greater than the wisdom of man. God may be saying something to us that we can learn from animals and the insects in the world if we identify certain characteristics of them, we can take a look at mankind and identify certain characteristics and we can figure out how the animal world is tied to us, but more importantly, we can more clearly see ourselves.  God wants you to know how to identify yourself and see yourself.  Amen.  [amen]  And by doing that, you can improve. 

    So today I want to talk to you about how do you get rid of ants and roaches.  [laughter]  Can you say that?  [How do you get rid of ants and roaches?]  Ants and roaches.  Now, I’m not talking about any of you.  You’re no ants here, you’re no ant people here.  There’s no roach people here.  But I want to talk to you.  And for all of you druggies, the roach I’m talking about is not a marijuana cigarette butt.  I’m talking about the cockroach.  The little bug that crawls around. 

    So, let’s begin with the ant.  There’s some things that we can learn from the ant and their nature and the way that they do.  The ant is a very interesting little insect.  It lives in complex societies.  These complex societies they call them colonies.  But the interesting thing is that the ants carry out their role, but they really don’t have, as the book of Proverbs says, they march but they really don’t have a commander.  But they all seem to work as a team and they know what they’re doing.  There are only a few ants that fly.  But, watch this.  They only fly during mating season…

    We can learn a lot about ants.  Let me finish the characteristics of and we’ll go back over it.  So, they only fly during mating season.  They’re industrious workers.  They wander a lot.  Ants are wanderers.  They go all over the place.  But as they go, they leave a spit trail.  It’s not able, you can’t see it with the human eye, but they leave a spit trail, not only so they can find where they’ve been, but they can also know how to get back from where they’ve gone.  And they leave these trails for other ants to find as well as for themselves.  They are described ant, they get antsy, get ants in your pants, because ants are fidgety, they’re restless.  They’ll eat anything dead or alive.  They will even participate in cannibalism.  They will eat another ant, or they will attack ants that are not from their colony and go to war with them.  They will participate in aggressive behavior when they’re outside the colony. 

    They are hard to kill.  If you’ve ever killed an ant they are strong.  They have very tough heads.  Crushing ants requires some real pressure that you have to apply, and they’re very strong.  They are somewhere between eight and sometimes, it said in the books, sometimes as much as 50 times their own weight they can lift and carry and drag.  One time I saw a wasp that was 14 times the size of the ant and this little red ant was dragging this dead wasp very successfully.  But the other ants found his spit trail and then all of a sudden about an hour later, there were about 100 of these red ants carrying this big wasp.  So, that’s the stuff on ants. 

    Now let’s take a look at the common American cockroach.  Ok?  He’s built in a different way.  And his main thing about him that we don’t like is that he’s infesting.  He will overrun a large area.  He plants numerous eggs and he will plant his eggs in almost anything.  And he will multiply rapidly.  He’s capable of carrying large amounts of germs that won’t kill him but he’ll carry them to different locations.  His favorite place is kitchens and bathrooms.  Likes to hang out there.  And it’s during mating time that he lays these eggs all over the place and the interesting thing about him is he only comes out mostly at night.  He’s a night creature.  He comes out at night and he tends to hide from he light.  He’s easy to kill but he’s hard to clean out and get rid of.  He’s a great hider.  Finds tremendous places to hide.  And he can get through cracks, no matter how small cause he can squeeze his body down and get through something that’s maybe only 1/16th of an inch thick.  He can get through that.  And he’s very versatile.  He can…he can travel in almost anything you own.  [yeah]  He can travel. 

    I can remember my wife and I, my aunt moved out of the area.  She moved to Virginia and she left us her furniture.   And at the time she lived in the South Bronx and we weren’t thinking about this.  We’re living in the country, we hadn’t seen a roach you know in a long time.  One advantage of living in the country is you don’t, you just don’t see roaches.  And the reason you don’t is because, you ready, if you do have a roach problem you really want to get horseshoe crickets.  The horseshoe cricket also hunts at night and he’s very aggressive, or wolf spiders.  And you can put wolf spiders or horseshoe crickets in your house, under the cabinet and in a couple of weeks you can’t find a roach.  They’ll eat them.  But, if you don’t have that, we found this couch she had given us, we didn’t know it but we brought it into our house and there was some roaches in it.  And so one morning, I heard this coming out of the kitchen.  AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAHAHHHA!!! [laughter] And I realized that my Ohio wife had just come in contact with a New York City roach [laughter]  and she was having a disgustingly frightening experience.  [laughter]  And so I went in and I says, I says, “Honey, turn out the light.  Turn out the light.”  And she turned out the light.  And then they come out.  Only to find out that when we turned the light back on that we were truly, truly infested.  Because that’s just the way that roaches are. 

    Now…we’ve taken an overview of ants and roaches.  And by now, many of you have seen yourself already or neighbors or friends or enemies.  But let’s start about.  Let’s talk about the ant.  I want you to be thinking in terms of demonic activity.  Demonic activity sometimes comes with ant spirits.  There are ant spirits in the world.  And we can’t blame everything on demons, because the reality is that in the human spirit are all of the things that demons need in order to do their work.  In other words, you would not be subject to certain demons unless it was already in your spirit.  [right]  You need a minute to think about that….Yessirree.  You can have a little bit of depression and a demonic spirit can pick that out and then therefore a demon of depression can come and then magnify the situation that was already present in your human spirit. You can have, you can have in your human spirit el stupido, [laughter].  By that I mean you can be just a stupid person. And the stupid demon will find you quickly.  Cause as you do stupid, he’ll realize that you would be a perfect home for him, and will perpetuate stupidity. 

    Many of us need to realize that we were raised by parents that were out of control.  And we’ll get, we’ll get really good if we just accept the fact that our parents were out of control and in our spirits is some of that same training.  Just shake your head, come on, because you know you’re dysfunctional.  You know you came from a dysfunctional home with dysfunctional people in it and that’s why you dysfunctional.  But, because of Jesus you’re only sometimes dysfunctional.  Amen. [amen] 

    So, in the ant’s spirit, we’re talking about people that have this spirit and all.  They live in complex social colonies.  We do that.  We have, you know, sometimes pastors get upset and worried about, well having cliques within the church.  That’s a complex social group inside the church, to where people will gang up on another person with an ant spirit.  They will devour.  They will get together and gossip and they’ll talk down somebody.  You know, they have an ant spirit.  Pastors are very concerned about that because a few, a few little cliques in the church, if they get loose can destroy a ministry. 

    You know, if you have people that after church get…you know, I’ve been preaching a long time.  There’s some people that have been around me fifteen, twenty years that have never once, never once said, “Pastor Don, that was a good sermon.”  Or, “Pastor Don, that was a good revelation that you had.”  Or, “Pastor Don, you know that was a good word.”  Or, “I like the way you do anything.”  I’ve had some people been around me 15 years, never told me I ever did anything right.  Well, what is that?  They are circulating inside a colony of negativity.  And so, in that colony, the thing is to tear down, not build up.  And so, when you have that colony that is complex, because they’ll do it in sly, sneaky little ways, just like ants.  They’ll just crawl around and leave a spit trail so that other people can follow them in their negativity.  Lord have mercy. 

    Sometimes you can see it turn on certain members of the church.  You have a certain member that God is raising up, that all of a sudden you find that there is a spit trail leading to tear down that person when they’re just really trying to go forward with God… Well, glory to God.  Amen.  Say, “amen” so I know it’s not you.  [amen]  And so, we have these complex colonies that will do that.  They will leave a trail, you know they’re fidgety, and restless, you know, they can’t, they just don’t, you don’t belong to my group.  So, we don’t associate, we don’t talk, and that’s why I put a sign out.  How many of you notice the new sign in front of the church?  Praise God!  We have some observant people.  I had that sign at my house.  It was in my house for years and I decided, you know, it’d reach more people if I put it in front of the church.  You can’t come in the door of this church without reading it if you notice the flowers, you’ll notice the sign that says, “Love spoken here.”  [amen]  Love spoken here.  Because I want to make sure, I want to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that in our little ant colony that’s the language we are going to speak.

    It’s going to be the language of love, it’s going to be an inclusive language that is going to embrace everybody so that there is only one ant colony, but not divisions within the colony.  So that we’re not going to, we’re not, somebody says, “Pastor Don, how come you don’t preach on racism?”  I don’t have to.  I pastor a church that is multiracial and we all get along.  [amen]  If I was at a church that didn’t get along, I’d have to minister on that.  I don’t have to minister on that because we’ve got that covered.  [amen]  We’ve got that, come on praise God you all!  [amen]  He has given us a heart to love and embrace everybody.  We don’t care whether you’re rich or poor, or whatever your racial, we have realized in Christ Jesus there is no Jew, no Gentile, no Sabine, you know.  We have a problem with some of the people that come from Saugerties, but we accept them. [laughter]  We accept them…as, as beloved. 

    And so, in the ant colony, this complex thing goes.  We have people that leave these trails.  Sometimes we have to be careful to listen to little comments that people say.  Sometimes they’re just little sentences, that are spit trails.  And we have to learn to hear those, and say, wait a minute.  Wait a minute.  Wait a minute.   We don’t receive that in our ant colony.  You know, we don’t, we don’t let’s not do that.  You know, somebody takes you out to lunch and they start getting down on one of the sisters about the way she dresses.  You need to just say, “Wait a minute now.  She’s only been saved a couple of months.  Let’s give, let’s cut her some slack.  She’ll figure that out.”  I said, “Amen.”  [amen]  Yeah, don’t do that. 

    We’ve got like four or five praise teams.  Don’t have a favorite praise team…. Don’t have a favorite praise team.  Somebody a couple of weeks ago tried to get me in a conversation about one of the praise teams was playing something, was kind of country western.  You know.  Why don’t I do something about that?  [laughter]  I was like, wait a minute.  We have a multicultural church, and multicultural means we have to include country and western, so if they want to play some country and western, there has to be somebody that enjoys it, or at least, will become a more mature Christian if they have to listen to something they don’t like for a second and still find Jesus in it.  [amen]  Glory to God!  So I just say, you know, so let’s watch that. 

    Let’s keep an eye on fidgety and restless people.  They make more trouble than they really get good.  And so we have to realize that fidgety and restless people have to be trained.  You know, they’re ants that have to be pointed in the direction of a purpose.  If we give them a purpose, then ok.  If not, they won’t get anything done. 

    It’s like going to some people’s house.  I’ve been to some people’s houses and husbands are guilty of this because they get easily, we’re men, we get easily distracted.  A husband will decide we need new framing around that window, [laughter]  and you know, he’ll take that thing apart [oh, yes!]  and then he’ll nail up one piece.  [laughter]  One piece!  Talking about he’s too busy.  And what’s he too busy?  Because he’s restless and fidgety, and he decided, I can’t put up this one piece of wood until I turn the garage into a tool shed.  [yep, laughter]  See, he can’t find his tools, so I can’t finish the window till I what?  Till I build a tool shed.  But I can’t build a tool shed until I change the compartment in my truck.  If I get a different compartment in my truck then I can put somewhere to put my tools and then I can fix the window.  But I can’t do any of that because it may rain and I didn’t finish the gutters from last year. [laughter]   So what does he do?  What does he do?  He gets a ladder. Check this.  He gets a ladder, puts it upside the house where the gutter is, climbs up and inspects the gutter and says, yes it’s broke.  Climbs down and leaves the ladder for a year!  [laughter]  He’s restless and fidgety. 

    But I’ll tell you what he’ll do.  If it’s mating season, he’ll grow wings and fly.  [laughter]  Just like an ant.  If it’s mating season, now he can fly.  He’s champion man.  [laughter]  He’ll fly looking for a place to start a new colony.  But if he’s saved and born again, he’s just flying around the house waiting for you to settle down.  [laughter]  Well, come on.  He’s fidgety, fidgety.  Well, moving right along.  Lord have mercy.  I’m just telling the truth up here.  [yeah]

    The worst characteristic though of the ants is that they’re warlike in nature.  They’re warlike in nature.  And the reason that they are that way is because they can’t see good.  Most ants are really blind.  Almost kind of blind.  Which means what?  They don’t have any discernment.  They’re fidgety, restless and they’re moving around, they’re leaving spit trails, but they can’t discern where they should be and what God’s will is for them.  That would be ok except that ants have no recognition of who the leader is.  Can I talk a little bit?  So they’re blind so they don’t discern anything, but yet and still you can’t lead them cause they will not recognize a leader.  They can only function as a group.  And so, therefore, they will destroy the saints in the body.  You know that saying, the church is a hospital for sinners, it’s not a hotel for saints.  But an ant can’t figure that out.  And so, he’s very warlike, very warlike. 

    My wife and I visited a church, I won’t call its name because I don’t want to embarrass the good people of the Lord, but we, we were visitors.  Just visitors.  We visit the church, we sat through the service and then after it they had a coffee thing of tea and cookies.  But they didn’t even invite us.  They didn’t announce it from the pulpit that we’re going to have a little refreshments after.  They didn’t announce that, but we just figured they have refreshments, we’re visitors, we should be entitled.  So we went over, got a cookie and a cup of coffee, and we’re standing there.  And we stood there and stood there and stood there and stood there and then we stood there.  [laughter] And stood there a little bit more.  Just about out of coffee and the fellow that had invited me to come was their guest speaker that day.  And he finally got free.  He was the only one that spoke to us. 

    We were in a church service for over an hour and no one, no one said hello, no one said how are you doing.  One guy said, “What are you doing here?”  [whoa]  To me that was a warlike spirit.  Cause he should have been saying, welcome, glad to see you.  You know.  Can I get you something?  Can I do something?  Warlike, it was a warlike spirit.  It’s attitude was we are ants, we have our little ant colony, and you’re not invited.  Your not… and I figured this way.  It was a white guy, he could have at least talked to the white woman if he didn’t want to talk to me.  [laughter]  But he didn’t socialize … so we don’t really want to be like those kind of ants. 

    We want to have an inclusive, we love you attitude.  And speak to everybody.  Remember, here at our church, and those of you that watch this by television, try and have the 10 foot rule.  If someone’s within 10 feet of you, speak to them.  Don’t wait for them to eye contact.  Forget that.  You’re a blind ant.  You don’t need specific eye contact to say hello.  You just open up your eyes with discernment and say, “I don’t know you.” 

    You know, somebody was complaining cause the church has gotten to a place where we’re a church with two services and a two service church service sometime ends up being two churches.  You know, because people don’t know. But I thought to myself about, I thought about that.  What’s wrong with having two churches?  …. Some of you ain’t getting that… What’s wrong with having two churches that use the same building?  Just at different times.  If everybody’s friendly, then it wouldn’t matter to us would it now?  And so when we go to the church picnic this summer, yes you will see people from the second service, this is first service today, you’ll see people from second service that you don’t know, but they’re in the colony!  [amen, yeah!]  They’re in the colony.  So, in other words, what does it matter?  Praise God if we had 14 services.  We’d still be in the colony.  [yeah]   Come on somebody.  You know what I’m talking about?  I’m saying like let’s love on people so hard that they want to know what church you from.  [amen]  Let’s love on them so hard that they just, they just feel included.  Feel blessed. 

    Now, let’s talk about these other ones.  These ants though that are tough headed, their heads are tough.  I mean I’m not inciting you to go kill ants but you know, their heads are hard!  They’ve got hard, hard heads.  So if you’re going to kill ants, listen to me carefully, it’ll take a long, long time if you want to get rid of ants to go around and try to crush all their heads.  So there’s something better you should do.  You guys want to know what to do?  [yes]  Wipe off the counter.  Wipe off the counter.  They love kitchens and baths.  Wipe off the counter.  I’ll tell you more about that later, but some of you are thinking, right?  [yes]  Huh?  Wipe off the counter.  Can you say that?  [Wipe off the counter.] 

    Now, let’s talk about these roaches here.  These suckers are infesting and they will overrun anything.  They will overrun any, and they will eat, watch this, they will eat anything.  A roach will eat anything.  One of the easiest way to get rid of roaches is give them some poison to eat.  They will ingest it, eat it, and then feed it to every other roach they can find. 

    But that’s a problem in the church when you have people that will eat anything.  Lord have mercy!  You got a problem when you got a church and they’ll eat anything.  They’ll bring strange ideas in that are not supported by the Word, and then they’ll get the weird ideas’ll come and they’ll say by revelation that I have, is not based on the Word.  Well, you should spit that out.  [amen]  You should what?  [spit it out]  How quick?  phfht  Come on go phfht.  [phfht]  Got rid of that.  Because why?  You don’t want to be like a roach.  A roach will eat anything.  He will ingest any theology, any teaching.  If it just tweeks his…

  • Isaiah Chapter 1

    We were running out of time at Bible study but Pastor Don wanted to do a quick overview of part of Chapter 1 to set us up for next week’s study.

    Isaiah begins with complaining and upset and end with a silver lining of happiness and joy.

    Isaiah 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

    In previous teachings Pastor Don covered a basic history of the Kingdoms – the Northern and the Southern. Isaiah is written for the Southern Kingdom – Judah.  This is a vision Isaiah saw, the Northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern Kingdom (Judah and Benjamin).  The Northern Kingdom constantly did what was evil in God’s sight, and resorted to idolatry.  Judah had several kings who were pleasing to God, and the priests stayed in the Southern Kingdom.  The Southern Kingdom obeyed the Torah more. 

    Reheboam, Solomon’s son caused trouble in the Kingdom by intensifying the oppression on the people and caused division in the Kingdoms.  This prophesy covers the Southern Kingdom and the kings mentioned in verse 1.

    Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken:  “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebeled against Me;

    God is speaking to the heavens and the earth.

    Isaiah 1:3 The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider.”

    Pastor Don’s comment, “What a way to start a book!”

    Isaiah 1:4  Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.

    They have turned away BACKWARD.

    Isaiah 1:5 Why should you be stricken again?  You will revolt more and more.  The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.

    My goodness, the whole heart faints, the whole head is sick.  They were so caught up in idol worship and wrong thinking and were so far gone that not a right thought was in their head.

    Isaiah 1:6  From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or  soothed with ointment. 

    There is no soundness, sad at the direction the country is heading toward.  The scepter is passing, even in our country.  We need to pray for our leaders even more than before.

    Isaiah 1: 7-9 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.  Unless the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah.

    A VERY small remnant, and without that then Judah would have been just like Sodom and Gomorrah. 

    Pastor Don told us that if we see the same pattern we will know that God will do the same thing again.  Some say that if God does not judge America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

    Isaiah 1:10-11 Hear the word of the LORD,  you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah:  “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says the LORD.  “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats.

    With all the sin going on they were still doing sacrifice to God, but why?  They were not living a Godly life.

    Isaiah 1:12-15  When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.  Your hands are full of blood.

    They took the sacrifice and feasts of God and added their stuff to them and that made it an abomination to God.  The Sabbaths and the feasts God ordained.  In the book of Samuel we will see Eli will die as will his sons.  The reason is that Eli added the practice of baal and molloch worship.  There were prostitutes in the temple in Jerusalem and there was sex with men, boys and women, and it was done under the guise of temple worship. 

    In Russia and Yugoslavia they still practice that today.  Eli’s sons did not honor God in the sacrifice, for they would take a meat hook and pull out the best pieces of meat from the sacrifice, from the portion that belonged to God.

    1 Samuel 2:12-17 Now the sons of Eli were corrupt;a]’> on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

    This is a puzzle that is also noted by the rabbis.  The Hebrew word for created is one of two words .  Either to create something from nothing, or to take something are recreate it.  Our word “create” doesn’t differentiate.

    This word for “created” in Genesis 1:1 is “bara” meaning to shape, fashion, create.

    God created in Genesis 1:1 from nothing.  But whatever God creates is perfect. God creates order, and yet in Verse 2 it tells us that the earth was without form and void. Did God create something without form and void?  God created it with form.  The question is what happened to make the earth without form and void? 

    Genesis 1:1 – God spoke it into existence.  That speaking is “logos” and that is part of God that does the saying – the Word of God (whom we know as Jesus).  God who says, who creates.

    When God appeared to Moses, He told Moses His name was I Am that I Am – when Jesus was accosted by the soldiers and asked if He was Jesus, He said, “I Am.”  All the soldiers fell flat. 

    We are like God in that we too were created with the creative ability to speak into existence, that we can speak with creative force.  Only man can do that.

    God created the earth and He did not create it without form and void, or that the Light of the World would have the earth in darkness.  Something must have happened between verse 1 and 2.  God comes back and reestablishes earth. 

    Jeremiah 4:23-26 I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; and the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, by His fierce anger.

    So what happened that caused the earth to be null and void?

    Isaiah 14:12-17 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,b]’> not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

    This is the passage that Callin read that started his questioning about the two worlds.

    Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness wasa]’> are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end ofc]’> shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.”

    We will come out of the 69th week based on what we do, based on prophetic events that have to be fulfilled first before we can enter the 70th week.

    When the prophetic clock kicks on again then events will begin to play out. 

    We need to have a willingness of heart to have faith. 

    We then looked quickly at a bit of Isaiah Chapter 1.  I will share that with you tomorrow rather than making this post mega long. Believe it or not, I am ALMOST caught up with my notes, as these were taken on Friday June 19.  I am so glad that I get to sit under such great teaching and share with you what I am learning.  My husband often tells our children that we are blessed to learn from Pastor Don, who is like a professor of the Bible.

    This past week he told my daughter that anytime we spend reading and learning from the Bible makes our brains stronger because the Bible builds so much into our minds and hearts.

    Have a wonderful Fourth!

    Heather