January 15, 2010

• Isaiah 11:1 – The Branch by Pastor Don

  Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

  Pastor Don feels that a Bible study is not only about a person teaching but about teaching the attendees how to do their own Bible studies. We used our concordances in the back of our Bibles to try and figure out what the root, branch and stem from Jesse is. Some of us knew, but for those who didn’t we did the research. As people found references they called them out so we could draw a conclusion.

  Jesse was David’s father, and this passage is talking about the branch.

  John 15 speaks about the branch, the roots, and gives us the revelation of how we function in the vine.

  Zechariah 6:12-13 Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH! From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the temple of the LORD; yes, He shall build the temple of the LORD. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’

  Isaiah 4:2 In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped.

  John 15:2-6 (Jesus speaking)  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;^b]’> its seven seals.”

  Where does fruit hang out?  On the branch. Jesus is the primary branch from which we swing.

  Isaiah 4:2 In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped.

  It is a continuum, God brings fruit and we are the fruit. God is the one who determines the fruit, not our will. God establishes us and puts out good food. God is strong and we are weak.

  Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

  Coming from the root of Jesse – David was from the root of Jesse. Abraham was the spiritual root.  Both Abraham and Jesse had the fear and admonition of the Lord. Jesse’s son, David, fought battles for Israel. David was strong in the Lord.

  We need to look at the beginning of Abraham’s ministry.  Ur of the Chaldees was the birthplace of Abraham. He came out of a place that we know as Afghanistan. It was not desolate at the time of Abraham, it would have been much like our Hudson Valley, with trees, beautiful foliage, mountains. Ur was the oldest developed civilization. There would have been terraced gardens, fountains, and wonderful art. It was the cradle of civilization. God came to Abraham and told him to pull up his stuff, leave this beautiful place and go someplace, a place God would show him. But God didn’t tell Abraham where He was taking him.

  Pastor Don mentioned that when someone says, “Siberia” we think of it only as a desolate wasteland, but in some places it is a beautiful, a place where Asians go to visit. We get warped cultural pictures. Most of us think of Ur as a backwards and desolate place.

  Abraham was leaving a beautiful place with all of his stuff and being sent to a murderous place. His wife, Sarai was also full of faith to go with him. This place that Abraham was going had no law, no police, no organizations, it was for all practical purposes wilderness. But Abraham believed God and went.

  Chapter 9 and 10 of Isaiah is directed to Israel and is a picture of Israel. It is a twofold revelation, not just for Israel in 700 BC, but as a spiritual picture of what will happen to Israel. It shows us that what happened to Israel will happen again. Israel is on a roller coaster ride, for they are a stiff-necked people. They hear God’s blessings, then they go away from God, suffer consequences, repent, and then come back to God.

  We too let our lives become like roller coaster rides, where we have problem places until we come to our senses. When we are aware of those in our family that are unsaved it is very painful for us, for we want them to get fixed.

  The promise of God is that the fatness will destroy the yoke. Often you have to leave one place to get to a higher place, and then readjust to that higher place of existence.

  NEXT LEVEL – NEW DEVIL

  But the devil only has his same old tricks to try out on us in our new level. He wants to convince us to let go and give up. To see to it that you don’t get back into the boat. But there are no new tricks up his sleeve. He will try to depress you, discourage you, and give problems about betrayal. Anything that served, in the past, to pull you down, he will try them again.

  But JESUS, THE KING OF KINGS, LORD OF LORDS IS GOING WITH US!!!

  We can be on that roller coaster and lift our hands and enjoy the ride. The main thing to do is to not get out of the car. If you get out of the car the devil can isolate you and cause havoc in your life, but if you stay in the car with Christ and with the fellowship, the ride will take you to new levels.

  When the devil is trying to slap you around, pull out your Bible and tell him, “I’ll read to you what God says.”

  Have a blessed day,

  Heather

  • 7:57 am
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