Taught 9/24/10

I missed one Friday Bible study.  Pastor Don recounted a few thoughts from the previous Bible study on Isaiah 49.

These are wonderful chapters about God’s promises.  

God promises to save the Gentiles, not just the Israelites.

Isaiah 49:8-9a  Thus says the LORD:  “In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; that You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ “

God is speaking about His promises to the people, and in the prophetic about saving the Gentiles, the Messiah, teaching the Gospel.  This will be fulfilled.

Isaiah 49:6 Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.

God planned for the Israelites to be a light to the Gentiles.

Isaiah 49:15-19 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me. Your sons shall make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste  shall go away from you. Lift up your eyes, look around and see; all these gather together and come to you.  As I live,” says the LORD,  “you shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does. For your waste and desolate places, and the land of your destruction, will even now be too small for the inhabitants; and those who swallowed you up will be far away.”

Wonderful, glowing promises from God.

We read the whole Isaiah 50 chapter.

Isaiah 50:1-11 Thus says the LORD:  “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, and for your transgressions your mother has been put away.  Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.”  The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.  He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help Me;  therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. He is near who justifies Me; who will contend with Me? Let us stand together.  Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me. Surely the Lord GOD will help Me; who is he who will condemn Me? Indeed they will all grow old like a garment; the moth will eat them up. Who among you fears the LORD?  Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon his God. Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with sparks: walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled— this you shall have from My hand: you shall lie down in torment.

The last clause says, “you shall lie down in torment.”  We want it to say you shall not lie down in torment. In this prophetic story of Israel, God has just signed the divorce certificate.  In Isaiah 47-48 God promises never to abandon Israel, now He is signing a divorce certificate.  God says he sends the Messiah, and what they did to them, the fruit of that will be torment. They ignored the prophets and did evil on purpose.  It will get tough for Israel until something happens in the divorce.

God says, He hates divorce, but he issues a divorcement. How can this seeming contradiction exist?  We went to Matthew to begin to find the answer.

Matthew 19:1-2 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

Jesus healed the people and will now be asked His views on divorce.

Matthew 19:3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 

This is a hard question. The wife is the one who suffers in a divorce, and in all cultures except the Hebrew culture at that time, a husband could divorce his wife for inconsequential reasons such as he did not like the way she salted his eggs. The Gentile cultures viewed women as property, and women were despised by men. This was a valid question because cultures surrounding the Israelites placed little value on marriage and divorce was easy.  The man’s word was all it took to have a divorce, and the woman could be stoned, killed, sent back home, or just cast out of the house.  The children and women were property of the man.  In the Muslim culture a husband can marry up to four women, as long as he can support them.  The Muslim husband can confine a woman to the couch as punishment or beat her. In a recent news article a Muslim woman had her nose cut off.  Many Muslim women face death for small infractions.

Matthew 19:4  And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning‘made them male and female,’ 

Interesting answer.  God made male and female.  He could have just made Adam, but realized that something was missing. Adam needed a wife.  God could have make a hermaphrodite, but He didn’t.

Matthew 19:5  and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 

Male and female.  In other words, father and mother.  The husband and wife leaves their parents and join together as one flesh.  They were not designed to be under their parent’s house together, but rather their own house.  Marriage is not the certificate received from a clerk or a stirring wedding ceremony, but rather a covenant where two are made as one.  Sex is to be done under the marriage covenant, under the covering of God, and when bodily fluids are mixed stuff happens. That is why premarital sex is wrong, for you end up leaving parts of yourself with the other partners you have slept with. What happens if you have lived a promiscuous lifestyle before you knew the truth?  There is a solution for that, you bring your sins to the altar, and with salvation you leave the altar a spiritual virgin.  The slate is erased in Heaven.  That does not mean that after your sins are forgiven that you can go back to your former promiscuous lifestyle.

God did not pick your mate, you did. If you selected wrong, you must still stick with your marriage.  Make the best of it and turn to God. It is not the devil or God who made me do it, but your choice.  We are all under construction.  Isaac worked for 7 years to receive Rachel for a wife, but was tricked to have Leah.  He worked seven more years for Rachel. He loved her enough to work 14 years for her.

The concept of romantic love is in the mind. We fall in and out of love, but that is really not love but lust.  Love is a choice.  You choose to love whether times are good or bad.  Our culture tells us that if we are unhappy in a relationship, just leave it.  Get a different wife. But that is not God’s plan. What happens is that our culture gives us images that are unsustainable in a relationship, and the spouse is not able to live up to media images. 

Many are holding out for their soul mate, that is not something that can happen.  If you find yourself constantly tempted sexually, find a good spouse, marry and stick with your choice, that way you will not be tempted to sex outside of marriage.

In India and China parents decide who their child will marry.  Often the two don’t even meet until the ceremony.  Parents have their children’s best interests at heart, so they will pick wisely, not from lust.  There are far fewer divorces in India and China than there are when the couples select each other themselves.

Paul recommended that those who burned to get married, should marry.  Celibacy is not a path that all can take.

When God set up marriage he wanted one man to be married to one woman. God honored Leah’s (the first one married) marriage.  She gave 10 tribes of Israel.  Rachel died young and only produced two of the tribes.  The tribe of Judah produced the Messiah. Just because the men in the Old Testament married more than one woman does not mean that God was pleased with that choice. His plan was one man one woman one marriage.  This is a “dress rehearsal” for the ultimate marriage, the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.

Matthew 19: 6  So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.

God sees the couple as one flesh, but unfortunately we don’t. In our lives we can be depressed, angry, and other times merciful, they are all parts of who we are.  In a marriage, where two become one, even the negative traits of the spouse are part of the one body that both of you possess.  You can’t cut it off, anymore than you can cut off a part of your individual body, without causing serious repercussions.  We fall prey to carnality of mind.  As individuals we have negative emotions and positive emotions.  We can’t cut away the negative parts of us, we need to work them through to become more positive.  In a marriage, if a person has negative traits, you can’t cut them off, and discard the person.  You, as part of one flesh, need to work through them with your spouse, not escape from them through divorce.

Both parties of a marriage have carnality of mind. Marriage is the joining of souls (mind, will, emotions) and both parties in a marriage must surrender their souls to form a unified whole.  There must be compromise in a marriage.  A good example is two people in a rowboat. If one is believing better fishing to the right and the other believes it is to the left, and each rows to their intended destination, the rowboat goes nowhere. The two have to agree to row one way or the other to make progress.  If they row to the right and there are no fish, they can then choose to change direction and row to the left. In marriage there may be disagreements over how fiances are spent, tithing, vacation, children, etc. The couple needs to make a decision to compromise, and pull together.  If there is a mistake, the couple can change course and try a different route.  While the husband is the head of the family and loves his wife like Christ loves the church (willing to lay down his life for his wife), a wise husband listens to the ideas of his wife and takes them in consideration. If there is yielding, even though the idea is not a good one, God will honor that.  God will help the couple to make a correction and move forward.  But if the two are working at cross-purposes no progress in the relationship will ensue.

Primitive man had no marriage ceremonies.  Slaves had to jump the broomstick as a show of marriage. What really makes the marriage is the consummation of the marriage.

God gave the design of the marriage.  He was teaching us things through the marriage. It is no accident that the enemy is seeking to destroy marriage.  Gentile marriages are not taught about the covenant.  Now there are teachings that marriage does not have to be a man and a woman.  Some want to have a “marriage” and think God will bless a union that is not what God ordained. It is part of an attack to the family, and to further break down God’s plans.

When challenges come in your marriage, and they will, remember marriage is a covenant, two become one.

Matthew 19:7-8  They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”  He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 

Moses had to give provision for divorce, not because it is God’s idea, but because of man’s hardness of heart (Sklirokardia)  Kardia means heart.  But from the beginning, God never planned for divorce.

Matthew 19:9  And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” 

Sin of adultery, and there is punishment for sin.

Matthew 19:10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

Better not to marry, his disciples said, if the only reason for divorce is sexual immorality.  

Under Moses’ law there is a written certificate of divorce spelling out the reasons for the divorce.  If the wife was just thrown out it may have been assumed that she was a harlot and should be stoned to death. Under the Mosaic law, if the husband did not like her, he could divorce her, but that does not mean that she committed a sin to merit the divorce.

Adultery is a sin, just like stealing and lying is a sin. We can ask for forgiveness.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

When the Scribes and Pharisees tried to test Jesus by bringing to him a woman caught in adultery, they brought only her to Jesus for judging.  If they were following the true Levitical laws, they would have brought the man and the woman to him.  Jesus told the people, that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone. No one threw a stone and the only one that could have thrown a stone, Jesus, told the woman to go and sin no more.   Divorce is the problem, but there is mercy.

Moses permitted divorce, God accepted it, but hates divorce.  If there is a divorce, the person needs to deal with their lives so that they don’t keep sinning. If the person doesn’t repent (turn their lives around), they will keep repeating the same sin.  Statistics prove it out.  The highest rate of divorce occurs with second marriages, for the couples bring their baggage from previous marriage and also the idea that if this marriage doesn’t work out, that the next one might.  Problem is that the person keeps perpetuating the same relationship.

We went back to Isaiah 50 (see above)

The artifact of divorce will be demonstrated by how the Israelites treat the Messiah.  God is divorcing Israel for adultery, that they worshipped idols.  If we break our covenant with God, God is faithful, even if we are not.  God gave the marriage contract with Moses.  God provided and prepared for Israel, and then Israel was not faithful.  

God was not pleased with the kings that did not place God first. By the 50th Chapter of Isaiah God recognized the divine artifacts of the idolatry of the Israelites, and God removed his covering.  What God desires is to be like Hosea and bring back His bride into relationship. God is saying that even though there is divorce, He can restore the covenant.  To restore the covenant, God sends Jesus to pay the price. God is a merciful God.  

Praying you are abundantly blessed this Thanksgiving!

Heather

After John’s testimony, Pastor Don wanted to go over some passages that may cause people challenges.  This teaching is from Sept. 10, 2010

Pastor Don told us that if people speak negative words over you, you can begin to accept them, and that can cause a great heartache.  We can get sold into slavery to sin.

Romans 7:14-25 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

Lamentations 3:37-38  Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? 

We make a mistake if we assume that God can only speak good for us.  That is His desire, that He can bless us, but if we test God, and do not obey Him, we get out from underneath His blessing and leave ourselves open to pain and hurt.

Lamentations 3:39-42  Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD; let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned. 

We know that we are receiving consequences for our sins but we can turn back and repent, and receive forgiveness for our sins. We can pray for a crop failure, but there are some things that we may still have to face even after God has forgiven us.  There are natural consequences to our actions. For example, if you rob a bank you may have to serve jail time, even if God forgives your for stealing.

Lamentations 3:43 You have covered Yourself with anger and pursued us; You have slain and not pitied. 

Unless we repent there are consequences for our sins. If a person makes a declaration of faith and they are still in sin, God withholds His hand of protection until the person receives the just punishment for their sins. God can punish by commission, or withhold His covering. 

In the realm of the natural some are spiritual babies, others are more mature. We will reap what we sow.  But in the spiritual realm satan tries to get authority in a person’s life by attacking God’s children. He does that by playing on weakness and areas we have left open to satan through sin.

In the reality of life, most people are facing their challenges without the anointing of God.  Those who are outside of God’s covering are leaving themselves open to diseases and oppression. 

When the Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years there was no sickness, their shoes did not wear out, nor did their clothes. At that point they were under God’s protection.  When they entered the Promised Land, they became accustomed to a good lifestyle and ceased to place God first, so they stepped outside of God’s covering and sickness came back on them.

If we won’t come to God on our own, He will use the weakness that satan puts on us to draw us back to Him, helping us to become overcomers.

How we come back to God is dependent on Him. We make a choice to either do God’s will or not. Saul/Paul was out of God’s will when he was attacking Christians, and was blinded, until he came to his senses and realized that God did not want him attacking Christians.

No matter how sick we are, it is not a problem for God to heal us. We walk around in error saying, “If God wants to heal me, He will, if not, it is the cross I have to bear.”  God’s will is to heal you, ALWAYS.  We fall into religious stupidity when we feel that God wants to use our limps for his ministry.  Joni Erickson Tada ministers from her wheelchair, and is dealing currently with cancer.  She does have an effective ministry but can you imagine how God could be glorified if she got healed and got out of that wheelchair?  God would get far more glory from her healing than he gets from her staying in that chair.  I know this sounds harsh, but God’s heart is not to keep his people sick and incapacitated.

Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

We became sold under sin when we were under the Law.

Romans 7: 8-9  But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 

Below the age of accountability, a child is without sin.  If a two year old reacts to his situation by striking out, or talking when adults are talking, we realize that that child does not know the right way to behave and is not able to understand what the proper behavior is.  As the child grows older, what was acceptable when the child was 2, is not acceptable for a teenager.  The teenager has an understanding of the law and is held accountable to the law.

Up until Adam and Eve chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, man was without sin.  Once knowledge of good and evil came in, then man was under the law of sin.  They committed a willful act of disobedience.  Knowing is the gateway to all sin.  It is:  I want to know vs faith.

We became sold out to sin.  Eve said, “I want to know.”

Because Zechariah questioned the angel, wanting to know, he was mute for nine months until the birth of his son, John the Baptist.

Why is there sickness, death and disease?  These come from the devil, but God permits sickness to come on us when we are knuckleheads. We take our own knowledge and explain away God’s simple answer to disease:  SIN.

If God said it, I believe it and that settles it.

Pursue the Word of God until we know the will of God. Stop debating God, and come in agreement with His Word.

There is the prophetic word and the written Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must agree. We were sold into sin. The words spoken to us by our parents can bring us into slavery. We are in a process of learning to get out from the bondage we are in. There is untold potential in us. God gives us the ability to choose.

1. We can choose dominion over slavery, choosing to believe God’s Word over the lies of satan.  

2. By faith I refuse to be ill. I don’t have to wait until God gets us back to the Garden.  I don’t need to know why what is happening to me is happening, I just need to focus on God, by faith, and speak the truth of God’s Word.

We need to watch what we say for we can talk ourselves out of God’s blessing and plan for our life.

I pray this blesses you.

Heather

1 Thessalonians 2:11-17 … as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.  For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.  For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire.

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 therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

All authority is given to make disciples.  When someone grows in faith, it is because someone helped them. There are three major ways to help a person grow in faith, to learn the word of God, gain experience in living with the help of the Holy Spirit from day to day, and caring.

The three things are 1) Exhortation 2) Encouragement and 3) Comfort.

1 Corinthians 14:1-3 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.  But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.

If we don’t pursue love, and speak edification, exhortation, and comfort to people we will end up beating other people up.

EXHORTATION

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Encourage people by letting them realize that God has something greater ahead for them.   Don’t speak empty words, but encourage them as they face their challenges.  Be patient and give them time to get over their stuff.  Even though their lives may seem pretty challenging at the time, remind them that God has a great plan for their lives. Remember, how you say what you say impacts the hearer.  You can say it lovingly, with exasperation, in anger, or other ways. We want to make sure that the people receive what we are saying the way we intend them to receive it.

Remember, our job is to catch the fish, not clean them. If we are not careful we can end up hurting people in the church. The best one to clean the fish is the Holy Spirit.  Give people the grace, give them time.

Isaiah 63:3-4 I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes.  For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. 

Remind them that there is a great future ahead of them, for the year of the redeemed has come.  Exhort people, give them encouragement to continue.  Remind them that God loves them.  Let them sit in church flapping around, and after a while the Word of God will clean them up.

Luke 24:32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 

Our hearts will burn in us when we are filled with the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.

People get beat up all week in the world, they don’t need to come to church and receive it there as well.

Acts 21:25 But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.

The judiaizers wanted to force the Gentiles to follow the Law and traditions of the Jews, but Paul believed that was placing an undo burden on the Gentiles, so they came up with the basic rules listed above, that the Gentiles should follow.  Salvation was not about works, but relationship.  The Gentiles needed to know how to worship and how to live in a way that would not be burdensome but at the same time allow interaction with Jewish believers.

ENCOURAGEMENT

People have trouble seeing beyond the bend in the road. God works all things together to help pull a person toward God, but discouragement pushes them away.

Paul wrote his epistles to encourage the believers. 

People want to give up when they don’t see immediate results. 

The father with the demon possessed son prayed, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”  The man believed but was discouraged.

Remember, all people need encouragement.  With God all things are possible.  Your words have the power to lift people when you speak them forth.

Hallelujah brother, can be an encouragement to someone.  Let people see how the Holy Spirit fills you with joy.

When the angel came to Mary, she believed but was puzzled about how she could get pregnant without knowing a man.  

Share your testimony about how you got your miracle, health, finances.  We need to be encouraged to remember that with God all things are possible.

Speak faith.  Know you are in the faith.

COMFORT

People want to beat themselves up.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

Matthew 5:4  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

Psalm 23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 

The Father can deal with our challenges.  

You can exhort and encourage and comfort each other.  Help each other get on that railroad with God without missing the train.

Psalm 71:21 You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.     

John 14 speaks of the Holy Spirit as our Comforter.

Pastor Don then spoke about the keys of readiness The first key to readiness is expectation, and expectation helps you to fix on faith.

I pray this blesses you,

Heather 

We were blessed to have Pastor Mark Horan visit our Friday Bible Study last week.  He is from Australia, and has been involved in ministry for 28 years.

At one point Pastor Horan was connected with CLC, a major move of God in Australia.  In 1999 he was sent to an area where every church that tried to be planted failed. In 10 years the church he planted has a congregation of 300 people. God is moving on the young people in his area.

It is not the size of a church that is important, but rather if the church is faith filled.

He encouraged us to think about the prominent thoughts that come to our mind, for God will speak to us through prominent thoughts.  Write down what God tells you when you are dreaming, studying the Word, or hearing from the Spirit. If you don’t write it down, there is a tendency to forget.

Ezekiel 38:7-9  “Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them. After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.” 

God was about to do something for Israel and He wanted them to get ready.

Jeremiah 1:5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” 

God knew all the things He was going to do before we were in the womb.

Jeremiah 1:17  “Therefore prepare yourself and arise, and speak to them all that I command you.  Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them.”

Be ready. God is always ready.

Psalm 86:5  For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. 

Is 38:20 “The LORD was ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the LORD.”   

Daniel 3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 

These three refused to bow down to the idol of Nebuchadnezzar, they were ready, if necessary to be thrown into the furnace and die.

Luke 12:40 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” 

Matthew 22:8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

The people invited to the wedding party came up with excuses.  Matthew 22:4-6 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

They did not put God first. 

Remember the parable of the ten virgins – five were ready with enough oil, five were foolish and not ready.

Procrastination is the assassination of all Godly motivation.

God’s always ready.  Are you ready?

People in Church are loved by God, but not all are ready.  They are placing their relationships, material things, desires for other things, other activities, etc. in front of serving God.  

We will make mistakes, even if we choose to be ready for God. We need to keep the attitude of serving God, repent for our mistake and move on.

Why are we here in this community?  What is our purpose?

Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 

The people in the community wanted to stop Paul from going into danger where he could lose his life, but Paul was a sold out man. He was ready to serve God even at the cost of His life.

Romans 1:15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

Paul was ready.

Pastor Horan spoke about a train that went through his town. It would stop at the station for one minute. If someone needed to board the train or exit the train, they had only one minute to do so. They had to be ready the second the train came into the station.

Our opportunities in life are like that train. They arrive in our station and we either get on the train or not.  If we are not ready, we will miss the train.

We have to have in our spirit the words, “I’m ready.

Titus 3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,

We need to be ready to do whatever is good

2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

Paul was ready to be poured out as a drink offering.

You get to live ready.
Christian and ready
Young and ready
Old and ready

Or we can be: not ready.

What matters is what God wants. Don’t get caught up in temporary stuff. We need to do what we do unto the Lord.

When John Wesley was not allowed to preach on church grounds, he stood up on his father’s grave, the place of land that he owned, and preached from there. Find a way to do what it is that God wants.

2 Corinthians 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 

Are you ready to give?
Are you ready to serve?

Jesus came to serve, not to be served. He gave His life for us. If someone calls you, even at an inconvenient time, are you ready to serve?

Revelation 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.

Are you ready for the marriage of the Lamb?

No matter what season of life you are in, are you ready for the new season?  Do you want more from God?  It is a new day, a new way, a new road, a new challenge to be conquered.

God is always ready, are we?

Isaiah 1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 

Are you ready to obey?

Faith is followed by obedience, and if we obey we are blessed, peace.

Obedient faith

We need to deal with the rebellion in our heart. satan is the most rebellious person in the Bible.

We can’t be led by the Spirit without a willing heart.  Disobedience is like the sin of witchcraft.

If you decide that you want to do what you want to do, that is the spirit of antichrist. 

To have power over the enemy, the safety valve is obedience.

We want to obey God in the period of change, when things are new, when we are stretched farther than we thought we could be, when we are split up, when things are stirred up, in good seasons, in bad.

The devil is a strategist. He keeps seeking for a way to break down a person and will methodically attack a person.

If a church is effective, the devil wants the people to try to get to the pastor.  He will try to get the congregation to speak against the pastor, try to get the people to stop giving, anything to cause a pastor to be pulled off course.

Psalm 71:10 For my enemies speak against me; and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together,

The devil is afraid of the church and Jesus, and seeks to get the people to plot against each other.

Psalm 2:1-3 Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” 

They take counsel together against the Lord and the Church, against Jesus, the family, children, etc. The world is giving in to everything, not standing for the truth.  Are you ready to stand with your pastor and stop complaining?

We may have to let some friendships that are not fruitful to drop away. 

We need to embrace God’s correction in our lives, Are we ready to defend, fight and pray when God brings us in to a new area of His reality?  Are you ready?

We need to look after our health, for we will last longer in the fight if we are healthy. We can do more damage to the enemy when we are healthy. Are you ready to make the right choice? God is also a God of common sense, and you will live longer if you look after yourself.

God is the author and finisher of our faith. He wants to take us to something new. Are you ready?

It could be that little extra spark, and BANG you have a revial at work.

If you are doing what you always have done, you will get what you always got.

A pastor,  Tommy Evans, although elderly, continues to attend youth events. When asked about it, he points out that he wants to catch something new.

God told Jeremiah to speak with authority, God’s Word. Jesus is sending us out with authority.  Are you ready?

Get rid of things that are wasting your time.

Are you ready to deal with the things in your heart? We’ve all been hurt?  Are you ready to let go of the hurts of the past?

Are you ready for the change, new season, new thing?  

1 Corinthians 2:9 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.”

Are you ready?

He prayed for people who had strongholds who were keeping them from being ready for their next step in life.

Pastor Horan then spoke about how to pastor people. I am going to make that a separate post, tomorrow.

Praying your day is blessed!

Heather

On September 10 our Friday Bible study began with  a remarkable teaching and testimony from John Whipple.  

He spoke about how the Holy Spirit transforms us.

John McArthur Study Bible speaks of fruits of repentance that spoke to John Whipple’s heart.  He is in the process of being healed from Parkinson’s disease and God is guiding him in ways that are helping him begin the healing process.

John told us that he realized there was no such thing as coincidence, luck or chance.  What God gives you is meant for you, and there is something you can learn from everything that affects your life. There is something that you need to learn.  

He has had a series of hardships and challenges, and through them came to the realization that he needed God.  God got John’s attention and gave him what John calls his marching orders.  This is a remarkable list of things that blessed me, and I hope it blesses you. This is what the Holy Spirit told John through his inner witness. These are specific things God told John to focus on, and many of them are wonderful for us all to consider in our lives.  As Pastor Don commented during this testimony, many of them are “bombshells.”

Convictions to accomplish the mission. How does one know if their heart has been touched by the Holy Spirit?  The following “truths” will at once and over time be revealed to the believer.

1. That everything you have learned since childhood with respect to the Bible and teaching of Jesus Christ are absolutely and unequivocally true.

2. That the power of prayer is unequalled in its ability to heal mind, body, and soul!

3. That you will at once be relieved of all your earthly fears. You will recognize that these fears are in fact the blinders the devil uses to prevent persons of faith from discerning God’s desire for their life.

4. That you will understand, once fears are removed, you will immediately be empowered to do God’s will and will look to do all things to God’s glory.

5. That your thirst for knowledge in the Word will be intensified. You will hunger and thirst for God’s grace through Scripture.

6. You will seek out every opportunity to do God’s will. This will be exemplified through your random, unabated acts of kindness toward fellow man.

7. You will carry the sword of righteousness but will not lift it in judgment against your brother, instead the words of compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and love will be etched on its sheath.

8. You will be hopelessly locked in the present because you know this is the only place you can do God’s will. You will take one day at a time and will not worry about the future.

9. You will be able to look into the hearts of your fellowman and feel his pain. God will give you the words to speak and the actions to take to ease the man’s burden.

10. You will understand immediately that all the gifts you’ve been given and the hardships you will endure are simply a test of your faith, and if you are able to return but one lamb who is lost, back to the Father, surely your days will be blessed.

Praise God, Amen.

John brought the painting of Jesus standing at the door and knocking, and said that in his journey this painting had special meaning for him as he studied it in depth.

He said that life is filled with brambles.  That you open the door yourself for the hinges are positioned so that the person in the house has to open the door to Jesus. WHen you follow Christ down the path you will be walking through sticks, thorns, and rough areas. In the painting John sees those as falling from grace.  

John said he had to give up stuff, boating, fishing, and work. These were areas where he felt that his life was out of order. With boating he spent so much time on his boat and fishing was an obsession, he wanted to catch tons of fish, and there was pride in his work that he felt was out of order in his life.

John told us that when passion turns to obsession it needs to be given up.

John had to call people to ask for forgiveness. He had a change in his character – 180 degrees different.

When he came to Christ and began to study the Word of God, John told us that he felt like he was a dry sponge dropped into a bucket of water. 

He said that when his brain slowed down his heart opened.

Parkinson’s made John available to hear from God. He said that this necessary loss was needed for his spiritual growth.  It provided an appetite for love, mercy, forgiveness of others, and forgiveness of himself. Compassion and sympathetic listening increased.  His loss made him realize the necessity of charity, of giving to others, not just about receiving. He realized that he needed a change in his value system. That at one time he was rash, going out on a limb for fruit.  He needed to get out of his comfort zone, a place where John realized he was alone, isolated, had a morally bankrupt value system.  He needed to deal with his health, family, income.  

In the process of building up new behaviors there were set backs. John realized he needed to know what to say and who to say it to.

John told us that he received empowerment through the authority of the Word.

The Holy Spirit empowers us and the Bible gives us authority. We need power and authority working in harmony.

God is bringing healing to John Whipple.  I am grateful that he shared some of what the Holy Spirit has told him to do.  I realize that each person’s path to healing is different, but there are some remarkable truths that John shared that are applicable to my life, and I pray they bless yours.  Whenever I hear a testimony from someone I always find something to take away from it. We really are able to fight the evil one through the word of our testimony. For the testimonies of others build our faith.

I pray your day is blessed.

Heather

There are many false teachings in the Church. Some teach that we do not need to attend church.  There is the emerging church.  Some teach that things that we have previously called “good” are really bad.  They want us to rely on emotions and what “feels” right. If a person does not follow the current tolerant teachings their intelligence and judgment are questioned and they are labeled as condemning. But teachings are in error if they do not line up with the Word of God.  Jesus loved a person who sinned, but did not condone their sin. The woman caught in adultery was protected by Jesus so no one would stone her, but he also told her to go and sin no more.

Love puts limits. Love applies judgment and correction in situations. Love without correction makes a person as guilty as the person who commits the sin. 

Some take the liberty to freely interpret the Scripture, rejecting the parts they don’t like, they are not hearing the full Word of God. Often they cite the supposed fallibility of Scripture as a reason to reject certain parts. The Holy Spirit, if we listen to Him, will help us to realize when we have made a wrong interpretation of Scripture.  Much of what is not considered sound doctrine evolves when a person takes the text out of context.  

Jesus asked a poignant question, “Will I find faith?”   We can’t fault people who have never been in the Spirit for not knowing the truth by the Spirit. We need to discern if what we are believing is because it lines up with the Spirit and the Word or is it touching our emotions?  We need evidence to say that this is true because it is based on Scripture.

Jesus gave each disciple something to base their commitment on. Peter and John were bought out into the water and caught such a great load of fish that Peter tells Jesus to stay away from him because he is an unclean man.   Jesus told them that they would become fishers of men.

When we come to God it is based on the Spirit, and we are not taken in by the big lie.

Isaiah 40 is for those mature in faith.  Spiritual maturity has nothing to do with chronological age.  In Pastor Don’s childhood church some of the deacons were not mature.  Pastor asked his father why this was so.  His father told him that they were arrested adolescents, they were still a kid in an adult body.

Maturity comes with spiritual experiences that open the heart and mind. Immature people seek to “get even.”  They take someone’s disadvantage and make it their advantage.  They covet something and find a way to obtain it.  Some think that they can buy lottery tickets and pray to God as if God was going to give them a winning ticket. God will not multiply your finances in that manner. Don’t justify it by saying that something that the devil promotes can be made holy by the anointing. What the devil gives you, he will take away.  God tells us to invest. To take a percentage of your income and tithe it to the Lord.  You can’t reap a harvest without sowing seed.  We need to have retirement plans and not depend on Social Security to provide for us.  We are to gain houses and lands, and prepare an inheritance for our children.

Isaiah 40:1-2 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”  says your God.  “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” 

In Isaiah 39 Hezekiah showed the Babylonian ambassadors all the treasures of Israel, things he had no right to show them, such as the Temple treasures. Isaiah prophesied that because of this the future generations of Israel would face serious repercussions, such as the diaspora, because of Hezekiah’s sin. Hezekiah was not concerned because he would have peace in his life. The previous chapters dealt with a different time period.

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

This is a Messianic prophesy, that describes John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 40:4  Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; 

people, circumstances, nations. Jesus was sent with a message to the poor (spiritually and materially).

Isaiah 61:1-2a  “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God;…”  

The making of the crooked paths straight and rough places smooth is also an end times prophesy of future events.

Isaiah 40:5 “The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” 

Jesus is the glory of the Lord, seen.  All flesh will see it together, on the third coming of the Lord – when He sets His feet on the earth.  His second coming is in the clouds, for the rapture, but He does not set His foot on the ground in that coming.  There are three comings of the Lord but only two touch the earth.

Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

We don’t have a chance if the elect are fooled.  Those who have discernment will not be deceived. Those whose flesh prevents them from hearing the truth are the ones that will be fooled. Those with discernment will not be making decisions from the emotions.  They will be transparent and correctable. The Holy Spirit will reveal the truth to us.  

OUR TRUTH METER HAS TO BE BIGGER THAN OUR CHARISMA.

The elders need to take action in accordance with the truth, teach the truth, and pray for discernment. We are supposed to judge in the light of Scripture.  Sin is flesh and theology is good.  Anything that we do in the flesh God can pull down. The measure of a person is seen by what does God does with the ministry after they sinned.  For example, King David sinned, but repented from his heart and God was still able to use him. If the heart is not right, the devil can manipulate the mouth. You can have successful works and still get no credit, God judges the oat, hay and stubble, from those things that have real value.

Matthew 24:25-31 See, I have told you beforehand. “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Matthew 24:38-42 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

These judgments on the earth are huge, and Christ will come again, in the clouds with great glory.  It will set off a period of chaos.

In verse 27 we see that there will be signs in the heaven, that all will see.  This appearance will be quick, and the rapture will occur. Who will be left on the earth are the unbelievers and those who do not believe the rapture will come.

Matthew 24:37-42 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

This speaks of the rapture.

Matthew 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

This chapter speaks of the third appearance of Christ, when He is sitting on the planet and judging.

Zechariah 14:4-5 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.  Thus the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You.

After Jesus appears in the clouds and the rapture occurs, He will make His third appearance on the Mount of Olives.  The early church called it the Blessed Hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Caught up with Christ in the clouds.

Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 

There is lots of effort applied to fool the elect, but it is not possible to fool them, if they use discernment and know the Word of God.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather