Notes from a teaching presented 10/22/10

I am combining John’s testimony with Pastor Don’s comments on what John shared because they both work together to give a complete understanding.

John is in the process of being healed of Parkinson’s disease, and in this process God is showing him some truths that are beneficial for all believers.

Being born again is not an event but a daily conversion process and there are still challenges that he is facing.

John gave us a handout with what he called a tree of iniquity where the various limbs of the tree represented sins that he had to deal with.  

John pointed out that as he began the process of giving up certain sins (self-centeredness, selfishness, pride, hatred and an unforgiving spirit) he began to receive blessings.  God is helping him overcome the challenges of lust and other desires and now John is in the process of receiving his healing.

John said that one of the things that he kept doing was finding ways to escape (drugs, alcohol, and other things to deaden pain).  He had to face these.  Initially he felt that because of his sickness he deserved the ways of escape.  

Webster defines deserve as:  earn by service (to serve) merit, be entitled to.

Obstacle is defined by Webster as escapism – morbid desire to escape from the realities of life by concentrating on some other interest.

And John said that he felt justified in doing this.  His justification was:  you deserve this because you are sick.

The cure is self-examination and spiritual realignment, with confidence, compassion and prayer.

John said, when desire has conceived it, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown brings forth death.  While sin does not bring spiritual death for the believer, it can bring physical death.

Scriptures:

James 1:15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

1 Corinthians 11:27-31 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.  For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

1 John 5:16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.

(Heather’s note) What John did, he did under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and is not something that everyone would do.  This is John’s journey to healing.  The Holy Spirit might lead you in a different way.  John shared some very personal challenges he was facing, and how he began to overcome them.

John had to get over anger with his ex-wife.  He was led to give up taking prescription pain pills and turned to prayer and belief in the healing power of God.

He has to be careful to not think or speak anything classified as negativity.  As he did this, the pain lessened.

The first week he was positive, upbeat and felt ok.  He was beginning to bring himself into spiritual alignment.  Not always did he succeed, but as time went on he got better at this.

He has to practice the process daily, and is getting closer and closer to the point where his faith will be able to receive the healing.  He knows that at the right time he will go into Pastor’s office and have Pastor Don pray for him and receive his complete healing.  Pastor Don agrees. 

Pastor Don’s comments:

Unsaved people do not know the Gospel.  The more we know the more is required of us to stand in faith. No matter how challenging the problem we need to stand. Stand and as we are tested we build strength and are able to help others. We are not alone, and it is never too late.

Moses was 80 years old when he entered the ministry.  God gave him full health until he was 120 years old, and he died and Deuteronomy 34 tells us that his eyes were not dim and his natural vigor was not diminished.

Our struggle is a learning process.  Jesus would heal people and tell them to go their way and sin no more.

Whatever we are going through God is permitting it for a greater purpose.  Some face their mountain challenge carefully and slowly going up the side, others go up quickly.  If you go straight up there is a greater risk of falling and that can cause more damage.  Yet God sometimes chooses to let a person be healed quickly.  In other situations the process is slow and step by step.  Faith is built in either situation. But sometimes if things come to easy it is easy to quit on faith the moment a challenge comes.  But if faith is built slowly, brick by brick, the foundation is stronger and not as easily shaken when troubles come.  But God knows the best way to deal with our situation.

The woman with the issue of blood was told by Jesus that her faith made her whole.
The paralytic man that was let down from the roof by his four friends, was healed on the faith of his friends.  Jesus told the man that his sins were forgiven, and that he was to pick up his bed and walk. 

John’s tree was a good image. 

1 John 5:17-21  All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.  We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

We have to go forward with a heart-felt desire to get results, and get people filled with the Word of God.  If they are getting enough Word in them it will help them to stop going over the same ruts in the road.  Are we willing to believe the elders and teachers and bring our lives in conformity with the truth?  If we know the truth and do not obey it, we will end up in worse shape.  We need to know that God wants us delivered.

But God expects us to take the steps to change the that He shows us to change.  We have to make a decision to change.  We may know we need to change but do we desire it?  It is not enough to say, “I’m a good person.”  There has to be faith.  We can’t avoid the steps and go have a picnic.

The Gospel is true.  John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Acts 3:19-21 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

We need to deal with what we got wrong. We are not going to take our baggage to Heaven.  So, it is wrong to think that we are able to keep that baggage here in God’s Kingdom.  We need to make a personal assessment of who am I and where am I?

Where am I now?  Where am I going?

Pastor Don received the calling to full time ministry 5/6/86.

He received the following verse: Isaiah 52:11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the LORD.   And then in his spirit, Pastor Don was told that if you put your hand to the plow you can’t turn back.

Where am I now?  Where have I been?  If we are open, honest, transparent, and repenting, that is how God fixes us.

Pastor Don told us to not hold anything against anyone.

Jesus said:  Mark 11:25-26  And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.

The Gospel has no fudge factor.  Jesus is the only way to the truth.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Jesus says the truth.  

In Acts 3 Peter gave an assessment of the people, speaking about how they rejected Jesus in ignorance.  Once they receive the assessment they may like it or not like it, but Peter spoke the truth and they have the choice how they respond.  The grace of God takes away our sins, past/present/future, and we can use it to minister to others.

1 John 5:16-17 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

The life mentioned in this passage is the Zoe kind of life, the God kind of life, life eternal in Heaven with God.  Some may have committed sin, but still be saved, that is a sin not leading to death.  Death in this passage is separation from God in the eternal, in the place where there is no zoe.

The spiritual life is life of God, zoe, works by faith.  You do not receive salvation by works, but once you are saved, you choose to do good works because you are saved, and the fruit of your salvation is good works.  For those who are spiritually dead, that death is the cessation of spiritual life.

Revelation 21 and 22 speak of the New Heaven and New Earth and the zoe kind of life.

Those who reject God will end up in hell.  God is not going to send anyone to hell, those who go to hell are the ones who make the choice to get away from God.

Some people feel they have committed the blaspheme of the Holy Spirit.  Pastor Don went over what is entailed in the blaspheme of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 

We as a Church are still debating dead works.  For example, opening up a food pantry and hope that you will get to Heaven doing good works in the Church,  We are to go on to perfection and leave dead works, going rather to faith toward God.

Hebrews 6:2  of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 

There are many baptisms, there is the baptism of repentance (John the Baptist), the Baptism into the Holy Spirit, the Baptism into the Father, the Baptism into the Body of Christ, ad Water Baptism.

The laying on of hands deals with passing the anointing, sealing covenants.

Resurrection of the dead – that Jesus rose from the dead and that in the end times so will those who have died will rise.

And there is eternal life and judgment.

Pastor Don has covered in great depth these elementary principles in previous studies on the book of Hebrews. He covered these over a series of many Friday Bible studies.  Here is the first of the series, dealing with the baptisms.  Once you have that date you can read the rest of the posts following.  This post has a picture of some of the ones attending our Bible study.  You are always welcome if you are in town at 12:30 on Fridays.

Hebrews 6:3  And this we will do if God permits.

This is prophetic. God permitted, but man didn’t.

To commit the unpardonable sin, there are many requirements that must be met.  Hebrews 6:4-5  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

It is impossible for those who were once enlightened – which means that they have walked fully in the Spirit, know the truth of God, have been able to delineate Scripture, and are aware of the powers of the ages to come.  For a person to commit the unpardonable sin they must be well-versed and fully functioning  in ALL five of these points.  An ordinary person or a baby Christian would not qualify under this.  This would apply to someone who once walked in the fullness of the Spirit and then fell away.  Most believers do not do this.

Hebrews 6:6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. 

If a person was walking fully in Salvation, in the gifts of the Spirit, understanding the Word of God, and all the precepts, and then they choose to reject their Salvation, Jesus cannot die again on the Cross for them.  He died once for all.  He cannot shed His blood a second time for the person, so then they have committed the unpardonable sin.

One example is Judas – he operated in the gifts of the Spirit, knew Jesus, knew Jesus was Savior, and chose to betray Jesus.  Judas was remorseful but did not repent.    satan and all his fallen angels cannot be forgiven.  satan and the angels rebelled with full knowledge of what he did.  satan was not sorry he tried to take down God, and satan still keeps trying to do this.

There are spiritual laws and natural laws.  You can have healing faith and still be working iniquity.

Faith will work all the time.  It can work even when you are having faith for something that is not beneficial to you  Faith applied to the will of God is beneficial.  

The principle of electricity works if you are using electricity for good purposes or for killing someone.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

In the new age and occult, the Biblical principles are used, but God is not given the credit or glory.

Hebrews 6:11-12 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

We don’t want to be sluggish, we want to be quick.  

We need to imitate those who have gone before us through faith and patience, and we will inherit the promises.

I pray this blesses you.

Heather

God is rapidly moving on the earth and things are beginning to look like Acts 1 again – suddenly. The saints are moving out in the streets full of the Holy Ghost.  People can get touched by God even in the parking lot of White Castle.  Church is extending beyond the four walls.

Six things to do when things seem hopeless

1. Make up your mind that you are going to do what it takes to deal with your situation.

2. Turn to the right direction.  When Hezekiah found out that he was going to die, he turned out to the wall and prayed to God.  He did not speak to the prophet or someone else, He went straight to God.

3. Plead your case.

Isaiah 43:25-26  I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted. 

James 5:16-17 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 

Psalm 34:4-6 I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.
 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

4.  Remember that the battle is not yours.  It may feel like it is yours, but the battle is the Lord’s.  If you give it to Him, He will fight it for you.  

2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

5. God gives direction.

When Moses was at the Red Sea, God said to Moses, what’s in your hand.  Under God’s direction Moses’ rod was used to part the Red Sea.  Listen to what God instructs when your situation is tough. He can make you see new ways to use what you have.

Jehoshaphat turned to God for direction, and when God told him that the battle was the Lord’s, Jehoshaphat put the praisers first, which is contrary to what would make common sense, but praise and worship of God went first and God won the battle.

Saul on the Road to Damascus had a run in with Jesus, and was blinded.  He had to obey God to go to the city.  (Acts 9:1-19)  God told Ananias to go to the street called Straight and pray for Saul that he would receive his sight.  Ananias tells God that Saul was trying to kill believers, but God told him that Saul/Paul was His chosen vessel.  Ananias obeyed God and Saul regained his sight, to become a powerful influence on the Church.  From Ananias’s point of view this did not make sense, but God can use surprising things and people for His purposes.  Follow God’s instructions.

6. No matter the circumstance give God praise and thanks.

The best way to change your circumstances is to give God praise and thanks. You are thanking God for your future blessings.  In all things give thanks.  Give thanks in your situation and through your situation.  You put your praises up first, knowing that the Lord is moving.

2 Chronicles 22:20-22 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:  “Praise the LORD, for His mercy endures forever.”  Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

When they began to sing and praise, then the Lord sent an ambushes against the enemy.

They had instruction from God. When God gives us instructions we need to do them, then God can act.  It is our obedience that matters.

They did not know how God would act in their situation, they believed God and acted.  You do not have to know how God will act in your situation.  What matters is that you obey God. Praising God is important. Heaven goes in motion as your praises go up.

Praise is the number one weapon against the kingdom of darkness.

Darrell said to us, if we are not actively praising God here at church, how are we praising God at home?

King David said, Psalm 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Because you love the Lord and are saved, does not mean that your life is affliction free.

Psalm 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

Make up your mind that, no matter your situation, you are going through and you will keep praising the Lord.

Stir up your Spirit, stir up your faith.  You can’t bless and thank God and stay in unbelief.  As you bless ad praise God, you will see God.

Kenneth Hagin, a great evangelist, was sick with an incurable disease.  The doctors sent him home to die.  He decided that he wanted to be able to see the sun and set out to reach a tree on the property.  He had been bed-fast, but kept praising God and praying the truth of God’s Word.  He decided he would make it to this tree, about a mile away from where he was. He started out crawling to the tree, thanking the Lord.  He determined to praise God and reach the tree, whether he received his healing or not.  One hour he praised God, after the second hour he was able to lift his hands a bit because some of the strength had returned to his hands.  After the fourth hour of praise he was able to praise in a loud voice.  As time went by he was totally healed, singing and shouting praise to God.

We pray, but where is the thanksgiving?  The scales are off balance in Heaven, more requests than thanks for what God has given us.

When you praise you gain boldness in prayer and that leads to your healing.  Even if you still are manifesting symptoms praise God, saying, “Thank you Jesus that I am well.  Don’t give up, keep praising. 

God does not want us to stay in the same situation we are in.  That is why we have to pray the truth of God.  If we talk about the toughness of our circumstances our faith shrivels.  Talk about faith instead.

Paul tells us that faith is in the heart and the mouth.  We don’t want to worship God only from head knowledge, but rather from heart knowledge.  God wants our hearts armed with faith.

There are steps that we take in our circumstances:

Asking
Believing
Praise

We start in the natural, with the bad report, the picture.  Wondering how this is going to happen?  We ask, then believe God will deal with our situation, then start praising. At first, as Darrell says, our praise may be as dry as Rice Krispies.  Praise anyway, even if you don’t feel it.  Praise has nothing to do with feelings.  As you begin to praise in the flesh, your spirit locks in with Words.  And as you keep praising rivers of living water will flow from your praises.

You were created to magnify God.

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed.  There are times when we need to turn our face to the wall and pray and praise God with thanksgiving.  Darrell had to do this with some tough financial situations.  He and his wife and the rest of his group prayed with their faces toward the wall, and their praise and thanksgiving delivered them from their challenge.

Psalm 91:1-2 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.” 

The rest of Psalm 91 is also awesome to read and study.

Because we are part of the Kingdom of God we do not need to fear, for God will help us to supply all our needs.  As we turn to God in praise and worship, the Holy Spirit will give us God ideas to help our circumstances.  The Holy Spirit will lead us, and as we obey we grow out of our circumstance.

Go in prayer and end up in praise.  You are going to your Father, and He loves you.

If you a castaway on a island and you put a note in the bottle, if you don’t put the cap on the bottle, the note will be destroyed and not reach someone to send you help.

Our praise is like putting the cap on our bottle of prayer.  Praise helps us keep our focus.

Psalm 126:1-6 When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we are glad.  Bring back our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the South. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Singing and laughing seals the deal.

What the devil hates more than anything else is when we laugh at him.  We spent some time laughing at the defeated foe, the devil.  He has lost and knows it.  God has won the victory. Throw your head back and laugh for joy at God’s victory over the enemy.

I pray you are laughing at the enemy and praising your way to victory.

Heather

These are notes from a Bible study on October 15, 2010, I am trying to catch up!

Isaiah 54:1-4 “Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited. Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.”

God tells us to not fear.  This passage is very similar to the Prayer of Jabez, echoing the enlarging of territory.  It is a good prayer to pray if you are seeking to enlarge your territory, for special blessings and expanding your ministry.  Do not spare.  Invest in the possibility of the Lord. This is a word of encouragement.  When God gives a God idea, don’t say, “I can’t.”  We think we are not capable, but that is not true.  For if God gives us a God idea, God is going to do it, we don’t do in our own power.  

God can speak to you through unexpected sources, even a word of correction can be an encouragement.

To lengthen your cords means to go forth unafraid.  Strengthen the stakes – keep plugged in.  Local churches need to go and start something else.  

In Living Word Chapel one of our ministries is of fellowship and food. After Sunday Services a meal is provided so that people can sit and talk among themselves, building fellowship. That is important in the Church and especially important as the end times approach.

Jesus appears three times to the Apostles after His resurrection, and in thee times they were eating together.  The third time Jesus even cooked the food for the Apostles. 

Verse 4, above is a strong verse, of God being the husband. If you are widowed, divorced, alone, God is your husband and provider.  God speaks in your life and gives direction, and helps with the problems.  God promises that if we step out in faith we will not be disgraced, God will not put us to shame.

We can forget the reproach of our youth because God took the reproach away.  Stay plugged in and rework yur life.

Isaiah 54:5  For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. 

Emotional healing.  God is the Lord of Hosts, of the whole earth, He is capable of doing what He says He can do, no limitations.

Isaiah 54:6  For the LORD has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused,” says your God. 

God has promised to help us with our worst fear, the fear of abandonment.  God has overcome that.

Isaiah 54:7  For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. 

This is spoken to the natural nation of Israel, in particular to those who walk away.  God remains faithful, for a higher purpose.  He can allow us to face the repercussions of our actions, and still keep us and at the right time gather us again.  After we mess up, He will come and get us and put us back together.

Isaiah 54:8 With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer. 

God pursues us.  He forgives us.

Isaiah 54:9  For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. 

This is a powerful picture!  God is addressing this to Israel and the tribe of Judah, and those who are engrafted into the vine of Israel.  Noah was preserved as the waters overwhelmed the earth, and there was great destruction of those that were evil. God promised never to destroy the earth with water again.  God knows what we’re made up and who we are.  He can handle what we are facing.  If the videotape keeps playing back all that you have done wrong, there may be something demonic in that for that is filled with condemnation.  God is our Savior, Deliverer, and Redeemer.  

Some teach in error that there will be no rapture, that we will be on earth in the last days but we will not suffer like everyone else in the earthquakes, tornados, etc.  That all will be affected.  But we believe what Jesus says.  He speaks of some staying on earth, and others leaving the earth.  Two will be working in the field, one remains, the other taken up, etc.

Isaiah 54:10-15  For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you.  “O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. 

Powerful! Remember, we don’t have to take hateful vengeance.  No weapon formed against us will prosper, God will deal with our enemies, for that is our heritage.

Isaiah 54:16-17 Behold, I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the LORD.

You need to read this in context, without verse 16 we don’t see the full meaning of verse 17.  In verse 15-16 God is telling us what He is going to do about our enemy.  God will not be idle.  God created a spoiler to destroy those who bring weapons against you.  

Genesis 4:5-7 (Cain and Abel)  …but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.  So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 

If Cain would exhibit right behavior and obedience to God, he would be accepted.  If not, Cain will be ruled by sin.  God set it up.  God will be the strength for us to do well. But sin is waiting, but sin has no authority over us, unless we agree to let satan rule our lives.

Suffering can be a blessing that inspires us to change.  

Psalm 119:67  Before I was afflicted I went astray,  but now I keep Your word.

God is love.  Love has to exist in the realm of free will.  If there is no free will, you cannot freely choose to love God.  Love is a choice.  Romantic love is a byproduct of true love.  In India the divorce rate is 2%, because parents choose the spouse for their children.

In verse 16-17 the blacksmith is the Holy Spirit and angels who bring forth an instrument for His wrath.  Creates the spoiler to destroy the enemy’s plans against us.  It is the fire of the blacksmith that brings forth the Holy Spirit (blowing on the fire to increase heat) and bring forth a spoiler by the ruach – breath of God.

Psalm 91 God sends his angels and they will take vengeance against those who hurt us.  God’s created the fire, and we can draw power from the coals from the fire of God.  The altar of incense uses the coals from the altar of sacrifice to burn the incense which is the prayers of the saints.  

The fire of the Holy Spirit has two aspects – it destroys the enemy and it builds and purifies

Our personal fires can destroy, but God gives us a fire that burns away sin and impurity, and makes the whole pure.  God takes away what hurts us, so that we will be strengthened and not weakened.  

The enemy wants to rob us of God’s plan, seeking to condemn us.  But we have a choice about what to do.  We can choose to live under assault and condemnation or we can choose to focus on God and His plan and Word.  For every constructive plan God has for our lives, satan plans destruction.

When the enemy attacks us we have to speak the truth of God to counter satan’s lies.  

In our spiritual battles we need to remember that there are more for us than against us.  But we can be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be outnumbered.  So we need to discern God’s plan for us.

The truth is BIG GOD little devil.

I pray that this teaching helps you.  It sure spoke to me.

Heather

This class was taught 10/8/10

Isaiah 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 

We need to think and discern for ourselves.  Jesus Christ took all our sins: past, present and future.  Christ took it all.

Our loving Father is so forgiving.  Why would we not accept freedom from sin, guilt and punishment?  It is a disservice to the Body of Christ to overemphasize hell and not teach about Heaven.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.  It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.  We teach hell with a combination of forgiveness and the love of God.

When we speak to people we need to speak from compassion and love, concerned for them, not wanting them to go to hell.

God did not originally make hell for people, but there are those who do not choose God.  hell is the only place that people can go where there is no God for eternity.  But they choose to go there.  God wants all saved.

What we think of as eternity is not what the Bible is describing.  The Bible is speaking of EONS, or ages.  It is forever and ever, but we don’t know how long an eon is. 

In the book of Genesis the Sun and Moon are given to us for the telling of time.  God created days, years, hours, months.  But we don’t know how long an eon is.

God exists in the ages of ages, and at times He chooses to enter in our time zone.

There is prophetic time in Heaven.  The prophetic in earth is in God’s time. God is not earth bound.  Prophetic events on earth are determined by completed events, our experience on earth not chronological time.  In the Eternal Age there is perfection.  We will no longer know death.

In this dispensation there is a reestablishment of the Church of God and the five-fold ministry.  We are in the prophetic phase which is followed by the apostolic stage.

The church has to be put back into the order that God ordained for this disposition.

Pastor -> Evangelist (without signs and wonders is what many think, but there was TL Osborn, Oral Roberts added healing) ->Teacher (faith, Word, Gospel teaching, the Power of God based on faith) ->Prophet  -> apostle

The flesh of man wants to rise to each new level but not all have credentials. 

The three greatest of the era are Billy Graham, Oral Roberts and Kenneth Hagin.

Responding to the Spirit of God to recognize the calling of God and other people recognize it.

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. 

If you have faith, and fear God, working righteousness you are accepted by God.

Revelation 2:11-16   “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.  And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.  Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.  Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.‘” 

John 10:16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. 

We need to reach beyond denominational lines and reach others for the Lord.  So often when a person is rejecting God it is because of a father wound.  We need to talk with a person to find out what it is in their life that caused them to reject God. Until you locate their area of hurt it is hard to know how to minister the Gospel to them.  When you find out what causes them to not want to believe God, you will figure out how to reach them for God.

Acts 8:26-31 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert.  So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”  So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.

God helps a person to come to the revelation of Jesus.  He sent Philip to the Ethiopian so that he could tell the Ethiopian what the passage in Isaiah was about.  

Today God is reaching out to Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and other religions.  If God has to send a Philip He will.  God uses the TV, radio, email, visions and dreams to reach people.

Do we think Jesus is big enough to understand the problems we have created for Him?  Is Jesus bigger than our theology?

Jesus of Nazareth is small compared to the Word of God (Jesus Christ).

God shows no partiality.  God can get a person radically saved.

The best way to know the Father is to Know the Son.  Jesus told us I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

John 14:9-11  Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that Iam in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

You are responsible for the measure and amount of revelation you have.

The church does not always show Jesus to others.  The Jesus most people will see is the Jesus we show through our lives.

God looks at our hearts

It is our responsibility to rightly divide the Word of truth so that people can meet Jesus.  It is only through Jesus that the people will begin to know the Father.

I pray this blesses you.

Heather

The standard is not given to us by the Law but by the Spirit. We need to hear and obey God, operating in the right order.  If God says to go left and we go right we are out of order.  Obedience is important to God. 

Each of these 12 components follow upon each other and are interconnected.

1. Time

If we do not understand time we can miss the visitation of God.  God always visits in time.  But God is outside of our chronological time.  God comes at the right time and everything changes.  God told the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath and He gave them specific Feasts to gather.  

In the presence of God everything changes.  We can’t do work in the presence of God.

In Revelation, John was in the Spirit in the presence of God and he fell down as a dead man.

God appeared to Moses in the backside of the desert, until God told him it was time to bring the people out of captivity of Egypt.  Moses was confronted with a bush that burned but was not consumed.  He was told to remove the shoes from his feet because He was standing on holy ground.

What is necessary is attendance on God to hear what He has to say.

Your situation in life is an opportunity for God to bring His presence and exert His presence on your circumstances.  Where God has shown up in your life is Holy Ground.  Your challenges become sanctified in the Holy Place.  Remember, we are Temples of God.

We need our soul to agree with the Spirit so that we can have wholeness to carry out our assignments.  We sometimes think that our situation has no remedy or solution, that our situation is more than we can bear.  But that is not the truth.  When we focus on the difficulty of our situation we are turning our focus away from the truth and that makes it hard to complete our purpose.  

God speaks to us out of our circumstances.  God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush.  So often when we have a difficult circumstance we speak to others who will agree with our assessment of the situation.  That will not get us anywhere.  We need the truth.  The Kingdom of God cannot advance greater than the truth you have received from God.  John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The success of the advancing of the Kingdom is based on the truth.

To burn something you need Time + Oxygen + Ignition.

God is the ignition.  God allows the oxygen to circulate.  And there is no time for the bush (Moses burning bush) to burn.

God is moving outside of time.  God is not going to bring His actions to line up with your situation;  you need to line your situation up with the will of God.  It is your choice. God is sovereign, He is not going to act according to consensus of opinion.   If we line up with His will, He can turn our situation around and let His glory shine through it.

Someone said that when we kill the sacred cow that does not mean that we don’t eat it’s meat.  We can get what we can from those sacred cows in our life and use that information in service of God.  God anoints us but it may take time to bring us to the point where the anointing manifests.  The light of God can help you.  And when we have successfully met our challenge we can tell others, “Let me tell you what He did for me.”

When we are facing challenges, we are right in the place where God wants us.  In the midst of your challenge God brings the presence and the glory of God.

When the glory in the area of your life is revealed, and you are submitted to God, that is the area in which your Kingdom has advanced. 

Only walk in those areas that God can advance you in. If God can’t advance you in it you can’t walk in it.

God can help move us through dreams and visions.  

God uses difficulty to process those things that are not of God out of us, for that leaves room for God to place His plans inside of us, for His greater purpose.

When God gives us a vision, He is moving us from where we are to where He wants us to be so we can flow, operate, and cause His glory to advance the Kingdom of God.

We need to be willing to let God work the process out in us so that we can be all that we can be in Him.  I am the one who determines how much of my future I can have.  God’s challenges are beneficial.

When the enemy challenges us, he challenges us in one of two areas.  1. Legal  or 2.  Illegal.

The enemy has legal access to us if we are not in obedience to the Word of God. If we are in the Word and abiding by the Word of God, the enemy does not have legal access to our lives.  Does that mean that our lives go smoothly all the time?  No.   Jesus was crucified, and the enemy set that up.  But that helped Jesus to fulfill His divine purpose of salvation for mankind.  If we die to some things it doesn’t stop your destiny, it helps to fulfill it.  After Jesus died he went to the belly of the earth and captures the keys to death, hell and the grave.  Because Jesus was sin free the enemy had no right to hold him.  Jesus led captivity captive and gave gifts to man.

Ephesians 4:8-10  Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”  (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

If we are doing things agains the Law we are wide open to attacks from the enemy.

Because of Jesus we can advance.  Salvation and Grace helps us to go on to perfection.  What is holding us in bondage is only able to do so until we put the Word of God in the situation.  The seed has to come to fruition and be the expression of Jesus in us.

Apostle Epps told us that there were many words for “time” mentioned in the Bible.  The ones that he shared with us are as follows:

GREEK (3916) PARACHREMA – which means immediately instantly, straight way, forthwith, presently, soon.  

HEBREW (4150) MOWADAH – which means over a period of time, a fixed time or season, God marked the time, the season of God, place of meeting signal, assembly of God, the time of your breakthrough.   We need to agree with the Holy Ghost.

GREEK (2540) KAIROS – which means due measure, proportion, a season, a time, a period, at that time. immediately, opportunity for doing anything, fulfillment of prophesy.  Things change immediately.  

Immediately step into another place. The timing of God.  When you move in the timing of God you get more done, more quickly.

HEBREW (3117)  YOWM, YOME – which means from one sunset to another sunset, often used as “day”.  Can also mean continually, when, always

2. Commitment/Consistency

When you are on time, within time is built commitment.  In order to achieve your purpose you must have commitment.  Are you committed?  Commitment is the fundamental basis of consistency, which helps to build momentum to get you toward your goal or purpose.  You can’t get thrust, force and impetus to get liberation without commitment.  The enemy seeks to cause us to break our commitment and wear us down.  When the enemy is attacking us in our area of commitment, we need to keep our thoughts focused on Christ in you, the hope of glory.  Focus your time toward specific things, on what is expedient.  If you get distracted and lose your focus you may miss the blessing of God. 

3. Agreement

When we are in agreement with what God has called us to do then we will have consistency and commitment.  For agreement comes out of commitment and consistency.

4. Submission

It is not about what we want but what God wants.

5. Obedience

When people are submitted to God they are obedient.

6. Faithful

7. Relationship

We cannot have relationships without faithfulness.

8. Fellowship and Communion

If we have a relationship with God we have fellowship and communion with each other.  Jesus asked Peter if he could drink from the cup that Jesus drank from, the fellowship of suffering.   Know the price of the resurrection.  Are we willing to be conformable unto the death?  We need communion, fellowship with God. When we drink the blood and eat the body of Jesus, it gives us strength and helps to build one Body in Christ.

9. Unity

With communion we are brought into unity.

10. Order

Order can never come unless there is unity.

Unity cannot come where there is no communion, and without unity there cannot be order.  Order is not structure.

A religious spirit wants structure in a service.
10 – pray
10:05 scripture reading
10:15 praise and worship 3 hymns
10:25 collection
10:30 preach the Word
10:50 Altar call
11:00 Dismiss

That is not order, that is structure. Structure is used by the enemy to cut off the Spirit of God’s grace.  God’s order is if God tells you to sing the praises of Zion you sing. You may sing until God tells you to do something else.  You are to minister by the Spirit, under the guidance and direction of the Spirit.

11. Authority of God

Without order we cannot operate in God’s authority to heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, raise the dead.  

12. Release of Power

God will never give power without authority.  And there is no authority without power.  

God is moving His people into a place where the power of God manifests.  We are given power over all.  

Remember, we have the seed of God within us, the Son in us, the Holy Spirit in us.  We have everything we need. We are God’s dwelling place on earth.

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

We cannot take the Kingdom by our strength, we need faith.  We need to get the Word of God, and that helps us gain ground for the Kingdom of God.

We need to teach our children and help them to get the Word of God so that the enemy does not gain more ground.  Only when we know the Word of God will we have discernment to detect the lies of the enemy.

Psalm 1:1-6  Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.  For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.

Psalm 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

Every sin that we commit is first and foremost a sin against God.

David, when he sinned with Bathsheba, said that he sinned against God.

Kneel, bow and submit to God now.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Don’t look at your trouble, look at the King.  The Spirit of the Lord is in you.  The Power of the Lord and His Word in you will help you to achieve your manifest destiny.  Only in God is the place where there is power.  As you increase His dominion over you you increase in power to deal with your circumstances.

The fact that you know the Word does not mean that you have given God dominion over you, you have to choose to let Him have dominion.  

We need to bring our thoughts into submission to Christ.

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

Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 

We need to release our joy when troubles come upon us.  Have crazy praise.  Thank God. Leap for joy.

Psalm 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. 

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

If you are hurting and don’t feel like praising and worshipping God, and you choose to praise and worship anyway, that is a sacrifice of praise.

Deuteronomy 8:18 And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

2 Samuel 22:33 God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.

1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;  Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all.

Our kingdom is not of the earth, our Kingdom is God’s. What manifests in the Spirit manifests in the natural.  If you don’t see it in the natural yet, know that you have it in the Spirit.  

Part 1 is here

We are given a choice as to whom we will serve.  The only thing that activates the seed that God has placed in us is the Word of God, which activates our Spirit and causes the seed to manifest.  We can activate negative things with our words too, which is why it is so important to speak only the truth of God.

2 Peter 1:2-4  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We bring these promises into our lives through speaking the Word of God.  We create when we give voice to the truth of God’s Word.  We create from our spirit, and the seed in us is voice activated.  The seed responds to our words.  The seed God has placed in us will not respond to anything other than the Word of God.  The seed will not manifest things not given by the Spirit and Word of God.

The Word of God molds and shapes everything we are and what we are to become.  As we bring more Word into our lives, and begin to speak and live the truths of God’s Word, we become more and more like the Son of God.  It is a process.  The seed does not fully manifest, it goes through stages to bring fruit.  So does our lives.  

There are things in our lives that we wish were cut off, attitudes and behaviors that need changing.  As we become aware of them, we begin to replace them with the truth of God’s Word until such time as we begin to manifest God’s order in our lives and the old attitudes and behaviors begin to change.  It is a process.  To make effective changes we cannot fight the battle in our flesh, but we need to work in the order of the Spirit, and God helps us to make the changes.  We gain victory when we do it God’s way.  In the flesh we can fight the battle and gain victory for a while, but real, lasting change comes through God.

Apostle Epps asked us who was dealing with struggles and challenges in our lives.  Many raised their hands.  Apostle Epps pointed out that God permits these struggles and challenges in our lives to begin to form us so that we are ready to move to the next level.  God, through the struggle, is positioning us for victory.  So when we face a struggle or are on a particular level we need to purpose in our hearts to learn everything we can from that particular level so that we can transition to the next level.  The reason we want to learn and build our character on the level we are at is so that when we are on the new level we have the authority and character to maintain our new level.  If your character isn’t right you won’t be able to sustain your new level.

God deals in our lives with truth, and until we know His truth and will over an issue we will stay in the place we are at because we have not developed the character to move to a new level.  Without the character of Christ we can’t be sustained.

That is why God wants us to focus on the character of Christ and the truth of the Word.  If we get caught up in idols we lose that image and lessen ourselves to be made in the corruptible image of man, not the incorruptible image of God.

Romans 1:22-23 Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 

We want God’s glory to be shown through us and to worship God. We don’t want the glory of God stifled by the carnality of the flesh.  God will not respond to carnal worship.  

Glory is in your seed, and we need to speak to the seed to have it manifest the glory of God.

Jesus prayed, John 17 22-23  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 

The same glory that is in Jesus is in us.  God has placed the incorruptible seed in us, so that we will grow from glory to glory.

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

God is preparing us through our current situations to step into greater glory.  So when a challenge comes (not all challenges are from the devil, many we make ourselves) but tell the devil, “Thank you, for you are helping me to move from one level to a higher level, from glory to glory.”  Realize that what is going on in your life is an opportunity for growth.  Find out what God wants you to do with it, and what you need to learn from it.  God wants to release you into the next level, as you obey Him and mature in the spirit.

Your situation is your opportunity, for with no opportunity there is no glory.  God’s glory will be revealed through you as you face your challenges, and it is an opportunity for your advancement.

We can only have as much glory as we have the image of God in us.  More image, more glory.  This is not having the image and glory for man’s sake, but rather for the Body of Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 

In some translations the word “special” is translated as “peculiar.”  We are a peculiar people.  We are peculiar because what God has placed in us is not usual.  We are so used to the carnal world, the works of the flesh, carnal visions and sights that we lose sight of the fact that the real truth is operating in the spiritual realm.  We need to focus more on the spiritual realm than on the carnal realm.  Our Kingdom manifests and seems out of place to the carnal world.  But we don’t need to be concerned of what the carnal world thinks, but rather what God thinks.

If God can’t get His glory to be revealed in you it is because you have become clouded with uncleanness, vile thinking, carnality.  God wants us to grow so that He can manifest His Glory, His Spirit through our lives.  Any carnality or uncleanness in us clouds what is true and man defiles it with his carnal mind, heart, senses, and emotions so that the truth is not recognized.  We need to recognize and speak the truth in order to break the stronghold of the strongman.  

The delusion and confusion that clouds man’s mind and heart hides the truth that we are:
1. Working in Covenant
2. The glory of God is revealed from within you
3. You are carrying the image and likeness of Christ fully within you

Colossians 2:8-10 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;  and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

We can lose the truth if we get caught up in philosophy, vain deceit, and traditions of man, what the world calls “order.”  God’s order does not look anything like the world’s concept of order.

Many do the “right” things out of the flesh and it looks righteous and correct, but without a heart change we are not operating in the life and Spirit of Christ.  

Apostle Epps spoke about Gideon, how God spoke about Gideon being a powerful warrior of God, even though Gideon was hiding out from the enemy, sifting wheat in a winepress.  Yet God spoke about Gideon as a mighty man of God.  Gideon grew into that image, the image God placed into him.

In the seed that God has placed in us are all the attributes of God, merciful, good, righteous, holy, etc.  We can’t grow more mercy in us than God has already placed in us, we just need to speak to the seed and manifest what God has placed in our lives, to bring the expression of Christ that is already in us to manifest to the world.

God placed the spirit of forgiveness in us, we just need to let it manifest.  Jesus told us that we need to forgive 70 x 7.  There is no way you will ever get to the point of having to forgive someone 490 times a day, no one can do that many things in a day that needs forgiving.

We need to realize that we have the seed for prosperity, that we do not have to struggle in the realm of our finances.  God has given us more than enough.  God puts ideas in you, and the seed in us has the ability to reproduce.

The incorruptible seed in us has the ability to continually reproduce.  We can be merciful, gracious, forgiving, prosperous.  

Through your faithfulness to God, people will see the seed producing fruit and respond to God’s kingdom.

The seed of healing heals my body and your body.  Remember, as believers we are part of one body in Christ, so what affects my body also affects your body.

In Matthew 13, the parable of the sower – Jesus is the Word, the seed.

The woman with the issue of blood reached out in faith to touch the hem of His garment and was healed – her seed responded to Jesus and she was healed.  Jesus turned around and asked, “Who touched me?”  The disciples were surprised for Jesus was in a crowd of people, jostled by many, but Jesus felt healing virtue leave His body.

Jesus responded to the need of the woman.  All around us are hurting ad depressed people who need the healing touch of the Lord.  Our seed needs to respond to their hurt.  It isn’t just for us.

Jesus knows our heart.  We need to listen to our spirit to discern those people who need ministry or a positive word spoken into their lives.

Apostle Epps’ church has an intercessory prayer ministry, and through that ministry they pray to help either push out negative things or draw in those things a person is needing.

Colossians 1:9-14 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;  that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 

This should be the response of what He has done in our lives.  We need to know where the order is off in our lives and in the lives of those around us.  Disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft.  We need to begin to think spiritual warfare first, to not respond in the physical, but rather realize that what is behind the physical manifestation is in the spiritual, in the heavenlies.

What is out of order in your body must be removed to make room for what God wants to place in your life.  Don’t accept the carnal, reach towards those things that are of God.  Our seed will respond to Christ.  Remember, that what God is doing in your life is not just for you alone, but rather so that you can be a blessing to others.  He wants us to comfort and minister to others.  Jesus is touched by the feelings of our infirmities, He has experienced all that we have experienced and understands.  He gives us all that we need to overcome what has oppressed us.

In our seed is God’s perfect nature and character.  God reveals His glory through our seed.

Jesus told the disciples, and us, that we would do greater works than He did.

John 14:12 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 

This does not mean greater feats, but rather greater numbers of works.

Apostle Epps told us about the 250 rule.  That each believer has the potential to affect at least 250 other people in their lifetime.  Those 250 people will affect the lives of 250 other people.  So the works of Christ can grow exponentially.

God has called us all to do His Work, it is not just the pastors who are to do it.

In your seed you have eternity.  As He is, so are we.

Moses had an encounter with God in the backside of the wilderness.  In his encounter He asked God who he should say sent him.  God said, “I AM.”  Moses was to tell the Israelites, “I AM sent me.”  We are the I AM.  We aren’t above God, but all that God is is within us in our seed, waiting to be manifested so that God’s glory can shine forth.

In our worship, prayers, devotions and ministry we want to let the I AM shine forth.

We were told to put our hands on our belly – the seat of the Spirit and speak to our seed. That by the eyes of my Spirit I see that I have the glory of the Lord in me and it can manifest through me to touch other’s lives.  

The second service Apostle Epps spoke about the twelve components of the foundations of a standard bearer, I will share those in the next post.  I pray your day is blessed.

Heather

On Sunday we were so blessed to have a visitor from Akron, Apostle William Epps.  He spoke at both services, giving so much information that I am going to split it into several posts.

God brings us to our divine purpose and connects with us to bring us to the full liberation of Christ. God wants us to build our relationship with Him and to work according to His purposes.

We are created in the image and likeness of God, and as we grow closer to God we begin to look more like God, becoming a bearer of His image.  God establishes us in a position of power.  We don’t recognize the full impact of His Word as He gave it to us so we don’t function in the fullness of the power He has provided for us.

In the Garden, God created man in His image and likeness.  God gave man dominion over everything.

If man is operating in God’s image and likeness, man can do what God says man can do.  If God says you can do it, He has given you the grace to do what He says you can do. 

When God said that we were to have no other Gods before Him, it meant that we were not to worship an idol or put an image in the place of God.  If we worship an idol it subverts the and destroys the image of God within us.  It weakens us which is why God does not want us worshipping idols.  We are given a specific purpose and plan by God. We don’t want to cloud that by idol worship.

In the 1960′s man was questioning, why am I here?  What is my purpose in life?

God has given us a purpose from the foundation of the world.  God is not confused.  When we are in confusion and need to know about a thing, we need to go to the one who made it, God, to find the answers.  God has put everything we need inside of us, it’s already in you.

Jesus came to the earth in the full image, motive and character of God.  Jesus said:  John 14:7-11 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”  Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”  Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.“

Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the express image of God, His image, likeness and glory.  Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Colossians tells us that He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  Colossians 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.  

As Jesus is, so are we.

John 10:30 I and My Father are one.

John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

John 10:36 …do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

If Jesus says He is God, He possesses everything that God possesses.  

If we worship idols we are worshipping the product of our own hands, but that does not have the fullness of power that God has.

satan is after your worship.   The enemy wants to destroy the plan and purpose of God and hurt the Kingdom of God.

God gave us motive and character, and we want to operate as He would.

The truth is that we are religious folk.  Religion has taught us, in error,  that we have a place in God; but that we can never be as God is.  We say things that confirm in our minds that we can never be the fullness of everything that God says.  For example, some churches say that God is not looking at our wonders, He is the wonder.  

The truth is:  Jesus is in us and the Kingdom is in us. And therefore we are not limited, we can do everything the Word tells us that we can do.  Miracles have not ceased with the apostles.

1 Peter 1:22-23 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

We are born of incorruptible seed – the seed is perfect and the seed is voice activated.  Our trouble is not with the Spirit, the Spirit is perfect.  What is done out of the Spirit is perfect, it is our flesh that gets in the way.  God put the seed in us.  God put mysteries in our spirit.

Sometimes what people perceive as us acting crazy is really us acting in the Spirit, and we just don’t have the understanding about it.

The Spirit of God with our spirit opens up the mysteries of God.  God put this in us before He made the world.

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.

Psalm 139:15-18 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How great is the sum of them.  If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You. 

We are all born of God, our Creator.  God knows our frame and all that we need is in us.  What happens is that how we develop what God has put in us is the process.  Sometimes as part of the process God needs to work something out of you so that there is room for Him to put something else in us, according to His plan.

There are 12 components in functioning as a standard bearer. (Apostle Epps will detail these in the next teaching).  He has written a book about this.

Praise and Worship can defeat the enemy and give God a way to work within us.  God also uses dreams to communicate with us.  We do need to discern because the enemy can use these things as well.  The enemy wants to steal our praise and worship and give us false dreams and visions.  We need to examine the content of our worship and dreams and visions to make sure they line up with the Word of God and the character of God.

We can have dominion over all that is created as long as we are in right standing with God.  Jesus provided that righteousness to us with His incredible gift of salvation.   God has given us everything needed to carry out His plan in our lives.  We are not lacking.

As we learn and apply the principles of Scripture we can function in the power and authority that God has given us.

Deuteronomy 4:23  Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.

We are all operating in covenant.  When we were saved we were reborn in the image and likeness of God.

The Will of God speaks to the seed in you.  For us to hear, we need to quiet our mind, emotions, and will, and let God have His way.  The light of God brings us into compliance, speaking to our Spirit.  The head (mind) cannot hear God, only our Spirit.  Our soul (mind, emotions, will) wants to do what we want to do, often in opposition to God’s best for us.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? 

The heart of man is desperately wicked.  The heart of your spirit, the heart part of your soul, connects with your spirit.  God places in our hearts our interests and desires.  He deals with us through the Spirit.  You need to know the Word of God so that your Spirit can hear from God for He often speaks through the Word.  We need to cut out those areas of pride to get to the point of sanctification.  The Spirit tells us the Will of God, but the Spirit talks to our Spirit not to our physical will.

We have a choice to do God’s will, or not.  Who are we going to listen to our believe?  The devil wants to cast doubt in our minds. He went up to Eve and asked her, “Did God really say?”    He tempted Eve to desire to be as God.  There is a conflict there, because Adam and Eve were already made in the image of God, they could not be made more like God through the disobedience of eating the fruit.  Their disobedience took them away from the image of God.

We make excuses for our disobedience.  Apostle Epps told us that people always come up to him and Pastor Don saying, “But Pastor you do not understand.”

The issue is that if God tells us to do something, we have the perfect nature of Christ in us that gives us the power and ability to do what God wants us to do. What trips us up is giving way to our soulish nature, thought, or desire.

We have an issue with pride.  We need the grace to be able to allow the Word of God to correct us so that we can manifest His perfect will.

The anointing we walk in is determined by what has dominion over our lives.

For example, do you have a root of bitterness?  The Word of God speaks of circumcision, which is more than the removal of the foreskin.  It is also a circumcision of the heart, where we cut away that bitterness. It is a process.  What do you need to cut off?  We want to cut away anything that prevents us from manifesting the full anointing of God. The grace of God enables us to cut out bitterness.  We can rest in the perfect nature of Christ.

Matthew 5:48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

If Jesus tells us to be perfect as the Father is perfect, we can be.  God will not tell us to do something in His Word that He has not equipped us to be able to do.

We are in the Spirit 24/7, but we are not always aware of this fact in our natural mind.  

We need to be aware that our first nature is spiritual.  We are more aware of our spiritual nature when we are in worship.

Adam was given dominion over the animals and was told to name them.  When Adam began naming the animals did he name them out of his natural mind or out of the Spirit of God?  God in Adam gave him the wisdom and understanding.  When the serpent convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit nothing happened until she convinced Adam to eat.  Adam knew God’s desire and ate in disobedience, going against what God said.

We are only given one choice.  We want to think that we are free moral agents able to pick and choose what we think and do.  But the only choice we have to make is who are we going to serve?  Are we going to serve God or the devil? If we are not serving God, we are serving satan.

Apostle Epps speaks more about the seed in us and how to activate it through the Word.  I will continue this teaching in my next post.

This teaching blessed me so much, I pray it blesses you.

Heather

When you write ask yourself, does this make access to Jesus easier?

What is it in me that is a fresh taste of cool water?

Does it ring in your own life?

People are looking for fresh bread and the cool water of the Holy Spirit.

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

Move beyond the foundation.  There is nothing wrong with teaching on the foundations, we need a strong foundation, but at the same time we need to build the house.  

There is more to us than to just live in the basement we need to go beyond the foundation.

Do I have something to say?  

Jesus did not focus on the cross, he focused on the resurrection after the cross.

Hebrews 11:10  …for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 

Life changes and we need to be open to see the changes and do what God wants us to do with them.

The church system does not bring a person deep enough, we need to seek the things of the Spirit to bring us deeper still.  Change is considered a heresy to many.  But at the same time we need to be careful about how we change, making sure that the Spirit and the Word agree.  God does not contradict Himself.

God is multidimensional.

We need to help people see that God is bigger than the image of God they have built inside themselves.

We tend to build personal theologies with rules that are not so strenuous that we can keep them ourselves, but as soon as the rules are more strenuous than we can handle we gather around people whose rules we can live by.  But if we stay only within the bounds of what is humanly possble we do not seek the grace of God.

People seek to obey rules as a way to avoid hell, but God wants us to seek a relationship with Him and choose to obey Him because we love God.

Humanity tries to make God smaller, a reachable God.  We want a God we can organize and handle.  But when challenges threaten our sacred cows, we need to see that God is approachable, but that He is more than our limited perception.

Man wants to limit God and our interaction with Him through legalism.

We don’t want to reinforce our image of a small God, but expand our perception of Him, that He is mighty, bigger, powerful, multidimensional, and able to do far more than we can think or ask.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 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 through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

As disciples of God, the Holy Spirit will help us understand God’s multidimensional reality and help us to realize how little we know and understand. 

If we write to cater to someone’s smallness, that does not help them to go to deeper places in God.  As we help expand people’s understanding of Him, it helps to make His kingdom more fully manifest in the earth.

Jesus prayed, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Pastor Nori told us that he prays this prayer differently.  He prays, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in this earth (as he pointed to himself as the earth), as it it is in Heaven.”

We pray vehemently for others, but we need to remember to pray vehemently for ourselves as well.

He suggested watching an old TV show called Firefly

The prophetic word challenges, provokes, and fires people to look beyond who they are toward what they are to become.

God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we can think or ask.  He works in us, to us, and through us far more than we can imagine.

When you get up in the morning pray, “Lord, what can I do for you today?”

Know you are in the palm of His hand and that He can do what He pleases with us. Are you ready to go and change the world?

The legalism of the puritan ethic is awful.  

Pastor Nori suggested two of his books that can help nonbelievers find God:  How to Find God’s Love, and the book You Can Pray in Tongues.

This small, impromptu talk blessed me and I pray that you are blessed as well.

Heather

Friday Bible study from 10/1/10

This prophesy was 600 to 700 years before the Messiah came.

God wants to use you to do something, but He doesn’t always tell you what it’s really about or why you are where you are.  

Pastor Don told us that often God gives us direction through the still small voice.  We get direction, and it often comes like a suggestion out of time.  You may be thinking one thing, and God drops a totally unrelated thought in your mind.  God can negate our internal conversation and drop a thought in our minds to move us. We need discernment though, because just like God can drop a thought in our mind, so can the devil.

The spirit realm vibrates our thought patterns to communicate to our mind.  There is a transference of thought that makes an impression on our mind, and those thoughts need to be digested and translated.  This is how the prophets heard from God.

We need to think about what we are thinking about. God is not bound by time.  He does get His will, and when He speaks and wants you to act, it is not always at your convenience.

Spiritual people are seldom talkative, but rather quiet because they don’t want to clog up the airwaves.  If you are always talking you are less likely to be receptive and hear from God.  If we run past what God is saying, He will get what He wants done through another person.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

If God has to speak to you other than in the still small voice, for example a billboard sign or a telegram, you are in error.  satan uses a different voice to masquerade as an angel of light, to try and imitate God.

We should treat people with an automatic level of respect, not vary our treatment by our perceived conception of their level of spirituality or their level of finances.  God can speak to us through any person.

Isaiah 53 comes on the footsteps of the announcement at the end of Chapter 52.  Remember, in the scrolls there were no chapter or verse markings. Those were added later to help us find passages. Often we need to read the verses from a previous chapter to lay the groundwork for understanding the current chapter.

Isaiah 52:13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. 

This servant is Jesus, to the coming Messiah.

Isaiah 52:14-15  Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; so shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. 

The Messiah will be wise, exalted and entitled, but at the same time he will be beaten, and given to death for our sins.  The kings of the nations and the political arena are not stupid. They have the attitude, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  Human wisdom does not help us to know God. God is looking for faith.  The sin of the Garden of Eden was that we wanted to know, but God grades us by faith.

The Jewish people have a problem with Isaiah 53.  The Scriptures clearly speak of a suffering Messiah and a reigning King.  The Jews were looking for the King, not the Suffering Messiah, so they deny that Jesus is the one prophesied in Isaiah 53.  Christians recognize Jesus as the one prophesied in this passage.  The Jews think of Jesus as Christian.  The problem is also that Christians forget that Jesus was Jewish.

Martin Luther was an anti-Semite.

Antisemitism is of the devil.  Hitler also hated the Jews.  Early Christians persecuted and rejected the Jews. The Popes did not lift a finger to help save the Jews.

The Jews had a built in alarm system of tradition.  They may not know all about Judaism, but they do know that Christianity is not the Judaism they know.

The truth is that the Gentiles are grafted in to Judaism.  We need to remember that Jesus and the disciples were Jewish.

The Gentiles must never forget that they are grafted in to the root of Judaism.  At some point in the future the Jews will be re-grafted in, and will know the power of the Presence of the Glory of God.

Jesus died, the veil was split so that all had the ability to access God without an intermediary.  This threatened the authority of the priesthood, and ultimately the Gentiles also wanted to re-establish the priesthood to gain authority over the people.  The priests created traditions that made it necessary for the people to approach God through the priest as an intermediary, in effect reintroducing the veil.  That kept the power in the hands of the rich and powerful.  Each denomination further divided the people and claimed that no other church but their church was the one true church.

Isaiah 53 poses a threat to the established order if people accept that Jesus is the Suffering Messiah. First of all, the position of getting to God is established by the Suffering Messiah – that Jesus was crucified for our sins, died, and rose again, according to the Scriptures.

The Jews rejected Jesus, saying that Isaiah 53 is not talking about a person, but rather the nation of Israel.  But a close look at the passage does not make sense if you think it is the nation of Israel.

Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 

This is a report of the actual history, and also the prophetic.  This report is included in Isaiah Chapters 50-52.  

The “arm of the Lord” speaks of God’s ability and the testing that God is carrying out.  This speaks of Israel being seen as a land 3,500 years ago, and coming together through the ages of ages.  We are seeing this prophesy beginning to be fulfilled because Israel has returned as a nation. No other nation that died, has returned, and reestablished the language.  No one speaks Hittite, Jebusite, etc.

Isaiah 53:2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 

Who is He?  It can’t be the nation of Israel.  God (Jesus) grew up right before you, as a root out of the dry ground. The Temple had fallen away.  There was sin without and within.  The Jews were unable to govern themselves, the Romans were in charge.  Jesus was descended from the tribe of Judah, and both Joseph and Mary were descended from the tribe of Judah. 

The standard image of Jesus is nothing like He would have looked like. This scripture states that he had no form or comeliness – He did not stand out in a crowd.  He was not a tall, blond, handsome man. He would have probably been about 5’3″, dark or olive complected, with short dark hair with the sides of his hair and beard untrimmed.  He probably would have looked like the Bedouins.  There was nothing physical to cause a charismatic response to him.  He would not be an icon or an idol.  

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 

This is an emotional response to verse 2.  He was rejected.  Jesus did good, but when He did not meet their expectations, they turned against Him.  Jesus was not trying to win a popularity contest.  Jesus preached happiness and joy, but He also preached the hard truths that we would rather ignore.  The Jews tried to kill Him three times, to stone Him, push Him off a cliff and, at the Feast of Tabernacles kill Him again.

Jesus learned Joseph’s family business, carpentry.  But it was hard to find wood to work with because the Assyrians and Babylonians cut down the trees when they took the Israelites into captivity. There was not a lot of wood. Maybe they worked with wood and stone.  

When the Israelites thought of the Messiah, they thought He would be king material, they never dreamed that the journey of the Messiah would end at the Cross.

It says, “we hid our faces from Him,” for we could not look at His Glory.  Speculating, when we look at Him, we will remember His eyes, not His physical description.  His eyes will show compassion, love, and have deep flowing pools.   When Jesus looked at people, they would want to repent.  His purity and love would be so overwhelming, but they did not esteem Him, did not put Him up on a pedestal. 

Isaiah 53:4-5  Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 

This passage cannot be the nation of Israel.  By His stripes we are healed, the chastisement of his peace is not on Israel. It only makes sense if this passage talks about a person.

1 Peter 2:21-24 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

Peter this revelation and understanding sitting with Jesus.  We need to fall back on our faith and trust that God takes care of us. He bore sin in His body, the sin of death and disease, so that we could live in righteousness and be healed.

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 

Where did Paul get this idea from?  Not from the disciples, but by his time with the Lord.  He was tutored by Jesus, and received His revelation from the Lord, faith and obedience.

When Thomas doubted Jesus and insisted on touching His wounds, Jesus said:  John 20:29  Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Paul received the Truth and was able to be delivered, so God gave him prophesy about what would happen so he could help people come to Christ.  If you have Jesus in your life, you have eternal life.

Peter verified Paul’s words.

1 Peter 2:24-27 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Corinthians 11:25-29  In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”   For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.  Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

What is an unworthy manner?  If it is because we’ve sinned, we don’t have a shot for we all sin.  So it is not that that is an unworthy manner

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

We are to examine ourselves to see if we are in faith. For without faith it is impossible to please God.

With sin, we have to confess 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.

And we are forgiven for our sins, but to be forgiven we have to, in faith believe, that He will forgive us our sins.  We get disqualified by not resting in Him for our salvation. Jesus did not ask the disciples to confess their sins before taking communion.

The 1 Corinthians passage (see above) speaks about not discerning the Lord’s body.  We bring ourselves under judgment by not being in faith, faith is the criterion.  

1 Corinthians 11:30-32 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 

The word “sleep” is speaking of premature death..  We can fall into sin, but we don’t stay there.  Jesus is our savior.

I pray this teaching helps you.

Heather