Cynthia spoke at our women’s meeting on December 18, 2010

Excellence means to do more than warranted.  To go beyond what you have to do. To do better, not just get by.  It takes work to achieve excellence.

Why do we want to be excellent.

1. It pleases God and it makes things go better and gives us a better life.

Psalm 16:3  As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

We want to be excellent, and do more than is required of us.

2. We want to be excellent for our families.  

It’s better for us and we set an example to lead them toward their best; what we want them to be.  

3. For us.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a   Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails. 

When we walk by love, love never fails, and we will have excellence.  

Love is a choice, not an emotion.  It is not something that comes on you, you choose.

When people deserve love the least is when they need it the most.

1 John 4:7-11  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Sonto be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Remember always: GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE NEVER FAILS

The key to maintaining excellence is to keep things in the right priority. First God, then Family, then all others.

Cynthia then started speaking from the bottom of the list – the all others.  She had props to represent the various areas.  For job she put up her hair and looked professional

One area is  excellence in your job.

You want to dress well and look like you are going to work.  You want to do the best job you can and there are things that you can do to help you in this.

First you need to respect the hierarchy, those who are placed over you.

1 Peter 2:13-17  Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.  For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.  Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

We represent God at work and need to do more than enough.  God will let us know when it is time to stop a particular job.  Don’t shirk, don’t complain, or do the least amount possible.  

Proverbs 13:11 Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase. 

Do your best.  Your attitude toward work also affects your performance.  

ELIMINATE A NEGATIVE OUTLOOK IF YOU DESIRE A POSITIVE OUTCOME.

That is how you begin to win with people. 

Then Cynthia spoke about excellence in Friendship and Relationships.

Cynthia read a story about a elderly man sitting by the side of the road.  A stranger walked up to him and asked him about the nearby town. The elderly man asked the stranger what were the people like in the town you left.  The stranger said that they were backbiters, striving to get ahead, quarrelsome, evil, etc.  And the elderly man said that that described the people in the town he lived in.

Another stranger came up to the same elderly man and asked the same question – the elderly man told the stranger to tell the him about the people in the town he just left.  The stranger said they were warm, loving, kind, generous.  The elderly man said that that was the  kind of people in his town.

Why two opposite replies for the same town?  Because the kinds of things you notice in other people are the kind of person you are and you will look at strangers through the filter of the way you perceive the world.  The first stranger will find the backbiters, and the second one will find the loving, kind and generous people.

HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE, AND ARE EASILY HURT.

We need to get over ourselves and seek to understand them.  Begin to look at things with a new perspective and when you are upset, instead of reacting, go to the person and politely ask them, “Did you mean to tick me off?”  

Figure out what pushes your buttons, what makes you respond in ways you respond. Are you acting line your cynical mother?  Look at yourself objectively to see what makes you tick.

BE SLOW TO TAKE OFFENCE AND EASY TO FORGIVE.

When something offends you, don’t be so quick to react.  Take a step away and figure out what caused such a great reaction.  Analyze the situation to find out why you do or don’t do the thing.  Forgive right away.

AVOID TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS

You have relationships in life, church, and the job with people who bring you down and are a drain. Be charitable and walk in love, but sometimes when a situation is not helping you or the other person you need to sweetly sever the relationship.  That doesn’t mean you shun the person or avoid them at all costs, but you do limit the amount that they can influence your life.  Some people are jealous, controlling, always depressed and inconsolable, and are a bottomless pit of emotional needs.  You can be friendly but not emotionally involved in their lives.

Seek positive friendships that edify and not tear your down.

Ecclesiastes 4:9  Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 

C. S. Lewis said about friendship:  ”Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”

We are created to be in community. 

True friendship contains mutual spiritual encouragement.  It is giving and taking, not just taking.

You sincerely want the other person to reach their potential and honestly seek to help them do this.  

True friendship helps you to sustain the weight of truth.

We need to be excellent with the people we are over, with people on our job, our clients, those in our social circles and clubs

In areas of authority, judgment, and counseling we should not consider ourselves more holy then them.

The next role we are in is that of MOTHER.  Cynthia put on an apron and put her hair in a ponytail.

A relationship with your child has to be taught, they are born not knowing anything.  

It bothers Cynthia when she sees parents that let their little children run crazy, and disrespect others.  She reminded us that what is cute at the age of three and younger is not cute when they get older.  A loving parent will set boundaries for their children, because the discipline that you instill early on will give them the skills to succeed as adults.

As a mother, your job is to teach the children how the world runs. 

She used to tell her children, God is over me, I am over you, and we are a family.  We need to take care of each other and work out problems in love.

Ephesians 6:1-4  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother,”which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”  And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

We are in relationship, and we need teach our children to respect themselves and others.  

We do discipline them, but the term discipline means to disciple, to teach.  It is not to be brutal.  The punishment you mete out to your children will change with their ages and ability to comprehend.  

Without discipline we can’t be excellent or successful.

By the way, we are not only mothers to our birth children, but many of us are spiritual mothers to those who are new in the Lord.  Our job as a mother is to teach and instruct.

DISCIPLINE IN LOVE.

Discipline in love at the right time and place and age appropriate.  Cynthia mentioned how she was driving her son and some friends to an event and her son and his friends were using inappropriate swear words.  Cynthia did not confront her son in front of his friends and embarrass him.  She waited until they were alone in a situation where they were quietly talking and told him how she did not appreciate that behavior.  It never happened again, and the discipline occurred without damaging the relationship.

We must TEACH OUR CHILDREN ABOUT GOD AND HOW TO OBEY GOD.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

PROVIDE LOVE, SECURITY, A SENSE OF BELONGING, AND INDEPENDENCE

Our children are people and our goal is to create independent adults.  We have a hard time transitioning and letting go.  There is something wrong with still calling a ten year old your baby.  

There are some people who try to live their lives through their kids.  Our goal is to push them out gently. Cynthia describes it in terms of having them on a fishing pole.   You let the line out some and if they do well, you let it out some more.  If they mess up, you reel them a bit closer for a time and then gradually let the line out again.  As they show they are mature, you need to let them make decisions in accordance with their maturity level until one day they are no longer attached to the fishing pole.  

Our goal is to help our children function as disciplined, mature adults.

In all challenges we face as mothers remember: GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE NEVER FAILS.

The next role we covered is WIFE And over her suit she placed a sheer robe.

To begin this segment we watched a small segment of a discussion between Beth Moore, Kaye Arthur, and Priscilla Shrier from Faithful, Abundant, True

It was so funny, but pointed out how the wife needs to support her husband’s needs, even over the needs of the children.  Men’s greatest needs are sexual and self esteem.  Especially in these hard times, the husband needs to feel loved by his wife.  If you have never watched that video, you can get it from Lifeway International.  I highly recommend it.  It is the panel discussion from this series.

Even if you are single it is important to learn how to be a good wife, because when you are married you will then be able to be a better wife.  An unmarried woman has a wonderful opportunity to develop herself into a Godly woman while she waits on God’s plans for her life.

1 Corinthians 7:32-34 But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife. There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.

Cynthia summed up the biggest difference between men and women.  She said that wives want to have everything ok and in order before having sex, and for husbands sex makes everything all right.  She suggested that if there are major discussions you want to have with your husband, deal with the sexual aspect first and then he will be more receptive to listen.

Even when there are major money issues, best to deal with sex first, then the financial problems.

MARRIAGE IS A COMPROMISE.  Through marriage you grow, mature, and get away from being self-centered.  It forces us to grow and get over ourselves. 

We want to love our husbands. Sex is a need for them.  The need and desire builds in them and if they are not satisfied, it comes out in other ways.  

If you don’t want your husband seeking an affair, it is important to take care of his needs. The need for pornography is removed if the wife is being a wife to her husband.

DON’T EMASCULATE YOUR HUSBAND all day and then at night expect him to rise up and be masculine.

He needs to know that you want him, you need him and you desire him.  Put wood on the fire of romance. You can make time and set up romantic situations without spending a lot of money.

At one point before he became a pastor, Pastor Don worked nights.  Cynthia set up an ironing board in her bedroom with a candle, sparkling juice and cheese and crackers, and got dressed in a romantic nightgown.  When Pastor Don came home she and he talked and had a romantic interlude.

The husband needs to feel wanted, desired, and loved.  He comes first before the kids.  Communication comes with the relationship.

When things seem too hard remember: GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE NEVER FAILS.

Excellence in your relationship with God  Cynthia had a Bible as a prop.

To have a love affair with God requires a spirit of excellence.  We cannot expect a relationship with God if all we do is sit in a pew on Sundays.  We need to find time, motivation, and make the effort to do it.

God wants to commune with you.

Cynthia says you can do your work to praise and worship music, sing to God, pray in tongues while you work. 

Make talking and listening to God a priority. Desire to do it. Remember, perfection came when He came.

We need to know God’s Word and spend time in it so we know what God desires.  

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

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

Meditate on the Word of God day and night and keep it hidden in your heart.  To get into the Word you may have to restructure your time.  Get up earlier before your family rises, turn off the TV, put down whatever is distracting you.

God is so happy to be with His people.  God wants us to desire, need, and want to be with Him.

Pray in tongues as you go along.  The benefits are supernatural.

Excellence in your Self.  Cynthia had a mirror.

She pointed out that we see ourselves reflected in all aspects of our life.

When we think we are giving out to others, the THE TRUTH IS THAT IT IS ALL ABOUT SELF.

When you go to work and you do an excellent job, it’s all about you and what you are reflecting.
When you raise disciplined kids it is all about you.

When you are a good wife, a Proverbs 31 woman it’s all about you.

God is reflected in you through what you do, so it is all about you.

Excellence is doing things God’s way, and when we focus on doing things God’s way He provides all that we need

GOD IS LOVE AND LOVE NEVER FAILS.

***

I have to say this was an excellent presentation, and truthfully as we deal in excellence in our lives, God gains the glory.

Have a blessed day.

Heather 

Isaiah was written 600-700 years before Christ.

Isaiah 60:19-20  The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the LORD will be to you an everlasting light,  and your God your glory.  Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light,  and the days of your mourning shall be ended. 

You can get a revelation of Jesus Christ. You don’t always need to experience the pain, suffering, deep hurt, and have a catharsis to be healed.  Healing can occur with a revelation of Jesus Christ.

The human psyche buries stuff and lets it stay buried until the person is emotionally prepared to handle the stuff.  When we put ourselves in the care of Christ, he is the master healer for all problems.  When Christ and the Holy Spirit picks up the problem, it can be brought up and finished forever.  We don’t have to wait until we die to have every tear wiped away.  We can get over the problem now.  The hurt is still there, but we can function and get on with our lives very well.  With prayer, the presence of God and the power of the Holy Spirit we can let deep hurts go.

Sometimes a slave loves his chains, and we are not loosed because we are used to the pain, hurt, and bitterness.  In the presence of the Lord is fullness.  

Revelation 21:4-7  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”  And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.  He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

Nothing can stay hidden; all will be revealed.  The days of mourning will be ended, no matter the problem.  Even if it is not resolved until the end, you need to keep fighting the problem and not give up.  If you give up you love your sin more than the Lord.  If we keep forgiving even if the hurt is still there, we are diametrically opposed to the work of the devil.  Keep fighting the addictions all the way to the grave and beyond and you are truly the child of the Lord.

Who is the real drunkard?  The one who doesn’t fight.  Keep fighting the fight of faith.  It is a progressive improvement.  It is  a heart thing.

Paul wrote about this problem in Romans Chapter 7.

Romans 7:15-25  For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

Isaiah 60:21-22  Also your people shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.

This is prophetic – he will do it.  Hasten its time.  It is talking about prophetic time which proceeds chronos time.  Prophetic time does not necessarily line up with chronos time.  God never gives a specific time, day or month.  God could give a day, but instead He tells us the season and time and He brings it forth in His time.  It is the perfect time, but it doesn’t necessarily line up with expected time.  

With the birth of Jesus, God gave a sign, the Virgin conceived and bore a son and it shall be in the day…  The sign is always accompanied with other signs.

The year 2012 has some prophesying the end times.  When the time of the prophesied end does not arrive on a specific date as expected, many people will fall out of faith.  They have been talked into believing that the world will end just because the Mayan calendar ran out.  Because of man’s expectations and date setting, anticipation grows toward the day.  The are also speaking some of the potential disasters into existence, for example financial disaster could occur because people are speaking about possible market crashing. 

They are speaking it into existence like it says in Mark 11:22-24  So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

According to Scripture financial calamity will be the beginning of the wrath of satan and the Day of the Lord. 

When we get to these dates and the expected end does not occur, people will fall away from the churches and groups making these false teachings.  They will pay less heed to the true prophesies in the Word of God.

God did not set a specific date for us because He knows the nature of man. God takes the wisdom of man and turns it to foolishness.

We are going to see signs and wonders in the sky in 2013, 2014, and 2015 when all the eclipses line up on Jewish Feast days.  That is the sign we need to watch for, signs in the Heavens.

Those believing the apostasy will be violently snatched from the situation and pulled out of faith from the Church.

God will snatch believers from the earth before the Day of the Lord.  People say that the word “rapture” is not mentioned in the Bible.  We may be doing a disservice in calling it the rapture instead of calling it what the Bible calls it – The Blessed Hope.

When the Blessed Hope occurs the enemy, the devil, will put forth the lie that those who were taken were removed because they were evil, when the exact opposite is true.

Jesus asked a question, when He comes will He find faith?  The parables speak of separating believers from unbelievers. The Church is supposed to be full of faith.  People will fall away from the church when they attach their faith to bad theology.  

1 John 2:18-21  Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 

We need to be full of the Spirit so we see what those who only see the circumstances can’t see. We don’t need to be afraid.  We can trust God’s Word.

Where’s your faith?

What is your attitude when we go into the test?

Isaiah 60:22  A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.

When God’s prophetic time is perfected, He will fulfill His perfect will.  God will announce this, and we will see His glory at the conclusion.

Isaiah 60:21 Also your people shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting; the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. 

God’s going to do it. He plants it, and will fulfill it in His time. God’s glory, everlasting light.

As believers we must recognize that we have it. That God’s putting something on the table beyond our comprehension. He’s not doing it where we are. We have to release our grip.  People want to hold on to something that they have, or believe a prophetic announcement that is untrue.  The message can be lost.  God is birthing a new thing.

When a baby is born the baby is locked up for nine months, given fluid, oxygen and care, and it is comfortable in the womb.  Then the labor pains come and the baby is forced down the birth canal, it is painful, uncomfortable for baby and mother.  Once the baby is born, the mother forgets all the pain for the pleasure of holding the child. And the baby is born into something new, far removed from the womb.

Our faith has to say that what we have here is ugly, but with faith God is birthing something so beautiful and beyond our comprehension, so we need to wait for it.  We don’t know if we are in the eighth  or ninth month.  

Come quickly Lord Jesus, get your kids out of here. God is promising something beyond our comprehension, something that eye has not seen or ear has not heard.  

Hebrews 12:25-29 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”  Now this,“Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

For encouragement we read Isaiah 61 out loud, for the promise to come. I will let you look it up. We will be going over it verse by verse in a later post.

Have a blessed night.

Heather

Notes from December 10, 2010

Isaiah 60 is the announcement and decree of the coming King, the beginning of the process of the blessing and favor of God to the world.

From Isaiah to now, the Day of the Lord.

Isaiah 59:20 The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD. 

Because darkness is here, the light has come.  The work of the enemy is to convince us that darkness is so encompassing that there is no hope.  But it is always darker before the dawn.  Dawn is inherent in the darkness.

The first sign of getting well is the purging of sickness.  When marriage is in crisis it is a happy time.  You can’t get fixed until you realize something is broken.

Isaiah 60:1-4 Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.  “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. 

Arise and shine!!!  This is how things will play out.  God has a heart to forgive us.

Isaiah 60:5-7 Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory. 

I’m looking towards radiance.  In Chapter 60 the order of dominance shifts back to Jerusalem and the Messiah.  He will reign on David’s throne, and nothing can prevent Jesus’s reign.

Isaiah 60:8-11  Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts? Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel,  because He has glorified you. The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession. 

After satan, all will be restored.

Isaiah 60:12 For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined. 

The judgment of God.

Abraham plead for Sodom and Gomorrah.  Those towns had sexual immorality affecting infants, children, and women. These were signs of the Nephalim back in earth, for it was supernatural immorality.  When angels came to Lot’s village the people were not normal village people.  they were perverted, the seed of satan.  They plotted to forcibly take the angels and have sex with them.  The angels blinded the villagers and removed Lot and his family.  God said all of them were to be destroyed.  Abraham debated with God, asking God if there were 50 righteous, would God destroy them?  God said that he wouldn’t for the sake of the fifty.  Lot argued God down to the promise that if there were 10 righteous, God would not destroy the place.  There were not even 10 righteous.  God’s vision is that there weren’t enough righteous people to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, and the unrighteous would be punished.

But in God’s righteousness, those who were righteous in God’s sight were raptured out.  The angels took Lot, his wife and children out of Sodom and Gomorrah before raining down destruction.

We are now in the same situation.  There is no nation to cry out for the saving of the earth and the earth is full of unrighteousness.  There are not 2/3 to cry out, but only 1/3 will be saved according to the book of Revelation.  The rest will reap destruction.  God will save as many righteous as possible.  Revelation speaks of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and an angelic host to cover the globe to reach those we’ve failed to reach.

America is the number one purveyor of pornography globally.  

There were not enough people of prayer to prevent 9/11. 

If there were enough people of prayer God would temper judgment.

Within the context of Isaiah 60, verse 12 is the standard by which God judges.  It is based on a willingness to serve the Lord.  God is merciful for the remnant.  

We recently had a fire in Israel caused by an accident.  During a drought the fire was spreading, but in a season where there is not a lot of rain, God caused rain to come down and help put out the fire.  Enough people put forth prayer.  Faith is necessary.  Mt. Carmel was where the fire was located and it is prominent in the history of Israel.

In our trips to Israel, we went to Mt. Carmel and saw the valley and went into the woods to seek the Lord.  It is the place where Elijah challenged the priests of baal.  Elijah poured water on his offering and prayed a simple prayer to God.  Fire reigned down and consumed the offering, the altar, and everthing.  

This fire in Israel was in the same place and the only way to stop it is God’s mercy for it was beyond man’s control.  With this fire darkness was announcing the light.  God showed himself so that every Jew could see that He is still the God of Israel.  God put out the fire with rain.

We need to make a distinction about where we belong.  As believers we are a nation that is not a nation.  We are not idol worshippers.  We are citizens of America, but that is not our true nationality.  As believers we are part of the Kingdom of God, and that knows no boundaries.

Isaiah 60:13  The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. 

Rebuild and sanctify a holy mount.

Isaiah 60:14 Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 

Jerusalem the city of the Lord.  Zion the mountain of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.  When we are resurrected with spiritual bodies we will live in the City of the Lord.

Revelation 21:12-13  Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. 

We then looked at previous verses to get a better picture.

Revelation 21:1-3  Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

No more sea.  The earth we are on has more sea than land.  John saw the city, the New Jerusalem.  It is described as the Bride of Christ, 

Revelation 21:9  Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

One of the angels who poured out the plague showed John the Bride – the Lamb’s wife 

Revelation 21:10  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 

Jerusalem 

The Heaven above is a place so vast, deep, and powerful that we call it the Third Heaven.  We will be up there with Him when tribulation is occurring on earth.  In Revelation Chapter 6 six seals are broken and in Chapter 7 the 144,000 are marked and we see the multitude from the Great Tribulation in Heaven.

There is going to be a great earthquake, and mountains are going to be moved.  Then there will be a place for the New Heaven and the New Earth.

Ezekiel 39  it speaks of great destruction.  The people are going to bury dead for a long time, special details will be sent out to do this, and the weapons will be burned for fuel.  Someone mentioned that the new Russian guns are made out of a material that will burn – lignite.  God fulfills His Word in mysterious ways.

Revelation 21:10-13  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.  Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. 

Anyone who thinks Israel is not part of the End Times needs to rethink their opinion.

Someone commented:  If you are pulling someone down so you can be elevated, you’re pretty low.  Watch what you say about righteous people who fall and mess up, they are still God’s anointed.  Be kind.

Isaiah 21:14-21 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.  The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.  Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.  The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the citywas pure gold, like transparent glass.

Huge city, 

Isaiah 21:22-23 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.  The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 

The Temple, Bride of Christ, is made of living stones, and we are the living stones.

1 Peter 2:4-5  Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Living stones

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

Ephesians 2:19-22  Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Hebrews 3:1-6  Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.

We are living stones that the Father owns, not a physical Temple.  He is the Temple.  

A person who died and came back to life told people  that when you are in Heaven, no matter what direction you are looking, you look at the Throne of God.

There is no light from the Sun because the Sun has passed away. 

Unlike the childhood version of Heaven that we have of angels on clouds playing harps and praising God, there is so much going on in Heave, that it is beyond our comprehension.  Go is not stagnant and boring.

Revelation 21:23-25  The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.  And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).

If Jesus tarries.

Revelation 21:26-27 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

There is still right and wrong, good and evil.  There are those born in the Millennium Reign that have not made their choice, they are outside the gates.

Revelation 22:15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. 

Our work is not over when the Lord and our Father come. 

We have the history up until the 6th day (6000 years) but all history of what will happen in the 7th day is not told to us.  There is much we will discover.

We are in another aeon, and an extension of time.

There are false teachers today that teach that everyone will be forgiven and even the devil will be forgiven.  False teachers, Jesus tells us will abound in the end days. They are either teaching in error or they know the truth and deliberately alter it.

Isaiah 60.  We are already facing tribulation – tribulation began 2000 year ago, but t is escalating.  As it gets worse we are told to not worry.  Buid our faith and interconnections with people of faith.  

Some are believing the lie that there is no rapture.  Others think that if they aren’t raptured no problem for they will be able to stand in faith.  We don’t know that for sure because we don’t know how we will react under torture and oppression.  

We have been given a progressive revelation.  And we have the free will to accept or reject God.  God is consistent with what He does from generation to generation.  He has given the Jews signs and the Gentiles knowledge of His truth, and both Jew and Gentile must take what they have learned and either accept or reject Him.

God does not change and He will do as he did with Moses, Lot, etc.  People need to get a revelation that there will be judgment before it is too late.

God is equipping us so we can help others when things fall apart.  We are to be there and say, “This is what thus says the Lord.”

We look and see rioting, such as in London.  That begins with me.

Isaiah 60:15  Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. 

Eternal excellence.

Isaiah 60:16-18  You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, and milk the breast of kings; you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron I will bring silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your magistrates righteousness. Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.

Call the walls Salvation, gates Praise – people

Isaiah 60:19  The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the LORD will be to you an everlasting light,  and your God your glory. 

This verse is Parallel to Revelation 21:22-23  But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.  The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

Isaiah 60:20  Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.

God will restore us from our hurts.  We don’t have to hold on to the hurts now, we can let it go.  Don’t wait until Revelation 22 to let go of the pain that binds you.  Let it go now.  You can decide where you turn your head.  You can focus on your problem or you can focus on God.

Isaiah 60:21  Also your people shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified. 

All, not some.

Isaiah 60:22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.

God will hasten its time.  The only way things change is that we decide who we are and what we are doing.  You can’t let other people’s opinion rule our world or our decisions.  We need to be a child in the world, child-like faith.  When the hurts of life hit us we can run from the lion and into the jaws of the bear. 

We can have a peace of God no matter the circumstances.  God is not daunted by our circumstances.  The enemy sees the fear in us and attacks us in that area of weakness.  When things trouble us, we want God to take the pain away or we focus our eyes on the circumstance.  Far better we place our eyes on God and rise above the immediate circumstances.

I pray this blesses you.

Heather

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Being Daughters of the Second Order

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Accepting God’s Promises
Isaiah 60 
Isaiah 60:19 to Isaiah 61
Isaiah 61 – Part 1 – The Anointing 
Isaiah 61  
Bride of Christ
Rest in the Lord
Say Amen 142 – Water and Seed
Say Amen 143 – Power of God’s Word
Say Amen 144 – Enemies of Faith and Victory through Faith Part 1
Say Amen 145 – Enemies of Faith and Victory through Faith Part 2
Say Amen 146 – Enemies of Faith and Victory through Faith Part 3
Say Amen 147 – Judging, Judgment, Justification Part 1
Say Amen 148 – Judging, Judgment, Justification Part 2
Say Amen 149 – Judging, Judgment, Justification Part 3
Say Amen 150 – Judging, Judgment, Justification Part 4
Inaccurate translations cause confusion, power of the Holy Spirit, tongues
Say Amen 188 What is the proper response to the Death of the Wicked
The Basics: Contention in the Church and Spiritual Gifts
John 20:23 Forgiving and retaining sins
Prophetic Ministry

 

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Hyssop and a few comments by Pastor Don Moore

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In A Time Like This

Transcript of a sermon on Dec, 5, 2010

I slightly edited it for readability.  What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says.

Sometimes we’re thinking that the attack is gonna come from the outside.  In reality the attack comes from the inside.  It is made upon us in the emotional realm of the feeling.  And our feelings are something that have to be dealt with;  but not something that has to be lived by.  [amen]  Let me say, you can deal with your feelings, but you cannot live by your feelings.  

You can’t even live to satisfy your feelings because your feelings are insatiable.  Do you know that big word?  [laughter]  That means that no matter what you feed it, it still wants more.  So that when we get living in the feeling realm, we’d better get ready to be disappointed… [amen]  Hallelujah.  [amen]  Just tellin’ you the truth.  If you’re living to satisfy your feelings, ah, no, no, no, no, no, you’re gonna have a problem.  

We live for the peace of God that is on the inside, not, you know.  I don’t care, how many of you have ever bought a car? … Alright.  Alright.  Did that satisfy?  [no]  No, because after you bought it and rode it around the block it was used.  [yep, laughter]  You know, it’s like having a wife.  If you know what I mean.  [ooooooh, laughter]  …. It’s like having a husband.  [yeah, laughter]  … Now we get it, right?  Yeah, come on.  You have to, you gotta polish it up and shine it up and get it going all over again.  

And the Body of Christ is in trouble in terms of our marriages because we don’t polish and shine ‘em up.  We just got all excited.  We got this new car.  Drive it once, and then it’s used.  And then we just go on, and then we wonder what happened?  Why I don’t feel the way I felt when I first got married?  How come things are not they way they were?  It’s because you not polishing it up. [amen, yeah, Jesus! teach pastor]  I got one Amen and a teach pastor.  [laughter]  My Lord, somebody help me here.  Let’s try it again.  You have to polish it up.  You have to stay diligent and vigilant about maintaining relationships.  [amen]  

You can’t let the devil, he’ll beat you in the feeling realm.  He’ll beat you in the mind in the feeling realm.  But he cannot beat you in the Spirit realm.  [amen] He cannot.  You will defeat him every time that you get in the Spirit realm.  He can’t, he can’t deal with that.  He cannot deal with you as a spiritual being.  But a carnal and mental, he’s going to whip you every time.  So you have to get out of your mind and get out of your feelings and do what I’m telling you.  [Jesus]  Do what I’m telling you.  

Husbands, if you’re not dating your wives, you have no right to complain about her.  [hallelujah]  Absolutely none.  Wives, if you’re not dating your husbands, you have no reason to complain about him.  Don’t wait for the knucklehead to bring you flowers.  [laughter]  You go buy the flowers and put ‘em on his charge card and give ‘em to yourself.  [laughter]  He’ll start gettin’ the picture.  [yes]  You know, my wife came home yesterday and she says, “Here, here.”  I said, “What, baby?”  She says, “This is what you bought me for my birthday.”  [laughter]  After 42 years she knows some stuff.  I said, “Was it the right size?”  She said, “Yeah.”  [laughter]  I wanted to know was it the right price?  [laughter]  But you know, she bought, she only shops on discount.  So I’m ok.  

The Bible study lesson for today is concerning this.  And I want you to listen to what happened this week.  While all of the people, a lot of people were just, you know, in trouble this week.  But I thank God that I pastor a church where people, when they get in trouble, will pick up the phone and say, “I need some counsel, Pastor Don.  In the multitude of counsel there is safety.  And Pastor Don, this is what’s going on.”   I got to church this morning, a lady’s waiting in my office.  You know, she, we need each other, ya’all.  [amen]  I said, “We need each other ya’all.”  [amen]  

We need to be careful who you do share with and who you speak to.  Because there’s some idiots out there and most of your friends are idiots.  [yes]  So you have to be careful.  Well?  [well]  Glory.  Cause we tend to pick, we tend to pick people that we feel superior to.  But then, when we’re having a problem, and we’re goin’ to someone that we feel is inferior to us, and then we’re following their counsel, you’d do better to talk to yourself.  [yeah, laughter]  amen.  [amen]  So man is smart.  God’s smarter.  [amen, that's right]  Man’s smart but God smarter.  

I want you to open your Bibles to Hebrews, Chapter 11.  Hebrews, Chapter 11… I have to be funny.  Somebody says, “Why are you so funny, Pastor Don?”  I have to be funny.  Do you know why?  Because I’d be dropping bricks that are very serious bricks, you wouldn’t like me if I didn’t make you laugh about the reality of your life.  [that's right]  You have to just laugh, and the wife sticks him in the ribs, and says, “You hear what he’s saying?  He talking to you.”  [laughter]  

Hebrews 11, we want to look at verse 12, and I want to talk about this for a second.  ”Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude–innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”   Let’s take it again.  ”Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude–innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”  Now, this passage, this verse of Scripture, is one of those verses that people in the scientific realm always said, well that can’t be.  [Jesus]  And they said that that can’t be, the stars innumerable as the sand of the sea.  And so it was, well, that’s a metaphor.  Or that’s not literal, that’s just figurative speaking.  

And so what we have is, we have these passages in Scripture.  There are many of them in the book of Job and Isaiah that have scientific information in them.  This is one of them.  They had scientific information in it.  And sometimes we look at the Bible and we don’t realize that it is the Word of God.  And that God is accurate in what He says.  And so, when it says that the saints that are gonna be saved and the people and the spirits that God has are innumerable, meaning a number so big you can’t count.  Do you understand that?  Innumerable, a number so big that you can’t count.  So then, when the Apostle Paul, writing under the unction of the Holy Spirit, says that the stars in the heavens are as innumerable as the sea on the sand, that you can’t count them, we all went, well, he’s making a metaphor.  He doesn’t mean that literally.  That’s figurative talk.  

Until this week.  [mhnmn]  …. [Jesus]  Until this week.  This week the brilliant scientists of our world, who knew so much, knew enough to say that the Bible is in question, and that they know everything and know a lot, and they are really wise.  So they determined, first of all, for until the Hubbel Telescope, they believed there was only 6,000 stars in our galaxy.  [laughter]  … Then the Hubbel Telescope showed that there’s not only that, but there’s more galaxies.  And so, there’s way more galaxies and way more stars and the scientists just figured out.  And they says, “You know, there’s billions and zillions of stars and there’s also billions of galaxies.”  … [hallelujah]  And remember, I showed you that movie, Indescribable,  and you know, some of you loved it and some of you wondered why Pastor was showing a movie.  But the wonder of God and His great capability is beyond what the mind of man can conceive.  [yes]  

So this week, it was just wonderful to me.  I just, I just jumped up and down.  This week they had to put on national TV and everywhere.  How many of you heard the reports?  … Where are the rest of you all?  [laughter]  Too much Nintendo.  [laughter]  You better get with it.  

God is busting out all over.  We are in the last days.  And everything that has been hidden, the Book of Daniel the 12th Chapter, He says, now He’s opening them up for it to be revealed.  So science had to admit that they are now way off on the count of not just the stars, but they’re way off on the count of the size of the galaxies, and the galaxies themselves are innumerable.  Not to mention that the stars within those galaxies are innumerable.  In other words, God’s space is so vast that it is beyond your comprehension.  

We keep looking for the borders of the universe, and God says in the book of Job, He says, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the space and the ends of it?  Where were you?  You don’t know.  You can’t calculate it.  You don’t know.  You don’t know the number.  You can’t even count the hairs on your head.”  So, in my case, it might not be so hard.  [laughter]  But, in some of your cases, it’s very difficult.  

So what I want to impress upon you is that this Scripture is true.  It has been proven to be a reality.  

Let’s read it again and then I want to talk about the first part of it.  In the second half it says, “…..as many as the stars of the sky in multitude — innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”  In other words, if you walked out to a seashore, looked down at all the grains of sand, there’s as many stars in the heavens.  Uncountable and innumerable.  Science is just finally figuring out how dumb they are and how smart God is.  [amen]  I said, “Amen.”  [amen]  Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.   Now this has great significance for you and for I.  

Go to First Corinthians.  … First Corinthians.  It’s in front of this.  First Corinthians.  Now, we get all excited, we’re glad to admit that modern science, they don’t know as much as they think they know.  They’re trying to figure things out.  You know.  And people get smart and the smarter they get, the less they need God.  And the less they want to recognize God.  You know.  

The great physicist Hawkings who was born greatly disabled, if we applied the science that he believes in, he would have been destroyed in the womb.  Or he would have been aborted, or out of the womb.  He never would have lived if we take science and apply it the humanistic way that he, you know, do you understand what I’m saying here, anybody?  [yes] And so, what we have then is, as he becomes more intelligent, he works the equation so that God doesn’t exist.  Einstein attempted to do the same thing.  But Einstein must have been smarter than Hawkings because Einstein’s conclusion was this, everything in the universe is ordered.  And therefore there would have to be a designer.  But he didn’t want to accept that, because if there is a designer, then we have to serve Him. [laughter] … [amen]  But he’d rather do his own thing.  … Than serve the designer.  Now, he’s serving the designer now wherever he is.  [laughter]  Movin’ right along.  

So the scientists come up with the information that they have, when they are only discovering the secrets of how God did things.  [amen]  But here’s the problem.  When they figure out something that God did, they elevate themselves to god-ness… But because you have understanding of something does not mean that you have control of something…  [amen]  Just because you understand how God did it doesn’t mean you’re in control of it.  [amen]  

And that’s why we have, you know, rampant cancer running through, through our culture.  Because they got so smart inventing things that we could use that are killing us.  How are you all doing?  [good]  All you all red dyed, yellow dyed, four dyed, blue dyed people?  It’s hard to brush your teeth without some blue dye, red dye, green dye.  You know.  I tried with soap once.  I didn’t, it wasn’t a good experience though.  [laughter]  You never had your mouth washed out with soap?  [laughter]  See, now we know who all the liars are.  [laughter]  You walked right into that, didn’t ya.  

It’s like the pastor, he said, “Next Sunday,”  he said, “next Sunday I’m gonna do a sermon on Mark 17.  Everybody read it and be prepared next week.”   Got to church next week, he got up and he says, “Now how many of you did your homework?  How many of you read Mark 17?”  And they all raised their hands, and he says, “Now, I want to preach about lyin’.”  [laughter]  There’s only 16 chapters in the book of Mark.  [laughter]  You get it?  16 chapters in the book of Mark.  He said do Mark 17.  [laughter]  Ok.  

Now, in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 1… Verse 18.  A Sunday school lesson like this is meaningless if you don’t apply it to yourself.  [amen]  I said, unless you apply it to yourself.  [amen]  Ok, so let’s apply it to you right now and to me.  ”For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.…”  The message of the cross is what?  [foolishness]  to who?  [those who are perishing]  ”…but to us who are being saved it is.…”  what?  [the power of God]   “…it is the power of God.”  [amen]  …

That’s why you have to be careful when you go to witness to people.  You kinda have to locate them… [yes]  You know, jumping right to the Cross and tellin’ ‘em about Jesus dying for their sins and all, they may not be able, that may be foolishness to them.  [amen]  Make absolutely no sense.  And the reason is because they don’t believe in the concept of good and evil or sin and righteousness.  So you have to begin with sin and righteousness, in order to get them to accept that maybe they need salvation from their sins…

I’m talking to those of you that have an evangelistic spirit.  If you have an evangelistic spirit and you want to talk to people and you want to lead them to the Lord, you can’t lead them from the Cross.  You have to lead them from their view, their world view.  And if their world view is that the Cross is foolishness, you’re gonna have to back up to, do they have a measure of right and wrong behavior. … [amen, amen]  Do they have a concept of good and evil?  Do they have a formula for what’s best and what’s not best?  What’s effective  and what’s not effective?  If you can get them to there then the concept of sin begins to make sense, in that sin is error, moral and ethical error, and therefore it has a consequence to it.  The wages of sin is death.  And then from that position you can say, “AH HA HA!  I have a solution for the wages of sin.  Life.”  [amen]  … What life?  The God kind of life.  Jesus died and paid for your sin.  Therefore you can live a gooder life.  A gooder life.  [yes sir, amen]… A gooder life.  [yes sir]  I know it’s not good English, but it’s a gooder life.  [laughter, amen]  I’m living a gooder life.  

Now we tend to be judgmental about people because there are many people that are living the good life in the terms of material things.  So we can’t put the basis of leading people to Christ just on the basis of financial power.  No, no, no we can’t.  But there are many people who, out of poverty, will come to the Lord.   Because, as Solomon found out, no matter how much money you have, or political power you have, it doesn’t bring happiness.  [amen]  Come on.  Paul says,  ”I’ve abounded and I have been abased.”  And he learned something from it.  He learned that whether he was doing well financially or poorly, God was still the best life.  Amen.  [amen]  

How many of you all have ever been poor?  I mean, poor.  Alright, good, good, good, good.  I need some new members.  [laughter]  Too many poor folk in here.  Come on, right?  [sure, Pastor]  But being poor didn’t make you happy.  But being very wealthy doesn’t either.  There’s no guarantee because you have, the more money you have the more worries you have, the more things you have to figure out.  

You know, the research on lotto is very amazing cause it finds that a large percentage of people that win it wish they’d never won it after they won it.  I know you’re sitting now, thinking what, maybe I’m gonna get the number from the Lord today.  [laughter]  Not from me you’re not.  [laughter]  Amen.  

So in this verse he says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written”  ”I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” “  

What’s God saying?  He says, I will reveal that the stars are innumerable, the galaxies are innumerable, it’s all innumerable, for what purpose?  To bring you what you think is wisdom, I’m gonna make you… realize that what I’m doing is way beyond your comprehension.  Lord have mercy.  That’s good stuff, isn’t it?  [yes]  

I remember in Job, when I was debating, trying to find out if God was real or not, I was debating about this.  In the book of Job, it says that there are mountains at the bottom of the sea.  [right]  But, it wasn’t, it wasn’t until we got, you know, we got into the 60′s, 70′s that they could dive deep enough.  And one of the first deep diving bells, a guy says, “You know, there’s mountains down here.”  [laughter]  And I thought, I said, “Well, yeah, Job knew it 5,000 years ago.”  [laughter]  

But we tend not to believe those things that are incredulous to us and to our thinking.  I’ll get right with you.  Now, stay with me.  Verse 20.  ”Where is the wise?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the disputer of this age?…”  And we have those.  We have people that, that dispute this age, and things like that.  And He says, “…Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”  

Every book that was written, that calculated the number of stars in the galaxies and all of that, right now, this week, became garbage.  [amen]  They became, you know, let’s use it for burning fires.  Because all that great, all that great conversation, you guys missed it completely.  You know, the other verse I love in scripture, it says that the universe is wearing out like a garment.  [amen]  You know, the Hubble Telescope proved that after God flung everything into space, it began to, the universe was expanding.  And then they went, well, it can’t expand but so much because we know how big it is.  Well now you know, you don’t know how big it is.  So it can sure enough expand for eternity.  And then keep expanding. …  [amen]  

But I’m talking to you now.  I’m wit’ you.  And so, verse 21.  ”For since, in the wisdom of God, the world… through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.  For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”  I want you to read verse 26 with me.  Come on.  ”For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many might, not many noble, are called.”  Keep going.  ”But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;”  

In other words, we have to get to a place in our minds where we understand this very simple principle.  Just a very simple principle.  A very simple principle.  Are you ready?  [yes]  God chose you cause you’re an idiot.  [laughter]  God chose me cause I’m an idiot.  [amen, laughter]  And until you get to that position, you will not be able to step into your calling.  Because, here’s why.  God wants you to recognize your insufficiency so He can be your sufficiency so that you can do more.  [amen]  Hallelujah.  Hallelujah.  [amen, thank you Jesus.]  Do you get that?  

If you can accept the fact that you don’t have all the answers.  If you can accept the fact that you don’t know everything.  If you can accept the fact that right now you may not know what God has called you to do or where He’s called you to go.  If you can accept that, then guess what?  He wants you.  [whew, amen]  He wants you on His team when you accept the fact that you’re not sure everything that you want to do.  [thank you Lord]  Alright?  [right]  You’re not sure everything that ought to be done and how to do it.  You can’t figure it out.  Guess what?  You’re God’s man for the moment.  You’re God’s person for the hour.  You’re God’s woman, you’re God’s maiden.  You are what God has put in place and it is all blessing.  [amen]  It’s all blessing.  You need to know that.  How many of you got that?  Let’s stand to your feet.  I’m gonna pray over you.  Let’s talk to Jesus.  

Father, in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior, we just say thank you Lord. [thank you Lord] That though we think we’re wise and think we know all things, we’re so glad to accept the fact that you’re smarter than us, Father.  You’re more powerful than us, Father.  You’re more able than we are, Father.  [yes you are]  That we can only see what we see, but You see way beyond that.  [yes, amen]  And Lord, we’re just happy to humble ourselves before ya, and say, Thank you for your ability.  Yes.  Your greatness.  We just thank you, Lord.  And we thank you.  We just give you praise.  We thank you Lord that Brother Timbrouk and his wife, they know what they’re doing.  And they got that.  [thank you Lord]  And you see the future for them as well and how to deal with it.  And Lord, you have blessed us to be dumb enough to come to the House of the Lord, to get an answer from Heaven.  [amen]  Amen and Amen and Amen.  Give the Lord some praise in here.  [applause, hallelujah]  

Kathy asked Pastor Don why Jesus was given Hyssop and Vinegar.  Pastor Don had her research it and bring the answer back to our Friday Bible study.  She presented this on 12/6/10.

John 19:28-30  After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”  Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

To research Hyssop, Kathy used Rodale’s Herb Book, a book on Bible Herbs, and from the internet an article called “Biblical Problem with Hyssop” from the Evangelical Old Dominion University.  She also used E-Sword for research.

Herbs are connected with business, religion, wars, trade, etc.  Many herbs are mentioned in the Bible, coriander, garlic, hyssop, salt, cumin, rue, etc.

Hyssop in Hebrew is “ezob”, in Arabic “zufa”, Greek & Palestine – ‘za’tar” .  It is part of the oregano family.  The Samaritans still use hyssop during their Passover ceremony and have done so for 2000 years.  Hyssop was used by Greek physicians, Romans, and Christians. 

During the Dark Ages monasteries grew herbs for medicinal purposes.  

There are no drawings of what hyssop in Jesus’ day looked like.  Today’s hyssop may not resemble the hyssop of Jesus’ time.

One half of the prescriptions that are prescribed are derived from plants.

Rodale’s Herb book describes hyssop as being used for cleansing, sacred places, medicinal, and a flavor in tea.  It is a common plant that is hearty and grows in warm, dry areas.  It can grow up to 3 feet in height, and has long, thin, shiny leaves, with a strong scent when brewed.  It flowers off the stem and has oval seeds.  It responds well to pruning and it’s leaves dry in two days.  It is a perennial and in its wild state it strengthens all plants but rue.

Mixed with honey it warms the belly and is used to fight infection and bruises. As a gargle it can help swelling in the throat.  Mixed with vinegar it eases a toothache and acts like an anesthesia. Bruised hyssop leaves mixed with salt eases stings and bites.  Mixed with oil it kills lice.  

Hyssop is made into perfumes.  Monks used it to create liqueurs.  And it is an expectorant when made into a syrup.

They grew hyssop next to grape vines to increase their fruit.

Then Kathy shared places in scripture where hyssop is mentioned.

Exodus 12:22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 

The leaves were spongy, so when they were dipped in the blood they picked the blood up out of the basin so the head of the household could strike the doorposts and lintel with the blood.  This was done right before the angel of death was to kill the firstborn sons of the Egyptians.  Each Hebrew household was to sacrifice a lamb and use its blood to mark the doorways.  It was used to cleanse and purify.

Leviticus 14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. 

This is part of the ceremony for cleansing lepers.  Cedar also has a purging effect.  Scarlet is a dye made from a worm, and to purify.  Hyssop would sprinkle the blood, poured over running water – not stagnant water.

Numbers 19:5-6 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.  And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. 

This is in connection with the red heifer who was burned and its ashes used for purification.  Hyssop is part of what is burned, as is cedar and scarlet.

Numbers 19:18 A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave. 

A clean person would use hyssop to sprinkle water from the red heifer’s ashes over anything that became unclean because it touched an unclean thing.

Psalm 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

David asking God’s forgiveness and cleansing after he went in to Bathsheba, had Uriah killed, and was confronted by Nathan the Prophet.

Hebrews 9:16-24 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,  saying,“This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”  Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 

 Hyssop was used to sprinkle the blood, according to the covenant, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission from sin.

We need to be purified as Heaven is pure.  

When Jesus was on the cross he had been beaten, bleeding, and had internal bleeding. For Him to take a breath he had to painfully push Himself up on the nail that held His feet, scraping his raw and bleeding back on the wooden cross, and then after taking a breath sag down again causing pain in the nails of his wrist, and scraping his back yet again.  Jesus took the sin of the whole world unto Himself.  We can’t take it to Him.

Vinegar and gall was a final degradation to Jesus.  The people were mocking Jesus, and they gave him vinegar and gall administered by dipping it into hyssop.  It was supposed to have a numbing effect, but Jesus refused this, choosing instead to bear the full brunt of the pain.  

The hyssop purged Jesus of our sins he took upon Himself, and the next words he spoke were, “It is finished.”  Jesus gave up His spirit.

PASTOR DON’S COMMENTS

Pastor Don pointed out that the events that happened at the Crucifixion are clearly detailed in Psalm 22, and that one of Jesus’ sayings on the cross was the first line of this Psalm.  On the Cross Jesus could not give a dissertation, so instead he spoke lines of scripture, and when you read the whole Scripture around those lines you get a complete picture.  Psalm 22 speaks of many aspects of the crucifixion, even the gambling for His clothes.  It had nothing to do with Jesus being forsaken by God.  Today if we sing the first line of a song like, “Joy to the World,”  people finish the song for they know the words.  The Israelites knew the Psalms and giving the first line would help.  You can read the book online  at this link.  Pastor Don wrote a book called Not Forsaken: Healing the Father Wound.

If you go to the link In His Name Ministries, Pastor Don’s books are available to purchase.

Many abuse herbal things.  God put herbs on earth to be used, but not abused.

The hyssop is part of the blessing and covenant, for it sprinkled the blood.

We looked at Psalm 69, a Messianic Psalm

Psalm 69:1-3  Save me, O God!  For the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.  I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God. 

Jesus

Psalm 69:4  Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;  they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully;  though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.

Jesus was without sin, but restored those who were with sin.

Psalm 69:5-8 O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You.  Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.  I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children;

Brothers and family did not accept him, and he became a reproach for us because of our sins.

Psalm 69:9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

A prophesy that Jesus fulfilled with the money changers in the Tempe.

Psalm 69:10-15 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them.  Those who sit in the gate speak against me, and I am the song of the drunkards.  But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth on me. 

Jesus descended to hell and satan could not keep him there because Jesus had no personal sin.  He led captivity captive.

Psalm 69:16-17  Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.   And do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily.

The Father will not turn his back on His Son at His time of greatest need.  Jesus was righteous and calling to him. God would not forsake Him.

Psalm 69:18-19  Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies. You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You.

God delivers.

Psalm 69:20-21 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. 

Jesus had to be on the cross and have gall and vinegar offered to him for this prophesy to be fulfilled.  This gall and vinegar would have been delivered by hyssop.

Psalm 69:28-29  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful; let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.

God sets Jesus at the highest of the high.

Psalm 69:30-31 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bull,  which has horns and hooves.

In Hebrews it speaks of Jesus’ sacrifice as a higher sacrifice, better than an ox or a bull.

Psalm 69:34-36  Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them.  For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.  Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it, and those who love His name shall dwell in it.

Jesus came to save and comfort.  God put Jesus on high.  The Jew and the Gentile, shall dwell in it.

Psalm 22:1-5  My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?  Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?  O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent. But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.  Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed. 

Jesus spoke the first line of this Psalm on the cross – with short breath and great pain that is all that he could put out.  The people knew the Psalms so well that if one line is said, the hearers would hear the whole Psalm.  These verse are Jesus crying out in the Garden, not in weakness, but trusting God.  He was strengthened by an angel for the ordeal ahead.  God did not abandon Him.  God does not abandon someone who is doing God’s will. Trials may come but that is not a sign of abandonment.  Jesus was not forsaken on the cross.

Psalm 22:6-9  But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.  All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,  “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”   But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.

Jesus realigned His will with His Father’s will.  The words in this Psalm were spoken by people who observed the crucifixion.

Psalm 22:10-14  I was cast upon You from birth.  From My mother’s womb You have been My God.   Be not far from Me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help.  Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.  They gape at Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me.

More of what happened on the cross.  They pierced his side with a spear and water and blood poured out.

Psalm 22:15-16  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.  They pierced My hands and My feet;

This Psalm was written before crucifixion was a mode of death. The Romans figured out the most painful and shameful way to execute criminals that would give a message of fear to others.  Gentiles were considered dogs by the Jews.  The priests and Pharisees also watched the Crucifixion. 

Psalm 22:17  I can count all My bones.  They look and stare at Me.

Not one bone was broken in Jesus’ body.  Usually the soldiers would break the crucified person’s legs so that they would die quickly.  Jesus gave up His spirit before the soldiers came to break legs, so the prophesy here was fulfilled, not one of His bones were broken.

Psalm 22:18  They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots. 

The soldiers gambled for Jesus’ garments.

Psalm 22:19-20 But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog.

the dog is the devil.  God was not far from Jesus.

Psalm 22:21 Save Me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me. 

God answered Jesus.  Jesus said, “It is finished.”

Psalm 22:31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this.      

This He chose to do.  It is finished.

Psalm 22:22-24 I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You. You who fear the LORD, praise Him!  All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and fear Him, all you offspring of Israel! For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from Him; but when He cried to Him, He heard. 

This flies in the face of those who say God abandoned Jesus on the cross.

I pray this blesses you and that you have an awesome New Year.

Heather