I just finished an awesome book, thought you might like to see my review.  If you want, I would love for you to go and vote for my review at the following address:

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/view/4585

While you are there, consider joining the site and reviewing books.  It is an incredible site.

 

Have a blessed day,

Heather

 

Lazarus Awakening by Joanna Weaver

 

Joanna Weaver has a gift of taking a Bible passage and looking at it from new angles. In the passage where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, most commentators focus on Mary and Martha, but Joanna shows us that Lazarus plays a vital role as well. What did he do?  He died.  He never speaks in the Bible, never does anything dramatic, but when Jesus is sent for, they tell Him that the one He loves is sick unto death. We live in a performance-oriented world and it is hard to believe that God loves us and it has nothing to do with what we do or don’t do.  Joanna shows us how to live in His love and how Jesus can bring us back to life no matter how dead our circumstances and life seems. There is a resurrection awaiting each and every one of us if we reach out and accept His love.

 

Jesus rolls away the stones of our lives and commissions others to remove our grave clothes.  Lazarus Awakening speaks about how God deals with the stones of unbelief, unforgiveness and unworthiness that cover the tombs of our lives.  Jesus calls us forth from our tomb, but we need to take the first shuffling steps out.  With study guides that provide provocative questions, individuals and small groups can begin to look at what stones need to be rolled away and how to shuffle out of our tomb.  Joanna answers questions that we have most likely asked, such as, why did Jesus wait for so long to come to aid Lazarus?  Why do circumstances seem to repeat themselves in our lives?  Why is God taking so long to answer my prayer? This book provides answers that make it easier to trust in God and wait on His timing.  She points out that Jesus loves us so much that He is willing to wait until we are willing to die to ourselves so He can restore us.

 

Once out of the tomb, we do not grow spiritually in a vacuum.  Restoration is a process, but true restoration comes only after what is old and no longer working in our lives dies. One of the most helpful chapters for me in Lazarus Awakening was Joanna Weaver’s guidelines of things we can do to lovingly help others unwind the grave clothes that bind.  The one who is in charge of healing is the Holy Spirit but there are things we can do to help.  She also shows us how to avoid hurting others in our zeal to help them.

 

Besides the study guide, there are appendixes that provide websites and resources for resurrected living, reminding us who we are in Christ, hints for unwinding grave clothes, and recognizing strongholds in an individual’s life. I was so blessed by this book that I plan to purchase extra copies to give to friends that I know have been delivered from their own tombs.

 

I highly recommend this book.  To find out more about her and her other books, you can visit her website at www.JoannaWeaverBooks.com  

 

Waterbrook Multnomah books provided me with this copy of Lazarus Awakening for review.

 

This is a transcript of a sermon preached by Pastor Don Moore of Living Word Chapel, West Hurley, New York on 1/3/10

I have slightly edited it to make it easier to read – what is in [brackets] is what the congregation says. I made some of the major concepts bold.

SAY AMEN
SHOW 140
JANUARY 3, 2010 

Amen.[amen]  You may be and get your Bibles.  Let me see them.  Lift them up, come on, lift them up.  This is [this is]  the Word of God [the word of God] in my hand  [in my hand]  in my heart [in my heart]  in my mouth [in my mouth].  I love  [I love] the Word of God [the Word of God].  Come on, I love [I love]  the Word of God [the Word of God].  I love [I love]  the Word of God [the Word of God].  Amen.  

I want you to look at two scriptures with me.  And then we want to talk.  And I want you to start with Psalm 37.  Psalm 37.  If you don’t have a Bible, you can look under your seat or look on with the person next to you.  Psalm 37.  Are you there yet?  [yes]  If you’re there, say, “I’m there.”  [I'm there].  If you’re not, say, “I’m working on it.”  [I'm working on it].  Well, more people are working on it than are there.  Ok, Psalm 37.  

This is one of my favorite Psalms, and I’ve never looked at this aspect of it until yesterday when seeking the Lord, He said this was, this is a good topic, why  don’t you present this to the people for their listening.  So I want you to begin with me, we’re only going to read seven verses, but I want you  to hear it as the Lord speaks it.  

Psalm 37:1-7  ”Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.  For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.  Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.  Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.  He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”  I want you to read verse 7 with me.  You ready?  Come on.  ”Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.”  

I want you to look at the first line of that passage.  In verse seven it says, “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him.”  Today I want to talk to you about that word, rest.  R-E-S-T.  As I went to sleep, I was thinking about it.  And in the middle of a dream, the Spirit spoke to me and gave me one of those things, you know, what do they call them when they put a letter with a word.  [acronym] acronyms for it.  So, I want you to write this down.  And we’ll go through it and be blessed.  Rest.  R-E-S-T.  

The first word, “R” is to RELY.  To rely.  
The next one, “E” is EASY.  
“S” is two words, SATISFIED and STILL.  Satisfied and still.  
And “T” is two words, TIME and TRUST.  Time and trust.  

Let’s go to the book of Matthew in the 11th Chapter… Matthew, Chapter 11.  There are two verses in Matthew, Chapter 11  that are of great importance to us.  We want to see if we can’t gather this in.  Verse 28.  Matthew 11, verse 28.  And it reads, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls…”

These passages speak of this rest that God has for us.  When we look at the long history of God speaking to His people, from Genesis to Revelation, we have to honestly admit that God, when He started the whole thing off, was concerned about rest from the beginning.  For He made everything and on the seventh day He rested.  Isn’t it interesting that rest in the seventh day, the number seven itself, echoes down through the pages of history, and tells us that that rest, Lord have Mercy!  That that rest is provided for us by God in that He rested also in His own day.  He got to the seventh day and He said, “Everything is now complete and my work is finished, guess what?  Let’s rest.”  

It’s interesting to me that at this time period here, in these quote, “Last Days.”  The one thing that the World is taking away from us is our ability to rest.  We are driven people.  We are so driven that we are never quite satisfied or at peace enough to rest.  I was speaking to a friend and I just asked him, you know, “Well, when’s the last time you went fishing?”  And he said to me, “Who’s got the time to go do that?”  

And I watch and I see that very seldom are we able to sit down and do nothing.  Nothing looks like this.  We get something to drink, get something to eat, sit in front of the TV, and find something that is stimulating to the point of excitation.  So we very seldom ever rest.  We’re usually looking for a movie that is dramatic or drama, is going to emotionally affect us to tears, or affect us to celebration, or is going to bring us to high blood pressure of battles, of life and death.  Or, we’re going to go on the shopping channel and look at what we don’t have, and get frustrated, trying to figure out how we can find it.  [laughter]  

And yet we would say, “What did you do today?”  We would say, “I rested.”  You liar!  You did not.  [laughter]  You looked for ways to get diversion and ways to get excitement.  

And what’s wrong with our marriages?  People don’t know how to rest in their marriage, so they look for some stimulant outside of it.  I actually had a woman sit in my office and say, “I want out of this marriage.”  And I said, “Why?”  She says, “Because it’s too peaceful.  There’s nothing going on.”  [Oh! What in the world?  Nothing going on?]  And I said, “Baby doll, do you have any idea how exciting it’s going to get if you divorce this man?”  [laughter]  

She said, “What do you mean?”  I says, “Well, you know, your economics are going to be affected.  Your sex life is history.”  I says, “You’re just going to go through a lot of turmoil.  Do you need that?”  ”Well, aaah, well aaaah, well aaaaa…he’s boring.”  I said, “Well train him.”  [laughter]  ”Teach him how to jump rope or something.”  [laughter]  I got a kick out of that.  [laughter]  

But we’ve forgotten the art of resting.  We look at recreation of, you know, let’s go to Disneyland and lose our minds.  Let’s run around and stand in line and, what is the excitement about getting on a rollercoaster so that you feel like you just lost your gut?  [laughter]  We don’t know how to rest.  We don’t know how to just do nuttin’  To just cool, you know, even some of the books.  I don’t see how anyone can call reading a Stephen King novel resting.  [laughter]  I’m relaxing.  Have you ever looked at these romance novels?  [laughter]  You know, Jesse, isn’t that his name?  Something.  I don’t even know.  I just see people reading these things and getting all excited.  But we don’t know how to rest.  

God gave us the Sabbath to rest.  So the devil invented Sunday football.  [laughter]  And when that wasn’t enough, they moved all the little league games on to Sunday.  Did anybody notice this?  [yes]  The devil doesn’t even want you in your church where you might just relax and go home happy.  Well, I’ve got to dump my Pastor.  Why?  He doesn’t get me excited…. You know, he’s not entertaining.  I leave church at peace.  It’s not the way it’s supposed to be.  I should be agitated!  [laughter]  What???  We should be able to rest.  

Men are a problem when it comes to resting.  They don’t know how to do that.  A lot of men have forgotten how to just play.  One of the joys, one of the greatest joys of my life when my kids were little was just sitting.  I would just go in the living room and sit on the floor.  And they would just come and roll around and we’d laugh, and play. And my wife would say, “What are you doing?”  I would say, “Doing nothing.”  And we were, we were doing nothing but it sure was fun.  [amen]  I don’t want to wrestle with them now cause they’re bigger and stronger than me, but you know, they don’t know that, though.  [laughter]  There’s just some things as a father you don’t tell your kids.  

So this word, rest… God has given us the Sabbath so that we would learn to rest.  He has given us salvation so that we would come into a relationship that we could rest in Him.  He’s going to give us Heaven so we can rest from our labors.  Rest is essential.  

They did a study many years ago, of giving a culture.  They developed a culture where people would not be able to rest.  They gave them an 8 day work week. And you know, the Beatles had a song about it.  Eight days a week.  What we have in this culture, they did it, they went to a village in Mexico and tried it.  And they didn’t give the people a seventh day rest.  Within 30 to 60 days people were having nervous breakdowns and mental struggles and all kinds of problems broke out because they didn’t know how to rest.  

I was a professional workaholic.  I worked seven days a week, all the time.  And I’m not bragging about it.  It was the stupidest thing ever.  Not only did I work seven days a week, but I worked two and three jobs during those seven days a week.  And I had all the justification for it.  I was doing it for my family.  They didn’t know who I was.  [laughter]  I’d come in sometimes to eat and they’d go, “Who is this guy?”  [laughter]  My wife would just make food and put it in a plastic container and she’d be standing by the stove, and as I was going out the door she would just, put it out.  

You know, there was a song in those days.  The guy’s in Boston, he gets on the train, and he’s stuck on the train forever.  [Charlie and the MTA]  ”Charlie and the MTA.” (singing) “He never returned, no he never returned, and his fate is still unknown.  Poor Charlie, he may ride forever, neath the streets of Boston, he’s the man who never returned.”  The guy got on the subway and didn’t have enough money to get off. So his wife would run down to the station as the train passed by, she’d hand him food to go through.  

You know, we have ridiculous scenarios like that that we do.  We’re working, we’re working for a reason.  We’re working for a goal.  We’re working for a purpose.  And we have to ask ourselves, is that what God created me for?  [there you go]  Did God create me to be a workaholic?  Did God create me to destroy myself?  Why do men and women have affairs?  It’s usually because they’re working so hard, watch this now.  They’re working so hard that they needed a diversion and distraction.  And then they make bad choices… Rest.  

“R” rely upon.  Who do you trust tonight?  Who are you relying upon?  There’s probably maybe only two people out of this vast crowd that’s here today that could possibly really say, “I have absolutely no financial worries.”  I absolutely have no financial need.  But for the most of us, most of us have needs and the bills are going to come.  And we have bills to pay on a regular basis.  We have rent or we have a mortgage.  And we have these needs.  I’m not saying that you don’t have needs, I’m saying that in the process of life, who are you relying upon for life?  Not just to meet your finances or your bills.  Who are you relying upon for life?  Who are you trusting in and relying upon?  Who are you placing the weight of your life upon?  

I can remember being younger and feeling that I had to be a success.  And that I had to be a success for the different reasons I defined, success.  And then I realized, wait a minute.  There’s something about this thing called Christ living in me… [hah, I know]  That if Christ is living in me, might it be that He wants to rest with me sometimes?  [come on]  I had a really hard time a few years ago when I realized that financially we were at the place where I could buy a boat.  And I really thought boats were really expensive, this boat was only $6000, which you know, you can get a used car for that.  So I bought a used boat for that.  You know, I felt guilty getting on the boat and doing nothing?… I could always think whenever I got on the boat in the water, I got this boat to rest and relax with my wife, and I’d get on there and just feel so guilty that I needed to do something.  

And then I began to look around the harbor, and do you know what I saw?  I saw everybody that bought a boat, they bought their boats to work on their boats.  And they’d be down there every weekend working on the boat.  After awhile, I would go down there and I would say, well maybe I’m supposed to work on the boat.  [laughter]  And so, I’d bought all the sponges and the sticks and all the other stuff, [laughter]  and I’m down there, and I’m scrubbing the hull of the boat, and waving at the people scrubbing the hull of their boat and looking over, and my wife is downstairs and she’s doing the carpet, and she’s doing the curtains, and she’s wiping down the cabinets, and she’s whatever, whatever.  

And it just dawned on me, wait a minute.  It took awhile not to feel guilty that I got it.  Now I’m feeling guilty that I’m not working on it.  And I says, “Am I crazy?”  I saw that I’m scrubbing, I saw this guy walking down, “Hey what do you do?”  He said, “I work on people’s boats.”  I said, “Good. Cause I’m through working on mine.”  [laughter]  ”Come over here.  Clean this boat, and I’ll see you later, because I bought it to rest on it.”  [amen]  

I’m talking to somebody here.  Some of you bought timeshares, and you don’t use them.  I had a lady say to me, “Pastor Don, I’m too busy to use my timeshare.”  I said, “Well, give it here.”  [laughter]  I’ll find a way to rest.  Because why?  At some point you have to say, “Who are you relying upon?”  Well, I want to rely on the LORD to get me through from point A to point B.  [amen]  I want to rely on Him to give me a God idea as to what I should be doing for money, or how to do it for money.  Who are you relying on?  Are you relying on the Lord to put you in position to promote you?  And give you God ideas to move forward with it.  Who are you trusting in?  Who are you relying on?  REST.  To rest means to rely upon God who is greater than you because He will lead you.  You all know that one about He’ll guide my steps.  What’s wrong with those verses?  He’ll light my path.  What are those all about?  Those are about relying on God to get a God idea.  

We sat around the table and there was a question around the table, and it said, “To discuss dreams and goals.”  Dreams and goals.  One young lady came up with a beautiful answer.  She said, “A dream is what you, a dream is what you think about or dream about or fantasize about, that comes up.  And a goal is what you decide to do about what you dreamed about.”  [amen]  I thought that was a beautiful thing.  But when you’re dreaming, what are you relying upon to bring you from dream to identify it as a goal? … Did I just lose you?  You’re looking at me funny.  

In other words, there are many things we dream about, but at some point, when does that transfer into this is now a goal?  Well I want to just offer.  How many are born again believers?  Guess what, the One who’s to point out if your dreams becomes a goal is God.  [yes, amen]  He’s supposed to tell ya, that’s a dream, but now go for it.  He’s the one that’s supposed to set your sail in the right direction and say, “Go for this now.”  Because why?  ”If you rely upon Me, I will bring it to pass for you.”  [hallelujah]  

The next one is “E” for easy.  Easy.  And I thought about it.  I’m in the middle of the night.  It’s 3:00 in the morning.  And the Lord is giving me, easy.  And you know what He said?  ”Take it easy.”  We need to lighten up.  [yes]  We are just too dog gone serious.  [yep]  We need to really lighten up and laugh.  I’d buy joke books.  I read them whether they’re good or not.  And the goods ones I tell you, the bad ones, I just go, ha, ha, ha.  I laugh at the bad ones too.  [laughter]  I laugh at them because they’re bad.  I get just as many laughs from telling a good joke good or a bad joke bad.  It’s true.  I just enjoy it.  

We need to take it easy.  We are really too serious.  [yes]  I mean, we’re just too serious.  I said, “We’re just too serious.”  [yes]  Some of you people who are working for your salvation, are the most serious, boring, hardworking, people in the world.  And you need to take it easy.  [amen]  I mean, take it easy.  Easy.  Take it easy.  Don’t take up golf if you want to relax.  That’s a bad hobby.  You can’t play golf and have it relaxing till you learn how to take it easy.  You don’t care where the ball goes, just as long as it goes.  [laughter, right]  Easy.  

How many of you have ever paid a bill?  [laughter]  Come on, raise your hands.  How many of you have ever paid a bill?  How many of you know for sure you’re going to have to do it again? [oh, yeah]  Take it easy.  Take it easy.  After you pay that one, there’s another one coming.  Why should you get upset?  I have two piles of bills.  Ones I can pay, the ones that I can’t.  And guess what?  I’m not attached to either pile.  [laughter]  I just put them up there and I put the other ones next to it, and they seem to get along fine.  [laughter]  We really need to take it easy.  

I’ve seen many people ruin their lives because they feel they should have this amount of money and whatever.  You know, a guy told me, “I can’t be happy.”  ”Why can’t you be happy?”  ”I don’t have enough money to retire.”  That’s a lie.  You have enough money to retire.  You have enough to retire!  Cause whatever it is that you’ve got, when you get ready to retire, that’s all you’re going to get.  [laughter]  So how can it not be enough?  That’s what you got.  

“S” – satisfy.  We need to reach a point where we just go, “That’s good enough.”  [alright]  That’s good enough.  The other day I was in a car, I was, one of the sisters cars.  I got in the car, it was a mess.  So I had to kick all of the stuff out of the way.  [laughter]  So I had somewhere to put my feet, and throw the stuff off the seat.  So I had somewhere to put my behind.  And I thought, I thought, it’s cool.  If she’s satisfied with that, I’m satisfied with that.  I brushed off my clothes when I got out the car, [laughter]  but you need to be satisfied.  

Sometimes you’re doing the best you can do.  You go to work, you’ve got kids to take care of, you’ve got meals to cook, you know, if you can’t afford to hire a housekeeper, train your husband.  [laughter]  Train your husband and then just be satisfied.  Some people will buy a bigger house, just because they need more room to put their stuff.  And then they go out and buy more stuff.  If I come to your house and I’ve got to walk through aisles between stuff, I’m going to get you committed and locked up.  But short of that, short of that, we need to be satisfied.  [amen]  

I don’t want to get up every morning and go to a job that I hate.  I’m going to tell myself I’m satisfied with the job till the One I’m relying on, opens another door. [amen]  Be satisfied.  I’m satisfied with my kids.  None of them are going to be President of the United States right now.  But I’m satisfied.  I’m satisfied with where they are in their lives.  And you have to be satisfied.  I’m satisfied with that.  

Still.  Still’s hard for me.  But I’ve really learned how to be still.  I want to ask you a question.  Can you sit down in your house and be still? … Cause if you can’t, you’re out of position to hear from God.  [right]  Learn to be still.  And don’t give me the kids thing.  Eventually the kids go to bed, and then you can be still with the Lord before you go to bed.  Or you can get up a half hour early or 20 minutes early and be still.  I have my chair.  And when I’m sitting in my chair, nobody bothers me.  My wife walks by, the children walk by, and I just get to sit there in my rocking chair, and be still… Can you say, “I can be still?”  [I can be still]  Some of you didn’t tell the truth.  But I pray you’ll work on it.  [yes]  You’ll get wonderful words from the Lord if you can learn to be still.  [amen]  

And then the last one, “T” , time. … Time. .If we’re going to rest in the Lord, we have to realize that time is different  You may set goals and so forth, and so on.  But we’re relying on God.  We’re going to take it easy, we’re satisfied with the way things are, and we’re going to learn to be still so that we can realize that God’s time is not like your time.  [amen]  There’s some marriages in here that, if they had ended 10 years ago, they would never have gotten to where they are now… There’s some of us, that if we had given up on our dream and the goals that God set, we wouldn’t be where we are now.  [that's true]  And we have to recognize that God’s got timing.  One of the sisters in the church, by the time she came here, she didn’t think she would probably ever get married. That it was probably too late for her.  That God’s not going to send the man.  It’s just a done deal.  I remember praying with her and saying, “Oh now, wait a minute.  He’ll give you the desire of your heart.  Give you everything you need.  Let’s just pray and wait for him.”  [amen]  Pray and wait… Pray and wait… Because God’s timing is different than our timing.  God’s got a schedule.  And His schedule is the best.  So we have to then, easy, satisfied, be still, God’s timing, and we’ve got to trust that timing.  God will bring you to the place that is ordained for you, if you’ll trust Him.  Really trust Him.   

I hope this teaching blesses you, it sure is something I needed to be reminded of.

Have a blessed day.

Heather

Taught 2/11/11

A question came up before we could get into our study of Isaiah.  The question was:  A person heard a teaching that said the Church is considered the Bride of Christ, and the Jews who will accept Christ after the rapture are considered the Bride of God.  Is this true?

We looked at a lot of long Scripture passages, I am going to include them for your reference.  This it is a Scripture heavy teaching.

Pastor Don’s reply:

The prophetic promise of God, that God recognizes us as a Bride to the Bridegroom.  Many people walk around with feelings of unworthiness, but we forget our status as the Bride.

In the Jewish wedding ceremony the Bride is in the village waiting for the Groom to come and take her to the Father’s house.  The Groom has gone to prepare a place for His Bride, and when the Father tells Him it is time, the Groom goes to collect His Bride for a seven day wedding feast.  

In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about the 10 virgins – five were ready, five were not ready.

Matthew 25:1-13  Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’  But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’  Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

This is a rapture scripture, of Christ coming to get his bride.  The Church today is asleep.  ”The all slumbered and slept.” 

The Groom in a Jewish wedding ceremony does not come by Himself, He is accompanied by the Friends of the groom.

Who were the friends of Jesus?

John 14:1-3  Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 

John 14:11-12  Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.  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. 

We are to come and be with Jesus, for we are Jesus’ Bride.

John 14:16-18  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:26-27  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Jesus then speaks about abiding in Him.

Jesus, in speaking to his Disciples calls them His friends – we too are His disciples and friends if we are doing His will.

John 15:14-15  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

God called the Jews His Servants.  Israel means Prince with God.  Israel is a Prince, not a King.  The prince serves the King.  Sometimes the prince will take on the kingly role (but still is not the king) and serve in office in the place of the King.  

No one else was assigned to position of priest (servant of God). 

As believers we are priests and kings.

Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying:  “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” 

We are called to step into the offices of the five-fold ministry.

Ephesians 4:11-13  And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 

Some are apostles, some are prophets, some are evangelists, some are pastors, and some are teachers.

Not every pastor has the teaching anointing.  Pastors are to be apt to teach, but not all are great teachers.

The Hebrew Children are the Servants of God.  The Apostles and followers of Jesus are His disciples, and those who were with him at the Last Supper, these are His friends.

King David was a prince in the office of King on earth.  David’s throne is God’s throne, and David was God’s servant.

John 15:13-15  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 

Jesus has made known to us what he heard from His Father, and we are not blind servants, but rather His friends.

John 15:16-17 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another.

Jesus chose a set number, and when the Bridegroom comes, he will come with His friends and a wedding party consisting of the friends of the groom.

Those are the wise virgins who are prepared for Him.

Another parable of Jesus speaks of the end days too.  Pastor Don said that some are going to be surprised at who is in Heaven with the Bridegroom, for some will come in at the last hour and that will not sit right with some believers who have labored long in the field.

Matthew 20:1-7 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’  They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’

The ones who were not hired by the eleventh hour are the ones who were lazy and not working, asleep, and waiting for others to do the work. But the Master will hire them.

Matthew 20:8-15 (bold is done by me)  So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’  And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner,  saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ 

These workers were working in the vineyard as “friend”.  We are a friend if we make it to the table early on or in the eleventh hour.  All are given the same eternal life.

Matthew 20:16-19 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,  and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”

All Scriptures that mention the third day are End Times Scriptures whether in the Old or the New Testaments.

Matthew 22:2-3  The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.

This passage mentions “servants” the Jewish people.  All the early disciples and even Jesus were Jewish.  

There will be an army – the angels of God war on God’s behalf.

The angels will be pouring out the the Judgments of God, and those who are on earth will still reject and curse God.  God is pouring out judgments hoping that it will inspire people to turn to Him, and instead they choose to reject Him.

Matthew 22:10-14 (I marked a word in bold)  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  For many are called, but few are chosen.

All the Scriptures confirm each other.  Here we see that those who are not the Friend of the Groom are cast out of the wedding – notice the one not in the wedding garment, there are some who say they are saved, belong to Jesus, but Jesus doesn’t know them.  It is not just knowing Jesus, but a relationship with Him that matters.

These who do not know Jesus in relationship are like the five virgins without the oil, they are near the wedding party, but missed getting in the doors, and the doors were closed to them.

God is merciful and He is working hard to get the last of the laborers in at the eleventh  hour before the doors close. The ones left on earth have made the choice to reject Him.

Notice that it mentions friend – a friend is one who serves Jesus, knows Jesus, and can go with the wedding party.

Matthew 25:40-41  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’  Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:’

God did not prepare the everlasting fire for mankind, but for satan and his angels – but it is the only place that God can send those who choose to reject Him and want nothing to do with Him.

There are some who claim to be born again, but they really have not accepted Christ in their hearts.  They tend to struggle with the same stuff over and over again, and do not turn to Jesus for help. They do not pursue their relationship with Jesus.  Those are the ones that Jesus will say, “I never knew you.”  If you struggle with the same stuff, but are seeking with God’s help to overcome the problem, you are known by God.  But some get saved, and then do not try to turn their lives around, and just go back to their same old stuff.  Those Jesus doesn’t know.

Matthew 24:45-47  Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.  Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 

The faithful and wise servant does what God tells Him to do.

Matthew 24:29-31  Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The elect are those who operate by the Spirit.  They will get it right, and Jesus will gather them from the four corners of the earth before the Day of the Lord, for we are not to suffer the Lord’s wrath.  Jesus will come in the clouds, this is before He sets His foot on the ground.  We have not seen these days yet, for the sun has not been darkened and the moon doesn’t give the light – the stars are not fallen from Heaven.  This is a prophesy of future times.

We will not receive the punishment and wrath of God.

But we are at a time now where satan is testing the Church.  We are seeing many ministries crumble and fall, hidden sin is being revealed.  Pastor Don is warning that we need to get our lives in order, so that satan doesn’t stand a chance to shake hidden sin out of our lives.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

We are the friends of the Groom and we will be with the Groom at the wedding party, as will those who were with Jesus 2000 years ago and all the time between.  Those who sleep in Jesus (died in Christ) will be caught up and we who are alive on the earth will follow, being caught up to meet with Christ in the clouds, and then we will attend a wonderful Wedding Feast with the Groom.  

Transgression:

Matthew 15:1-3  Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”  He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

Jesus is speaking about Korban.  The Torah told the Jews to honor their mother and father.  That meant taking care of them in their old age.  To circumvent this, the men made a deal with the Temple that they would give an offering to the Temple of the money that really should be spent taking care of their parents.  The men would announce that the money was Korban, and that it would absolve them of their responsibilities to the parents.  That would mean that the parents would die poor and without proper care.  Most probably the men pocketed some of the money and gave a portion to the Temple.  The men were in error but so were the priests for accepting this offering.

We read the next passages from the Amplified which gave more information.

Matthew 15:4-7 AMP  For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother, and, He who curses or reviles or speaks evil of or abuses or treats improperly his father or mother, let him surely come to his end by death.  But you say, If anyone tells his father or mother, What you would have gained from me [that is, the money and whatever I have that might be used for helping you] is already dedicated as a gift to God, then he is exempt and no longer under obligation to honor and help his father or his mother.  So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect].  You pretenders (hypocrites)! Admirably and truly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said:

Jesus pointed out the the scribes and Pharisees that their traditions kept them from obeying the Law of God.

Transgression is a revolt – national, moral, religious rebellion.  You know what’s right and go against it.  You cannot transgress by accident.

You know what you are supposed to do and you don’t do it on purpose.  It is an intent to disobey.  In another teaching Jesus will tell them that they tithe on their mint and cumin, the nickel and dime stuff, but disobey the heart of God.  Even with the tithe their heart was not right, they got the letter of the law, not the Spirit of the law.

Matthew 15:8-9 AMP  These people draw near Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me.  Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men.

Jesus got in trouble with the Scribes and Pharisees because he disobeyed the Sabbath laws by healing people and casting out demons on the Sabbath.  The truth was that God gave the Sabbath to man so that man could have a rest and fellowship with God.  The Scribes and Pharisees concocted long lists of rules and regulations that made it impossible for the common man to keep, but these lists took the heart of what Sabbath was and destroyed that.  Jesus pointed out that if a sheep or another animal fell into a pit on the Sabbath the people would rescue the sheep, but why should a sick person be bound one day longer than necessary so that Jesus could wait until a non-Sabbath day to heal them.  He pointed out that a person was more important than an animal.

Iniquity

Iniquity is the propensity to sin, the perversity of our nature, the weakness of our character.  When Jesus talks to the Pharisees about Iniquity the Word He uses is lawless.  The word, lawless, is like the gentiles, not being subject to the law.

Jesus tells the people that they act like they don’t know the law, like they’ve never heard it before.  The Jewish tradition taught that the Messiah was going to come as a conquering Messiah first. Jesus did not come as a conquering Messiah, but as a Suffering Servant.  He chided them for not knowing the hour of their visitation.  The book of Daniel had the day the Messiah was to come down to the day – counting time from the order to rebuild the temple, 173,880 days – the exact day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey was that day.  The leaders were looking for the Messiah which is why they asked John the Baptist if he was the one. The problem was, Jesus did not come in the way that they expected, so they chose to reject Him and ultimately crucify Him.  

Sin

Sin in the Bible is the word that covers not only the offense but the penalty or sacrifice for the offense.  It has the same name.

We say, sin offering.  It is the sin and the offering.    The offense can be habitual or occasional.  

Sin is forgiven if it is atoned for.  Transgression, because it is a revolt, has a bigger cost.

Joy used the sons of Jacob for an example.  Jacob is prophesying over his sons.

Genesis 49:1  And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:

Jacob knew what his sons did. This is a prophesy about the last days.

Genesis 49:2 Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father.

The seed produces children and a nation that will be.  Notice both names are used Jacob/Israel.  Jacob is the old carnal nature, Israel is the name God gave Jacob and God uses it when Jacob is acting in line with God’s will.

Genesis 49:3  Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.

Reuben was supposed to get the rights of the first born, which included the double portion.

Genesis 49:4  Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it— he went up to my couch.

He will lose his rights because he slept with the concubine of Jacob, this was not an accident.  He knew what he was doing, so it was a transgression.  This is defying his father, and he loses his standing.

Genesis 49:5-7 Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.  Let not my soul enter their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Simeon and Levi lost the birthright because of their revengeful behavior to those responsible for the rape of their sister Dinah.  They promised their sister in marriage to the heathen (although they never intended to keep the promise) if all the men in the heathen tribe were circumcised, then when the men were in pain, recovering from circumcision  Simeon and Levi came in and slaughtered them.  This upset Jacob and caused Simeon and Levi to lose their birthright.

Genesis 49: 9-12  Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him?  The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

Judah is the fourth son, and because of the transgressions of the first three, he becomes the kingly line.  

Joseph, the last son, because of Ephraim and Manasseh gets the double portion.

When God makes us a promise, we don’t always know the way.  We need to walk it out.  Go up one side of the mountain to go back down.  This is encouragement for God’s children.  We may make mistakes and not do God’s best, but God will help us get back to what He has planned for us if we keep walking in Him.

Joy described our lives as a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and we don’t have the picture on the cover.  We need to figure out where the pieces go, and if a piece is out of place it will show.  The pieces have a set way to be placed in the puzzle and we may not see the whole picture until the puzzle is completed.

We get refined by heat, and anything that is not refined is brittle.  When steel is refined it is sent through great heat and the dross rises to the surface to be skimmed off, leaving a stronger, purer piece of metal.

Those transgressions of Jacob’s children are still with us now.  

When we sow seeds of sins, we need to pray for a crop failure.  Sometimes God grants that, other times, we need to ride out the consequences of our mistakes, even though God forgives us from our sin.

God gives His Name  to Moses in the following passage.

Exodus 34:5-7  Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” 

Notice it mentions all three:  Iniquity, Transgression, and Sin.

Iniquity is the propensity to sin. Made to sin, perversity, to be led to sin, weakness of character, and it gets passed down.  Workers of Iniquity.

Isaiah 59:1-4  Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth.  They trust in empty words and speak lies;  they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. 

Iniquity is the fruit of the conception of mischief, and it is not done by accident.

Isaiah 59:7  Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 

Isaiah 59:12-13  For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: in transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 

Things we allow, and not speak against or confront.  We are familiar with our sins.  We make excuses like, “Everyone in my family does _____”  or “I like doing _____ so much.”  ”He was never successful at _____.” 

We build excuses, rationalization and reasons for why we do what we do.  We say we tried to get ahead, but failed.  ”That’s just the way we are.”

We don’t confront these lies.  We got caught in the traditions of the church, and that is iniquity.

Psalm 119:133  Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.

We make our traditions more important than the Word of God.  Therefore we miss the important part.

In the Exodus 34 passage above, God tells us that He has made provision for all three, Sin, Iniquity, Transgression.

Romans 7:15-16  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.

The law was given to us as a tutor so that we would recognize that we couldn’t keep the law, thus we need a savior.

Joy gave a great example.  She spoke of carnival rides where they have a ruler put near the ride with an arrow stating that if you weren’t that tall you couldn’t get on the ride.  The law is our measuring stick, a standard.  We can’t keep the law in our own strength, we don’t measure up.  The law is good, and we know that we need a standard.

We looked at Romans 7:15-16 in the Amplified Bible   For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].  Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.

Jesus was upset with the Pharisees because they were condemning people because they did not keep the traditions. The Pharisees were not judging according to the Law.  The traditions were made by the Pharisees according to the level of accomplishment that the Pharisees could do and keep, but that defeats the purpose of the Law that God had, which was to show mankind that they did not measure up.

There is a conflict between the Spirit (please God) and the flesh (keep traditions).

Romans 7:24-25 AMP  O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.  

We continued reading in chapter 8 because there were no chapters in verses in the original Scriptures, that was put by man later.

Romans 8:1 THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

There is a war.  Jesus won the war for us.  Jesus has conquered sin and death.  We have to agree with the Spirit and reason that He has overcome, so we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony.

Revelation 12:10-11 AMP  Then I heard a strong (loud) voice in heaven, saying, Now it has come–the salvation and the power and the kingdom (the dominion, the reign) of our God, and the power (the sovereignty, the authority) of His Christ (the Messiah); for the accuser of our brethren, he who keeps bringing before our God charges against them day and night, has been cast out! And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].

The Blood of the Lamb washes any sin and our testimony throws down the enemy.  

Martyrs chose to spread the Gospel, even if it cost them their life.  They placed God over their physical well being.

In the book of Job, Job mentions that what he feared came upon him.  We are told not to fear, fear gives way to the enemy.

In the movie, The Last Unicorn, the protagonist is told to never look an immortal in the eye for it attracts their attention.

We should not speak our fears or worry, or look to see if they are manifesting.  Look to Jesus.

The rest of Romans 8 that I quote is from the Amplified Bible

Romans 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

The Law of Spirit and Life (Jesus) frees us from sin and death.

Romans 8:3 For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],

The Law subjects our flesh, and we are not powerful enough to overcome our flesh.

Romans 8:4-6  So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit]. For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit. Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].

If we focus on the mind of the flesh it leads to death.  If we are led by the Holy Spirit it is life and peace.  

If you are working for the devil, he always signs your paycheck “death.”   You have to quit working for the devil, he will never fire you.  

Retire from stupidity and don’t take a pension.

Romans 8:7-11 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot. So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him. But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God]. But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you]. And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.

Righteousness is of God.  If it isn’t of righteousness it is filthy rags.

Romas 8:12-14  So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh. For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

The good news, if we are living by the Holy Spirit we are daily buffeting our flesh. We want to be led by the Spirit of God. We gain our strength in Him. Don’t squander your life in the flesh.

Romans 8:15-18  For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.  And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!

We have received the Spirit of adoption, and can say Abba, Father.  Praise God.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18  Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.

What we are experiencing here on earth is a dress rehearsal, not real life.  We are being prepared for God’s glory.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

God has a plan for us.  We are so earthly minded, so attached to the earthly realm.  We are to rise above our flesh.   We can get over the hurt, offense and sadness if we rise above our flesh.  If there is no flesh to crucify, then there is nothing to cause us hurt and offense.

We need to be kingdom minded, focused on God and God’s plan, not earthly minded.

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

I pray your day is blessed.

There is a Eugene Peterson book give away contest at the following link:

The requirement is to write a 200 word post about a pastor who has impacted your life.  I just posted an entry for Pastor Don.  If you have a beloved pastor this is a nice way to complement them for their hard work for the Kingdom, whether you win or not.

Have a blessed day

Heather

Notes taken 12-31-10

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 

Part 1 discusses verse one in depth with a great description of the anointing.

Isaiah 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, 

This seals what has gone on before in verse one.  It is linked to healing the broken hearted, healing lives, liberty, good news, easing poverty of mind/body/soul. Relief from mental captivity, depression, emotions.  

If you are in one of the four categories listed in verse one, poor, brokenhearted, captive, prisoner/bound NOW is the acceptable year of the Lord for your healing.  You are not unworthy or unacceptable to God. Notice, it is your acceptable year, not day or minute.  It is not like being issued a gift certificate that expires in 30 days, and you say, “Oops, I missed it.”  This is available to you.  Year implies season, time, 

In the New Testament, Jesus came as the suffering servant, not bringing the vengeance of God.  We did the math regarding the Jubilee of 50 years.  120 times 50 is 6000 years, and then the seventh day.   We are under the year of the Lord but one day there will be the day of vengeance. We don’t know the day or the hour, but we can tell the times and seasons and look at what is happening in the world. We can’t set a specific day like some cults have tried to do so.  Nor can we ignore the vengeance of God.  God is patient and waits, but will not force those who do not want Him to serve Him.

We will not be around when the day of vengeance occurs because of the rapture.  God has promised that believers will not face his vengeance.

We are acceptable to the Father because of Jesus.  No matter our sins we can come boldly into God’s presence because of Jesus.  There are many sects who believe Jews will not be saved, or that we will all face part of the judgments.

God will only pour out his vengeance on those who do not want Him, who hate Him, who want no part of him.  Matthew 24 and 25 give end time events that are occurring now and will be seen in the last days.  God has promised a way to escape for those who seek Him.

Pastor Don pointed out that events are escalating on the earth and the enemy is looking to grab up more and more power.  One example is with the wikki leaks, now there are people lobbying to control the internet – one of the last vestiges of freedom to share information.  They want the truth to be shut down so that it cannot be spread to others.

If there is going to be a trial for being a Christian, do you have enough evidence to convict you?

Pastor Don realized that Isaiah 61:2 is a rapture scripture. What he realized is the conjunction “AND”  is in there

Proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord AND the Day of vengeance of our God.

Jesus speaks about two in the field, one taken and the other staying, etc.

God will punish evil, but will not leave the saints to suffer.  God would never pour out His wrath and leave the saints.

God saves the righteous.

There are many Biblical examples.  Abraham and Lot, God removed Lot and his family from Sodom before destroying Sodom. 

God preserved Noah and his family before the flood.

Jesus spoke about the good steward and the evil steward – the evil is destroyed, the good is preserved.

God always saves the remnant.

Luke 17:27-30  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 

Revelation tells us that Babylon will be destroyed in an hour.  Revelation 18:9-10  The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ 

There will be a conflict against Jerusalem, but God will preserve a remnant.

Zechariah 14:2  For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

There will be the remnant, and the 144,000 mentioned in Revelations.

God will give beauty for ashes.  Someone pointed out that ashes are left over from sacrifices.

Pastor Don spoke about how the Jewish New Year is not January 1st, like the Roman Calendar.  We may celebrate New Year’s then, but God’s plan was for Rosh Hashanah is the New Year.  God had specific feasts set out which have been obscured by the Roman Calendar, and if we meet God at His feasts, expecting Him to meet with us, God will meet with us.  We don’t want to turn aside from God’s perfect plan.

Isaiah 30:11-12  Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”  Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: 
“Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perversity, and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.”

Praying this blesses you.

Heather

Revelation of Christ and His mission, anointing, and calling.

We are disciples of Christ and we commit ourselves to be a follower.  

We need to be aware of what image and mission are we following, the Lord’s or the enemy?

Are we willing to suffer like Him (Jesus) and be empowered like Him? Everything we read in the Bible is available to us as a believer, for the asking and the taking.

Isaiah 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 

Yeshua, Messiah. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Him.  

Pastor Don shared that his father, who was a pastor for 44 years, before his father began preaching he always prayed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor.

The word anointing implies smearing an anointing on something.  It takes contact, rubbing it on, willfully, equipping.

The Holy Spirit smeared the anointing and that anointing made it possible for Jesus to do what He had to do.

God absent ->God present

God is always present but when the anointing comes people are aware of His presence.  

Sometimes the Spirit anoints robes or clothes, cloths, aprons for a specific purpose.

Specific works are empowered by the anointing.

If you want to hang sheet-rock on the wall you can’t hold it up next to the struts and expect it to stay there. You need to fasten the sheet-rock with something.  You need a Black and Decker with screws.  If a carpenter comes along, he may loan you the Black and Decker and screws.  He may help you to hang the sheet rock but there is also work that you will have to do.

God tells us, “I’ve given you the drill so you can put it up.

Pastor had us laughing.  He said some men pray, “Lord, change my wife.”  God answers, “I did, I gave her you.”

The anointing is the enabling ability to accomplish the work of God under the power of God, at the time God wants it done.

You can’t do it in your own flesh, you need the anointing.

Pastor said, “The anointing can be felt and telt, but it can’t be seen by everybody.”  You can feel or tell people are anointed, but you can’t always see it.

People look at you through their own filters. If they are blaming, angry and resentful they won’t see the anointing because their filters will block their perceptions.

In Jesus’ time they did not see the fruit of His anointing, they crucified Him.

You can do the work of God and not everyone will cheer you on.  Jesus said that a prophet is not honored in His own home town.

The anointing is not discerned unless the beholder can see that aspect of the Spirit.  

When the anointing is on you, you won’t win popularity contests, they will do the same things to you that they did to Jesus.  They will take from you what they can gain from you, but not be willing to bless you.

The anointing is the ability of God to do something God wants you to do in His power.

No one has the anointing on them all the time.  It’s only on when God wants to accomplish something.

Pastor Don spoke that when he has the teaching anointing on him, he can communicate to you what God wants taught.  The teaching anointing is the supernatural ability to teach the Word and the supernatural ability to understand. 

The anointing responds to your spirit.  It is not on you all the time, sometimes you are just you.

All of us flow at something.  We shut off our mental gears and just flow.

We need to be aware of the anointing on others. Sometimes we kill another’s anointing and are a distraction.  We need to discern when we are killing an anointing and stop doing that.

Only God is capable of being in the anointing all the time, the human flesh is incapable of this.

The mind is the enemy of the Spirit. You have to turn off your mind.  God gave us the ability to speak in tongues to shut off our mind so we can be in the Spirit. 

Your body can’t rest if your mind is still grinding.  You can’t worry yourself well or worry yourself taller.  You can’t worry your problems away.  If you are worrying you are magnifying your problems. Worry is prayer for trouble.

Under the anointing the answer will come, and if the answer doesn’t come under the anointing it may indicate that you are asking the wrong question or it is something that God feels you shouldn’t worry about.  God is not obligated to answer the wrong problem.

When we don’t get the answer or the answer we want, sometimes we try to play God.

You can’t access the anointing but you can access getting into the Spirit. God knows your need and your ability.  In the Spirit let him take over and He will do what He needs.

Get in the Spirit, then identify the anointing and what the Holy Spirit is transmitting.

The Spirit of the Lord is inside us, but the anointing comes upon us.  You can be in the Spirit and not anointed.  You can have the anointing stirred up in you by the laying on of hands which transfers the anointing.  Jeremiah asked for a minstrel to get him in the presence of God so he could get the Word of God.

What matters to God is not the ability of the minister but the sincerity of the heart. Worship is not bound by limitations of carnal desire.  Worship of God is getting in the flow, disregarding your carnality. The Bible tells us that in the presence of the Lord there is fullness of Joy.

Christ’s anointing + the Purpose  The first is the anointing, and the purpose is what we do with it.

The purpose is to preach good tidings to the poor.  Good news to a pour person is that they don’t have to be poor. Poor is the absence of prosperity, substance, material, and the condition of all things of the heart that makes you feel a lack of empowerment.

Jesus teaches contrary to the feelings of impoverishment, and He brings good tidings.

Just because your Grandma and Momma were on welfare doesn’t mean that you need to be on welfare.

You can break the curse of poverty over your life – now that’s good news.

You can take the anointing as big as you make it.  God facilitates you as long as you stay humble and meek. There is value in meekness (which is not weakness) and God will reward you and send good coming your way.  Blessed equals happy and cared for.  Get off the idea that the only blessing is money, you can be impoverished in other areas as well.

Your blessing can be being happy and content, well provided for, healthy, wisdom, friends, family – and money, but it is not just money.

Lowly is only negative if you put negativity into it, meekness has positive aspects.  Jesus was meek but he wasn’t weak or a whimp.

Matthew 11:29-30  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Not prideful.
David was humble.  Moses was humble, and he was the Prince of the Egyptians.  Moses was humble to a fault for when God sent him to do his task he kept telling God that he couldn’t.

Pastor Don spoke about his visit to India.  He was laying hands on people and praying for them but the Indian pastors were only laying hands on people of their own caste or higher.  There are still remnants of the caste system among Indian believers.  Not all pastors are like that, but there are still remnants of the caste system in some pastors because the caste system is still well ingrained.  

No one is trash or rejected, as believes we are all equal to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In Africa it is a tribal system, and people look to see if you are “with us or with them”  Pastor Don’s behavior put him in a position of eldership and people would call him, “Uncle.”  

Good news is you can raise up from where you are.

Jesus told his disciples that the poor would always be with us, so we need to work to help lift them higher.

Heal the brokenhearted - It’s always hard for someone who has been through a difficult season or time to be healed. Zaccheus was short and when Jesus said, “I’m visiting you,” it was that that allowed him to rise above himself and make changes in his dealings with people.  

Jesus honors people that many do not honor, for example, tax collectors and women.  When Jesus raised the young man from the dead he was honoring the mother.  Without the son, the mother would have been impoverished.

One way to begin to heal from brokenness is to have compassion for others who are hurting. If you can get outside of yourself, then you can begin healing.

Proclaim Liberty to the captives the opening of the prison to those who are bound - 

You can be born again and filled with the Spirit, and still stay in jail.  The jail door can be opened but some do not walk out, they stay in their former prison.

Some of us are bound by traditions.  Others want everyone else to change but we are the ones who need to change and get a different vision.

Pastor Don spoke about how a pastor can get a sermon from the Spirit and preach it, and people think that he wrote it just for them. Sometimes people come up to him and speak about how what Pastor said read their mail, but Pastor never said what they said he said, they were hearing from the Spirit.

You don’t step in the pulpit and say, “I’m going to write a sermon to get to so and so.”  

You can preach the best sermon and unless people are receptive and hear it it falls to the ground.

You can hear a word of the Lord from an idiot. 

Proclaim means to say, to put people at liberty, to tell the prisoner he can come out.

Isaiah 58:6  Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 

You can untie the cords that bind a person to the yoke, but they have to walk out of their yoke.  You need the anointing to help lift off the bonds. 

You proclaim the truth of God, and that helps to push out the old stuff.  

Jesus died for you and for me, and because of that we are free.  Bury what binds you and don’t take it up again.

The prison doors are open but it is hard to be free if we carry anger, bitterness and unforgiveness.  Are you ready to drop the baggage.  If I let go of the old, God can replace it with something better.

The opening of the door is the Word of Knowledge and the Word of Wisdom helps you to turn the key.  

The opening of the door takes the anointing and time.  We need to realize that God is on our side, He is not out to get us.  

Pastor, when he decided to step out of the music/entertainment world into ministry he asked God, “If I give up the worldly stuff is it going to be worth it?

He was giving up babes, money, drugs, popularity, groupies.

By giving up that stuff he found a better babe (his wife) and better promises. It was worth it.

I will continue Isaiah 61 tomorrow.

I hope your day is blessed, we are sort of snowed in here – weather man is saying 8 – 14 inches.

Heather