This is a transcript of a Sunday Sermon for closed captioning.  Pastor Don taught on this during our weekly Discipleship classes and Bible studies.  It is an important subject for believers to consider, given the recent events.  I am putting it up out of order so it is closer to the events in the news.

What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says.  

SAY AMEN
SHOW 188
DEATH OF WICKED
05/08/11

 

Heavenly Father, Thou art our God, been our God in times past and present, and we know that you’ll continue to be so.  Help us to keep the Covenant.  Let’s keep our eyes on you.  Help us to speak the Word and Truth.  Help it to be understood, in Jesus’ Name we pray.  Amen [amen] 

America’s at a difficult place and a difficult time and that’s because the world is in a difficult place and a difficult time.  But we’re to be in the world, but not [of the world]  of the world.  What I want to say to you now doesn’t make me any less American or any less patriotic.  But there was something that happened last week that disturbed me…

As you know, in order to stay well informed, I listen to a lot of, and watch a lot of different news sources.  I don’t just rely on CNN or FOX.  I look globally at the news and I saw something happen as a result of the death of Osama bin Laden, that bothered me.  For a minute it took my peace away. 

Being a person that watches the international news, when something happens in the Middle East, and the Middle Eastern people wreak vengeance or violence upon an Israeli or an American, they take to the streets.  And when they get to the streets there is a spirit of jubilation.  Some years ago, they took an Israeli soldier, they killed him, they threw him from a third story window and the people went to the streets to express jubilance that this man had died.  On the day, or the night of the jets exploding into the Twin Towers, the Arab world went into a spasm of jubilance.  The fact that so many Americans were taken out in one shot. 

What bothered me was that, when I turned on the television two weeks ago, when Osama got hit, I saw the same jubilance being expressed by Americans that this man was gone.  I’m not here to judge him.  I believe God has already judged him for his part in the murders and the evil that he did.  I’m not here, right now, to console those who lost friends or family…  I feel that there should be, properly, a sense of justice.  That justice was done and carried out. 

But I asked myself, as I watched this, what would be the proper response of a person of God to this circumstance?  Would jubilance be the right word and describing the right emotion?  I’m not saying with these words that I’m expressing here, that there was anything of great value about the man.  I’m sure his children loved him and his wives loved him, and so forth and so on.  I’m not concerned with that.  I’m concerned with the heart of America and how we should express.  Should we look like them when something bad happens to our enemy? 

What would God do?  Remember the WWJD?  I kind of went to that.  I says, if Jesus was sitting next to me watching this, what would He say about it?  And so, just right now, I want to ask you to let yourself answer the question from Scripture.  As you know me, I’m a Scripture guy.  [amen]  You know.  I believe that if I have a great revelation, I should find it in Scripture.  [amen]  So, let’s look for this revelation in Scripture.  What does God say about His emotional response, listen to me carefully, when wickedness dies. [hmmmm]  Or when an evil person dies?  What does God do?  What does God say is the parameters of His emotional response to it? 

Now some of you were at Discipleship or at Bible Study when I discussed this, so, you’ve had time to think about it.  To think if I’m leading you to look in the right place.  But my job is to have you not look like the world. [yes]  My job is to say you need to look like God.[yes, amen]  You need to be God to your friends, your family, your neighbors. You need to be God to the people around you.  [amen] 

And so, I asked God and Ezekiel is the place that we found the answer.  … In the eighteenth chapter of the book of Ezekiel God is talking about how He feels about people and iniquity.  He’s talking about people that have sinned, wickedness and wicked people and how He feels about them.  And so, He says in verse 21.  “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.“ 

In other words, death is decreed, and He’s talking about not just physical death, He’s talking about spiritual death.  Spiritual death is living the rest of your eternity separated from God.  Physical death is the cessation of life. 

So in verse 22 He goes, “None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him;…” 

In other words, God remembers the things that we have done that were transgressions that we did against God.  God remembers them.  And therefore, it tells us that He is a judge. 

And He says, “…because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.” 

In other words, the evil that you’ve done, unless God eradicates it, it’ll live on beyond the cessation of your physical life.  Lord have mercy, I’m trying to preach here now.  You getting this? [amen] You have the cessation of your physical life, [that's right]  but, God’s memory, watch this now, God’s memory is a memory of the eternal.  [that's right]  Not the momentary.  And He says, your transgressions can then live on in the memory of God, since God is eternal, unless they are what?  Confessed and eradicated.  But if they are not, they will be remembered by God.  And God is an eternal God.  Amen?  [amen] 

We get the answer to our dilemma in the next verse, in verse 23.  “Do I have any pleasure at all… Do I have any pleasure at all…” 

In other words, God, He’s asking the question, He says, “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD,…” …

Well then, you have to ask the question.  Well, God, if you don’t get pleasue when the wicked die, what are you concerned about?  He tells us right there.  “...that he should turn from his ways and live?“  

Hallelujah.  [amen]  God’s not going to get any pleasure from the fact that a wicked person has died.  [amen]  God’s not happy about that.  He is saying, what makes Me happy is that before the wicked person dies, he changes his ways.  [right, come on!  yeah!]  He gets, he gets an understanding of the evil life that he has lived, and before he dies, … Now why would God be concerned about that?  If there is no Heaven to be gained and no hell to be shunned, why would He care? 

But it just so happens that the eternal memory of God is gonna remember our wickedness and therefore he is going to judge us and hold us accountable for it, and if it isn’t eradicated, then we’re gonna have to reap the just punishment of a wicked, unholy life.  And He is saying, I’d much rather see ya live and turn from your wicked way, before you die, cause if you have to die in your wickedness, I’m gonna have to remember it and hold you accountable for it.  [amen] …

Now, I thought to myself, are there any other verses here. We got verse 23, but it says, out of the Word of God, it says, let every word be established from two or three places.  [right]  Is there another, or any other sentiment that tells us that the way we do is not the way that God would do? 

Verse 25 tells us, that the way we do is not the way God would do.  “Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.”  Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair,..” 

In other words, the way that God does things is fair, and then He says, “…and your ways which are not fair?“ 

In other words, when I’m watching television, and someone in the Middle East has killed someone, and they have jubilation, stay with me now.  They are jubilant about the fact that this person is dead, but my spirit doesn’t have a sense that that jubilation is what God feels.  [right]  Come on, somebody.  Anybody here?  [amen] 

You know, don’t be so political that you can’t hear what’s spiritual.  Ah, Lord have mercy.  I don’t know who that was for Nick, but I put it out there.  But don’t be so political that you can’t hear what’s spiritual.  What’s spiritual is, God kills a lot of people that need to be dead.  God lets ‘em die or He takes them out.  But guess what?  We don’t have any Scripture where it says after God takes ‘em out there’s jubilance.  We don’t have any Scripture, that when Goliath dies, up in Heaven, God declared a holiday and everybody’s jumping up, so happy, that an evil Goliath died.  Anybody with me?   [yes] 

That’s gonna get complicated if you don’t keep it simple.  Keep it simple.  [amen]  I’m talkin’ about what does God do when wicked people die.  That’s what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about what is the emotional response from Heaven when wicked people die.  So far, we see that God gets excited and pleased when people turn from their wickedness, so that He, God does not have to remember them.  [amen] 

Not being able to remember something is a spiritual gift. [yes, hallelujah]  because you fleshy, you’re human, [yes].  You tell people, well, I’ll forgive you, [ha]  and then you’ll go, and I’ll forget it.  Well, the reality is, you can forgive ‘em but you won’t be able to forget it.  Why?  Because you’re fleshy.  [yes]  You can only, watch this now, I’m helping somebody.  You can only re-define the experience. … [well, come on Pastor, right, praise Jesus]  Sister Joy got that because she’s a counselor.  You can’t help them forget it, but you can help them re-define it. 

See, some of you are still suffering from events in your life that happened ten, twenty, thirty, forty years ago.  Some of you all look old, so I’ll say fifty years ago, too.  [laughter]  So I said, God’s ways are not quite our ways.  [all right now]  God’s ways are not quite our ways.  And I want to help you with that.  Because we’ve heard that so long that we’ve taken it out of its setting and its context.  So, hold your place here, and let’s see if we can find that in Isaiah 55. …

Now, for all you Baptist people watching by television, I want to apologize to you beforehand.  Cause I’m about to butcher one of your sacred cows.  [oh, my, Isaiah what?]  Isaiah 55  [amen] … Isaiah 55.  Cause I grew up in, you know, Deacon Jones’d get up and do the morning prayers.  “Father God, I want to thank you Lord, for our ways are not Your ways.” [laughter]  “And Your ways our not our ways.  And I’m on my way to get my way, but I need to be doing it Your way. Cause Your way’s the right way, and from now on, I’m eating pizza with the pepperoni.”  [laughter]  … And he’d be spittin’ and sweatin’, you know. 

You know, when a guy comes to the altar with a towel, [laughter]  you know what he plans to do.  You might as well go to the bathroom and come back because he’ll still be doing what he’s gonna do, cause he’s got a towel.  You know.  Somebody asked me, why has he got that towel?  I says, cause he’s plannin’, he’s plannin’ to sweat and talk a long time.  [laughter]  He’s got his prop all ready.  I said, leave him alone. 

See, now I’m concerned about what happens between your ears and between your rib cages.  I’m concerned about your heart.  [amen]  You know, so I’m old enough now that I don’t have to perform, unless I go, unless I go somewhere that the only way I’m gonna reach these people is emotions.  I gotta turn, you know, the emotional thing.  You know what I’m saying?  [yes]  Does anybody know what I’m talking about?  [yes]  Yeah, and then you have to get people emotionally worked up, then you can get them to hear the message.  But I ain’t into that no more.  Darrell, you hear what I’m saying?  [yes]  You’re young enough that you’re gonna have to learn that.  You’ll have to sense what the Spirit is saying when you walk in, are these people, I have to quote a lot of Scripture and huff and puff, to get them worked up emotionally?  You know.  And then, you have to be concerned about that.  All right? 

And, in the Baptist Church, this passage of Scripture is used all the time.  “Your thoughts are not my thoughts, and my thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord.“  Whatever, whatever.  And I always thought, is that true?  So, I’m reading this passage and I said, verse 8.  Verse 8.  Verse 8.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” 

So I said, well, who is God talking to here?  [come on pastor].  I go, who’s God talking to that He says that?  Look at verse 3, I’m sorry, verse 2, I’m sorry, verse 1.  [laughter]  “Ho!  Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.  Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.  Incline your ear, and come to Me.  Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you--”…

Now, who’s He talking to?  He’s talking to people that will enter into a lasting Covenant with God.  Is that right?   [yes]  Is that right?  [yes]  He’s saying, all you all that want a lasting Covenant, what kind of Covenant?  “The sure mercies of David.“  So he wants all you that are listening, enter into a Covenant with Me according to the mercy I showed David.  I’ll enter into the same Covenant with you that I entered in with David.  [amen]  Everybody got that?  [yes] 

“Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people.“

Say, “I’m a leader.”  [I'm a leader.]  “I’m a commander.”  [I'm a commander.] 

He says, “Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you,…” 

Say it, “Nations run to me.”  [nations run to me]  You say, well Pastor, what nations run to me?  Well what do you mean?  On your block there’s an Irish guy from Ireland.  On your block there’s an Italian guy from Italy.  On your block there’s a Puerto Rican guy from Puerto Rico.  On your block is a Jamaican guy from Jamaica.  And guess what?  If they don’t know the Gospel, who are they gonna come to?  [you] 

What if they don’t know what to do?  Whole bunch of people praying in Oklahoma that never prayed before.  Whole bunch of people in Arkansas praying that never prayed before.  [yes]  Whole bunch of people in Alabama that never prayed before, they’re praying before.  Been in church all their lives, but never put themselves on the floor and reached up to a Heavenly God and said, “What am I going to do now?  My house is gone, my car is gone.  I have nothing. What do I have?”  And they’ll hear the voice of the Shepherd saying, “You have Me, son.”  [yes, yes Lord]  … “You have Me.  And since you called on Me, guess what?  I’ll give you another house.  I’ll give you another car.  But this time, when you go to church, be sincere about it, cause it matters.”  [amen]  God’ll let everything  be taken away from you till you realize the source from whence it all came.  [amen]  Give Him glory, honor, and praise and then give Him His portion of it and then He’ll take care of you.  [amen] 

Was down there at Katrina, you all don’t remember, you all sent me down there.  I went down after Katrina, and the waitress was waiting on our table.  I learned something.  The people are the story.  [yes]  The people are the story.  And I said, “Excuse me, baby.”  I said, “Tell me your story.”  She said, “What do you mean?”  I said, “Tell me your story, your Katrina story.  Everybody’s got a story.  Tell me your story.”  She looked around to see if her boss was watching, she says, “I’m going to go get your water and your bread, and I’ll be back.”  She went and got the water and the bread and came back.  And she says, “My story is a story of how God looks out for His children.”  [hallelujah]  She says, “I almost feel guilty about it.”  I said, “Why, what do you mean?”  She said, “Everybody lost their house in my block but me.”  [hallelujah]  What are you talking about?  Our God is God.  [Amen.]  We need to serve Him.  [yes, amen]  I said, we need to serve Him.  [yes] 

The bell hop, the bell hop is a 45 year old man, is taking our bags upstairs.   I said, “Tell me your story.”   He looked down the hallway, nobody was here, he backed in and closed the door.  He says, he says, “You all Christian?”  I said, “Yeah, we’re Christian, we believe in the Lord.”  He said, “My story is amazing.  He says, I left work here, the day of Katrina.”  He said, “It took extra long time to go home.  By the time I got home, the thing had broke and the place was flooded.  The place was flooded and going crazy.”  He says, “But, I figured I’d better go back, go to work, go back to the Sheridan.”  He went back to the Sheridan and they sent everybody home.  He looked in the lobby and there was a little Jewish couple standing in the lobby.  He said, “Why are you all standing in the lobby?”   “We live in Chicago.  They cancelled our flights, they cancelled our bus, the hotel is closing and everybody’s got to leave.  We got nowhere to go.” 

He said, “Come with me.  Get in my car.  You come home with me.”  He took that little Jewish couple home with him.  Right.  They’re in there.  They’ve got nothing but candlelight.  And he can hear, he can hear the thugs and the hoodlums breaking into every house.  And robbing and stealing from the people.  He said, “I know you guys are Jewish, I’m a Christian, whatever.”  He says, “I’m going to put a candle in the light and I’m going to pray.  And the Lord’s going to protect us and protect my house.”  [amen]  That’s pretty good for a bell hop.  [amen]  Pretty good for a bell hop.  Him and those Jewish people got down on their knees and prayed to God.  The flood waters came and receded.  Nothing came in his house.  The mob came by and bashed in the windows and the doors and robbed every house in his block but his house.  [all right!  amen]  And he took those Jewish people and drove them to Alabama, and put ‘em on a bus headed for Chicago, safe and sound.  [whew, amen, applause] 

What I want to say to you is, this passage of Scripture does not apply to you, oh Child of God.  [hallelujah] 

God is speaking, in verse 5, He is speaking and He says, “…because of the LORD your God, and the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”  In other words, God’s plan, because you entered into a Covenant, the Covenant of David, God plans to glorify you.  [amen]  That means He plans to show you favor.  He plans, in the moment of difficulty in time, to come to your rescue so that He can get some praise and honor from it, and then you can go from glory to glory.  You can go from adventure to adventure.  You can go from victory to greater victory.  You can go from safety to peace.  You can go through conquering and after that conquer some more. Because why?   God has chosen you.  He has picked you.  He has favored you in the same way that a mother loves her child, the Father loves you that way and more.  And He’s going to bring glory to your house. 

You’ve gotta start believing it.  You’ve gotta start knowing it.  You’ve gotta start telling people around you, I may not be perfect, but I’m a child of God.  And He’s looking out for me.  [cheering]  He’s looking out for me.  [applause]  And they’ll say, “What do you mean?”  And he’ll say, “Oh, everything’s going down, but guess what?  I’m going up.”  [cheering]  Glory to His Holy Name.  [applause] 

Look what it says in verse 6.  “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” 

Then in verse 7 He’s going to change the conversation.  You all ready?  [yes]  He tells us something.  “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower,..”  

Lord have mercy, I’m sowing some seed right now.  “…and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.“ 

Then He changes His conversation, now.  Gets back to us.  And He says, “For you shall go out with joy,…”  Oh, my Lord.  [come on]  “You shall go out with joy,…” 

Who’s He talking to?  The wicked?  No.  He just changed from talking about the wicked, He’s talking about the righteous.  And He shall “…be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;  and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.“ 

I like to add there at that point, says the Lord.  [yes]  I like to add, says the Lord.  Well, what’s He saying?  He’s saying, guess what?  The righteous think like me.  [amen]  The unrighteous, they don’t think like me. 

And I thought, I studied that thing, I said, why Lord?  And He says, because, when you have, when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you have the Spirit of the Lord dwelling in you, you have My Word dwelling in you.  And when I speak on the inside of you, guess what?  My thoughts are your thoughts.  Your thoughts are my thoughts.  [yea]  Somebody praise Him in here.  [applause]  Glory to God.  …

(blows nose into handkerchief) This ain’t a prop. You want to come up here and see?  [laughter]  … Don’t worry, I’m gonna grow up some day.  [amen]  [don't grow up]  Don’t grow up, right, stay a kid, right?  No, no, I have to grow up, and become old and boring like the rest of the people my age.  But I’m thinking of not doing it, though. 

It says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found,…”  verse six, in verse 7, “Let the wicked forsake his way,”… the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts.  Well, why does God want the unrighteous man to forsake his thoughts?  Because he’s wicked, and his thoughts are wicked.  He wants you to get born again, filled with the Spirit, so that you get some God ideas going. 

Your problem is you need some discernment to know when God, when you’re thinking God’s thought and when you’re thinking flesh thoughts.  You need some discernment to know when your ego is talking and your pride is talking.  To know when the Holy Spirit is talking.  When the Holy Spirit says, call so and so, and you go, I ain’t calling them, guess what?  That probably was a Jesus moment.  [amen]  And you missed it.

These are notes from a Friday Bible study of 3/25/11  This was one of those delightful studies where Pastor Don responded to questions from us and answered them with his incredible knowledge of the Bible.  I love these studies, and hope that when you are in our area that you consider attending on Friday – 12:30 is a pot luck lunch and Bible study begins around 1:00,  great fellowship and great food – physical and spiritual.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

If someone knows the truth and suppresses it, or sees the truth and pushes it down or out of the realm of their mind, it is in unrighteousness.

Romans 1:19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

Verse 19 shows why it has to be suppressed.  There will be no atheists in Hell or Heaven.  People will no longer be able to fool themselves.

It is logical that if you see an effect, their has to be a cause.  

One example of how truth can be suppressed is in how Bible translators translate certain words in the Scriptures.

John 1:1-5  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1 begin with the spoken Word and we see that Jesus is the Word.

John 1:10-12  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Notice the word “right”  - in Greek it is “exousia” – right, privilege, authority.  Exousia means authority, and what happened is that whether the Greek Word was “exousia”  or “dunamis” which means dynamite, miraculous faculties, signs and wonders, the ones who translated the Bible put the word – “authority or right”.  By this one error, irreparable damage has been done to the Body of Christ.

Yet, when people receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the translations say that believers have authority, but the word that they translated as “authority” is really dunamis, and implies dynamite power.

Acts 1:5-8 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 

The Holy Spirit brings you under condemnation so that you realize your need to be Born Again.  But being Born Again and having the Holy Spirit within is not the same thing as being Baptized by the Holy Spirit which gives power.  Many believers believe that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and being Born Again are the same thing, but the Bible shows that they are separate events, and can occur in any order.  Sometimes people are Born Again and later Baptized in the Holy Spirit, other times the Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs first.

God knew that the enemy was going to increase in power as the end times draws near and He does not want to leave us without powerful tools to fight the enemy, and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit gives us the power to battle the enemy.  There are some believers that think that all the Baptism of the Holy Spirit does is allow a person to speak in tongues, but really God wants us to apply the dunamis, dynamite power of the Holy Spirit to grow to the next level, and in these end days the need for miracles is going to increase.

We can’t allow our religion and traditions to keep us out of supernatural obedience.  Obedience is important.

In our lives we have Jesus appointment times.  We want to do what Jesus wants us to do when He wants us to do it and how He wants us to do it.

God can use what we think are obstacles to reach Him, to help us push our minds and egos aside so that we are able to do the supernatural work that the Holy Spirit wants us to do.  Sometimes what the Holy Spirit asks us to do does not make sense to our natural minds, but it is what is necessary to reach another for Christ.  

People willing to be obedient to God can profoundly impact His Kingdom.  We want to be yielded to God and the Holy Spirit.  If you don’t yield yourself, you limit the amount that Christ can work through you. How are we going to be the book of Acts of we don’t experience the book of Acts?

In Chapter one of the book of Acts none of the Apostles knew what was going to happen.

Luke 24:44-46  Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”  And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

It is possible to read the Scriptures without comprehension.  But the Holy Spirit can open our understanding.

Luke 24:47-49 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.  Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

The Promise of the Father was the Holy Spirit, but they did not know that in Acts 1, they just knew that they were to wait in Jerusalem, to receive the power from on high, but they did not know anything about the power at the time. 

We need to understand about the power of the Holy Spirit and tongues so that we can learn to teach it the right way to people so that they can understand the truth.

1 Corinthians 14:2  For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.

Do you believe by faith?  When you speak in tongues, you are not speaking to men, but are speaking mysteries to God. We may not know what we are saying but God does, it is God’s cleaver way of getting our logical mind out of the way so we can hear from Him.

When we pray, we need to at times be silent, so we can learn to listen and hear what the Spirit says.  Only when we can shut-up our mind can we open it to hear, and tongues is one way to turn off our thinking processes.

1 Corinthians 14:4  He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 

To be a spiritual giant we need to build our spirit up, and speaking in tongues edifies, builds us up, so we want to pray in tongues.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  When we prophesy, we edify the church, for we are speaking forth the Word of God.  There are more than one kind of tongues, there are tongues for building yourself up and tongues that speak forth the Word of God to others.

1 Corinthians 14:5  I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

Everybody can speak in tongues.  Scientists have done research and proven that when a person speaks in tongues it activates parts of the brain that nothing else touches.  Paul wanted everyone to speak in tongues, but there are rules.  When he wrote to the Corinthians they were out of order, speaking in tongues all the time, even when there were new people in their churches.  That led to confusion.  So Paul is going to set out guidelines, for his goal was to make sure all who attended were edified, not just those who spoke in tongues.

He will teach them that if you are in the assembly, you are not to speak in tongues unless there is someone to interpret and the message is for the whole Body of Christ.  If you want to speak to God in tongues in private, that is good, but not all tongues are meant for the general assembly.  With the prophetic gift of tongues, there needs to be an interpretation, and the interpretation needs to be a message that edifies the whole church.  Paul was all about making sure all people got the full message of the Gospel and that services were in order.

1 Corinthians 14:11-12 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. 

When the church comes together, if they all speak in tongues, those who are new or unbelievers will not get blessed.

Romans 8:26-27  Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 

The Holy Spirit can help us to pray when we do not know what to pray.

1 Corinthians 14:13  Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 

We can ask God to interpret for us what we are praying in tongues.  Whether we know or not, our prayers could be God using us to provide a blessing for someone, somewhere in the world – where God seeks a willing person to pray.  Everyone who speaks in tongues does not have the gift of interpretation.  Those who are in the five-fold ministry are there to edify the church.  

1 Corinthians 14:14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

Our spirits are edified with tongues and our spirit prays, but we may not understand what is being prayed.  Do we want to just rely on the understanding of our pea brain or do we want to listen to the mind of Christ?

1 Corinthians 14:15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. 

Paul says He will do both, depending on what is in order.  Pastor Don pointed out that we often sing in tongues.  He asked us if we started singing a song and we forget a line or two, don’t we go da, de, dah, dum, dum, de  to fill in the words we don’t remember?  That is similar to tongues. We don’t know what to pray, so we pray in tongues, our mind permits the seemingly nonsense syllables to come out and those words God knows what we pray.

1 Corinthians 14:16-17  Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

We want to make sure all in the Body of Christ are edified, so pray in tongues in an appropriate way.

1 Corinthians 14:18-19  I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all;  yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Paul follows the rules, but still he prayed in tongues lots – more than the Corinthians, but when it came to making sure someone understood the truth of the Gospel, he used common language to get the message across rather than thousands of words in tongues which would not edify.

1 Corinthians 14:20-21  Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. In the law it is written:  “With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord.

God uses tongues as a sign to people.

1 Corinthians 14:22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. 

Tongues are a sign to non-believers, when tongues and interpretation are used, it can pierce the wall of unbelief and cause unbelievers to come to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 14:23 Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 

Pastor Don spoke of visiting a church once where everyone spoke in tongues, there was no message from the pulpit to explain to a visitor what was going on, and no one came up to Pastor Don and his wife – who at that time did not speak in tongues – to show them where it is Biblical.  So they left the meeting, and the people were so caught up in their tongue speaking that they never noticed Pastor and Cynthia leaving.

Pastor Don told us there is a reason that Chapter 14 comes after Chapter 13 in Corinthians.  Chapter 13 is the Love Chapter, and we need to use the speaking of tongues in Love.  We can’t just be edifying ourselves and ignoring unbelievers, that would not be walking in love.

1 Corinthians 14:27-28 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 

It doesn’t say don’t speak in tongues.  It just says to avoid confusion if one has a tongue, then there should be an interpretation for it.  If no interpreter, then speak quietly under your breath in tongues for your personal edification.  Not every tongue is for the whole congregation, some are for personal edification.  

1 Corinthians 14:29-32 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.  But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

Paul was all about everything being done in order.  It is important to realize that the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.  What that means is that we are in full control of tongues, and we can stop speaking them when we want – there is no, the tongues have taken over me.  We start speaking in tongues, and as we speak there comes a point where the Spirit takes over, but at ANY TIME we need to, we can stop, we are not possessed and out of control.  If someone is, that is not of God.  By the way, Pastor also pointed out that as a musician he spent a lot of time playing in bars and never in a bar situation did he come across a drunk speaking in tongues, so the argument that it is of the devil does not make sense.  If it was, wouldn’t those who are drunk be speaking in tongues?

1 Corinthians 14:33  For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 

God is order, not confusion.

1 Corinthians 14:39-40  Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.

Pastor had Baptist roots which forbade speaking in tongues, when he first spoke in tongues he was afraid he was committing a sin.  He went to the bathroom, covered his mouth and prayed, God if this is not of you take it away.  If it is of you, show me in Your Word so that I understand.  God showed him the truth in the Word.

Not only did Paul speak of tongues – out of the mouths of two or more witnesses

Jude 20  But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

You build yourself up by praying in the Spirit, acquiring more strength and power to do His will.

The ultimate question is, do we trust Jesus to work through us through the power of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

I hope this edifies you and blesses you.  It was a good reminder for me of where to go and how to explain tongues to others.

Heather

 Please check out this review and if you like it, go to this  site and rate it, I’d really appreciate it

As a lover of mysteries, I was thrilled when I was given the opportunity to review Indivisible by Kristen Heitzman.  The plot twists and character development in this psychological drama are superb.  The personal battles of each of the characters and the threat of escalating violence after the discovery of mutilated animals kept me turning pages toward an ending that, in spite of fair clues, took me by surprise. It was hard to put this book down.

 

Police Chief Jonah Westfall seeks answers to many unsolved mysteries in the small town of Redford, Colorado, while he struggles to maintain sobriety and resolve a problem with a long-time friend, Tia Manning.  His memories of the past come back to haunt him.  In the midst of solving mysteries, he also learns how to take care of damaged critters from a semi-wild animal to Sarge, a man who had significant influence on his life. Jonah needs to deal with issues like drugs and psychological disorders which are expertly woven into the story to create a complex Christian mystery.

 

It is a wonderful mystery that is told without unseemly language or graphic sex.  The characters are complex people with flaws, desperately in need of redemption and forgiveness.  Most of the characters are believers, or seeking to find God in the midst of their trials.

 

After reading this book by Kristen Heitzmann, a home school mom and author, I plan to seek out her other books.  I am grateful to Waterbrook Multnomah for giving me a copy of this book for review.

This is the last installment of Pastor Don Moore’s sermon, I have included links to the first three parts.  I hope you are as blessed as I was by this teaching.  This is a closed captioned transcript from a sermon.  What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says.  As I was editing this, I made what I considered important the main points in bold.  I

 

Part One is here.

Part Two is here 

Part Three is here 

 

SAY AMEN
SHOW 150
JUDGING, JUDGMENT, JUSTIFICATION PART 4
Preached on 3/21/10

 

We are ministering to you in the area of judging, judgment, and justification.  It’s a mouthful.  Today is our day on justification.  But before we get there, we have to just clear up a few things… Alright, now,

Romans, Chapter 12, verse 19…  ”Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says…” who?  [the Lord]  says who?  [the Lord]  ”…the Lord.”  

In other words, if we have a situation where you want to get vengeance, then bring it to the Body, or turn it over to the Lord.  [amen]  Let the Lord fix it.  He’ll give you judgment… Wave your hand if you got that.  You get vengeful, who’s supposed to take care of it for you?  [the Lord]  The Lord.  And guess what, He can hit ‘em a lot harder than you can. [come on, amen]  Amen.  Glory to God.  He can hit a lot harder than you can.  

Go to 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 1.  Can you find it there?  It’s after Philippians, right in front of, no Titus, Timothy.  Alright.  2 Thessalonians, Chapter 1, we’re going to go to verse 5.  You guys there?  [yes]  ”…which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you…

[hallelujah]  whoo, whooo, whoo.  [glory to God]  who, who, whooo.  Some of you all got that, right?  [yes]  Can I break it down for ya.  [yeah]  Huh?  Guess what?  Your covenant includes that if people are hassling you, if people are being difficult, your righteousness in Christ, because of the work of Jesus, God says, “Turn ‘em over to me.  I’ll trouble them.”   [hallelujah]  

Now, how does God trouble people?  God troubles people by removing His covering…  See, the devil wants to do evil all the time.  So God doesn’t have to go do evil, all He has to do is take away the covering.  

Come here Brother Joe.  Come on Sister Goldie.  Come up here.  Come up here.  Now I’m going to do it with Goldie.  This will be, no, I’ll make you, you get over here.  We’ll do it the other way.  We’ll do it the woman chauvinistic pattern, so women won’t think we’re beating up on her.  Now, let’s say brother Joe here is a believer.  Brother Joe is a believer.   Loves Jesus and Goldie wants to beat him up.  And she represents the devil evil one, and he wants to beat up everybody.  But, as long as I’m here, try and beat up Joe.  (demonstrates)  [laughter]  Whoa she’s a tough one.  Ok, hold it.  Time out, she’s a tough one.  Whoot.  [she's from the Bronx]  She’s from the Bronx, there you go.  [applause]  Ok, you get the point?  [yes]  stay, stay.  

As long as God is your covering, is your protection, as long as Joe is living right, as long as his righteous faith is in God, he can see the troubling hand of the devil trying to get to him.  He can see that.  But as long as he stays in faith, believing. Come on, somebody.  As long as he holds to his confession, as long as he keeps his feet firmly planted in the Gospel, as long as he examines himself and keeps the beam out of his eye, as long as he keeps that right, guess what?  God is on commanding duty.  Now I know she’s tough so I’m going to hold her tighter this time.  [laughter]  So God is on duty and say “No.  I’ll not let that.”  He says, “Joe you look at the threat, but you realize she can only reach a little bit through, but no,”  

Now, here’s what God says.  God says, this is what God says.  Come here brother Gary.  [oh boy oh boy]   [I need another help]  No, no, no, watch this, understand this.  Understand this.  If…[thanks] he’s your worst nightmare, what do you mean, thanks?  [I'm sorry]  [laughter]  If, listen to me carefully, if out, well let’s do this… there’s two ways of doing it.  I’m going to do it the first way.  If brother Joseph steps out from under the covering, if God, I’m standing in the position of God.  And Joe steps out from under the covering, go ahead Joe.  Then not just the original but the additional [right]  is coming.  [laughter]  

Did anybody see what I did?  [yes]  God just folds his hands and says, “He’s stubborn, hard headed.  He knows better.  I’m not covering him.”  … But the devil, when he comes this time, he brings more.  [right]  He brings more.  Now, let’s do it the other way.  Gary get over here.  You know, you have to stand next to Joe here.  If Gary, human (points to Gary)  spiritual (points to Goldie)  human (points to Gary).  If Gary is troubling the righteous, and Joe calls on the name of the Lord, [help me]  (Pastor pushes Gary away, and pretends to attack Gary)  [you've been smoked]  You’ve been smoked.  

Do you understand who you are, oh Child of God?”  Do you understand the position that you hold in the favor of God?  If you step out from under His covering, you are in trouble.  But if you stay under His covering and call for help, Then, your enemy can come under the troubling hand of God.  [amen]  And guess what?  When that happens, satan stands for all he can do is watch.  He is bound.  Cannot come.  That is what this verse is telling us.  

That if we will take the beam out of our eye.  If we’ll walk in the righteousness of God, God sees us as justified, just as if we never sinned.  Thank you very much.  [hallelujah]  Thank you very much.  [I don't mess with her]  Amen.  That’s especially effective if you’re married to a Puerto Rican from the Bronx.  [oooh, laughter]  … God is good, isn’t He?  [all the time]  

So, let me read it again so you make sure you know, I’m on this here.  [yes]  Verse 5.  2 Thessalonians verse 5, Chapter 1.  ”…which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer;”  When the devil was trying to get at Joe, he was suffering, but guess what?  Here’s what God says about it.  ”…since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,…”  And that’s when brother Gary came under attack.  [that's right]  

You don’t have to go after your enemies.  You have to release them so that God can fix them.  [amen]  As long as your bad talking about your enemy, as long as your tongue is attacking your enemy.  As long as you are carrying the hurt that your enemy put upon you, you are standing in the position of God and God is unable to avenge you.  [hallelujah]  This will change your life if you get this.  

Therefore, it’s not necessary to downtalk your enemy, try and find out ways to get at him, or hurt him.  It’s just forget it.  Just walk in your righteousness and your truth, and you’ll live to see God fix him.  [amen]  You will live to see God fix him.  I got five minutes more, and let’s go.  You ready?  

Now, let’s look at the verses of justification.  Man, there’s just too many… Well maybe you know, maybe I’ll print ‘em out and put them up so everybody can see em.  Ok, Romans 4, Romans 4…  There’s just too many.  Let’s do a few and we’ll call it a day.  Roman’s 4, verse 5, let’s read the whole thing.  Verse 5.  ”But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,”  Him who justifies the ungodly.   “…just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes…”  that means gives “…righteousness apart from works:  ”Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;…”  Lord have mercy, this is getting good now.  ”Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute...”  that means count “…sin.”  … Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?  For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.”  [yes]  … sssssssshhhhosss…

Chapter 3, verse 26…. “…to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”  Hallelujah.  I got 10 or 15 more of those.  Just too many to do today.  

Can I help you?  Can I help myself?  Are you ready to be blessed?  [yes]  You know, some people get upset about blood songs.  They don’t like them blood songs.  They say, sing something else but (singing)  ”I know it was the blood.  I know it was the blood for me.”  Or how about the other one, you know. (singing)  ”Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”  We’re not cannibals.  But we recognize that the blood of Jesus was spilled for the remission, the taking away of our sin.  [amen]  Now, either you believe that or you don’t… Either you accept it, or you don’t.  

But the reality of the situation is, that if you believe on Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, if you have ever taken communion and drank the blood, drank the wine, as the blood.  Drank the grape juice as the blood, as a substitutionary law, here’s what it says.  If you believe it, then guess what, that act of believing, God counts it as righteousness.  And He justifies you.  Even though you don’t deserve it and you do have sin, you are counted justified.  Just as if you never sinned.  

This is impossible for us to understand, because we carry grudges.  Somebody hurts us and we carry that grudge for years and years, they hurt me, I’m never going to forgive them.  I’m never going to forget.  But God says, guess what, “I’ll remember your sin no more.”  He says, “I will examine your righteous deeds, looking for the cleansing effect of the Blood of God.”  [amen]  

Brother Ray, would you come?  Brother Ray, I’m going to use this example.  And I’ll give you, while Ray’s coming.  Ray, come over here and stand by that.  

Just write these down, study them.  I’ll make them available to you.  That would be Romans 5:18, 19.  Romans 8:33-34.  Come on now, you gotta write fast here.  Abbreviate.  Just make an “R”.  R 5:18-19, Romans 8:33-34, and Romans 2:16.  That was one of my favorites.  What?  Romans 2:16.  Here’s what it says.  It says, “…in the day when God will judge the secrets of men...”  He’ll judge them “…by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”   Lord have mercy!  That’s powerful stuff.  Alright.  

Can we do this demonstration?  [yes]  When we say the word “justification” use this little, this little thing.  It means that God is judging me, just as if I never sinned because of the Blood.  [right]  Now, let me take it again.  If you have faith that Jesus died for you and spilled His Blood for you.  If you have faith, that supernaturally Abraham, who is the Father of Faith, believed what God said, and God counted him as a righteous man because he believed what God said.  Therefore, God will count you as righteous if you believe what Jesus said.  And Jesus said, He gives His life to cover and remove your sin.  That He is the propitiation of your sin.  

In other words, yes, you’re guilty.  Yes, you’re a liar.  You’re a fornicator.  Yes, you’re all of those things.  You’re guilty.  You’ve done em, you’ve done em.  But it says that when Jesus comes, on the Day to judge the sins of man, here’s what’s gonna happen.  Are you ready?  [yes]  Are you ready?  Brother Ray, take that tray behind you.  Lift it up like this.  Come a little closer.  When Ray comes before the Lord Jesus Christ, He’s going to be carrying His sins on a tray in a sense.  The Lord God’s gonna pull it off.  He’s going to open it up.  He’s going to look at it.   He’s going to say, “Ray, I see here back in the 80′s you were a drug user, you practiced pharmakia.  You called it, “partying with the devil.”  Participated in the use of drugs.  But I see, I see that it’s been bathed in the red blood of Jesus Christ.  [yes, hallelujah]   I see that it’s been washed.  Therefore, we won’t count that against ya.”  

The Lord will say, “Ah, brother Ray… ah, I hated this one.  I see you’ve been divorced… And I hate divorce, but I notice something, it’s been washed away, in the Blood of the Lamb.”  [hallelujah]  … “I see that, I see that, I see that it’s gone…. It’s gone.”  He says, “I can’t hold that against you.  

Let’s see what’s up here…. Brother Ray, you came to the Lord and you did pretty good, but I see here there’s some, just these little slips from time to time, little disobedience an arrogance here, but to my surprise,…”  [yeah]  ”To my surprise, your arrogance and your disobediences been covered, it’s covered in the Red Blood of the Cross… Won’t be held against ya….

Ah, Brother Ray…”  [laughter]  ”…I see you have some children here.  I see that at a young age you didn’t commit your children to the Lord, and I see some difficulties in the family here.  And, but wait a minute!… I see that the Blood brought ‘em to the Lord.”  [amen]  And even though you weren’t the best of fathers at different times, I see that the Blood changed you…  I see that it changed you and that, look at this.  The Blood is even covering, even unto the third generation.  Ray, He took care of the first and the second generation, ah, I can’t hold those early mistakes against you.”   Lord have mercy.  

“Let’s see what we got here…. Brother Ray, I see some doubt and unbelief here…. There were some times you didn’t trust Me… But I see that the Blood, Lord, look has wiped away the doubt and unbelief.  Let me open up and find out why?  Why would that be?… Look at that.  Look at those little… do you know what those little spots are here?  That’s his heart.  You had doubt and unbelief, but your heart never left me.”   [wow]  … [amen, thank you Lord]  ”Your heart never left me.”  Thank you Lord.  No, don’t you pick up that sin!  [laughter]  ”But they’re mine.”  ”No, they’re not yours.  The plate…”  [is clean]  ”is clean.”   [applause and cheering]  ”Can I have the clean plate?”  You get to have the clean plate. Thank you  [yeah]  

Now, here’s why.  Stay here Ray and hold the clean plate so they can get this.  Him keeping the clean plate now means that his works, the works, the good things that he did do… the good things that he did do.  The fact that he’s been a good husband with his second wife.  The fact that he’s been a good father to his kids since he came to the Lord, The fact that he has served as a musiciain in the House of the Lord.  The fact that he’s been a student of the Word.  The fact that he’s been kind to people.  The fact that he has worked in the Church for all these years in serving and never, never ever once, if I asked him to do it, he always would do it.  All of those good works, money that he might, Ray was on the first mission trip to Haiti.  Brought his camera and chronocalized it, first trip mission to Haiti.  First trip to Israel.  All the different good works that he has done now get placed on the tray.  [oh, hallelujah]  And he will get to present these to the Lord at the Great White Throne…. Now they count for something.  Because why?  They have been purged in the cleansing fire of the Lord... [praise God]  Now, I’ll start crying, you get off of here.  Go take your good works.  You get to keep the tray.  [applause]  

What does justification do for us?  It removes the punishment that was due us... It does what?  [removes the punishment that was due us]  There is a punishment that was supposed to come to us because of our unrighteous acts.  But the full weight of that punishment will not come upon us.  [amen]  The full weight of the punishment of my life of sin was that the devil could bring sickness on my  body, but when the devil tried to use that sickness to kill me and take my life away, the Lord said, “No, I remove that punishment because of justification.  Don will live and not die.  And he will declare the salvation of the Lord.”   [amen]  Anybody hear me?  [yes]  Remission or removal of punishment is what God’s justification will do.  

Number 2.  Restoration of favor… I love this one.  When we get the right definition of the Grace of God, we realize that because we are now justified by the blood.  That’s a beautiful thing.  We’re now justified by the blood and He has removed our punishment and He has returned to us favor.  [yes]  Favor.  … Favor… Favor… Do you know Daddy loves you?  [yes]  Do you know that He counts you as more valuable than anything else?  Do you know that He favors you so much that if you had a race for life that was 1000 yards long, and you were racing against the devil’s fastest, fastest, fastest, fastest people, that the devil could beat you in that 1000 yard, let’s make it 100 yard dash.  There’s a 100 yard dash, and the devil’s got the fastest runners against you, favor means they start at 100 yards, you start at 10… [amen, oh hallelujah, amen]… Some of you all didn’t get that.  Favor means you’re starting on the 10 yard line, the rest of us starting at 100 yard line.  

Favor means that God gives you the advantage when you don’t know what to do, He will step in and help you do.  Favor means, that you have God ideas that you can access when everybody else is trying to figure it out in their carnality.  You get a God idea from somewhere that you didn’t know exists.  Favor means that He supernaturally will send angels to minister to you in different situations to bring you to the victory.  Favor is when you don’t have the money to get it done, God opens up a window from Heaven and He says, “You my one, you’re the one.  You’re the winner.  I’m going to have you win and nothing can stop it.”  What’s favor?  Favor is that when sickness falls on your body, it’s only a symptom, but to somebody else it’s a death sentence.  That’s what favor is.  Favor is when your children, you think they’re going out, you got to realize they are trampoline children.  [yeah, oh boy, hallelujah]  They’re just going to bounce back.  [yea!]  Favor.  He will return favor to you that you thought you lost, he’ll return favor to you.  

And number 3.  (clap)  Give you back  your righteousness… He favors you so much he’ll give you back your righteousness.  He will impute righteousness to you… The last one I’m going to give you, I’m going to close this teaching series,

Number 4.  Are you ready?  He gives you new legal status... Now, some of you won’t understand that.  All at the end of it, He gives  you new legal status.  You don’t deserve to have it.  But He gives you legal status to get there.  You don’t deserve to be blessed.  But He’ll move Heaven and earth to get you blessed.  He gives you new legal status in that you were a foreigner to God, but now He makes you an heir.  [that's right]  Your legal status is, an heir, and this in Galatians is amazing.  Joint heir with Christ.  [hallelujah]  …

Do you want to know what really has bothered my mind?  I would say this, how could I be a joint heir with Christ, that would have to mean that He loves me as much as He loves Christ.  And I couldn’t get that.  Gary I struggle in that.  How could Jesus Christ love me.  I mean how could the Father love me as much as He loved Christ.  That He would give me joint status with Christ.  That whatever He’s going to give Christ, He’s also going to give me.  [amen]  Whatever He’s going to do for Christ, He’s going to do for me.  [amen]  Whatever He said in love to Christ, He’s also saying it to me.  [amen]  Joint heir means that I am sitting in Heavenly places, with Christ.  [whoo, amen]  Whoa, if I can get, if you can get a sense of that, if you could just get a sense of that, then guess what?  All the stuff you’re worrying and struggling with  [come on]  come on gets reduced down to what it’s worth, and it’s worth nothing.  [amen]  It’s worth nothing… [laughter]  What is that?  I’m sitting on the throne next to Jesus Christ.  [amen]  (laughs) I mean can you just… 

I hope you enjoy this teaching and are as blessed as I was.

Heather

Part One is here.

Part Two is here

SAY AMEN
Show 149
Judging, Judgment, Justification
Part 3

Taught on: 3/21/10

What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says.

Now, we are ministering to you in the area of judging, judgment, and justification.  It’s a mouthful.  Today is our day of justification, but before we get there we have to just clear up a few things.  

The reason this teaching is important is because we are in a time period where the work of satan is now going to be met by the judgment of God.  We are in the time period where we are approaching the Great Tribulation.  We’ve been in tribulation since Peter stood up and quoted Joel on the day of Pentecost. 

Since that day, the devil’s been doing his work, and bringing judgment, pain and sorrow, especially on the Church, but anyone that he can.  Now God is going to bring judgment upon the whole earth and all that are in it.  But He has special place in His heart for His children.  So we’re in the time period where God is beginning to bring judgment on the earth.  

We have to understand the things that Jesus said about judging.  The World is telling us that Jesus said do not judge.  That is a misquote, that is a misunderstanding.  He didn’t say don’t judge.  The sentence has to be understood that it is a Bible translation.  It goes like this.  ”Judge not, lest you be judged.”  And then Jesus goes on.  If we translated that into modern day English as we speak, He was saying, “If you judge, if you judge, be prepared to be judged,”  [right]  ”in the area that you judge.”  

And then He goes on later and He says this.  ”Take the beam out of your eye so that you can judge the speck in your brother’s eye.”  So God is never telling us, “Don’t judge.”  He says the Church must lift itself up and judge itself first.  [right]  Judgment begins in the house of God.  We have to judge each other and be on each other’s case.  We have to straighten each other of us out, so that we raise the standard because the world is watching us.  And we want to raise the standard and be of a higher standard than the rest of the world.  We can only do that if we’re willing to judge ourselves and judge the brethren.  

Now, as to judging the world, God says, you don’t have to worry about that.  They’re already condemned.  God’s gonna judge them and God’s gonna to condemn those that need to be condemned out there.  You don’t have to judge the World, they’re already pagans.  They’re already sinners.  They’re already, you know, unsaved.  So we don’t have to judge the world and say, “Ooooh, look at all those bad people out there.”  [right]  ”Oh, look at them, hmmf.”  [laughter]  

Listen, you know, the people of the World are going to lie, they’re gonna steal, they’re gonna cheat, they’re going to fornicate, they’re going to commit adultery, they’re going to kill their kids, they’re going to do all of those things.  Why are you surprised?  [right]  They are the world.  So you don’t have to bother judging them.  What we have to do is accept the responsibility that we must judge the beam in our own eye so that we can take the speck out of our brother’s eye.  [amen] 

Now what is the judgment we’re supposed to bring?  The judgment we’re supposed to bring is that we are not supposed to tolerate unrepented sin in our midst.  [that's right]  … People in the Church sin.  [yes]  We lie, we steal, we do lustful things, we make mistakes.  But the difference is, if we are saying that Jesus is our Lord, our error should be followed by repentance.  [amen]  Sorrowful, sincere repentance.  [amen]  We cannot, must not, refuse to judge sin in our midst, when the person who does it is just continuing to do it.  

Let’s say we have a lustful man in the Church.  I don’t care what His office or status is.  But if he says he’s a born again believer, and we see that he is a plague to the women. [hello]  And we see that the women don’t do anything about it.  [come on]  

Tiger Woods is guilty, but so are 19 other women.  [amen, come on now]… Anybody hear what I’m saying here?  [yes]  

So, if women in the Church make themselves available to a wolf in the Church, they’re just as guilty as he is.   [amen]  Because they should judge him and say, “Ah, don’t talk to me like that.”  [yes]  ”Whether you’re a married man or not, don’t talk to me like that.”   And before she says it, she needs to examine how she’s dressed and how she’s presenting herself.  [amen]  … Cause if she looks like she’s selling it or giving it away, [laughter]  she is going to draw the very thing that she then, in her unrighteousness is going to condemn?  I think not.  [amen]  … Are we ok?  [yes]  We’re alright?  [yes]  

You know, one of these days I’m going to pastor a church where every Sunday I’m going to tell them they’re just wonderful.  [laughter]  And just appeal to their sensibility.   But right now, that’s not what God told me to do.  [laughter]  Alright?  When I get that church, I’ll let you know.  But right now we need some Bible truth to help us get straight.  [amen]  It is our job to keep all of us straight.  [yes]  Our job to keep what?  [keep all of us straight]  All of us straight.  

When we see a brother or a sister who seems to be out of order or doing something wrong, we are not meddling and being judgmental to say, “Have you checked yourself out?  What are you doing here?”  … If you see me in the Holiday Inn at three o’clock in the morning, you know, slurped over a martini, talking to two chicks, you should come say, “Pastor Don, what’s up?”  [laughter] … “What’s up?”  … [amen]  I’m not to get offended.  I’m supposed to answer that situation.  And say, “Yeah, these are two sisters from the Church that have gone off the deep end, and I’m ministering to them on the science of drinking a good martini.”   [laughter]  … Knock, knock, who’s there?  Do you understand what I’m saying?  

You’re supposed to come up and say, “Pastor Don, is everything ok?  What’s going on?”  [that's right]… It might be your great opportunity, the opportunity to do what?  Save me.  To say, “Pastor Don, are you off course?”  And my answer is, “Yeah, man I’ve been hitting on these two chicks since one o’clock in the morning, I’m not getting anywhere, so I’m going to drown it in a martini and I just realized, what am I doing here?”   [amen]  And then you put your arm around my shoulder and just walk me out to the parking lot and kick my behind.  [yes]… With some Holy Ghost love.  [amen, laughter]   And say, “Let’s go see Mrs. Moore, and get you straightened out.”  [amen, laughter, let her kick your butt]  … Do you understand?  [yes]  Am I clear?  Am I being clear enough to you?  

We have to wrap our arms around each other and don’t wait till someone’s gone off the cliff to tell them they’re off the road.  [yes]  You know, let’s get into each other’s kindness, but if you’re guilty, here’s what the Bible says.  If you’re guilty of that same sin, then you better not sit down [that's right] and decide to talk to me about my two women and a margarita, or whatever it was I said.  [martini]  Ah, … [laughter]  Alright?  

Now, are you to judge?  Yes, we’re to judge.  How are we supposed to judge?  We’re supposed to not judge as the world judges, but we’re to judge with the love and the compassion and the mercy of Jesus Christ.  We’re to judge the way He would judge.  And if Jesus walked in to that bar, He is not going to condemn me to hell.  [amen]   …  He’s going to say, “Pastor Don, what’s going on?  What’s hurting?  Are you hurting here?  What’s going on?  Your marriage needs fixing?  What’s going on?  This is not the place for you to be at a time like this.”  He’s going to love me.  [yes]  He’s going to love me.  And He’s not going to run home and call all you all and talk about it.  [thank you, amen]  Somebody say, “Amen.”  [amen]  He’s not going to smear my name all over the community and call the Freeman and say, “Pastor Don’s on a slide.”  [come on]  … [didn't work for Ham]  Didn’t work for Ham.   Yeah, yeah, yeah.  For Ham, won’t work for anybody.  So, do you understand that is not what we’re supposed to do.  

There is a way, in love, to approach a brother or sister after you have examined yourself.  [right]  And if you don’t have it totally together, then mum’s the word, and go work on your program.  [amen]  Amen.  Hallelujah.  Thank You Jesus.  [laughter]  Thank you Jesus.  Alright, Now, moving right along.  You guys with me?  [yes]  

So Jesus says, that we must first examine ourselves, get the beam out of our eye, so that we then can help our brother.  And He warns us about establishing that our charitable works are gaining us anything.  Our charitable works aren’t gaining us anything.  Our charitable works are what we’re commanded to do because we love the brethren.  

So it’s like, you know, should a mother get patted on the back cause she’s a mother?   [no]  No.  That’s her job.  It’s what she does.   Mothers mother.  [amen]  Alright?  So, you know, we don’t just run over and “Don’t you .. you, you, you’re serving in the Church.  Aren’t you wonderful oh high and exalted one.”  No!  You’re supposed to.  Any of you all walk over, walk around the church and see a gum wrapper, you ought to pick it up.  House of God should be clean.  You should, you see a parking space and you want it, and somebody else is, you know, trying to get around you to get it, … you should let them have it. Just judge that they are worthy to have it and just be nice.  [amen]  Just be nice.  The usher asks you to sit somewhere, put your behind down in the seat.  [amen]  That’s not something, well he offended me.  

We had a brother leave the church because one of the ushers told him, right now we’re filming so you have to sit over here.  You know.  He’s been back once in six months since that day… He doesn’t know that I know.  So when I see him I still treat him with lovingkindness.  [amen] How are you all doing?  Alright?  [amen]  Love on ‘em.  Love on ‘em.  [laughter]  

And since it’s difficult for you to get me offended about anything, I got no beam in my eye concerning offense, so I can approach him in an area where he’s struggling and throw my arm around him and say, “Why don’t you come on back?  We love you.”  [amen]  ”Let’s come back and get in church so that you can overcome the spirit of offense.”  [amen]  Because it comes from arrogance and pride.  [amen]  You don’t want to be arrogant and pride.  [no]  …ful.  Do you?  Do you?  [no]  Wave your hand at me and say, “I don’t.”  [I don't]  Alright.  Now Lord, bless all the liars in Jesus’ name.  [laughter]  

Alright.  Now, let’s go to Corinthians, First Corinthians Chapter 5.  I love you guys.  Man, when I grow up, I’m gonna be alright.  Let’s cover some old, new ground concerning this topic of judgment and so forth.  Now, in Corinthians Chapter 5, God tells us what He’s going to do with all of those beams in our eyes and all of those specks in our eyes and all the difficulty that we have, you know, controlling our own flesh…

In verse 7.  Chapter 5, verse 7.  ”Therefore purge out the old leaven…”  In this case leaven is being used as a picture of sin, is it not?  [yes]  And He’s saying, purge it out, get rid of it.  ”…that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.  For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven…”  Meaning let’s not celebrate the things of God, let’s not celebrate the holidays of God with sin.  He’s talking now in the case of Passover.   He’s saying, “…nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”  

Didn’t Jesus say He was the bread of life?  [yes]  Yeah, but if you’re gonna celebrate it with insincerity, with lies, if you’re not going to deal with your own sin.  You know with the ministers and prophets this week, you know, we were dealing with that.  That you have to examine your heart.  God is checking your purity of your heart, more than your charitable works.  He is more concerned about David’s heart than He was about Bathsheba.  [yes]  Bathsheba thing was bad, but why was it bad?  Because it was something wrong in his heart.  [that's right]  

You know, I used to do an experiment, you know, when I do evangelistic outreaches.  I take a cup with dirt in it.  And I pour some water in it, and stir it up.  It becomes cloudy.  And then I answer the question, of how is it we get free of sin.  We don’t get free of sin by going, don’t sin, don’t sin, don’t sin, don’t sin, don’t sin, don’t sin.  All you’re doing there is reminding yourself that the sin exists and that you might fall prey to it.  It’s like don’t overeat, don’t overeat, don’t overeat, don’t overeat.  What are you doing?  You’re just thinking about eating.  [yeah]  All the time.  Till it becomes an obsession in your mind, and your willpower will break down, saying, don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it.  You know, you don’t get free of pornography by going, don’t look at it, don’t look at it, don’t look at it, don’t look at it.  No.  

We have to change the nature of the person so that the person, the new person, therefore if anyone be in Christ he is a new creature, that new creature doesn’t want to do it anymore.  

So I take the glass of dirty water, and no matter how many times you pour that dirty water into another clean cup, it’s still dirty water.  [right, that's right]  What we have to do is change and the only way to do that in the experiment, just picture it, cup of dirty water, I just start pouring in clean, pure, fresh water.  As I pour it in, it begins to overflow.  As it overflows, the dirty water comes out and then I drink it, and everybody gets the picture.  Did you get the picture?  [yes]  

Therefore what Christ wants you to know, and me to know, is that fighting against your sin is not what He wants you to go through some mantra or some habit of getting up 14 times a day saying, “I won’t eat the Danish.  I won’t eat the Danish.  I won’t eat the Danish.”  He wants you to become a new creature in Christ.  Pour in clean water, pour in good habits, exercise those good habits, by pouring in the clean water.  And then the sin just comes out.  [hallelujah]  Just rinses out.  [hallelujah]  

Faith comes by [hearing]  And hearing [by the Word of God].  So you have to ask yourself what are you hearing?   [glory to God]  Are you hearing don’t do or are you hearing this is what I do do.  [that's right].  This is where I’m going.  And that’s the difference in salvation and walking in righteousness and truth.  You don’t have to fight against sin.  We just have to get more Jesus in.  [amen]  … That sounded good.  We don’t have to fight against sin.  Just get more Jesus in.  [that's right, hallelujah]  That should be a song.  I should write that, huh.  [yes, amen]  Leave you a verse, Julio?  (singing)  We don’t have to fight against sin.  Just get more Jesus in. [laughter]  (singing)  Don’t have to fight against sin, [clapping to music]  Just get more Jesus in.  Hallelujah.  [laughter]  

Alright, go to verse 13.  Verse 13,  and 12.  Let’s do 12.  Now I put this in here to remind you that what I said five minutes ago is true.  ”For what have I to do with judging those who are outside?  Do you not judge those who are inside? … ”  I want to know, if you’re shacking up and fornicating, I want to know, do you know it? … No, no, no don’t get me wrong.  I need to know, do you know it?  

As a believer, who espouses Christ, do you know what you should be doing in that situation.  Are you glossing it over and assuming, Pastor Don’s cool with this, I can do this as long as I want, and everything’s going to work out in my life.  I need to know.  Do you know? That as long as you do that,(stay in sin) it’s not that I’m mad at you, it’s that you’re not going to be blessed.  [amen]  You’re going to have more sickness in your house, you’re going to have less funds in your house.  Things are just not going to work.  I just need to know, as a born again believer.  I don’t need to beat you up.  I just need to know, do you know that if you’re sleeping around on your wife, guess what?  You are not in the Kingdom of God, you will be tormented by demons.  Your finances will be tied up.  Your health will be tied up.  Do you realize what you’re doing?  I just need to know, do you know?  Or are you just under the assumption that it’s A-ok?  If you’re cursing out your husband on a regular basis and bossing him around, I just need to know, do you know that you are out of order?  I just need you to know because why?  Your children won’t be blessed.  The curse will pass down.  They will be mean to their husbands when they come.  They will divorce.  They will separate.  They will have a hard time.  You will be sick.  You will be disenfranchised from the goodness of God.  You will be outside the Kingdom of God.  I just need to know, do you know?  [amen, amen]… That’s my job.  

My job isn’t to throw you out of the church, unless you are in the church and refuse to know.  [ah]  Then I’m coming for you.  [amen]  With all the authority of the Word of God.  For if you stand before me and say, “My sin is ok, it’s justified.  I can talk to him any way that I want.  I can do anything the way that I want.  I can sleep with anybody I want.”  If that’s your attitude, then the scripture says, I’m not even supposed to welcome you.  I’m not to entertain you.  I’m not to do it.  I’m not to call you a brethren.  I’m to expel you from the house of God.  [that's right]  You ok?  [yeah]  I just want to know, do you know?  [amen]  Husband, if you’re using your wife for a trampoline, I just need to know.  Do you know?  Cause when she bounces back, hell’s busting loose in your house.  [whoot, applause]  I just need to know, do you know? … Cause if you don’t know, well glory to God.  [laughter]  

So look at verse 12.  Verse 12.  ”For what do I have to do with judging those also who are outside?”  The Church’s job is not to judge the world, we already know the world is worldly.  That’s not a big deal.  And then He says, verse 13.  ”But those who are outside,…”  who judges?  [God]  Who judges?  [God]  ”Therefore”  what does He say?  ”…put away from yourselves the evil person.”  

Well, what’s He saying?  He’s saying that if you got somebody in the house of God that’s a thief, and keeps thieving, you can’t keep patting them on the back and tell them it’s ok.  At some point he has to be dealt with.   [amen]  … Alright?  It has to be dealt with.  It has to be repented.  Has to be covered.  And say, “Let’s work on it.”  … I just expect, you know, I just expect that when you know and you get the truth, you go, “Pastor Don, help me.”   Watch this now.  ”Help me formulate a plan to fix this situation.”  [amen]  

You know, a couple of months ago I had a young man come to my office with tears in his eyes.   He’s repenting because he has lustful thoughts.  He’s about 26 year old kid.  And he’s struggling with this thing.  Well listen.  I have to be honest here.  We live in a world that you can’t turn on the television without sex being flaunted in front of you.  [amen]  You can’t walk by a supermarket thing without seeing sex being flaunted at you.  Right?  [yes]  And we’re blaming the guys, but they’re getting paid to pose like that.  [yep]  Well, never mind.  I’m just saying we need, we need to have some equity here with our understanding.  [yes]  You know what I mean.  If no women would pose naked for Playboy, how many guys would buy it?  [none]  Thank You Jesus.  Thank You Jesus.  Hallelujah.  I’m just judging here. So let’s go.  You’re ready with the program?  [yes]  

So the young man says to me.  ”I have these lustful thoughts,” and whatever.  And he’s crying, sincere tears.  Really broken.  Loves Jesus.  Wants to live right and wants to do right.  You know.  And needeless to say, course I laid hands on him, prayed over him, I cleansed him, and so forth and so on.  But my counsel to him was just very simple… Get married.  [amen, amen]  … Get married.  Your body is doing what it’s designed to do.  Get married.   [that's right]  And he said, “Well, I can’t find.”  What do you mean you can’t find a wife?  [laughter]  How can you not find a wife?  Tiger can find 19.  You only looking for one.  [laughter]  What do you mean?  Get married!  [amen]  … How many women on earth do you guys know, there’s what, seven billion people.  And the women, there’s a little bit more women, so there’s over 3 1/2, there’s 3 3/4 billion women on the planet.  And you can’t find one?  [laughter]  I don’t want to go fishing with you.  [laughter]  

Now Chapter 6 verse 1.  Chapter 6, verse 1.  ”Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?   Do you not know that the saints will…”  what?  [judge the world]  That the saints will what?  [judge the world]  ”…Judge the world?  And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”  [yes, no]  

He’s saying Christian, don’t take another Christian to the world to judge a civil issue, or a legal issue.  He’s saying, let the Church come.  Let the Church put together a mediation board and discuss it in the context of the Gospel.  [amen]  That’s what He is saying.  [yes]  He’s saying, you’re going to judge the world, how come you can’t judge an issue in here?  

We had a member of the church.  She claimed that this man that lived next door to her, another Christian man, scratched her car, and so forth and so on.  And she was going to sue him in court.  And one Sunday I was preaching on this.  This was about 15 years ago.  And so she came to me and she said, “Pastor Don, I want the Church to judge this issue.  Or else I’m going to take this brother to court.  And he’s been scratching my car and I want…”  You know, whatever, whatever.  So I says, “Ok, you know, I’ll put together a mediation board.”  So I put together a mediation board, and we met in that room right there.  I was the neutral judge, overheard both sides of the case, had three other members of the church, members in good standing, with some sense.  

And I said, judge the issue.  They judged the issue and they determined that, well, what we have to do is find out who’s actually scratching the car.  And we need to take the car to a professional who knows scratches.  So we took it to two different car dealers and the two car dealers both said the same thing… “This man did not scratch your car.   Your cat did.”  [whooo - laughter]  … [oops]  … She left the church.  [laughter]  She left the church.  I couldn’t believe it.  She left the church.  And one of the car guys said, “I’ve done these kind of scratches,” he says, “when the engine of the car is hot the cat wants to be somewhere warm, gets on, and the cats just sometimes will just scratch cause they’re cats.”  He says, “Listen, I’ll buff it out for free.”  [awwww, how nice]  And what did we do?  We made contact with another man that we didn’t know was a believer, who was an honest man, and to do it.  But now, I’m sure if you see this lady today, she’d tell you I’m a bad guy.  [laughter]  

I’ll tell you, but, what does it say?  It says, can’t we judge matters ourselves?  [amen]  Can’t we figure out some stuff?  … I know a pastor, a pastor of a 3,000 member church, decides he’s going to divorce his wife.  He gets up in front of the judge, in the city, and the judge says, “I will not hear your case.”  He says, “Why?”  He says, “I know what you preached.”  [oooh]  ”You have no business in my courthouse, a non-believer, divorcing your wife.”  He says, “You go back and do your homework, do whatever you have to do, but get out of my court.  I’ll not sit and hear your case.”  [yes]  That correction should have happened in the House of God, not in some.  my kashooka da na na na.  

Let’s move along.  You guys ok?  [yes]  So, 1 through 11.  He says in verse 3.  ”Do you not know that we shall judge angels?  How much more, things that pertain to this life?  If then you have jugments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?”  In other words, he means get some people with some esteem, some eldership, some deacons, some people that have lived and have some judgment, and then, (clap) judge the case.  

I hope you enjoy this transcript of a sermon by Pastor Don Moore of Living Word Chapel.  
Here is the link to Part One.

What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says. 

 

Say Amen
SHOW 148
Judging Judgment Justification
Part 2

3/21/10

 

We’re going to take a look at judging, judgment, judging, judgment, and justification.  

What is Paul referring to when he gives us this section of scripture?  So, let’s read it again so everybody’s clear.  Romans 14, Verse 10.  ”But why do you judge your brother?  Or why do you show contempt for your brother?  For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”  Before the judgment seat of Christ.  So then he says in verse 14 so we keep in context here.  ”I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.  Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food.…”

 What’s he talking about?  He is saying, hold on now.  When it comes to cultural things and people’s own traditions.  People have established certain things that they say are right and wrong.  He’s saying, don’t judge them, brother, there… We pull it out of its setting, we end up in terrible shape.  He’s saying if some could be having, they could have religion by “iggnance”.  [yep]  They could do certain spiritual things that are spiritual to them, but have no spiritual value.  

Now, if after educating the brethren and helping them with that, if he still chooses to believe that, then guess what?  Don’t judge ‘em.  Leave them alone… You know, if somebody came in here right now.  Listen, they walked in here right now.  And they made the sign of the cross over themselves and they kneeled and then spun around three times.  And then sat down.  Yeah, when the opportunity presents itself as teaching, I’m going to say, “Brother, are you aware that making the sign of the cross, kneeling, and spinning around three times has no spiritual value.”  And if he says this to me, “Well Pastor, I understand it’s not in Scripture, but I just feel cleaner when I do it.”  Then, do not judge the brother.  Leave him alone.  Let him spin all he wants.  [laughter]  Let him bow and kneel and scrape and hovel all he wants.  

But if he walks in here with a statuette of his dead momma, and wants me to kiss it, I gotta judge him.  [right]  … Some of you all look more confused than you were before you came in here.  [laughter]  You know, we were eating dinner last night, and this lady, she says, she says, “Well, I don’t eat pork and I don’t eat beef.”  And so I was like, “Well, that’s interesting.  I see you eat all this other garbage.”  [laughter]  ”You know, so why don’t you eat pork or beef?”  And then she says, “Well, I just have and I grew up in a family where we didn’t.”   I says, “Ok.”  Well, I’m not going to judge her for that.  

What if she was a vegetarian?  I’m not going to judge a vegetarian unless they condemn me for eating, you know, Elsie the cow.  If they’re going to condemn me for eating Elsie the cow, I’ve got to just fire back and say, “Have it to yourself.  If you feel better, eating veggies, wonderful, God bless you.  But don’t judge me and my choice of eating meat.”…  Everybody got that?  [yes]  

I don’t have a problem with Seven Day Adventists.  Seven Day Adventists are primarily veggies, and they live longer than all other denominations.  [that's right]  But I’m not going to judge them for that.  But if they tell me the only day I can go to church is on Saturday, I’m going to respond to that.  

Because why?  If you take something that you’re judging and put it over on someone else’s regulation, you bring them under guilt and condemnation.  And that’s all Paul is saying here.  He is saying, “Come on, don’t be rough on the brethren.  If they’re trying to live right and do right, even if they have some nonsense mixed in there, you know, if it’s not going to kill them and if they’re not going to bring condemnation on you with it, leave ‘em alone.  You know, leave them alone.”  

I know it’s hard for some people, you know.  We’re a Word Church.  We believe the Word.  We hold it up to a higher standard.  But some people hold culture up to a higher standard than we hold the Word.  [hmm]  And so, when we get loud, I’m aware that there’s some people who come to church from Presbyterian, Methodist, or Catholic background, that when they hear all that noise going on and you all jumping up and singing and all, it offends them.  And they feel that you’re not religious or spiritual.  They don’t know that if King David was in here he’d be the loudest one in the place.  [laughter]  They don’t know.  They don’t have a basis for that.  They don’t understand when Jesus said, “That if you stay quiet, the rocks’ll cry out.”  They’re just haven’t looked at enough scripture.  And so, you don’t want to bring them under condemnation or make them feel uncomfortable.  

That’s why, I’m just blessed this morning when Brother Ray sang, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”  Cause we need to mix it up so we don’t bring people under judgment.  Or make them feel that they’re being judged because of cultural things…You know, Jesus has a rock and roll band in Heaven.  But they ain’t rocking and rolling, they’re praising the Lord.  [amen]  But we don’t want to bring people under condemnation because we grew up in a place where only organ or only piano.   We don’t want to judge ‘em like that.  

People come dressed to our church any old kind of way.  Well, what are we supposed to do?  We’re supposed to judge lewdness and help the sister come along.  Brother’s pants are tight, bring him along.  We’re supposed to do that.  Do that.  [laughter]  But if a person comes in a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, they can worship the Lord like that.  I don’t dress like that because I want to say something else when I get to the pulpit.  But, I’m not going to judge another pastor who thinks the best way he should lead his church is to wear jeans and a tee shirt.  He wants to make everybody feel comfortable, wearing jeans and a tee shirt, fine.  

I want to say to ‘em, I’m the priest over this house, and I come before God in my best.  [amen]  I don’t have a problem.  I come up here and I preach the same Gospel in a tee shirt.  But for me, personally, you can’t judge me.  Cause for me, personally, I see in scripture that the priests wore white, clean linen.  I cannot come to the pulpit in a shirt I wore yesterday.  I have to come in a clean shirt.  Now, that’s for me.  Now, do you want to judge me there?  That’s what Paul is saying you’d be wrong to do that.  Leave me alone.  [laughter]  I want to dress up.  Leave me alone.  [that's right]  … [laughter]  I look good.  [you look good]  I like looking good.  And I feel I should look good for God.  But, I feel that you’d be just as holy, I’d preach just as good in a tee shirt and jeans.  And I have a pair of jeans.  One.  [laughter]  But I have ‘em.  Can’t find them.  What did you do with my jeans anyway?  [hid them]  You hid them.  She was judging me.  [laughter]  Ok, do we understand this.  

Paul is talking about food, he’s talking about spiritual things.  Look at, look at verse 20.  “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.  All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.   It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.  Do you have faith?  Have it to yourself before God.  Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”  

In other words, what he’s saying is you can be happy, but what if you approve something that is evil.  What if you approve something that is lewd?  What if you approve something that is disgraceful?   Or dishonorable?  He says, in that case, then God has already judged you.  So be careful of what you approve of...

You know, before I tell a joke, do you know what I do?  I tell it to my wife and ask her, is that a little too off color?  Is that ok?  Be careful of what you approve.  Balance it out.  And say, “Do you approve of this?”  … You know, love the old, love the sinner, and hate the sin thing.  Do you approve of what the sinner does?  Is pedophilia ok to you?  Is homosexuality ok with you?  Is murder, sex, and incest, and all that.  Do you approve of all of that?  Well guess what.  If you approve of those things, then guess what.  You are already under the condemnation of the Lord, for you approve of something that is evil… But don’t judge your brother in anything that is in the grey area.  Leave the grey area alone.  Leave ‘em alone.  … Leave ‘em alone.  Leave ‘em alone.  Alright?  

I approve of dancing.  I don’t have any problem with social dancing whatsoever.  But at the age of 14 I had an experience with God, and you know what I did?  Out of my mouth I said, “Lord, I’ll never dance again on the Lord’s Day.”   Now God did not require that of me.  I didn’t see no neon light that said, “Don’t ever dance again on a Sunday.”  But it came up out of my spirit.  It was something that I loved to dance and social dance and all that.  It was something that I wanted to give up for the Lord at 14.  And you know, I’m 60, going to be 65 this year.  You know I haven’t danced socially on a Sunday.  Had many opportunities.  But don’t judge me by that.  Don’t make me holy.  Pastor Don is holy, he don’t dance on Sunday.  [laughter]  But don’t condemn me and say, “That’s stupid.  That’s a dumb thing to give up.”  … No, to me it was important.  I wanted to do it as unto the Lord.  Why then should you judge me for it? … Leave me alone.  Don’t sneak to my house on Sundays and play music I like.  Trying to get me to shake my bootie or something.  Amen?  [amen]  I’ve been to many weddings.  I love to go to a wedding and dance.  You know…. My wife is beautiful.  We get out there, cruise.  [laughter]  But for me, not on Sunday.  Alright?  But I won’t judge you.  I won’t go to the wedding and see you dancing on a Sunday and decide you’re going to hell.  [amen]  How are you all doing?  You all alright?  [amen]  That’s what he’s trying to get across to us… Let’s do some scripture here.  Alright.  

So.  God, as a way of punishment will bring judgment.  He will bring a system or a sentence onto people that need judgment.  That need to be straightened out.  His first reason for doing this is to bring people to repentance.  God’s judgment comes in order to bring people to repentance.  When they get dry, He withholds the rain until they get to a place where they’ll repent.  And realize that they are dry and they’ll call on the name of the Lord.  Alright?  

Let’s go, let’s look at a couple of really quick ones here.  I want you to go to Isaiah Chapter 2.  Look at one verse there.  Isaiah 2… Everybody alright?… You there?  [yep]  In Isaiah, Chapter 2, verse 12, there are hundreds, I wouldn’t doubt.  I’m sure there’s over 100 verses that talk about the Day of the Lord.  But I guarantee you that there’s 50.  But in this one it says, “For the day of the LORD of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up — and it shall be brought low–”  And then he goes on and on and on of the loftiness of man and what man thinks and so forth.  Now, verse 19.  ”They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the LORD and the glory of His majesty, when He arises… when He arises to shake the earth mightily.”  

Lord have mercy.  Shaking the earth mightily.  ”In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the crags of the rugged rocks, from the terror of the LORD and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily.”  [whoa]  

This is the time period that, if we are coming into the Day of the Lord and the shaking of the planet, which we’re seeing.  And the moving of the earth on its axis, do not be fooled.  Don’t listen to the big lie.  The big lie is not global warming.  The big global warming is a lie in order to bring the world under the new world order.   They want to tax every fossil fuel use, every electrical use, they want to bring all the nations of the world.  They want to take the rich nations who use a lot of fossil fuels and tax them.  They want to get governmental control through the world bank and through the machine.  Through the world, one world government machine.  Global warming is a necessary step to bring all the nations together.  And they’re going to take from the rich and give to the poor.  The theory is, the rich nations are polluters.  They must pay a tax for the poor nations so that we can raise their level of whatever.  And global warming is the excuse that they’re using for that.  

So let’s not be confused here.  We are facing climate change.  [yes]  Climate change.  Why?  Because all, about in the last five, the last ten years, we have had three major earthquakes that have moved the planet off its axis, and since then, the weather has been changing drastically.  

My wife and I just got back from Florida where the fish kill was in the 1000′s of 1000′s.  On the East Coast of Florida, the south of Florida, and the West Coast.  And none of that news was released in the Northeast.  They told you something about strawberries and oranges.  But they didn’t tell you that there were 40,000 snook killed just on one beach where we were.  40,000.  The water got so cold that the fish were trapped and just died, washed ashore.  There was no beach that we went to in a three week period, on the north, south, east, west of Florida that did not have dead fish floating all over the place.  We are facing climate change.  Can you say, “Climate change.”  [climate change]  The earth has been moved on its axis and the climate is changing.  Just as God said it would.  He is shaking the earth.  Things are changing.  His judgment when He comes, He withholds the Word.  He withholds the Word.  People get dry.  Things get dry.  The earth begins to crack.  He begins to shake and to move things.  And that’s what we’re facing right now.  Alright?  

And Obama and the rest of the boys can’t stop it.  They’re busy getting us into other problems.  [amen]  You know.  And don’t be fooled.  The health situation, the health situation is just a scam for the same thing.  Get economic control over all peoples.  And, watch this.  Get an identification system in place.  They can’t do it any other way but to give us all a medical process that will command and demand code identification of every human.  …

Amos 5.  I know Amos is a little hard to find… Ok, you there?  Am I alone here?  [no]  Come on, Amos.  Page 1184.  [1314, laughter]  1314 huh.  Alright.  Verse 18.  Here we go.  ”Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!  For what good is the day of the LORD to you?  It will be darkness, and not light.  It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him!  Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him!  Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light?  Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?”  And then He says, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies.  Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.  Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.”  Look at this.  ”But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”  

Lord have mercy.  In the next few verses He talks about idols and idol worship.  And I thought to myself.  You know, God, judgment is coming on America for a number of different reasons.  But one reason is we’ve given ourselves over to idolatry.  And the people say, “Well, wait a minute.  We don’t have all these running around little statues.”  What are you talking about?  The number one, one of the number one hit shows in America is, [American Idol] … Not only that, you’ll stop any American.  They know more, listen to me.  They know more about Tiger Woods and his stuff and Rothelsburg  and his stuff, and all the different idols.  We’ve set Alex Rodriges up as an idol.  We’ve set up all of these men and women up as idols, and we worship them.  You can’t get out the supermarket without seeing all of the tabloid idol worship magazines.  [that's right, amen]  People Magazine.  People.  What people?  The people that have reached idol status.  [that's right]  We’re idol worshippers here.  

And, guess what’s also popular?  And if you have one in your car, I’m coming out there right now.  We’ve got dream catchers and beam catchers and devil tools in our cars.  Little bitty saints and little magical things.  You know, what are you, what are we talking about here? … I mean, it’s nuts.  We raise, you know, we got… bad enough we had the, you know…. never mind.  [laughter]  I can’t believe, you know.  We make these rock stars.  We take rock stars.  They sing songs about sex and perversion and nonsense, and then we make them rich, famous, and then put pictures of them up on the walls of our house and go, “Aren’t they wonderful.”  … And we’ve made idols of preachers.  [yeah, come on]  We’ve given superstar status to men of God who are servants.  

They’re not to be worshipped.  [amen]  Not to, “I can’t get my healing unless I go to Joe Schmo.”  What do you mean?  Joe Schmo ain’t gonna heal you anyway.  [that's right]  Made idol of spiritual men… Judge not.  If we take down the things of God and replace them with the things of man, it is an idol.  [yes]  Everybody alright?  Lets, can you do some more scripture with me?  

Ok, let’s move on down to Amos 5:15 is a good verse.  5:15.  ”Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate.  It may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”  Now, watch this carefully, what I’m about to say.  God will always preserve for Himself a remnant.  When He brings judgment on somewhere, it’s to cause repentance.  But out of Him causing repentance, He will always save a remnant.  Cause He looks on the heart of men.  

Let’s go to the book of Daniel.  Right in front of this… In front of Hosea.  Daniel Chapter 12, verse 1.  Chapter 12, verse 1.  You there?  [yes]  Are you there?   Are you there?  [yes]  Ok, Daniel 12:1  ”At that time Michael shall stand up,…”  At what time?  At the end of this aeon, at the end of this age.  And He says, look, “The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble,…”  Lord have mercy.  ”Such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time.  And at that time your people shall be delivered,…”  

In other words, God has a remnant.  He is going to deliver His remnant.  Say, “I want to be”  [I want to be]  in the remnant. [in the remnant]”  Come on, stand up and say it, come on.  ”I want to be [I want to be]  in the remnant [in the remnant].  I want to be in the remnant.  You may be seated, thank you.  [hallelujah]  

When all hell is breaking loose on the earth, and God brings His judgment to match it, you have to realize there are two forces coming together here.  Since the Peter, since Peter stood up and declared from the scriptures that we were in the Last Days, Paul echoed the same thing.  And said that satan is going about to seek and kill and destroy the church.  He’s coming to destroy the Jews and the people.  So, the terror and the tribulation, listen to me carefully, of satan, has always been here since Jesus went to the cross.  And it has been escalating higher and higher.  So, we’re living on the planet where what happens?  Where satan’s trouble, the trouble is getting worse and worse and worse.  And satan is doing it.  

At a certain point of that trouble, God supernaturally joins the fray.  I hope somebody gets this. The devil has been doing tribulation from the beginning.  From the time of Adam, got worse during the time of Jesus, and then he stepped it up against the Church.  Going more and more trouble, and more and more trouble.  God is going to enter the battle, enter the fray.  He is going to enter it from His position on Heaven, and He’s going to enter it through the angels and the saints of God on the earth.  [glory]  

Now, when God enters the battle, it’s on two fronts.  The first way He enters the battle is this, He designed it all and He timed it all.  [that's right]  He spun the earth into position.  Spun the sun into position.  Spun it.  And like anything, listen to me carefully.  Like anything that has motion, it has a decaying motion as well.  So He spins the universe into place, voom. 

The Hubble Telescope confirms it.  He spin it in.  The Hubble telescope says that the whole universe is expanding and slowing down.  The whole universe.  Everything is moving away.  How did they come up with the Big Bang?  Since everything was moving away, they realized it had to start from a central location.  Where God was in the central location, He flung the worlds into their position.  But, once they established their orbits, their orbits are decaying.  Once the earth is slowing down, it is like spinning a top.  Voom.  He spun it and it stood up straight for a long time, but it’s only a 6,000 year clock.  It’s only a 6,000 year spin.  He only put enough velocity on it to keep it upright for 6,000 years.  I’m trying to help you.  Now, it’s beginning to [wobble].  It’s beginning to wobble.  

It isn’t anything Al Gore’s doing.  [laughter]  Nothing to do with Al Gore.  It has nothing to do with carbon fumes coming out of the back end of your vehicle.  Has nothing to do with that.  When a tsunami breaks out because the plates of the earth shift, it wasn’t no global warming.  It was global decay.  It’s starting to wobble.  

It’s going to get so bad that earthquakes and volcanoes will continue to erupt until God finally says, “Yeperie, it’s time for a New Heaven and a New Earth.”  And that’s scripture.  Read your Bible.  [yep]  So, you happen to be born in the wobble period.  

God changes things in the natural by the schedule that He has set up.  [that's right]  Everybody got it?  He has set up a schedule for the earth so it will wobble and all of that.  It’s scheduled.  It’s built into the time clock.  

The second way is that He brings judgment by loosing certain spiritual things in the earth.  In the Bible it tells us He’s going to break seven seals.  Seven trumpets are going to blow.  

He’s going to, this information is going to happen in different stages because why?  Because of what He’s decreed in the natural.  But He’s also decreed certain things in the spiritual.  Everybody got that?  [yes]  So, right now we look at circumstances and we go, “Well, is that God or is that the devil?”  … Hello…. [yeah, yeah]  Is that God or is that the devil?  And we have to begin to realize that a little bit down the road from now we will begin to discern whether it is the natural wobble or the actual hand of God.  But I have good news for you.  If it’s the spiritual hand of God, of judgment, the saint is in position to be under the cover of the Lord.  

Transcript of a sermon by Pastor Don Moore.  What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says.  I bolded a few important points FYI.  I hope that helps.

SAY AMEN
SHOW 147
JUDGING, JUDGMENT, JUSTIFICATION PART 1 

We’re going to take a look at judging, judgment and justification.  Judging, judgment and justification.  We’re going to take a look at that.  I don’t know if we can get all that done in the amount of time that we have but let’s begin this study.  I know it will be a blessing to you whether we do it all in one week or two, it really won’t matter.  The reason that we need to look at the object of judging, judgment and justification.  That is a mouthful.  I didn’t think of that when I got it, you know.  Can you say that fast three times?  [judging, judgment, justification, judging judgment, justification, judging, judgment, justification - laughter]  Boy, you people are all right.  You people are all right, I’m telling you.  Oh, my goodness.  So, let’s take a look at these.

Now the reason that it is so important right now is because of where we are on planet earth in the time period that we are here. The time period that we’re here dictates a certain thing.  We’re going, and we have been for some time in the United States of America, we have been in a dry period… We’ve been in a dry period.  And during a dry period, certain things happen on the earth.  

Today it’s raining and that’s beautiful.  Today if you decided to turn up the fallow ground, it would be an easy task because the ground has soaked up some water.  Now remembering that, as I’ve taught you before, the water – water represents the [Word]. The Word.  The Word of God is expressed in Scripture as water.  Water is the Word, the Word is water.  And therefore, when God rains upon the earth, He is giving us a physical expression of what He wants to do in the spiritual.  He makes things wet, prepares them so that they can grow.  

But it is during periods of dryness that the earth is under the evil that it has done and therefore judgment from God has come.  When God wants to judge a land, He closes the Heavens, and He withholds rain.  In other words, He withholds the Word of God.  And you think of it yourself.  When you’ve been in those dry places, you stayed away from the Word.  You didn’t turn it on TV, on radio, you didn’t come to Church, you stayed in a dry place.  And when you’re in a dry place for a while, what happens is, the atmosphere over you also becomes dry, the air around you becomes dry and the ground itself, which represents you, becomes dry.  Your spiritual ground, once it becomes dried out, what happens, it cracks…[that's right]

The earth right now is going through a series of cracks, through a series of earthquakes  [that's right]  that are cracking the ground and breaking the ground.  And so, when you’re in a dry period, the ground cracks.  The other thing that happens is, it’s easy to blow away the soil.  The Bible says we become subject to the winds of other doctrines.  So when we’re dry and the wind blows, the dust picks up, the dust picks up and we begin to lose soil.  And those things that are close and important to us, because the ground is cracked and dry, that (wind sounds) the wind blows them away, so we lose, watch this now, topsoil.  The topsoil that should be fertile is now dry and cracked.  

Therefore, the things that we have learned, that hold us foundationally solid, they get blown away and we end up in doubt and unbelief.  And guess what?  We then become unsuited for seed... Unsuited for seed.  Also, when the ground cracks and gets dry, it gives birth to other insects that normally would not inhabit that area.  Crawly things start crawling around in the dust.  Animals in the dust.  You know, the snakes and different little beetles and bugs.  They come up out of the ground since it’s dry, and go on the surface and just eat away.  

And that’s you not doing your, when you’re dry, it just eats away at you.  And things that don’t usually bother you, now all of a sudden, they irritate you greatly.  You come to church and you’re just, “Aargh, arragh, I can’t stand her.  aaargh, can’t stand him.”  And you begin judging.  ”Pastor shouldn’t have preached that.  Pastor should have preached something else.  arrrgh, arraagh.”  So you become all dried up, shriveling.  Your top soil is gone and then you begin to devour the dust.  You’re eating dust… dust…. blowing around,  hawgh.  Choking, you’re choking on it.  

And when you choke on it, what do you do?  You look for something to eat.  You look for moisture.  And usually, you’ll end up devouring and judging other people.  When people get dry, they have no word in them, no water, no sustenance, and so, out of their dryness, they will become cannibals, eat other people.  And it is out of their dryness, they’re seeking for something, and so they will seek moisture anywhere that they can get it.  And unfortunately, it usually results in them becoming judgmental, looking at what they don’t have, and instead of acknowledging that I don’t have water and because they’ve stopped drinking, because they’ve stopped creating the atmosphere, you know what I mean – You have to create an atmosphere.  

You ever get to the situation where you don’t want to read your Bible?  Come on now.  [well]  Let’s get real.  You wake up, you don’t want to pray.  The Spirit of God says, “Go pray.”  And you go, what?  ”I don’t feel like it.  I don’t wanna.  Too busy.”  But, what you’ll do as a result of that is begin looking for other people who are dry or looking for people that have a lot of water, and you will attack them… You will judge them.  Since your resources are dried up, and you need, you therefore then will judge others…    But!!! Moving right along.  How are you all doing?  Everybody ok?  Huh?  None of those dry people are here today cause you got wet comin’ to church today.  [laughter]   Cause it’s just raining everywhere.  So, let’s understand it today.  

Today what I want to do is I want to break down almost all of the scriptures that refer to this and give us a wider understanding.  We’ve heard the world say, “Judge not, judge not, judge not, judge not, judge not.”  Is that true?  Is that what Jesus meant when He said judge not, or should we look at the whole length of what He said, and why did He say it?  Where are we supposed to be in the judgment continuum?  So we want to understand judging.  

Now, first of all, who’s the judge and how did they get to be a judge?  The heads of families, in the Scriptures, and we look and we see that the heads of families and the elders of the tribe were the only ones that were put in position to judge.  Let me say it again.  The heads of families and the elders of the tribe were put in position to judge.  They were expected to make the call.  

Well, why the heads of families and why the elders?  Because they had longer life, more experience, and more failure than the younger ones.  [laughter]  You become a successful judge, not based on your success, but based on the amount of failure and then success as a result of those failures.  The one who knows most about standing tall is the one who’s gotten up again and again.  [hallelujah]  How are you doing?  Everybody here?  [yes]  So, it’s not those who fall down, but those who have in falling down, get back up, who can then be in position and place to make judgment calls.  

Alright, the other ones that are successful at judging are those who have overcome obstacles, difficulties, and problems.  Because the overcomer is the one who has successfully found, watch this now, found his own flaws.  Self-examination is the foundation upon which judgment is made.  If you cannot examine yourself, then how dare you think you’re going to judge somebody else?  You have to have been successful at self-examination before you can wear the armor and before you can yield the sword of judging.  You have to.  So, if you’ve never been tested, never been tried, never been through anything, you’re immediately disqualified from making a judgment call on someone else.  The deeper the pit that they have climbed out of demonstrates the strength with which they emerge with.  

You’re not strong cause you climb out of the pit because someone helped you out.  You’re strong because you clawed your own way out by your own ability and muscle and the strength of God helping you and therefore your arms are strong, your nails are strong, and when you get out, you want to look like God.  God who is the strongest of all will judge.  He is a judge.  He is the final judge, the final arbitrator.  Because He is greater and stronger than all of us.  And therefore God wants us to judge with His nature.  

The problem is, is when you make judgments from your flesh, you have sinned.  You have stepped into the arena of hypocrisy when you judge, especially judging someone who is going through something that you do not know nor do you understand.  That makes you a hypocrite, and you are weak, and you are trying to do what?  Do the same thing I said last week, you cannot build an altar to yourself, standing on the carcass of someone that you judge.  [amen]  How we doin’?  You ok?  [yes]  You’ll all alright?  [yep]  

So God enters into the scene, deciding who can judge on that basis, the basis of what you’ve succeeded at and what you failed at.  The basis on which you’ve been tested in and what you’ve proved yourself.  The things that you have accomplished, and those things are the one that determine whether you can make a judgment call or not.  So, the elders of the tribe who’ve been through the most stuff, the heads of families who’ve been through some stuff, they’re the ones established in their righteousness, they have to be working in righteousness, in their righteousness they’ve put themselves in position to make the call, not only based on their experiences, but based on the fact that they have survived their experiences and now are standing on righteousness.  

So you can judge, you are called to judge, scripture, I will give you and will prove it.  The problem, we’re in a dry situation in America, is because America has refused to judge and therefore God will bring judgment in areas where the righteous have failed to judge.  [amen]…

Revelation Chapter 20.  We’re gonna talk about judgment and justification.  How we doin’?  [good]… Amen.  Now, in Revelation Chapter 20, verse 12.   ”And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged...” Everybody see it there?  [yes]  This is judgment.  God’s going to bring judgment.  ”…were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.”  

In other words, if there is anyone in Hades, which is another word for Gehenna, which is the burning place, or hell, which is another name for it, there are  many names for it.  But the end result is the same.  It says that some people died in the sea and their bodies, their physical bodies are in the sea.  And Death and Hades, hell, “…delivered up the dead who were in them.”  So there are some people that are captive in death, some people that are captive in hell.  And it says they delivered up, the dead, who were in them.  ”And they were judged, each one according to his works.”  

So, in other words, there is this judgment that man, all men, living and dead will go through at the end of this epic or the end of this eon.  Or the end of this aeon, however you look at it.  We are in an aeon, a period of time that is going to end and then another aeon will begin.  

Now, it says then in verse 14.  ”Then Death and Hades...”  Death and Hell as we know it, “…were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.”  

In other words, judgment has a series of deaths.  When you keel over and die, I’m looking forward to that, you’re welcome to die in service, cause I, you know, the Lord has used me to bring people out of comas and stuff like that, blind eyes, deaf ears, seen all of that.  Cancerous tumors, seen all, have been blessed to lay hands on the sick and see them recover.  But I need somebody that is flatlined, totally flatlined, [amen]  I’m waiting for that, so if you choose to die physically in the service, I’m going to be on you like white on rice [laughter].  I’m coming to get ya.  [laughter]  Like now.  Like now…

I went to the hospital, a family called me up, and said, “Could you go?”  Their background was Catholic, so they wanted me to go give last rites to this guy.  He was in a coma.  They’re figuring they’re going to disconnect him the next day and he’d be gone.  So I went up to Benedictine, matter of fact it was, I went up to the hospital, I go late at night.  When I do hospital visits, I go late at night.  When it’s quiet and I can pray and talk and hear the voice of the Lord.  So he’s layin’ there.  And they’re going to disconnect him and they know that there’s no life in this guy.  You know, he’s history.  So, I wait till the nurses and doctors leave and I pray and I get in the Spirit, and I pray in the Spirit, and I’m ready.  

So I go over to the guy, grab him and I’m praying with him, holding his hand, and I ask the nurse,  I says, “This guy moved or done anything?”  She says, “No, he hasn’t moved for days.”  He has no movement, no way he could move cause his brain activity yada, yada, yada.  And so forth, you know.  She says, “He hasn’t twitched, moved, nothing.”  So, anyway, I grab his hand anyway. I grab his feet, Yeah I grab them, I just grabbed everything, gonna pray.  Following where the Lord wants me to dismiss this guy’s spirit from.  See, I’m going to command his spirit to leave his body and go be with the Lord… That’s the deal.  They think I’m going to give last rites, no need, I’m not doing that.  What I’m doing is gonna dismiss this guy to go be with the Lord.  

So, I’m praying, getting ready to pray for this guy to die,  And it chokes up in my throat.  I ‘can’t pray, so I’m praying for his spirit to, I can’t…chokes in my throat.  And I realized something else is going on.  So I get my Bible and I sit over in the corner.  And sure enough, the doctor comes in, checks him and all like that.  ”What are you doing here?”  And I say, I’m a minister.  He said, “Well, he’s in your hands cause we can’t do anything for him.  Tomorrow when we disconnect him, you know, that will be the end of that.”  And I said, “Yeah, I know that’s what they said.”  He leaves.  So, I’m just sitting there praying and praying.  

You know, the Lord gave me a verse of scripture.  A verse of scripture.  It was like Corinthians 10:4 or something like that.  And I said, “Lord, Lord what are you saying?”  I look it up and it says Christ is alive in us.  I realized that I’m not supposed to be praying for the guy to go, I’m praying for him to come back.  [laughter]  So I get up now, I got  a word from the Lord.  I grab his hand, the minute I grabbed his hand and laid my hand on his head, cause see, now I’m praying for him to come back.  From his feet I’m praying for him to leave.  But now I’m praying for him to (motions with hands) [laughter]  Never mind.  See, if you wake up in the hospital and I’ve got your feet,… [laughter]  You’re on your way out.  [laughter]  Lord have mercy.  

So I grab his hand and lay hands on his head.  And as I begin to pray, he starts twitching and squeezing my hand, and movin’, and moving around.  You know, and his little eyes open up and all like that.  And so, I just thanked the Lord.  And I just left, and I’m laughing, you know.  Because I know what’s gonna happen.  Sure enough, they call me at 10 o’clock in the morning.  They disconnected this guy.  He sat up and asked for breakfast.  [applause & laughter]  I said, “Praise God, Amen.”   And you know, he was a good, good brother.  Came and participated in the church, and here’s what I found out.  When I was speaking to his wife, who was crying with tears, you know, they were a young couple, in their 40′s.  

And here’s what she said.  She said, “Pastor Don, I’m so glad he didn’t die.”  I said, “Why?”  She says, “He had the heart attack five minutes after I told him I wish you were dead.”  [what?]  … They had had an argument, and she screamed out, “I wish you were dead.”  Ten minutes later, he hit the floor.   Had a massive heart attack…   Isn’t that amazing?  So the Lord brought him back to resolve that situation for she never in life would have survived the guilt of that.  [amen]  … God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.  

So, there is physical death of the physical body.  That’s considered the first death.  So if you die physically, if you drop dead in here right now, that is experiencing the first death.  Obviously if the judgment that’s coming upon man is the second death, as the scripture said, all the books will be opened, all of mankind will be judged and those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, those who have, were judged by their works and their works were evil, will be cast into the lake of fire.  Everybody see that?  [yes]  Let’s read it again, just so we’re clear on it.  In verse 13.  ”The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death...” which is a spirit, “and Hades...”  hell, which is a spirit and a holding place, “were cast into the lake of fire. This is the…” [second death]  ”...second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”  

Now, we’re going to look at this even more so, but I want you to just look in chapter 21, verse 24.  21 verse 24. … And it says in verse 24, “And the nations of those who are saved….  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.  it’s gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).”  I love that song.  ”And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.”  Into the city.  ”But there shall by no means enter it anything that...” what? [defiles]  ”defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”  

Ok, I give you two scriptures so you can see it says, more that you get the flavor of it here.  Now I want you to look a little again, over to verse 14.  Chapter 22, verse 14.  22:14.  Look what He says.  ”Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.  But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”  

So, what do we have then here?  Look up here.  What we have is that the end of this aeon, at the end of this epic, at the end of this time period, the Bible only covers 6,000 years of man’s existence.  At the end of that time, God is going to judge each and every one of us, the living and the dead.  The believer, the non-believer.  And we’re going to look at more of those scriptures there.  And what does He say?  He says that He is going to judge Death and Hell for they are evil.  If you remember, when Adam and Eve were on the earth, there was no death.  They were designed to live and be companions to God forever.  But the process of sin entered the world and therefore God is going to judge that whole process.  

And the scripture ends with the reality that the City of God will be under a new Heaven and a new Earth.  But outside will still be that which is evil.  For it will be judged and it will remain so.  

Romans 14 beginning at verse 9.  ”For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”  So Christ is Lord over the dead.  Why would it say the dead?  It is referring to those who have already, previously, physically died.  He has to be Lord over everyone from Adam who has died all the way up to yesterday.  He is Lord over the dead, all of the dead.  He is Lord over all the living.  All those that are alive and all those that are going to be alive prior to the stopping of this aeon.  The end of this aeon, or the end of this age.  Everybody got that?  [yes]  

He is Lord.  What does that mean?  He is CEO.  He is boss.  He is God and over all of that.  The living and the dead.  

Now, let’s go on, verse 10.  ”But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  For it is written: “As I live, says the LORD, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”"  So, verse 12.  ”So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.  Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.”  

Don’t you know that when you judge your brother you can put a stumbling block in their way when you judge them.  And that weight of that guilt or that accusation or that contempt has the ability to cause someone to stumble.  We need to understand something, the scripture, there is not a blanket “do not judge.”  But Jesus gives us guidelines and we’re going to look at those guidelines.  

The Apostle Paul is saying to us here, hold on Church of God, who is it you’re to judge, and who is it you’re not to judge?  And here’s what it says.  It says that I am not to judge another brother in the Church as to whether he is condemned or not condemned, going to hell or not going to hell.  That’s not.  I cannot see the heart of the individual, therefore I must not attempt to be Jesus.  I must not attempt to be God.  I must not raise myself up to a God status and bring judgment on someone.  

What kind of judgment is he talking about?  The judgment of hellfire.  We’re not to judge another brother and say, “Listen, you believe Jesus, you confess Jesus, but you’re going to hell.”,,, everybody got that?  [yep]  

Now, there are other scriptures that point out how and when we are supposed to judge.  And we want to look at those.  But right here it’s saying, don’t you know, in the Church of Jesus Christ, when you don’t like how short her skirt is or how much cleavage she’s showing.  When you judge that and say she’s going to hell, and she’s a sister in the Church, guess what?  You are causing yourself to sin, you’re not helping her.  You’re bringing her under condemnation.  And He says, you shouldn’t judge each other that way… How do you know, maybe it’s the only clothes she has… Maybe she’s never been taught… Maybe she doesn’t know… Maybe she just came from the streets and you the first one she meets.  Whoa… alright here?  huh?  Don’t send anybody to hell cause you be on the way there with ‘em.  [laughter]  

Now what is Paul referring to when he gives us this section of scripture?   So let’s read it again so everybody’s clear.  Verse 10.  ”…why do you judge your brother?  Or why do you show contempt for your brother?  For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”  Before the judgment seat of Christ.  So then he says in verse 14.  So we keep in context here.  ”I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.  Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food,…”  What in the, what’s he talking about?  He is saying, hold on now.  When it comes to cultural things, and people’s own traditions, people have established certain things that they say are right, wrong.  He’s saying don’t judge them brother, there.  

 

I hope this sermon blesses you.

Heather

Please consider ranking my review at the following link.  

When the Hurt Runs Deep by Kay Arthur

 

We live in a world where no one is exempt from pain and hurt.  Sometimes in the midst of great pain we are tempted to blame God or think that He has forgotten us.  Our minds struggle to figure out why God would permit such suffering.  We have a choice.  We can hold on to the pain in bitterness and unforgiveness or we can apply God’s truth and find lasting healing.  The principles and Bible studies that Kay Arthur shares in When the Hurt Runs Deep give practical examples that readers can apply in their circumstances.

 

Kay Arthur shares twelve healing truths to remember when we are in the midst of our pain.  Most of her truths are based on an understanding of the true nature of God.  That God is sovereign and loves us.  If pain is permitted in our lives, God will use that pain to help us grow.  He will never permit any pain that is not beneficial to our lives.  At times God permits pain to bring us to the end of ourselves, so that we turn to Him to help us. 

 

Through Biblical studies of the lives of Job, Joseph, David, and Paul, Kay Arthur shows us how God uses pain and suffering to help His children grow and put them in places where they can be of benefit to God’s Kingdom.  If we think God doesn’t understand our pain, she shares how Jesus felt every kind of shame, rejection, hurt and pain that we experience. Kay also shares testimony from her life and the struggles and testimonies of others to encourage the reader to understand God’s healing.  Only when we take our problems to the Cross and turn them over to God can deep and significant healing occur.  Kay assures us that there is no problem that is too great for God to heal and handle.  God can heal pain in our present situation and deep pains caused by hurtful past experiences.

 

She deals with the important issue of forgiveness.  We need to forgive those who hurt us and we need to forgive ourselves when we have sinned.  If we hold on to guilt and anger we are not trusting in the complete work of Jesus on the Cross.  He died to forgive us all from sin.  We need to make a decision to believe God.  Kay says, “The more you discipline yourself to diligently study the Bible rather than rely on the writings of men, the more deeply you will experience His healing…Complete healing will never come if you don’t first believe that all your sins are forgiven – forgiven by God Almighty, by His Son, and by His Spirit. Until you accept this fact by faith, there will always be a shadow between you and God, a shadow where lies and unjust condemnation lurk in the darkness of unbelief.” (p 182)

 

Kay’s book includes a helpful appendix detailing practical helps to get through the pain while we wait for the healing of God in our circumstances.  Reading the Word, walking in faith, holding on to God in the midst of the hurt, praise and worship music, and taking care of our physical needs are a few of her suggestions.  There are also study questions that help the reader to process the information in the chapters.  These questions would be great guides for small groups to explore healing from hurt and pain.

 

Knowing God as I do now, the principles in this book make sense and I can see how the truths of God bring lasting healing.  Had I come across this book before I had an understanding of who God is, before I knew of His incredible love, and had a foundation in the Word of God, I am not sure I would have been able to read the book from cover to cover.   Some of the principles that Kay covers in her book, for example God’s sovereignty, His permitting pain for the greater good, and the need to forgive those who hurt us would have been difficult for me to believe and receive.  Before I had a relationship with God, these concepts would have angered me.  If you give this book to an unbelieving friend, I would recommend reading and discussing the principles with them.  Better still, first lead them in a study that would help the person understand the deep love of God.  Without understanding God’s love, this book will be hard to absorb.

 

I highly recommend When the Hurt Runs Deep to anyone who has suffered hurt and pain.  Kay lovingly and gently leads the reader through the Bible and lays out principles that can be applied to help overturn hurt and pain. 

 

I was given this book by Waterbrook/Multnomah for review.  I hope this review blesses you.  Heather Marsten

This is a transcript of a sermon by Pastor Don Moore, Living Word Chapel, West Hurley, New York.  What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says. I edited slightly to make it easier to read and highlighted some of the important points.  I hope this sermon blesses you.  Heather

You can read part one of the sermon here.   Part two  here.

SAY AMEN
SHOW 146
Victory in Faith Part 3
2/29/10

As we look at the enemies of faith and the victory through faith.  There are many things that present obstacles to faith and if we’re going to fight the good fight of faith.  If we’re going to live the life of faith, these enemies and obstacles must be understood in order to be overcome.  And what better place to go to understand then the Bible.  In the Bible we have people’s testimonies of faith, but more importantly, we have the Lord God, Himself, responding when their faith failed and responding when their faith was successful.  Telling them exactly what they did that made it work or telling them why it didn’t work… So, will you walk with me through the scriptures as we look at the enemies of faith but also the victory of faith?  And I’ve got ‘em all marked out here, we’re not going to mess around.  We’re going to just get this done.  How many of you are ready?  Huh?…

Alright, first enemy of faith [worry].  Worry.  Anxious mind.  
Second enemy of faith. Come on.  [carnal reasoning]  Carnal reasoning, trying to figure things out.  
The third.  [negative eyes]  Seeing with negative eyes.  Letting your circumstances dominate your faith.  
Here’s the fourth one.  Which is always prevalent as an undercurrent.  Fear…Fear.  Fear.  

If you’re writing these enemies down, when you get into a faith situation, you can just go down the list and say, “Huh, let me address these and get this out of my body, out of my mind, out of my house.”  Take them item by item.  I do!  [amen]  … Yeah, I do.  

Two nights ago I woke up 3 o’clock in the morning, and the devil had leaped on me with both feet.  And you know, Cynthia, I never finished telling you did I? I never finished telling you.  At 3 o’clock in the morning, jumped on me with both feet and all of a sudden in my mind and in my body, I’m feeling, I’m in a full-blown gout attack.  On my left foot, I just woke up an a terror, like in a sweat.  Gotcha now.  You have a full blown gout attack, you won’t be able to walk tomorrow.  You’re going to be in pain for the next week.  You know, it’s just swollen, you’re just going to be miserable.  Just in the middle of my sleep.  And in my mind, I could see my foot, and I could see it all swollen, and the pain.  While I’m in the middle of my sleep.  

You know, I didn’t even wake up.  My Spirit man rose up and said, “This is a lie from the pit of hell.  I don’t receive it.  I don’t have it.”  …[amen]  Cause a spirit of fear was trying to come on me, in my sleep.  And I says, “I don’t have it and it’s a lie. I don’t receive it.”  … [amen]  I don’t receive it.  I just rolled over and went back to bed.  Woke up in the morning, fine.  Didn’t even think about it until about 9 o’clock and that’s when I told my wife. I said, “Remember, I said, you won’t believe what happened to me last night.”  

If the devil can get you into fear, he will come in the middle of the night, early in the morning, anytime that you’re not watching the shop.  [amen]  You have to be diligent about watching the shop.  He will sneak up on you and give you a symptom that you don’t want.  And if you volunteer for it through fear, he’ll lay it on you.  

Now here’s another way he can lay it on you.  Chapter 9.  You ready?  Chapter 9 Verse 1.  “So He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own city.  Then behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer;…”  Read the next line. “...your sins are forgiven you.”  Your whata whata?  [sins]  

An obstacle to your faith is sin.  When you have sin in your life, you are afraid to go to God.  Now, come on, tell the truth.  You get, I’m afraid, I’m afraid to ask God for anything.  Why?  Cause you know you have sin in your life.  You don’t expect the blessings of God to fall on a man that’s a sinner.  You don’t expect that when you’re not walking right, not talking right, not acting right, you don’t believe that God is going to bless you, that He’s going to heal you.  That He’s going to deliver you or do anything else.  Because sin is an obstacle to your faith…

He says to this guy… He says to this guy, “Your sins are forgiven.”  And then in a few more passages, a few more scriptures, He says, “Huh, is it easier for me to forgive sin?”  He says, “Well, if you don’t believe the Son of Man has authority to forgive sin,”  He said, “Pick up your bed and walk.”  [right]  Because why?  Since He forgave the man’s sin, He removed the obstacle to the dude’s healing.  [right]  Cause sin was his problem… If you got that shake your head.  [yeah]  Sin was his problem.  And therefore, he couldn’t get his healing until he dealt with his sin.  But he didn’t even deal with it, his sin.  Jesus dealt with his sin.  And said, “Guess what, you’re forgiven.”  In other words, the highway is now clear, you can be healed.  [amen]  

… Sin is an obstacle.  And everybody’s not walking in their righteousness.  There’s a lot more deadly sins than drinking and smoking dope…. A lot more sins.  A lot more deadly sins.  Your tongue and a critical mind is a greater sin than your physical act of hurting your body.… Cause with it you destroy other people.  You demonstrate a weakness of character. … Moving right along.  [laughter]  

Let’s go to Luke 7…. I’m taking all of these, boy, and they’re no room for, you ain’t going to find an exception to these, they’re just all over the Bible.  Here, Luke, Chapter 7… Jesus is in Simon’s house and a woman comes in.  She’s kissing Jesus’ feet, she’s crying, she’s anointing Jesus’ head, she’s pouring out this beautiful fragrance.  In verse 47, watch this.  ”Therefore I say to you,…” Verse 47.  ”…her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.  But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”  

Remember, at the beginning, what did I say you need at the beginning to receive this Word?”  You need to be humble.  You need to be humble.  This woman is humbling herself.  She’s humble.  And so what Jesus is saying, is, “Your humility will permit you to go places that your pride can’t take you.”  … And so, what does He say.  He says, “Guess what, your sin has been a problem in your life.”  And He says, “But, guess what, it’s removed now.”  …

And look at verse 50.  Since He removes her sin problem, verse 50 comes into play.  ”…Your faith has saved you.…”  Hallelujah!  ”…Go in peace.”  Well, what was her faith in?  Her faith was in the fact that when He said her sins were forgiven, she believed Him.  She believed Him!  When He said, “Your sins are forgiven.”  She believed that, and therefore the way to salvation opened up for her.  Her faith had saved her…  Sin is an obstacle.  Pride is an obstacle.  A critical tongue and a critical mind, they are obstacles.  So we need to humble ourselves.  

Yeah, drunkenness, the Scripture’s clear about that.  It’s clear about pharmacia, and drug use.  You know.  Pharmacia, drug use, drunkenness, you know, the Bible’s clear on all of that.  But what we have to understand is what is He saying?  He is saying that all sin is an obstacle.  

And you want to see the biggest one, that’ll block you?  Go to Mark 11… Mark 11.  Somebody groaned because they know which it is.  You there?  [yeah]  Mark 11.  This passage begins with God demonstrating His great power, His great faith.  He curses a fig tree, the fig tree dies.  Jesus, when He cursed it, He didn’t care what it looked like.  He knew He cursed it.  Therefore He knew the manifestation would come.  Instantly after He cursed it, it looked the same.  Come on somebody.  Anybody here?  When He cursed it, at the moment that He cursed the fig tree it looked the same.  [yep]  It took 12 hours, a minimum of 12 hours before the manifestation of the curse became manifested in the tree.  He spoke the curse and it took some time.  

Don’t look at your symptoms and wonder why they’re still there.  They’re already gone.  It’s just that you still see them.  Don’t let what you see be a negative confession to a hold and let the devil stay.  Jesus cursed the fig tree, and went about His business.  When I have sickness in my body, and you know, God has done a great thing in me.  You can’t, I can’t, nobody in this church can come up with a, “Pastor Don wasn’t here because he was sick.”  … Come on.  I’ve been preaching here a long time.  How many of you remember a Sunday that I was so sick I wasn’t here?  I’ve preached here many times sick.  Fever running all through my body.  But I believe, I receive, and if I believe I receive, I’m going to ignore the symptoms and get my behind where I’m supposed to be.  On time, dressed, looking good, ready to do what God’s called me to do.  And never has the symptom remained after I’ve delivered the message and done what God told me to do.  [right, amen]  But if I look at the symptom, I’d be down there in bed and just get worse and worse and worse.  [right]  … You can’t go by the manifestation, you can’t go by the symptom.  You can’t go by what the devil tells you.  [that's right, that's right]  … Gotta hear God’s voice.  

And so, here, in this passage, watch this now.  It goes from the fig tree to the great lesson in faith.  Verse 22 “…Have faith in God.”  What you say, say to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,”  Believe in your heart.  Don’t let doubt get into your heart.  I’m not going to teach this message now, but you can see it’s right there.  Therefore, Jesus says, “I say to you,”  Verse 24.  ”…whatever things you ask...”  whatever you say, “…when you pray,”  believe you have it, and you shall.  … Then He gives us the kicker in verse 25.  Let’s read it together. “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you...”  come on.  ”…do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”  

An enemy to your faith is sin.  And an enemy to your faith is unforgiveness.  And you cannot get around it.  You cannot get around it.  You’re gonna have to forgive.  How many times?  490 if you want to be a literalist.  You’re going to have to forgive them 490 times.  Do they have to repent?  Yes, they have to repent.  Do they have to repent to you?  Who knows?  They’ve got to repent to God, or somewhere.  And what do you have to do?  You have to go ahead and forgive them.  And you say, “Well, I’ll forgive you, but I won’t forget.”  [laughter]  You have to say, “I’ll forgive you.  And I’m working on forgetting.”  [amen]  If you’re holding yourself in unforgiveness, the ceiling to God is broken… But not in your favor.  It’s blocked.  There’s nothing in scripture that says that you can hold yourself in unforgiveness.  

The Apostle Paul, he talks about his sins.  He was a murderer.  He put people in prison.  He did vile things against the Cross and against God.  But what did He say, what does the Word say?  He says that He repented to God, he brought it to God.  Opens the window of Heaven, opened, and God withheld no blessing from him.  

So yeah, we can’t.  And a lot of us suffer with that.  We have unforgiveness for ourselves.  You know, it’s different.  You know, you can have a shame.  You can be ashamed you did this, this and that.  You can be ashamed that you did that.  And that’s good because that’ll hold you into a sufficient amount of guilt that you will what? Hopefully, you will not do it again.  That it will work you, you say, “That shamed me so much, that shamed my Father.  I’m gonna, I’m not going to do that again.”  Anybody like that?  I got that.  I won’t do that to my Father again.  I won’t do that.  I’m not gonna, I’m ashamed of what I did. I’m not gonna do that again.  So it becomes part of your testimony.  

But if you hold yourself in unforgiveness, you are in error.  You’re in sin, still.  Holding yourself in unforgiveness, He just said, holding anyone, doesn’t it say, “anyone?”  ”Whenever you stand, if you have anything against anyone…”  How many of you all are an anyone?  [yep]  So if you’re holding it against yourself, you also have an enemy that you’re using, or permitting to block heaven.  Alright?  

Now let me show you another one, like that.  Matthew 15….Matthew 15…. Matthew 15.  The 15th Chapter of Matthew.  How are you all doing?  Sometimes a Bible study like this’ll change your life, when nothing else will.  [amen]  Matthew 15, verse 27…

I know why the Lord has put this on my heart.  Because we’re in the time period where you are going to begin to do signs and wonders.  [amen]  And if you don’t know these principles of faith, you will not know how to operate in faith, believing.  To see these great miracles that God is going to do through you.  If the Church of God in the last days is to be the Church of God, then we must see greater manifestations of healings and deliverances and salvations.  Especially in the younger generation.  [amen]  You should be able to pray with greater faith because you haven’t seen as much failure as the adults have seen.  We’ve seen generations of failure.  And you’re coming up in a spirit-filled church.  You should be quick to pray for the sick and see them get up off the bed.  [amen]  

Chapter 15, you there?  [yes]  Chapter 15, verse 27.  ”And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”  Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be to you as you desire.”  Let it be to you as you desire.  What am I trying to say?  One of the last enemies to your faith is your feelings of unworthiness.  

This woman comes to Jesus and Jesus basically says to her, “You’re not worthy.  I’m sent to the Lost Sheep of Israel.  And you don’t make the cut.  You’re a Gentile woman, I’m not here for you right now.  You’re not worthy.”  … Hallelujah.  Something rose up in her and she said, “Yes, Lord.”  You spoke the truth.  That’s right.  You were not sent to the Gentiles.  Yes, Lord.  But I have something…”  [laughter]  Lord have mercy. “I have something that you have to respond to.  I have something that is going to move you to help me.  And that is, I am worthy of your anointing.”  … “I’m worthy to have the anointing operate in my favor.  If it has to operate as an afterthought, I’ll take the afterthought.  If it has to operate as a crumb, I’ll take the crumb.  But guess what, You cannot violate the Word of God.  And, concerning the Word of God, I’m coming to you in faith, therefore, my faith makes me as worthy as Abraham.”  [yes]  ”And you have to respond to faith.”  

When we allow the enemy of unworthiness to block us, to feel that we cannot go to Daddy.  To feel that somehow He won’t heal us, He won’t deliver us, He will not meet our need, because we are not worthy.  That somehow we missed the cut.  We have to really, really remember the Syrophoenician woman, cause she said to the Lord of Lords, she says, “But I got something …I’ve got something that you have to respond to.  I believe in you.  I believe in your ability.  And I believe you can do this.  Am I unworthy?  Yep.  I’m unworthy.  I am a dog.”  She accepts it.  She says, you don’t fight it.  ”Yes, I’m a dog.  Whoof, Whoof.  Whoof.”  [laughter]  But guess what, even the dogs get to eat the crumbs of the Children as they fall to the floor.  [amen]  … pffhew  I don’t know about you, but that gives my faith a chill.  [oh yeah]  You are worthy.  You are worthy because He has made faith available.  If you have faith, then that faith has to operate and the King of Kings, what?  He has to come at your beck and call.  [amen]  pffhew.  That’s good news.  That’s really good news. [yeah] That’s really good news.  [applause]  That’s really good news.  

Remember with the paralytic guy?  He says, He saw their faith…. This is what… He said He saw their faith.  Jesus had to respond to their faith when He saw it.  They had enough faith to rip the roof off of somebody else’s house.  [laughter]  That’s some serious faith.  [yeah, amen]  Don’t try that at my house.  [laughter]  I got two guns, and they will greet you.  [laughter]  They had enough faith to know, if we get to Him, He’ll do something about it.  [yes]  And they ripped off a guy’s roof.  I wonder, I can’t wait and get to Heaven, I want to meet this guy and say, “Did they put the roof back?”  [laughter]  ”I just want to know, did they put the roof back?”  

Anyway, let’s look at this a little bit closer… I’m talking to you, now, about the last three things that make your faith work.  First of all,  you are worthy.  Second of all, there is an action of faith.  Are you willing to rip somebody’s roof off to get your blessing?  Are you willing to say to the Lord that you are worthy?  Even for a crumb?  Are you worthy to do that?  Are you willing to do like the woman with the issue of blood.  Are you willing to push through, even though the Law demanded that a woman with an issue of blood, flowing blood, was unclean, ceremonially unclean, and that she made everyone that she touched unclean.  She pushed through a crowd of people that she made ceremonially unclean.  They could have taken her and stoned her to death.  Are you, do you have the faith that says, if it costs me everything, I’m going to get my healing.  If it costs me everything, I’m going to get my deliverance.  I am prepared to act on my faith.  I’m prepared to act out my faith in spite of what people may say, in spite of how they may put me down, in spite of what they think.  I’m going to go get my healing…. Are you desperate?  Are you desperate?  Are you willing to exhibit boldness?  What is the action?  There is an action associated with faith.  

There’s something that you’re gonna have to do to demonstrate that you have defeated the enemies that are trying to block you.  You’re stepping out of worry of mind.  Come on.   You’re stepping out of sin.  You’re coming through fear.  You’re rebuking doubt and unbelief.  You’re accepting the fact that you are worthy.  And you’re willing to do, what?  Exert a work.  It says, faith without works is what?  [dead]  Faith without works is what?  [dead]  Alright, that’s not just talking about good works.  But it’s talking about doing the work of faith.  And later, after that, He says, if there be any sick among you, call for the elders of the church, who’ll pray the prayer of faith and anoint you with oil, and the sick shall get well.  They shall recover.  Well what does that mean?  How’s that happen if you don’t then pursue an elder and say, “Oil me up.”  [yeah]  

There should be an action associated with your faith, that has to be demonstrated.  And that action, when God speaks the action, you must exhibit that action.  You must go forward with it.  You must have a point of contact in your mind.  That you say, “When such and such happens, I’m going to release my faith, and do it.”  

Now let’s go to the greatest example of faith, is in Luke 7:7… Luke what?  [7:7]  Matthew, Mark, Luke.  7:7.  Verse 7.  ”Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You.  But say the word, and my servant will be healed.”  … But what?  [say the word]  Say the word and my servant will be healed… What overcomes everything?  What overcomes the fact that he doesn’t feel worthy?

 What overcomes doubt, unbelief, and everything?  What overcomes all of that is you believe the Word.  Your belief in the Word will overcome all the enemies of faith, all the obstacles of faith, all your foolishness, and all your pride, and all everything.  Stay humble enough to say, “I believe the Word.”  Look at the error, hold your finger there.  

And go to 8:22.  Luke 8:22…. Luke 8:22.  You there?  [yes]  ”Now it happened on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples.  And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side...”  What’s the difference between the disciples and Jesus?  Jesus, when He said, “We’re going to the other side,” Jesus believed it.  He said no storm or nothing else is stopping us.  My Word is, “We’re going to the other side.”  They fell to the enemies of faith, because they didn’t put any faith in His Word.  His Word was, “We’re going from here to there.  And I’m gonna take a nap in the meantime.”  They didn’t believe it and when all the enemies of faith, fear, doubt, unbelief, negative eyes, wrong reasoning, when all of those dropped in, doubt and unbelief killed their possibility and guess what. The waves and the roar of the sea became bigger to them than the Word of God.  

Whenever the Word of God is diminished in your life, to where you can’t hold onto it, to where you can’t walk with it.  To where you can’t stand on it.  Then guess what?  You have been defeated, but Jesus Christ, His Word is the Word.  He is the Word of God.  When His Word goes forth, it shall not be denied.  The sea must obey.  The wind’s gotta stop.  The problem has to change.  [applause]  Everything is subject to His Word.  [yea, applause]  You gotta believe it.  

“Well, I don’t know Pastor Don, about my circumstances. I don’t know about my symptoms.  I don’t know…”  Forget it, shut up! Do you believe the Word?  What does God say?  Find something that God said about it.  Lock on to it, with a bull dogged tenacity.  Lock your jaw, don’t let go.  Because, if He said it, He will do it, He will perform it, It will come to pass.  [yeah, amen]  His Word will not return void.  That means His Word will not come back empty.  [amen]  It will accomplish where it’s going.  [yes]  

Don’t be afraid to admit, I want to stay humble.  I want to stay in line with God.  I want to stay lined up with the truth.  Faith, in the Word of God, means you have faith in the sovereignty of God… Understanding this revealed truth alone, was enough for the Centurion to have his servant healed across distance.  Across time… The favor of God will not be denied you if you will believe the Word.  All the excuses that we have are overcome when you believe the Word.  [amen]  None of the enemies can stand when you believe the Word.  [that's right]  

You know how powerful the Word is?  It’ll make a 90 plus woman give birth to a baby. [yes]  Do you believe the Word?  [yes]  It’ll help a murderer do what?  Lead a nation for 40 years in the Wilderness and then plant them in the Land… what’ll it do?  It’ll take a 14 year old girl and turn her womb into the temple from which the creator of all things will come.  [amen]  What are you talking about?  If you believe the Word, it’ll make the blind eyes open, it’ll make the deaf hear, it’ll make the dead rise.  The Word, believe the Word.  If you will believe the Word, it’ll take a little black boy from the South Bronx, and make him a senior pastor up in the mountains.  [whew, yeah, amen, applause]  Believe the Word. [amen]  Let’s pray.  Let’s talk to Jesus for awhile.  How are you doing?

Transcript of sermon preached by Pastor Don Moore, Living Word Chapel, West Hurley on February 29, 2010

I slightly edited to make it easier to read (closed captioning is one solid passage, no paragraph breaks.  I cut out repeated words and highlight important points in my slight editing.)  What is in [brackets] is what the congregation says.

SAY AMEN 
SHOW 145 
VICTORY IN FAITH PART 2
2/29/10

Part One here.

Now the story of the boy who was demon possessed, the crux of the point.  The point is that Jesus is not going to be bound by what He sees.  The Apostles were not able to drive out the demon because of what they saw.  Looking with negative eyes.  They saw the young boy hit the ground and go into convulsions, they assumed it didn’t happen.  Immediately it registered with the demon, they just let go of their faith.  They’re not expecting it to happen. They, with their eyes, have looked.  Doubt and unbelief has risen in them and the demon said, “I don’t have to go.”  [right]  He tried the same thing on Jesus.  He tried the same thing on Jesus, I just read it to you.  

It says that when Jesus approached the boy, He only moved on the boy when He saw the people were coming.  Now, why would Jesus want to cast out the demon before the people got there?  [unbelief]  Because of their unbelief.  What did you say Brad?  [too much interference]  Too much interference.  It breaks the continuity of the moment of faith.  In the moment of faith, we cannot mix unbelievers with believers.  It says not to be unequally yoked, when you’re unequally yoked it’s when a believer is tied to a nonbeliever.  The people are coming to see a show, [that's right] they’re coming to see a demonstration of power.  They’re coming to see, to be entertained.  

And Jesus knows that when they come, having already seen the Disciples fail, they’re just going to bring more doubt and unbelief, and the demon is not going to be bound by the Word of Faith, he’s going to be bound where he can show off.  He’s going to put on a show.  ”I got this.  I got this, I got this boy.  I had this boy.  I got this boy and I’m going to keep this boy.”  Well, Jesus sees the unbelievers coming and He does what?  Watch what He does in scripture.  It’s just so easy.  

Mark, chapter 9 it says, “…the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly….”  What’s the next say?  [and came out of him]  ”…and came out of him.” … Because, when he convulsed him greatly, Jesus didn’t look at him and go, “Oh, I’m … huh, it didn’t work….It didn’t work.”  No, in the realm of faith, Jesus gave the command, knew that it had to happen because He had authority.  He knew that He had faith.  He knew that He had given the command that it had to happen.  [that's right]  So Jesus’ response wasn’t that it didn’t happen, but, verse 27.  He, “…took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”  [hallelujah]  Took him by the hand, lifted him up and he arose.

Later the Apostles, the Disciples, this blew their minds.  Cause they saw the same thing and worse, and they lost faith.  We cannot let what we see through our negative eyes limit our faith… A lot of times healing, in a healing situation, the symptoms have to get worse because why?  Because it is going to heal.  [amen]  

I can remember, you know, here I’m dying of an incurable lung disease, dying of an incurable lung disease.  The man of God said that I was healed.  The Word of God in me said I was healed.  And the symptoms got worse. You know what dawned on me?  That same night, after being healed, I received healing.  I knew the healing power was in me.  Middle of the night, 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, the symptoms came back worse.  Like a raging storm.  Now I’m puking up chunks of meat, blood, guts, all coming out my nose and my eyes, everywhere.  Just chunks of meat.  And I almost looked at the circumstances and the situation and almost said, “That was a wonderful moment with God, but maybe it didn’t work.”  And right then I says, “Ohhhh, don’t do that.”  I was just a baby Christian.  I mean not a baby Christian but I was just a baby faith person. And I says, “Wait a minute, don’t do that.”  And down in here the Spirit of God says, “I have to get all of that sickness out of you so that you can walk in the newness of health.”  [yes]  Just walk.  And I got it. All that sickness in me had to come out.  All the scabs and the dead tissue had to come out because God was rebuilding new tissue.  [amen, yes, glory]…

What are you talking about?  You’re believing God for your marriage, of course things are going to get worse for awhile, because the heathen that you’re married to doesn’t want to get fixed, but the power of God is moving on her, and she’s going to fight it, kick against the goads, and you just have to know, “Yeah, that response, honey, sister, I stand while you hate me all the more, now.”  [yeah]  ”Because God is making room so that you can love me the way you’re supposed to love me.”  [right! yeah! amen]  … Didn’t work for you but it worked for me.  [laughter]  Made me feel better.  Do you understand?  

Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better.  But you can’t go by your negative eyes.  Alright, first enemy of faith, [worry]  Worry.  Anxious mind.  Second enemy of faith, come on….[carnal reasoning]  Carnal reasoning, trying to figure things out.  The third.  Seeing with negative eyes.  Letting your circumstances dominate your faith.  Believing God,

Watch this, believing God to financially prosper.  You know, if you make a commitment at the altar by God, you say, “I’m going to live by faith.  I believe in the Name of Jesus, I’m going to financially prosper.”  Don’t you know, the next thing to happen to you is you going broke?  [laughter]  You’re about to go broke.  And the reason you’re going to go broke is, if God lets you get wealthy on the foundation of filth, of lie, and poverty that you’ve built in your world, if He lets you get prosperous on top of that foundation, you won’t stand. So He’s got to crush you down to the bottom, baby.  He’s got to break you down to the bottom so that you will be in faith, believing and appreciate every nickel, every dime, you will do it.  

I remember believing for prosperity and my uncle, before he died, he came to visit us.  He’s riding around with me in my Volkswagen, and I’ve been talking. You know, I’m talking faith to him.  I’m believing for prosperity and whatever, whatever.  He said, “Stop the car son.”  I stopped the car.  And he says, “God’s not going to bless you until you get all these pennies, nickels, and dimes up off the floor of your car.”  He says, “If you don’t have respect for the little bit that you have,”  he says, “why should God give you more?”  … [amen]  … When he got out of the car, I got down on my hands and knees and you know, I started finding nickels and quarters and dimes, all up into the crud on the floor.  [laughter]  Pushed McDonald’s out of the way and found another nickel.  [laughter]  … Glory to God.  

Your faith, your faith will sometimes cause the manifestation to go down before it goes up so God can rebuild it.  [right]  He’s not going to rebuild a marriage on the bad communications skills.  No.  He’d rather there be silence for awhile until He can rebuild on something that’s solid and good.  Alright?  So, just because you’re sick, you pray to be healed, the symptoms get worse, don’t let go of your faith… Don’t let go of your faith.  You might be in the wrong business, you asked God to prosper you and you’re in the wrong business.  He may have to get you fired… cause you won’t quit.  

I was working 17 years at the Pines Hotel.  Band leader.  Master of ceremonies in charge of the whole thing.  Speaking and singing to thousands of people night after night, hundreds of people night after night.  I says, “Man, I’m going into full time ministry.  Lord, I’m believing by faith I’ll be in full time ministry.  Father I’m going to live off of whatever or nothing.  I’m going to preach the Gospel.  I’m going to teach the Gospel.  I’m giving myself wholly, totally to You.  Totally to You.”  I went to the hotel and told the owners of the hotel, It’s been wonderful these 17 years, and all, but, I’m leaving. I’m going into fulltime ministry.  I’m out of here.  And they said, “You’ve been leaving for years and you never got out of here.  You’ve been leaving for years and never got out of here.  Don’t worry.  We’re going to give you your raise, anyway, just like we promised.  We’re going to give you your raise and whatever, and after Christmas break, we know you’ll be back, we’re going to give you a raise  and everything.  We’ve got you and you’ll just keep on coming, everything’s going.”  I said, “No, I’ve got, really, I’ve dedicated myself to go into full time ministry.”  ”Well, do you have a church?”  ”No, I don’t have a church.”  Well, do you have a job?”  ”No, I don’t have a job.”  ”Well, do you have a ministry degree?”  ”No, I don’t have a ministry degree but I’m going full time.  Full time I’m going to serve the Lord.”  ….

December 4th, December 4th, I’ll never forget the day.  The week before, I called the guys and I said, “Listen, after the Christmas break I’m not going back to the Pines Hotel.  I’m not going back…. I’m not.  I’m not going back.  You guys go get jobs, I’m not going back.”  And they said, “Yeah, sure, sure, sure, you need the money, you love singing and playing.  Yeah, you’ll be back.  You’ll be back.”  I said, “Lord, do whatever you have to do to keep me from being tempted to go back.”  On December 4th it snowed 2 feet of snow.  [laughter]  And the main dining room caved in at a Jewish Hotel.  You cannot keep a hotel for Jewish folks open if you can’t serve them food.  [laughter]  The roof caved in on December 4th and I never went back.  [amen, laughter]…

You know what I had to live off of?  You know what I had to live off of?  I still have it.  I have a tin can this big, that big, that says, “In His Name Ministries,”  that tin can, that big.  One of the ladies in the Bible study group painted it, and put graffiti on it, and sprinkles and sparkles and everything.  And that’s all I had.  That was my only income.  My wife, thank God, was still working.  But that was it.  And many Tuesday nights, I’d put out the can, and there’d be absolutely nothing in the can.  But then, other nights, somebody would leave a check for 20 bucks, 50 bucks.  Living off the can.  [amen]  Vision.  But if the roof hadn’t caved in, I would have been tempted.  I would have been tempted.  

But sometimes, your faith can sustain and it has to, in the face of absolute – it just got worse…. [yep]  What’s going on?  It just got worse.  Where’s your faith then?  Where’s your faith then?  Where’s your faith then when your wife says, “Well how much money did you make this week?”  And I’d go, “Well, 22 dollars and 50 cents was in the can, baby.”  [laughter]  And then, you know, thank God my wife didn’t, she wasn’t negative.  She didn’t say, “Are you sure God called you?”  … “Are you sure, O man of faith, are you sure God called you?”  … It’s an enemy of faith, don’t see things with negative eyes.  Don’t let your circumstances run you out.  Let’s go now, you there?  

I want to go to Luke, Chapter 8…. Luke, Chapter 8.  Matthew, Mark, Luke.  Chapter 8… Chapter 8, I want you to go all the way to verse 49.  “While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is...”  What?  [dead]  Your daughter is, what?  [dead]  ”Do not trouble the Teacher.”  But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be….” [afraid]  Do not what?  [be afraid]  Do not what? [be afraid]  Ok, we have worry and an anxious mind will kill faith.  We have what?  What’s the second one? [reasoning]  Say what?  [carnal reasoning]  Ok, I wanted to make sure, reasoning, carnal reasoning.  And then the third is what?  [sight]  Sight.  We don’t want to see with a negative eye.  Here’s the fourth one, which is always prevalent as an undercurrent.  Fear. … Fear.  Fear.  

In verse 50, Jesus said and heard it, and “He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”  Do not be afraid… These people are looking, in verse 52, they’re looking at what they see.  They see a dead girl. They see a dead girl.  And they limit the possibilities of God at their doctrine.  And their doctrine is, don’t trouble Jesus anymore, why?  Because our doctrine, our reasoning of our mind, has said, He cannot do anything.  He’s done…. Reasoning is done.  

I had to say this once to somebody.  I says, “Well you’re giving me you’re such a faith giant, let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question.  When your daughter died, after you said you had faith to heal your daughter, and your daughter died, what was the next thing that you did?”  You know what they said?  We buried her.  Well, there’s something that should have happened between that if you had all that faith…. I’m not trying to be mean.  I’m just trying to help you all learn.  What would have been the thing that would have happened between the daughter died and you buried her, if you were such a giant of faith?  … [prayed to raise her]  thank you… Ok, can we move on?  Don’t get mad at me, I’m just telling you what the Word, what the Word is.  If you was such a giant, then you would not have looked at death as a final destination and an absolute answer to the problem.  

Cause it isn’t the absolute answer, because God is greater than death, because death, He only looks at it as sleep.  He’s saying, “She’s asleep.” They’re saying, “She’s dead. She’s dead.  Final, final, no possibility.”   Well, that’s not always the case.  It’s not always the case.  Jesus looks at death as, “Hunh, you can recover from that.”  … [that's right, amen]  I’m going to go wake her up.  How are you all doing?  Stay ha..ha…ha..humble.  Can we stay ha…aa…humble? [yes]  Come on, say, “I’m humble.”  [I'm humble]  I’m teachable.   [I'm teachable]  Yeah, yeah, stay humble.  Let’s stay humble, alright?  I don’t know everything.  But I know God does.  Jesus is not afraid of death.  He doesn’t look at it as a final thing.  

And He warns Jairus, He warns him, He says, He says, “Do not be afraid, only believe...”  Don’t be afraid.  Don’t let fear rock your boat.  Don’t let fear rock your boat.  Fear will lead you to doubt and doubt will lead you to unbelief, and you’re dead in the water.  

Go to Mark Chapter 4….Hold your place here.  Matter of fact, while we’re here let’s do this.  We’ll do this.  I don’t want to skip around too much but we have to.  But I want you to see what’s happening here.  Remember, I said reasoning?  Your theology can mess you up?  [yes]  The theology of the Jews was that this woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8 verse 43, 43.  ”Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians…” and couldn’t get healed.  She “…came behind and touched the border of His garment.  And immediately her flow of blood stopped.” “….”Who touched Me?”  When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master…”  There’s a whole bunch of people, what do You mean, “Who touched You?”  He says, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out of Me.”  

Now, let’s  fix the principle of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Scribes.  The teaching of the Pharisees and the Scribes is that healing, when the Messiah comes, He will have healing in His wings.  [yes]  Now, healing in His wings, of course Jesus didn’t have wings.  But He had a prayer shawl.  Do I have my prayer shawl up here?… Got  my prayer shawl.  Now, here’s what that scripture meant.  And if we can understand what this woman is doing.  It’ll really help.  

All the good Jewish guys had prayer shawls.  And they wore them like this… You know.  Now my name just became Donald bar Bona.  [laughter]  From the Old Testament.  Alright?  Now, here’s what that scripture meant.  It meant that a good Jewish man had a prayer shawl.  When Jesus said, when you want to pray, go into your prayer closet, He wasn’t talking, I did it though.  I kicked the shoes to the side and crawled in the closet, and started praying.  You know.  But you know, the Lord honored my ignorance.  He met me in the closet.  And then He said, “Don’t smell so good in here, get out.  I’ll meet you, you know, in the main room.”  [amen]  But, he met me right in there, I’m praying and you know, and I’m smelling the socks and that stuff, and I [laughter]  Lord have mercy…  [laughter]  You know.  Get me out of here!  [laughter]  So, I got out of there, then I studied the scriptures more, and I realized what Jesus was talking about.  

Going to your prayer closet. [amen]  He’s locking Himself up in here and He’s dobbing at the wall, and He’s praying, and He says, “And in your prayer closet, He says, you meet God in there.”  And He says, you know, you’re praying. So, He’s dobbing and He’s praying, and He’s praying in His prayer closet, and He says, “And no one will see or know what you’re praying about.”  And then, if you notice here, if I take this shawl, and do like this (moves arms up and down like bird’s wings)  What does that look like?  [wings]  Doesn’t that look like wings?  Ok, so in the book of Mal-ach -i, the Italian prophet, it says, that He, when the Son of Man comes, He will come with healing in His wings.  

The lady is not trying to molest Jesus the Christ, and grabbing on His clothes.  She wants to touch the fringes of His prayer shawl.  It was believed that this Man of God prayed in this shawl, therefore by transference there was holy power in the thing that He had dedicated to God where He’s spent His time meeting God, therefore even though it was cloth, it had the ability to transfer and hold the anointing.  [amen]  Somebody got that?  [yes]  You need to have things that are dedicated.  You need to have things that you hold as holy and spiritual.  

They should be people of course.  The reason you shouldn’t blast pastor is because you should have some respect for the anointing that is in my life.  You should have that same kind of respect for your wife and for your husband.  You should have it for your children.  You shouldn’t speak to your kids any old kind of way.  You should talk to them like what they are, Children of God.  [amen]  Don’t raise your voice, call them ugly names.  

So she wanted to touch His prayer shawl.  she wanted to touch His garment. The fringe on His garment.  But when she touched it, she touched it with the power of faith.  Faith came out of her.  Listen, Jesus is just walking through the crowd.  He’s walking through the crowd.   People were all over Him. He was as anointed as a rock.  You know what I mean by that?  He wasn’t thinking Holy Ghost, whatever.  He wasn’t praying in tongues.  He was just walking from one place to the other.  But when she touched Him, He knew what faith felt like.  Faith has an anointing with it. Come on, I want to preach right now.  But that’s what’s rising up in me.  You know, faith, faith has the ability that when it’s present, Lord have mercy.  When it’s present, the anointing comes in manifestation and it can be felt and can be touched.  

I was at a meeting last night and a lady’s standing over on the side and she says, “Boy, I can feel that.”  Brother Roderick said, “Yeah, I can feel that.  Can you feel that?”  What was that?  Faith is in the air. And when faith is in the air, things begin to happen.  [amen]  The Presence of God.  So Jesus turns around and He says, “Who touched me?”  What He meant was, who touched me with the touch of faith?   Who was trying to draw power.  And the light inside Him had to come on to the power switch, why?  Because faith touched Him.  And when Faith comes in touch with the Man of Faith, it exudes faith.  And faith is released.  [amen]  She released, He released, and says, “Whoa, ho, I felt something.  Ho, what was that?  Yeah,”  

You know, an anointed man can feel the touch of sin?  I hate to tell you cause some people now are going to be avoiding me.  [laughter]  But when the devil’s on you, [yeah]  I reach out and touch you.  The Lord’ll show me.  He’ll show me.  I had a guy just walk in my office one time. He’s telling me he’s all righteous and everything.   His only problem is his wife.  [laughter]  I said, “Man, let me hold your hands here for a minute.”  Then I started reading his mail and telling him about the affairs that he had hidden from his wife.  About the women he was playing around with his wife.  His wife was sitting there crying.  You know, and he’s just was getting all busted up.  Cause he had a lying spirit on him.  You know what I mean?  Anyway, moving right along.  

The enemy of faith, the enemy of faith in this case, I can finish this with this on.   No, no, somebody watching by television will think I’m trying to become Jewish.  They don’t know I’m already Jewish. Yeah, my great grandfather was a Jew.  Can you imagine that?  A guy named Rosenberg marries a black woman in Mississippi, back in the 30′s.  [oh my]  What’s wrong with that man?  [laughter]  She signed off for double discrimination.  You know.  And Mississippi, no less.  My goodness.  It’s in my family tree.  When I get up to Heaven and meet this guy.  I’ll say, “Thank you for the Jewish blood, but what were you thinking?”  [laughter]  Who knows.  Maybe he had a dark tan.  You know.  He could have been from Egypt or somewhere.  

Alright.  Now let’s get this and get this really, really, really good.  This woman had the touch of faith, therefore her faith was released, but notice what Jesus says to her in verse 48.  ”And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well.“”  And He tells her to go in peace… In other words, there is another enemy.  We have an anxious mind and worry is an enemy of faith.  We have, I forget number two all the time. [reasoning] Reasoning, carnal reasoning.  We have negative seeing.  We have fear.  We have doubt.  

Mark Chapter 4, verse 40  Mark 4:40 Jesus is asleep in the boat on a pillow.  [laughter]  Well, how does He do that?  Look at verse 35.  Verse 35 “On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.”  …  Let us what?  [cross over]  to the other side.  Who said that?  [Jesus]  Jesus said, He said, “Guess what, we’re going to the other side.  Let’s just cross over, let’s go over there.”  Now as a process a great storm rises up in verse 37, the winds beat against the boat, and the boat’s filling with water. Jesus is asleep.  Mmn mmn mmn  ”…Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”  [laughter]  

Now that’s some reasoning there.  Isn’t it negative reasoning?  The see the wind and the waves, they reason, we’re dead.  [laughter]  We’re gonna die.  This thing’s gonna kill us. Who said it’s going to kill you?  Who said it?  [they did]  Based on what?  [reasoning]  bad reasoning and negative eye.  And here’s why.  Fear got in the boat with them. When we reason wrong, and we see things with a negative eye, expecting a negative outcome, fear gets in the boat.  Now I want you to watch and see who  else crawls up in there with them.  Well, let’s see.  Jesus says, “…”Peace, be still!”  The wind ceases.  And He tells us right here.  I’m not making this up.  ”…Why are you so fearful?  How is it that you have no faith?”  And scripture just confirms it.  ”...they feared exceedingly...”  Well, what happened?  Their fear then turned into doubt and unbelief.  Cause, doesn’t He say, “What happened to your faith?”  [right]  Fear will lead you to doubt and unbelief.  When you get there, your faith can’t operate…

Nothing wrong with admitting you’re afraid.  But then you’ve got to pray the spirit of fear out of your place.  Out of your life.  If you’re writing these enemies down, when you get into a faith situation you can just go down the list and say, hnh let me address these and get this out of my body, out of my mind, out of my house. Take them item by item.  I do.  [yeah]  I do.