Armor 1

The Ephesian’s text says that we’re in a wrestling match. The second letter to the Corinthians tells us that we’re in a war. The effectiveness of Satan’s strategy hinges on lies and deception. If people gain access to the word of God, grab hold of it and believe, Satan’s grapple holds are broken and his aerial assault in the spirit realm loses its power. But, If he can get people, especially God’s people, to believe his lies, he gains a foothold and penetrates the fortress that God promises in His word. God does say in His word-does He not? He is our refuge, our strong tower, our ever present help in our time of need! Is God a man that He should lie? No! Let God be true and every man a liar is what His word says.

Satan plans to take the victory. His tactics are unrelenting and without a handle on God’s word there is no hope of victory. The Apostle Paul warns in the second letter to the Thessalonians that the last days would see a great falling away, an apostasia. It hasn’t  been fulfilled yet, but the trailer to the movie is projected weekly in Sunday sermons through the release of diluted messages at best and a scripture painted psychology at worst. Prayer to God has been exchanged for plans of man and the word of truth for a message of  motivation.

Jeremiah warned Israel “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their [own] direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

• He is asking His people- what will you do when my longsuffering runs out and the end of mercy arrives, when it’s exposed and so many realize they believed a lie and loved it. And someone from the back screams, “Preacher, we know that’s OT stuff give us NT

• And he screams again, “But that’s talking about the world and the preacher softly responds, “No, that’s talking about those that didn’t believe the truth and took pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12. 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Then we see Paul’s warning to the church take place before our eyes as people with itching ears are depart from the faith and surrender themselves under teachers with seared consciences that speak doctrines of devils. It’s so bad that it’s not a fracture in the armor, but there is no armor. God’s people are mercilessly thrown onto the battlefield naked every time they leave a church unprepared and without armor, sent into battle without the hope of truth.

Every element of this armor is forged in truth, because every element of this armor describes Jesus. For He is the belt of truth. He is the righteousness of God. He is the preparation of peace. He is the helmet of salvation. He is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. This is who He is, and the word of God says that I’m clothed in Him. Now, the only question is this, “Will I believe God’s word or Satan’s lies?”

Ephesians 6:14-15. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;…15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of  peace.

Stand- to make firm, establish a person or a thing, to sustain the authority or force of anything.

• Jesus Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Wrestling w/ spiritual entities that want to destroy souls, families, this church, the people we work with. The forces of evil are not happy! No, they are hungry for Christian blood!

Paul said in Romans 5:2 that you can stand because you have access to grace:

Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

• But you have to be willing to submit and resist JAS 4:7

Grace from God is forgiveness, but it’s also power from the Holy Spirit. It’s the kind of power that makes weak knees strong, sin sick hearts clean, and worried minds filled with songs of joy!

So…14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth…

Obviously, the opposite of truth are lies. Can words even describe the importance of God’s truth in a world bathed in Satanic lies? We are being assaulted from every angle by the lies of the world.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

• Imaginations-Reasoning hostile to the Christian faith.

The things that half of America is so upset about are not accidental. This is a plan to bring an ever worsening curse on the earth and allow sin to gain more dominance, because Satan and the fallen angels love filth. The dirtier it is, the happier they are. If the dove of the Spirit loves a clean bird bath, the raven of the air want a rotten, maggot filled carcass that leaches out into the water sinful infection and disease.

But what will combat the lies. What is the compass to keep us straight in the midst of this sin sickened world? God has given it to us. It is His Truth.

Put on your belt of truth soldier and let’s get going!

We’ve talked about the importance of the literal belt at the level of the loins and how it is associated with travel. Like a long flowing garment, lies will trip you up on your journey. You can’t run for Jesus if you’re swimming in a swamp of lies. Jesus said:

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

God’s life is connected to God’s truth! Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. God gave us this whole book right here and this book reflects the truth that is Jesus, and if someone doesn’t  know it, they can’t live it; the name Christian can call itself believer and can find people to agree, but Christian w/out truth is being lied to, stolen from, and is about to be given a kill shot from the enemy.

John 17:16-19

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Let’s slow down for a second

…Sanctify them through thy truth— to sanctify means to separate and make holy. Separate from what? The world. Make holy how? Pull you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Translate you from the kingdom of darkness and bring you into the kingdom of His dear Son. There is a lifeguard over here and he’s waving his arms and he’s screaming, “Hey, take this life preserver. Grab it, so I can pull you out of this swamp of lies that you’re swimming in.

…thy word is truth—people are sitting in churches because they are looking for something to fill their empty spots. As they sit there being fed a diet of watered down milk, God’s people anemic. The word of God does for the downtrodden what iron does for anemia. Peter said that repentance brings refreshing God’s word sanctifies, it separates, it makes   Holy because it convicts of sin and it cleanses from unrighteousness!

• Acts 3:19 a cooling, refreshing, recovery of breath, revival

• Anemia means you don’t have RBC’S, no RBC’S, no HGB, no HGB, can’t carry O2, no O2, no Energy. Christian with a diluted gospel, doesn’t know sin, doesn’t know sin, doesn’t know to repent, doesn’t know to repent, no refreshing

I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth—what does He mean? Is He saying that He wasn’t sanctified? No, He’s saying that He’s going to go to the cross in order to transition to His glorification. As the man of truth, He will die and resurrect in all power and glory. He will ascend and now be separated from common men. He will ascend and the Holy Spirit will descend. And Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah will sit at the right hand of the Father and make intercession for us. He will tell me and other preachers that will listen [to be a Noah- a preacher of righteousness in a sin-sickened world] tell them my truth son. They need my truth and He will tell you receive my truth daughter, my son. And those that won’t listen to Him. Most won’t because the cornerstone that God used as a foundation for everything that He’s building is the rock of stumbling, and a rock of offense because it’s God’s truth and it convicts of sin and no one wants to be convicted of sin, well, find another one then, because I’m going to preach it the way He wrote it, because that’s what He told me to do.

Psalms 119:9-11. BETH 9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psalms 119:105-107 NUN 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. 106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments. 107 I am afflicted very much:  quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.

• afflicted- weakened, brow beaten

• Quicken- restore to life. His word will give you life

You are on a journey in a land of lies. You will not make it to your intended destination without His truth.

The belt of truth secures righteousness in its right place.

…and having on the breastplate of righteousness;…

It is supposed to be right here protecting your vital organs. Physically: this is called the mediastinum. It contains your heart, all the great vessels branching off of your heart (aorta, superior vena cava, inferior vena cava), your bronchial tubes. You take a shot with a hollow point that penetrates your mediastinum and you’re done w out a miracle.

The enemy is looking for a kill shot and he’s aiming straight for your heart. It’s your vital organ. It’s the place of fellowship between you and God.

1 Peter 3:15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

The heart is the place that belongs to Jesus and the enemy wants to steal it from the Lord. He wants to fill that spot with unrighteousness. Jesus does not want to live in unrighteousness. He is loving, He is kind, He is longsuffering, but He does not like living in a pig pen, and He won’t stay there forever.

Let’s talk about this righteousness:

Psalms 110:4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:1-3. 1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Romans 3:21-25. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Romans 5:17. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

So, Jesus is God’s righteousness and Jesus gave His righteousness to you as a gift by dying on the cross and paying the penalty for your sin, and when you put your faith in Him and His sacrifice, God the Father, clothed you in Jesus’ righteousness. Now, you have some righteousness. You have a breastplate of righteousness. What are you going to do with this gift of a breastplate of righteousness that has been given to you?

Revelation 19:7-8 KJV. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Revelation 19:7-8 NASB. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints..”

There is a righteousness given to the saint as a gift from Jesus when He died on the cross and there is the righteous life lived by the saints through grace from the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:25-27. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

I’m pretty sure that the word is clear that God is expecting us to live our lives righteously, empowered by the Holy Spirit!

Let’s talk about peace: w/out truth, no righteousness, w/out righteousness, no peace

…15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

ὑποδέω Shod- to bind under one's feet; to underbind. Like most Greek words, this word is a compound word. The prefix is the preposition [hupo], interestingly, literally under.

Unshod vs a shod horse— Wild horses will wear their hooves down gradually as they move from place to place over hard, arid terrain. However, domesticated horses work harder and will often wear down their hooves more quickly than they would out in the wild. Horseshoes shod the underneath and add durability and strength. The point to the illustration was to emphasize underneath.

A foot that’s shod with the gospel of peace means that there is peace guarding His walk. There is peace between the believer and the fallen earth. The believer is supposed to be walking on peace.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

A person can’t have peace in their walk or in their life until they have peace with God, and that’s what this scripture is talking about. The unbeliever is not at peace with God.

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Man, that seems hard. Really, it’s not near as bad as a lot of scripture, but don’t you think that’s the type of scripture that a seeker sensitive Pastor would avoid. I mean there is a whole Bible that you can preach from Pastor Matt why did you have to settle on that one, because enmity means hostility and hostility is an antonym of peace. Romans 5:1 is talking about peace with God. When a man or woman is justified [made righteous] in the eyes of God through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice, they’ve been made right with God and now they have peace with God, and once you have peace with God, you can have peace in your life, peace in your walk with God:

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians, Ephesians, 2 Corinthians, and 2 Peter start their letters by saying, Grace and peace to you, because where there is grace, there is peace. No wonder there are so many believers lacking peace in their lives. The world is filled and God’s people won’t read the word that tells them—friendship with the world is hostility with God.

Bitterness

Bitterness is a word that is used frequently throughout the scriptures. Sometimes in scripture the words: wormwood or gall are used interchangeably for the word bitter. Mostly, bitterness evokes the idea of a spiritually poisonous problem that targets the heart. Various circumstances can initiate bitterness. Loss of life, loss of finances, friends or family turning on a person or mistreatment by someone you care about.

Any place where humans congregate is subject to an invasion of bitterness. People in churches, Pastors, workers, bosses, Teachers, students, anyone at anytime is susceptible to the seed of bitterness entering in and growing from a seed to a root, and from a root to fruit, but this fruit isn’t sweet, of course it’s not, it’s bitter and poisonous.

I remember learning in Nursing school about bitter taste buds and how they’re most important because they warn of the possibility of poison. No one likes the stimulation of bitter taste buds. Fruit created by God is sweet, it brings nutrition and life, whether it grows on a tree or flows from a heart, fruit from God brings life, but bitterness is a poison from Satan. It’s one of the tools in his belt that he uses to bring widespread destruction.

Bitter- grieved him 1, provoked, easily angered or irritated

Bitterness is usually the result of some form of provocation, meaning something provoked, poked, stimulated the origination or beginning of bitterness. Sometimes it’s legitimate we are hurt by someone or some thing and it affects us. Sometimes, it’s an attack on the mind, and it’s not even what it appears to be either way, the main point is that something provoked it and Satan used it to begin his work of slowly making the heart and life of a person bitter.

Hebrews 12:14,15— a warning to believer’s to look diligently.

14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled

Trouble- the malfunction of something such as a machine or a part of the body. disturbance or annoyance. Do you remember how a while back we talked about the symbol of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove? The Holy Spirit is sweet and likes a calm and restful environment. He is not comfortable in commotion, chaos and mess. A spirit that is full of bitterness, is a spirit that is full of chaos and a place that the Spirit of God is not really comfortable making that place a habitat.

Defiled- dye with another color, stain with sin— The Lord reasoned w you turned your scarlet sin white as snow. Your crimson He replaced with white wool, and then you allowed a root of bitterness to come in and dye your garment a different color other than white

Job 10:1 bitterness is often the companion of discontentment. Job, certainly was not happy w his circumstances. He realized in the end that God is always up to something good

“My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.”

Job 23:8-12 8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. 12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Exodus 15:23-25 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

The testing: I wonder if it’s true that God is looking for a place where people’s hearts are broken and contrite, He’s looking for a place where He can pour out His Spirit and touch with fire from His finger to set it ablaze, I wonder if God would test a place like that before He just pours it out. Maybe give that person or church, maybe even a church like this a little taste of it first, then back up a little and observe how people respond to His manifest presence. How do they respect Him and His presence?

Talking about the test

The word Marah means bitter. The immediate reaction of trying to ingest bitterness is murmuring. Undoubtedly, this is a test. God certainly knew that the waters would be bitter when they got there, but He led them there anyway, surely He had a purpose… He obviously wanted to see how they would respond. They responded by murmuring. God had a plan in place beforehand because He had a tree in place to throw into the waters, making the bitter waters sweet. Obviously, the tree represents the cross, but don’t gloss over this so quickly:

1. Every trial in life provides an opportunity for applying the cross to situational or self death vs allowing bitterness to remain, which will result in murmuring, which will make God more angry. How does one apply the cross? The cross is always about death to self, death to flesh, death to the old ways of response. It’s likely that God wants to deal with murmuring crew of people in this story so He leads them to the bitter waters, so He leads them there. This isn’t speculation. This is Bible truth:

Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

Ruth 1:20 The plan of Satan is that bitterness will ultimately result in blaming God.

Wait, hold on a second you made these decisions to leave the house of bread to begin with. You chose to leave the protection of God in the time of famine, choosing to create your own path in the journey. And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

Bitter parties are drawn to each other like magnets

Genesis 28:9 her name means sickness and that’s what holding onto bitterness is like, marrying sickness. Two bitter parties joining forces. It’s amazing how bitter parties will find each other.

Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.

Circumstances

Exodus 1:13-14 the source of bitterness sometimes can be our circumstances. Jobs, finances, car troubles, but the underlying problems will usually be connected in some way with humans or our own choices that we made. If we don’t like our job, we can pray and God can change the atmosphere, or we can become bitter and negatively affect the atmosphere. We don’t have to stay there if we don’t like it. We can find another job, if we feel like the place we are is not good for us. It’s the same with church…we can pray and God can change things according to His will. That’s the issue when people pray about their job or their church and it doesn’t become what they expected or what they wanted when they wanted, is it possible that’s because that wasn’t God’s will, instead, they were trying to pray their will, but I really don’t like it. Okay, well, we have choices. We can stay and pray and let God change it and us, or we can pray and leave: find another job or church, or I guess we could stay, get bitter, and complain and make others around us bitter.

13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh— Ezekiel 36:26

Proverbs 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

Exodus 12:7-8 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

But consider the importance of verses 7 and 8 regarding the eating of the bitter herbs and the fact that the meal was to be eaten every year, and every year, they were to eat the bitter herbs as a remembrance of how God delivered them from the bitter situation.

Genesis 27:34 Esau cried out in desperation, but was it out of repentance and genuine concern  where he was recognizing his wrong for despising the things of God, or was it because he lost his blessing, something that was personal to him? Is this not how it will be for the countless millions of embittered hearts that had shunned the heart of God and chose to live for themselves and in the end when the rewards are passed out and judgment of condemnation is placed on the eternity of the lost, that they will cry from that moment forward, with bitterness over losing their salvation and eternal reward?

And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.

2 Kings 4:38-41 When people grab things that are outside of God’s will and they bring these things into their lives and consume them.

This man tasted the death that was in the pot and cried out, “we have to stop. Put meal in the pot, put God’s will in the pot, put the cross in the pot, put stopping the sin in the pot. Bitter taste buds are like the conviction of the Holy Spirit, they warn us something isn’t right, but repeated rejection of the Holy Spirit’s conviction will result in a seared conscience and the next thing you know we will be eating bitter herbs and loving it. We will get to the place where gossip and slander and seeing people hurt tastes good to us.

38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. 40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. 41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.

Psalms 69:20-21 Imagine the sorrow of separation. We can apply this to our own lives, in that at times, God seems silent. Sometimes it’s sin, sometimes it’s a test, but if we will seek Him, we have the promise that we will find Him—(Draw near me and I will draw near you.).

One of the things that we need to understand about Jesus is the fact that He suffered many things and in multiple ways to purchase the grace that we would need in order to be able to walk in victory over sin, but also over the pains caused by the fallen world. How many times have people hurt you? How many times have you felt like you were being selfless and sacrificial to help other people and their response was that they could not care a red cent how their decisions would affect you? Here Jesus is dying for the sins of the whole world: religion mocked Him, the world scoffed at Him, His disciples fell asleep and then forsook Him, for a moment, my sin caused the Father to look away from Him. He peers through His periphery, through swollen eyes and says: reproach, scorn-they see me as worthless and despicable, it has broken my heart…

20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. With the rejection that the very people He came to save, Satan is trying to make Him drink the cup of bitterness.

Matthew 27:34

They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. The scriptures says that He would not drink that cup when they wanted Him to. He was too busy thinking about the cup that was handed to Him by His Father the night before. He said, “Not my will but your will be done.” But I don’t want to love them Lord. They talked bad about me, they hate me, they despitefully used me. “Drink the cup of sacrifice my son, my daughter, I promise that if you will learn this truth—die to self, trust me, release your life into my hands and watch me do a miracle.”

The remedy: humility

John 3:19-21 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

It must be brought to the light. Roots like to live in the dark under the surface. If you want a root of bitterness to die, bring it out in the open.

1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

This is the message of the cross in action

The Rock

Through the years, I have repeatedly read the scriptures that refer to God and ultimately Jesus as a rock. Every time, I get a visual in my mind of a scene that I likely saw on television where violent waves are crashing onto a rocky shore, more specifically, there is one really large rock further into the surf that juts higher than the rest and appears to bear the brunt of the most violent crashing waves. With all the force of nature, those waves, seemingly so angry and strong, relentlessly beat against that rock with all of their fury. Amazingly, the rock never moves, it just stands there, almost proudly, with its chest out, it takes the pummeling and says, “I was made for this. My strength was meant to take your onslaught. I am rock, and I endure the storms of life, through the loudest of winds, the most violent of waves, I will stand here, day after day, year, after year. I will be here when your grandson gets old, and when his grandson gets old”

Jesus wants to take the pounding of the violence of life for us. He wants to bear the brunt of the enemies attack against our lives:

As I remind you of some of these scriptures, I think that you will be able to see Jesus as a rock in all of this…

Jesus and the Apostles warned of turmoil and peace

John 16:33.   When the hour is come, she is in anguish, but when it’s done, she’s full of joy

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Matthew 11:28-29.  Ship was ladened w cargo

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

1 Peter 5:7 Anxieties. casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:8.  Satan is like that wave, never stopping, relentlessly trying to pound you Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5:9. firm and unwavering. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Grab hold of the strength of that rock and resist your adversary Christian

1 Peter 5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. • become or make calmer or quieter:

The Psalmist and the rock Psalms 18:1-2

1 “I love You, O LORD, my strength.” 2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shelter from danger My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalms 18:46-47 46 The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation, 47 The God who executes vengeance for me, And subdues peoples under me. He is my defense against those that rise up against me. You don’t have to get your own vengeance. You can rest assured that God will take care of you! Can you believe that, or will you have to take care of it yourself tomorrow?

Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer. Greatest value-must’ve had gold or diamonds in that rock…purchase price—souls of all mankind

Psalms 28:1-2 1 To You, O LORD, I call; My rock, do not be deaf to me Please hear me Lord. I need you- can you hear the desperation? He won’t be silent. You think He is sometimes, because He seems not to answer what you want. That’s because that’s not His job. His job isn’t to answer what you want. His job is to answer what He wants, so just as a captain on a ship in a Spanish Armada would have gripped the helm and pulled the rudder against its will in the raging sea to right the course, so is the hand of God pulling us towards His will, so that He can use our vessel for His glory.

For if You are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You for help, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

Psalms 61:1-4 1 Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 3 For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy. 4 Let me dwell in Your tent forever;

Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. This is what the people of God do. They run to Him, they look to Him, and they hide in Him. And if you sit in the audience and in your heart and mind you say. You can run and hide if that’s what you want to do preacher, but I’m going to stand on my own two legs and bear this wave. You silly little earthling. You are going to be pulled out to sea is what is going to happen. Satan is going to cause you to make a decision that is going to move you in the wrong direction, and it’s going to change the course of the destiny of God’s will for your life.

Selah.

Psalms 62:5-7 5 My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken [KJV MOVED] 7 On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

Ps 46:10 Be still and know that I am God

Psalms 105:41-43 With the same rod that bloodied the Nile, God opened the rock in the wilderness, a rock that gushed forth water. Both judgment and cleansing, both judgment and provision. Are you thirsty tonight? What are you thirsty for? Maybe you’re trying to drink the wrong thing. Jesus said, those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled…. 41 He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. 42 For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; 43 And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout.

Psalms 40:2-3 2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay I was sinking, and He put me on a firm foundation And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD.

Luke 6:48-49 Luke 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Back to the rock in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 10:4. and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. The rock followed them in the wilderness preacher? Come on man give me a break, you know better than that. You take it up with the Holy Spirit and the Apostle Paul, the word of God says that an anointed rock followed them in the wilderness and He will follow you also if you let Him, better yet, He and the Father will live in you, sup w you, lead you, guide you, empower you, bless you! Hallelujah let Him have His way with you.

Exodus 17:6-7 Jesus is the Christ and the rod is judgment. God judged Jesus on the cross, so that living water could be given to you.

6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us, or not?”

Numbers 20:8-11 you don’t keep crucifying Him though. He died once for all. Now, you believe it. Now, you declare it. Speak to that mountain, speak to that infirmity, speak to that demon or demonic situation, that stronghold

But Moses got irritated w the people and he struck it again.

The Water of Meribah

8 “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak [declare] to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation9 and their beasts drink.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him; 10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.

Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

1 Peter 2:6-9 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

The very rock upon which God builds His church and defeats the gates of Hell is the same rock that people are stumbling over and getting offended by.

Houma Bible Study Notes: Salvation History #2

Last week we traveled through the Old  Testament starting with creation. God’s purpose for creation was to give man a place to dwell, and He gave him dominion over the creation, but Adam’s disobedience through the fall allowed Satan to usurp Adam’s rightful authority. Immediately after the fall, God began the process of restoring man to his intended position. God performed the first sacrifice when He made skins for them.

After the fall, matters only worsened. The fallen angels became aware that God planned to destroy their power through the seed of the woman. Their counter strike was that they intermarried with the daughters of men and produced a hybrid race of giants that the Bible calls the Nephilim. It is my belief and the belief of the ancient Jews that the spirits of the disembodied Nephilim are the demon spirits that attempt to draw us away from God today.

If the fall was an individual rebellion of the first family against God, the Tower of Babel was the first corporate rebellion. The plans of Babel live on today. Whether we realize it or not, the world that we live on is blanketed with a Satanic plan of darkness (1 JN 5:19) that is speeding towards an attempt to topple God’s authority on earth. While most people would say that they don’t believe that can happen (I don’t either), but most of these same people are oblivious to the fact that it’s even occurring.

It was with the character Abraham where we concluded our journey. Specifically, we discussed the Genesis 22 narrative that is so reminiscent of the story of Jesus’ life that it’s hard to believe that it’s accidental.

Abraham, the father of a supernatural son, supernatural in the sense that Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 90. Interestingly, the Genesis 22 narrative also describes Isaac as being a willing sacrifice, who carried wood up a hill. We correlated the Similarities between the Genesis passage, and John chapter 3, where the word of God says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We compared that to the Genesis 22 narrative where God told Abraham to take his son his only son, and to offer him as a sacrifice on the mountain that he would be shown. And after the class it was noted by one of the participants that mount Moriah (where Abraham was instructed to offer Isaac) is considered by many to be the very same mountain upon which Jesus was crucified.

Tonight, Abraham has a large influence on our discussion again. Let’s reconsider the thought of justification by faith. There are 3 words that must be considered when discussing this topic: 1) the word itself— justification, 2) faith,  and 3) righteousness.

It is important to note that justification and righteousness are very similar in their meaning; however, there is a slight variation. The word righteousness describes the believer’s right standing with God, which is a gift given to Him by Jesus through His work on the cross. Justification describes God’s agreement that the believer is now justified. The catalyst that caused this transaction was the believer’s willingness to believe by faith in the plan of God, which I will explain is Jesus Christ and Him crucified and can also be labeled as the seed and the sacrifice.

Here is an illustration that may be helpful: Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world. God has given every human being a measure of faith (Romans 12:3) and a freewill. That means that man can choose to believe God’s word, or he doesn’t have to, it’s completely up to him. Salvation is paid for, it’s like money in an ATM machine, but in order to enjoy the benefits, a person has to drive and enter the pin. Faith is the pin that accesses the account of righteousness.

God went through great lengths and thousands of years of human history to bring us to the place where he released Jesus to the world. He created a nation out of one man named Abraham, and that through that one man he gave the nation of Israel to the world. Ultimately, through Israel, the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one, whose name was Jesus, was born into the world of a virgin and and whose Father is God.

The scripture says that Jesus is the righteousness of God (Romans 3:27). One of the main points that I want  to get across tonight describes the object of our faith. This thought is important especially since faith is somewhat of an abstract thought. The simplified version is that God’s plan for salvation is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When the believer hears the gospel (good news) and accepts it by faith, a spiritual miracle takes place on the inside of his heart, and he becomes born again. Jesus said, unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God, nor can he enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

In the discussion that Jesus had with Nicodemus, the Pharisee, he explained that a man must be born both of water and of the spirit (JN 3:5), to enter the kingdom of God. Then he repeats what he is saying, and says that a man must be born in the flesh, but also in the spirit (JN 3:5).

Many people believe that this is speaking of water baptism when he uses the word water in the first verse that we just discussed; however, there is an obvious comparison taking place between verses 5 and 6. In verse 6, the word flesh is clearly speaking of natural birth; whereas, the word spirit is clearly speaking of spiritual birth. If we work backwards, into verse 5, there is no question that Spirit relates to spirit, after all, it’s the exact same word being used in both verses. But what about the word water? What does the word water here mean? Most people automatically jump to the thought of water baptism and the reason they do that is because they view the scriptures from the mindset that water baptism and conversion work together in the New Covenant, but Christian baptism was not even in existence yet when Jesus made this statement. Yes, there were forms of baptism, or shall we call them ceremonial cleansing, but John the Baptist’s baptism was not the same as Christian baptism.

The word water in verse 5 is not referring to water baptism, rather, it is referring to natural birth. A baby is situated in amniotic fluid, and while, they didn’t call it that, they were certainly aware that when a baby was born, the water gushed out with the baby.

The first birth in Adam, is a natural birth in the flesh and the baby comes out in water. The second birth in Christ is a spiritual birth where the believer is baptized first by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13) into Jesus, where they become one with Him in His body, and water baptism is the outward expression of that inner truth. Then there is the baptism of the Spirit (MT 3:11).

There are 3 specific forms of baptism recorded in scripture:

1. Baptism into Christ—the Spirit baptizes the believer into Christ

2. Baptism in water a—believer or pastor baptizes another believer into water

3. Baptism of the Spirit—Jesus baptizes the believer into the Spirit

When discussing the object of faith, I like to use the terminology the seed and the sacrifice to describe what ultimately finds it’s fulfillment in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What we need to understand is that God has been giving promises, regarding the plan of salvation,  ever since the fall took place in the garden. Last week we discussed the fact that scholars and commentators describe the proclamation that was spoken in Genesis, chapter 3, as the Proto- evangelium. We discussed the fact that that was the first time that the gospel was preached, and if that be the case, then God was the first one to preach the gospel.

When He preached the gospel, God preached to the serpent that it would be the seed of the woman that would crush the (the serpent’s/his) head. In addition, during the process the heel of the seed of the woman would be crushed. The idea would be that in the crushing of the serpent’s head, his (the serpent’s) authority was destroyed, but during that process, the seed of the woman was injured. certainly, we can state that Jesus was injured even to the point of death on the cross, however, he did not lose his authority by dying on the cross, instead he gained the fulfillment of his authority in his active obedience towards the Father’s will. At the same time, through this crushing, the serpent’s authority was destroyed.

The seed and the sacrifice, is the unfolding of God’s salvation plan that becomes more clear as the pages of His word are turned.

The seed

The idea of the seed describes the offspring that God promised through the ages. For thousands of years, He used the mouths of His prophets to repeatedly foretell the coming of Messiah [Hebrew for anointed one]. This part of the teaching will only briefly hit specific points in Israel’s history that pointed to the promised one.

Seed of the woman

The first promise was foretold in the garden after the fall, God said, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel—Genesis 3:15 [KJV]

Seed of Abraham

The next stop on the journey is with Abraham, so before Israel was even a nation, the seed was promised through Eve and now through Abraham. There are multiple places where God speaks about the promised seed of Abraham, but Genesis 22:18 says it well, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”      

Abraham had a son named Isaac, Isaac had a son named Jacob, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. Israel had 12 sons and these 12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel. We will call him Jacob for now, because that was his name when he married Laban’s two daughters Leah and Rachel. Judah was Jacob and Leah’s fourth son. You will soon read Jacob’s prophecy over his son Judah when he was an old man and about to die, but it’s important to understand that Judah was the kingly tribe of Israel:

Seed of Judah

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

nor a lawgiver from between his feet,

until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be Genesis 49:10 [KJV]

Scepter= a king’s staff

Lawgiver= a governor, or one set in place

Until Shiloh come= Shiloh 1; he whose it is, that which belongs to him_ Strong’s Hebrew dictionary

In other words, the king’s staff [scepter]will go through the Judah seed and it will rest in the hands of the one who it belongs to.

Seed of David

2 Samuel 7:12-13 12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 *He shall build a house for My name, and I will *establish the throne of his kingdom [forever]

The seed of the woman, Abraham, Judah and David is the Word that became flesh

The final stage in God’s plan of bringing the promised seed to earth is found in the gospel of John:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The sacrifice

A sacrifice for the first sinners [a couple]

The first sacrifice is alluded to in Genesis after the fall. First, the bruising of His [the seed of the women’s] heel from the head of the serpent is a direct reference to the injury of the cross. Furthermore, Genesis 3:21

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them; it is likely that most people would skip over this passage and never consider the fact that this is referring to a sacrificial offering performed by God to cover the sin of Adam and Eve as humanity awaits the arrival of the Lamb of God. However, when this scripture is compared to (Genesis 1:29), other options become limited. Before the fall, men did not eat animals, they were herbivores. Unless God spoke the skins into existence, the first animal death occurred to provide the skins that were needed to cover sin.

As we move forward in the scriptures, the portrait of forgiveness slowly develops. God’s plan of forgiveness starts and finishes with the innocent dying for the guilty. Adam and Eve transgressed God, not this innocent animal from which these skins were acquired.

A sacrifice for a family

The next sacrificial offering in the progression is found in the book of Exodus: Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household Exodus 12:3.

From a couple to a family, the range of forgiveness broadens. The story of the Passover lamb is very powerful. God’s people had been Egyptian slaves for 400 years and He was ready to deliver them from bondage. Ultimately, the Lord instructed them to take the blood from the lamb and paint it on the door posts and side posts of their houses; then they were instructed to go inside and eat the roasted lamb; as they stayed inside and ate, the death angel passed through and judged Egypt [the world]; whereas, God’s people remained safe.

What a powerful picture of salvation through Jesus! We were born slaves to sin and in bondage to the world like God’s people in Egypt, but through faith in Jesus and His death on the cross, His blood is applied to our hearts. One day judgment will come upon the world, but for those who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, their sin was judged on Him!

A sacrifice for a nation

There is a special day on the Jewish calendar known as the Day of Atonement. This feast is described in Leviticus 16: With his finger he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times and cleanse it, from the impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it NASB Leviticus 16:19.

God instructs that the High Priest must sprinkle blood on top of the mercy seat once per year to provide a covering of the sin for the entirety of the nation. Leviticus 16:24…and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people NASB.

The previous types find their fulfillment in the declaration of John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan river: John 1:29 The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the day that the darkened world engulfed by sin had been waiting for.

Jesus is the righteousness of God (Romans 3:27), He was the sinless lamb, sent in human form from heaven to earth to pay the penalty for sinful man. He died and paid the sin debt (Romans 6:23). He had no sin; therefore, death had no right over Him and He rose in victory over death, Hell, and the grave (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). Now, when the gospel is preached, and a sinner believes in this truth by faith, they are saved (Ephesians 1:13). Upon believing, they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13), they are given the gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17). They are given the gift of Jesus’ righteousness, in God’s mind, they are now clothed with His righteousness (Galatians 3:27).

There are two more thoughts, at least for the purpose of these notes:

1. Access to grace through justification by faith

2. Abraham’s meeting in the King’s valley

Justification by faith provides us access into grace, and it is our connection to Grace that gives us the power that we need in order to be able to stand in the face of adversity and continue to live our lives for the Lord throughout this journey (Romans 5:1,2)

Jesus’ righteousness was offered on the cross to God to pay for our guilt. When we heard that truth and believed it by faith, His righteousness was given to us based on our faith in God’s truth. Now, clothed in His righteousness, the Father sees us in Christ! He no longer sees our guilt, He sees the blood of Jesus! Now, we’re in right standing, and God agrees, so His declaration [verdict] is “Justified” in other words, God agrees and says that we are righteous.

Now, that we are justified, Romans 5:2 explains that we have access into grace in which we stand. Grace has multiple applications, but for brevity let’s keep it to [2] concepts: 1) forgiving or saving grace and 2)  standing or power grace.

Grace- A divine influence on the heart and it’s reflection in the life_ Strong’s Greek dictionary

Close with a story the King’s valley:

Abraham believed the word of God and left his father’s home. Like a pilgrim he began the unknown journey of faith looking for the destination that God promised would be his. He looked for a land where he could settle, a place where God would provide the promise of making Him a great nation, a place where his promised seed would provide a blessing for the entirety of the world.

His nephew Lot joined him on the journey. Along the way, the hand of God’s blessing was upon Abraham and Lot. God’s hand of blessing will always be on the child of God who keeps faith in the Lord and obeys the will of God as he/she continues their spiritual journey. Abraham and Lot were herdsmen and their flocks became so abundant that it became hard for them to find enough grass to feed their herds and this caused contention and strife between the two different crews.

Abraham recognizing that it wasn’t godly for them to quarrel, said to Lot, “we are a brothers, let’s not do it this way. You take whatever direction you want and it will be yours and I will take the opposite and we will go our separate ways.”

The scripture says that Lot looked on the plain of Jordan and saw that it was well watered. He chose that part for himself and Abraham went another direction.

There is an extremely powerful spiritual truth found in this part of the story. Walking in the Spirit is not the same as making decisions based on human intellect or wisdom. Abraham was making his decisions based upon the promises of God. Faith brought him on this journey and it would be faith and faith alone that would get him to the destination. It should be understood that Abraham made many fleshly decisions, but thank God that in God’s mercy, Abraham made it to the destination and more importantly, God is a covenant keeping God.

Unfortunately, Lot did not make his decision based on faith. His eyes saw the land and it made sense. He was a herdsman and the plain was well watered, but his decision put his tent facing Sodom.

As the years passed, he moved closer towards the city of Sodom, until one day, we read that he is conducting business at the gates and he has moved his family into the city. We must be vigilant child of God. The enemy will set many traps of bait and attempt to slowly pull us back into the world.

The result is that Lot gets caught up in the mess of the world. Five kings descend on the city of Sodom and others and take hostages. Lot is caught in the skirmish and is now taken captive. What a powerful spiritual truth is found in this aspect of the story. The enemy sets a baited trap that looks pleasant to the eyes, but is not God’s will for the life. Lot, a type of the believer, makes a decision that pulls him into the world, and now, he’s caught up and made a slave of sin. How many well intentioned believers have lost their freedom from compromise with the world.

Abraham hears that Lot was taken, and with an army of 318 servants, defeats the kings and releases the captives. I went backwards in the narrative to bring you to this amazing spot in the scripture that I have found through the years of study. I would call this the king’s valley.

In chapter 14, we are told that name of the king of Sodom is Bera. After the battle, Abraham is in a place called the king’s dale in the KJV and the king’s valley in other translations. While Abraham is in the valley, Bera, king of Sodom goes to meet him. Bera makes an offer The king of Sodom said to Abram, “21 Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.” Genesis 14:21

He wants the souls or people to make slaves for himself, this was a common practice in these days. He is trying to exchange material possessions for the souls of men. This should sound very familiar to our ears, in that Satan is constantly offering material possessions, success and worldly pleasures in exchange for the souls of men.

22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the LORD God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ Genesis 14:22-23

There is another king that meets Abraham in the king’s valley his name is Melchizedek. He is only mentioned 3 places in the Bible, but his name and purpose to the plan of God are extremely important. What’s amazing to me is what he offers Abraham and then Abraham’s response: 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. Genesis 14:18.

Then Melchizedek…blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,

Possessor of heaven and earth; Genesis 14:19

And Abraham, V20… gave him a tenth of all. Genesis 14:20

So let’s recap what just happened before we dig deeper. Abraham went to save his family from being a captive. During the process many were saved. One of the kings, Bera of Sodom, offers him material possessions as a trade for the souls of men and the other king, Melchizedek of Salem brings bread and wine [communion] and then speaks a blessing over Abraham’s life. Abraham’s response for the communion and the blessing is that he gives him a tithe of the possessions, which is a tenth. This is the first tithe ever recorded in the Bible.

The amount of New Testament truth contained in this story so far is amazing! How powerful that God would allow this story in Abraham’s life to be played out in reality 2,000 years in advance and it is so similar to our new life in Christ. We were captives in bondage to the world. God sent Jesus to save us. He sent Jesus as an offering of communion. Communion is a compound word by the way— Common-union. Those who are part of the body of Christ through faith in His sacrifice have a common- union. The bread and wine that represent His sinless life and sacrificial death on the cross represent and remind us that God saved us. We pay tithes, not to a church, not to a man, but to God. Our willingness to be obedient to His word is one powerful way that we can worship God. When we do, we acknowledge God’s ownership over our lives.

Now, let’s dig a little deeper. Consider the names and reigns of these kings. Bera reigns over Sodom, a city famous for the vilest of sin. His name in the Hebrew language literally means, son of evil.

Melchizedek reigns over Salem. Salem was the name of ancient Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem means peace. Melchizedek is also a compound word. Melch means king and zedek means righteousness. Melchizedek is king over peace and he is the king of righteousness.

Abraham, the father of the faith found himself in a valley in the midst of the battles of life. He was forced with a choice. Would he choose to serve the king of evil or would he serve the king of righteousness and peace? Every human will have to enter the king’s valley, and in that place, they will not leave until they have made a choice and decide who they will serve.

A Raging River in my Soul

Psalm 23

A raging river in my soul

I often think about the lives of Bible characters and then remember messages that I have preached. These thoughts intersect with thoughts that I think about people that I know today.

Maybe you only think about a couple people, but I think about most of the people in the church pretty regularly. I consider the things that I know about each person’s life. I consider where they’ve been and where they are. I consider the trials and circumstances and the battles that they may face.

What happened to Tamar after Amnon threw her out and locked the door?

What could have Absalom done differently that would have prevented his anger and bitterness that resulted in his tragic death?

What made the little girl from Israel stay hopeful even after she was taken captive and forced to served in Naaman’s house? How was she not full of sorrow and heartache over losing her parents and able to witness about God’s power and help Naaman the leper get healed?

What would have happened to Peter after the denial had Jesus not helped him?

Did Paul just conveniently forget Stephen’s stoning?  Or was there a time, not mentioned in scripture where his heart was overwhelmed with sorrow for the things that he had done in the past?

Surely, he allowed God to heal his heart and turn his failures into victories instead of letting the devil use them in his life to make him want to quit.

He must have allowed the Holy Spirit to enter in to those deep places of his soul and bring healing? Or do you think that he just buried those thoughts somewhere deep in his heart, in one of those compartments in his soul— you know throw it in a room of the mind, close the door, lock it and forget about it?

I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t speak on that. Sometimes the Bible is either silent or synoptic on things and we can only wonder.

But we do know that in the world there are tribulations: the word means to be pressed. Life is full of trials that cause pressure and pressure that we just try to pretend isn’t there is not really being dealt with properly. These hidden problems can be quiet and peaceful one moment and suddenly swell into raging river the next.

Hurts and pains can occur anytime along the life span. We can be hurt as a child by our parents. Some people have had harsh childhoods. They grow up in an environment where there was either some type of abuse or neglect: verbal, physical, sexual… or maybe it’s not that, maybe it’s just neglect. Sometimes you can just feel like someone doesn’t love you or care much about you and that they are rejecting you and it can be painful. So what do we do about that? What are we supposed to do about that?

I know you people are pretty seasoned in the word. Maybe someone will watch on video and say, “Well, I’m over here waiting to hear preacher, what must I do?” You must, I must, the people in this room must learn how to allow God to heal them.

“Nah, I’m good preacher. I’m a man and now you’re talking about girl stuff. Feelings and all that kind of stuff.” Well, maybe you think right now that you don’t need healing from hurt that has been caused to you, but is it possible that someone else needs healing from hurt that has been caused by you?”

In one of the recent messages I preached, I mentioned that the veil is torn and access has been granted. In His presence there is fullness of joy and where the presence of the Lord is there is free-dom. Would we enter in and let Him minister to these places of hurt in our hearts.

Have we let Him into the deep places of our hearts? To turn on the light, to search the heart to try the reins, not looking for sin alone, but looking for sick spots, disease, infections of the heart, poisonous plants or roots of bitterness that have been placed by other people, or will we let Him reveal the hurts that we have caused others?

No, I like locking it away in a compartment and hiding it. That works for me. No, it really doesn’t because many times this is the weight that besets you. Many times this is the weight that breaks in on you and messes up you race.

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Weight- a bulky mass, a hindrance, an encumbrance.

I have to be honest, as we move further into the plan of God, I’m realizing that this church isn’t going to be for everyone. This church is for people who want to know what God is really saying to the churches, a church for people who are willing to let Him start with them and from there use them to start on someone else, but don’t be deceived, once He starts, He will never stop because He wants to deal with both the sins and the weights that are trying to beset you. Satan, through sins and weights is trying to wall you off in the race [illustration].

I’m over here running...

But there are weights, burdens and I don’t even realize it but they’re getting in the way. They change the way I treat other people. I’ve been hurt, so I hurt. Oh man you’re talking Psychology. No, I’m talking Psuchology.

The pains that we suppress and refuse to give to God can affect our spirit man? They can cause a heaviness or cause one to become broken, which results in us not handling our business right towards others.

Sometimes we’re the one that caused the pain, but we’re so busy thinking about how we’ve been wronged that we’ve moved past what we did to others and we’re  ready for our blessing from God, but He’s got me stuck in a spot and I can’t move. Why can’t I move from here? Why does it seem like I’m stagnant in my walk? Why do I not grow? Maybe He wants to deal with these things in our heart. The issues of the heart. The weights and the sins we caused others or that have been caused towards us. He wants to heal us.

It doesn’t matter whether you use the word soul, heart or mind it doesn’t matter— all these words speak about a certain layer in the inner person that we really don’t know much about. The word has some things to say about it:

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God wants the entirety of our person to be separated from the world and to be made holy unto Him. We know that this is an ongoing process. We understand that this is an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. We understand that the Holy Spirit works through the work of the cross and like a surgeon He’s cutting away flesh and planting seeds of fruit that will result in a new harvest of hope that will result in joy for you, your family and others around you.

If you were already wholly sanctified, if your soul was already where it needed to be then He wouldn’t warn you:

Romans 12:2 (a)

And be not conformed to this world…

He wouldn’t tell you that there was work to be done in  your mind if it was already completely fixed. I had a conversation with a man of God recently who made the point but the mind is nous and the soul Psuche. Yes, I know that but the mind, nous is a smaller part of a larger compartment called the Psuche or the soul, which is the mind, the will and the emotions. The mind is a smaller part of a larger compartment, but in a sense it’s really the control center of the soul, which is who you are as a person.

In the life of the believer, the Holy Spirit is supposed to be the dominant controlling force in our lives and under that our mind, which influences the soul is supposed to be subject to the Spirit of God and help the Spirit render our soul in its proper order. Once it’s under the domination of the Spirit, then the other two parts of the soul can be in order: the will and the emotions.

Romans 12:2 (b)

…but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

God doesn’t want us hiding the weights and pains from the past in a deep compartment in our soul. He doesn’t want us:

• “drugging” it away,

• drinking it away,

• taking pills it away,

• going to therapy it away.

• He wants us to bring it to Him.

• He wants us to let Him in so He can speak to us, have His way with us and do a deep work in our hearts.

Prayer of a Pauper and Declaration of a King

Read Matt 18:1-4

Introduction

Sometimes there seems to be a dichotomy or contradiction within the teachings of scripture. He said this… but then He said this…

Ex. …unless you are converted and become as one of these little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. What does He mean by that? Does He want adults to become literal children. The child is the illustration, a believer is supposed to behave like a child when they approach kingdom business. The context is: who will be the greatest in your kingdom, Lord? The response is, unless you become converted like one of these little children, you can’t enter.

Converted- Strong’s: turn quite around, twist, a change of direction. Oxford American: having been adapted to be suitable for a new purpose. The house was converted to a duplex, and you Christian must be converted to a child.

This is talking about learning how to live in His kingdom now, so we can enter His kingdom then. What attribute of a child would Jesus want—What is it about a child that Jesus wants His followers to emulate? The simple answer, one word—dependence! Quit being independent and doing things your own way and learn how to depend on God!

Juxtapose- to place close together or side by side in a way that invites comparison or contrast

Juxtapose that against this: Proclaim the kingdom of heaven is at hand! Cast out devils, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers (MT 10:7)…What I say to you in the dark, tell it in the light. What you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim it from the rooftops.

Proclaim- a public crier, herald the king’s declaration

Father in the name of Jesus help me to teach/ preach the:

Prayers of paupers: declarations of a kings!

Let’s talk kingdom how it ended

Matthew 27:28-29 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

The beginning

Matthew 3:1-4 1 -- In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Then He starts speaking and He says:

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Poor- lowly, afflicted, destitute of the Christian helpless, powerless to accomplish an end

The citizens of the Lord’s Kingdom are expected to come to the conclusion that this kingdom operates differently; this is not the American dream, the strength is not we the people, the power is the Holy Spirit working through His people!

Matthew 5:4. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Mourn- means to feel deep sorrow or regret. As a citizen of your kingdom, I am sorrowful Lord that man has rebelled against you. I am sorrowful that so many churches and so many leaders have not taken heed to your word, that we your people have fallen asleep and not stayed spiritually sober. Wake us up Lord, cause our hearts to mourn with you over this lost generation, over the souls that are perishing.

Jesus was humble and bold, and His people are called to be the same way. Both of these traits will make God’s people look different than the world around them.

The world puts faith in their own strength and resources. God’s people draw from Him. The world builds its own kingdom. God’s people work with Him, as He builds His. In the purest form of the word, we all have an  Apostolic calling, and what I mean by that is, the strict definition of the term is that an Apostle is a sent one, also, an ambassador. Ambassadors are a representative of another nation as they live in a foreign land. The American ambassador to Italy, lives in Italy but represents and conducts American business on that foreign soil. An ambassador for the Kingdom of Christ, lives on earth, but represents the heavenly realm

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Meek- mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness - Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good.

Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit. There will be many circumstances in the life of the believer that he will not like. The thorns and thistles hurt and bristle; however, the believer cannot afford to become angry or bitter towards God.

Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Matthew 5:6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?

What are we hungry for? What are we thirsty for? In life what do you crave? Is your appetite that your son or daughter make the travel ball team? Is everything thing in life focused so much about your business and your job that you have to forsake the gathering of the brethren? Do you find joy in the fellowship of the saints?

Jesus was hungry to do His Father’s will. Those that are citizens of His kingdom hunger and thirst for what their King desires. He desires that this wicked world be made right. The citizens of His Kingdom are called to live in a different realm. They are called to seek the things that are above:

The letters of the Apostles repeatedly remind the saints to keep their eyes and minds on the things God  and the more we study His word, it becomes clear that this world is not our home.

1 Peter 2:11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Philippians 3:20 NASB For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

The kingdom of darkness has power and is destroying people’s lives. Jesus has come so that people can have abundant life. In order for that to happen, He had to give His people power that is greater than the powers of darkness.

1 John 5:19 NASB We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

The demons knew who He was and were fearful of His presence— Now, we’re talking about the authority of Jesus!

Matthew 8:29-32 29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

The people of His Kingdom are called to be humble and meek but they are also called to walk in His kingdom authority:

Matthew 28:18-19. 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Matthew 10:7-8 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

The Lord’s kingdom is already but not yet. It means that Jesus has already come to earth and taken authority over the world of darkness. He has already established His kingdom on earth. He will rule and reign physically on earth in the future and He is ruling and reigning now, through us…

Until then He told the Pharisees:

Luke 17:20-21 20 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

If He is the kingdom, and the King is in us, then the kingdom and all its power and authority are in us!

Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

The prayer of a pauper and the declaration of a king!

The submissive prayers of kings

Psalms 18:27 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.

Psalms 77:1-3 ESV In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. 3 When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

Matt 27:46 …My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Matthew 26:39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Hebrews 5:7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. (KJV “Feared”)

I still don’t feel like we properly reverence the presence of the Holy Spirit in our church. I have tried to say things and I want you to know that I don’t want to be controlling its one thing if you talk while I’m preaching. It’s still not right. I wouldn’t do it to you, but what about when we’re asking the Spirit of God to show up and inhabit the praises of His people and instead of worshipping the Lord, we’re in here talking to earthlings, we’re looking at our phone as though we’re bored with God. “Well, I don’t feel Him!” Maybe you don’t feel Him because you have no reverence for His presence!

Declaration of a king

1 Samuel 17:45-46 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day  the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

1 Chronicles 28:20 Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.

Psalms 23:4-5 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Access

2 Chronicles 26:11-15

2Chronicles 29:27-29

2 Chronicles 30:1,5 Passover

2 Chronicles 31:5,6,7 tithes

2 Chronicles 32:2,3,5-8 prepared for war

**2 Chronicles 32:20-22 prayer**

Matthew 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

Hebrews 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Most of us here tonight understand the idea that the veil was torn so that we can experience God’s presence in an intimate way. There are so many benefits, to having access to the presence of the Lord:

• Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy  presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

• James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded—we have access to his presence

• 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty

From what you’ve learned so far in your walk with God, has everything been given to you all at once, or have you found, like the song says, “the more I seek you, the more I find you”?

Knowing that the veil is torn, Have you even entered in?

Romans 5:1-4

Peace with God Through Faith

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

So we have been granted access. We have been given peace. The veil is torn, and he says: when you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me Jeremiah 29, 13–14

So access is a major aspect of the work of the cross!

1. Through the cross and our being made right in the eyes of God,  we can seek him and enter His presence—do we?

2. When we get in there, do we ask Him to search our hearts and try our reins?

3. When we do that what does he show us?

Do you want God‘s will for your life. For your children’s lives, your family, your church? do you want God to move through you? Through us as a body? More importantly, do you want your heart to be right before him?

• Matthew 7:22 on that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’Jesus said there comes a day when those that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth

• Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts.

• Psalm 119:105. Your word is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path.

If we have his word in our heart and have allowed him to turn the lamp on, why would we not change? Why do we stay the same?

How do you reckon the Lord works the cross into all of this? How do you reckon the Lord is going to crucify our flesh man or woman of God? If we do not allow him to search us and when we do and when He does, what do we hear? The cross works in multiple ways: once we avail ourselves to the access…

I. Results of access

• Access/presence—Isaiah 6 – don’t tell me you’re OK, or that we all don’t have something new that He’s working on in us.

• Grace- grace to forgive/grace to change—a divine influence on the heart and it’s reflection in the life

• Revelation – because we are made right, we have access to the spirit to be our teacher John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. KJV calls Him comforter—Strong’s “one who brings aid”

II. Revelation results in truth

1. You shall know the truth and it will make you free (John 8:32)

2. Truth about God through the life of Jesus

   1. His character

   2. How he handles business

         a) He is humble – if a brother has ought, we  should go to our brother (Matthew 5:23-24).

         b).He prefers others over himself (MK 10;45)

         c).prays for people that harm him (LK 23;34)

     d). He prays for them and corrects them privately

(MT 18:15)

     e). He helps people and doesn’t get a megaphone so that the whole world knows about it – he looks to the heavenly reward (MT 6:1-5)

      f). He doesn’t let other people’s opinions change his mind, “I rebuke you, Satan“—Peter (MT 16:22)

     e).  He likes to play in the dirt – you without sin cast the first stone (JN 8:7)

     f). He doesn’t want to receive praise from men, because he knows what is in the heart of man (JN 2:24-25;MT 23)—He told the religious, “you are like a bunch of whitewashed tombs filled with Dead Man’s Bones.”(MT23:27)

In the end self is supposed to die, and Christ arises in us. Why doesn’t it work more quickly? Is it the:

• drugs

• alcohol

• ongoing other acts of sin of any flavor of disobedience, that we pretend isn’t disobedience. But the Lord already showed us in the past it was, and we ignored him, so now we are living in sin and disobedience, because he who knows to do right, but doesn’t do it to him, it is… [SIN].

• or is it our response to what he tells us. I honestly believe there are people in churches who, when they hear a message, think about someone else, Yep, that right there is for Bill, that is for Brennan or Matt’s mom. Or when They pray, and the Lord does speak. All right, I will tell Pastor about what you showed me about him Lord:

– you who just said amen in your head. Like (yeah, there are people like that. They just won’t listen to what the Lord is trying to tell him, you may be the one he’s preaching to right now!“

He was obedient to the point of death!

Have we become obedient to the point of death? Has the death of Christ entered our members to produce sanctification or has it remained a theory on the page? Until we yield to this great truth, it remains that— a great truth!

• truth to be trusted

• a truth of hope.

• a truth of God

• but it’s not ours yet.

  * it’s paid for

  * he willed it to us— it’s our inheritance

But until it comes alive for that sin or that situation, it lies dormant on the page.

What will make it come alive— Jeremiah 29:12,13 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes….

**2 Chronicles 32:20-22

2 Chronicles 26:11-15 Uzziah- the strength of a warrior— soldiers, war machines that throw arrows and stones

Hezekiah 2 Ch 29:27-29 commanded that the burnt offering be burned and offered praise at the same time

2 Ch 30:1-5 sent letters to keep the Passover

2 Ch 31:5,6,7 they brought their tithes

2 Chronicles 32:2,3,5-8 Hezekiah worked hard to do the practical things for war and preparation, prevented the flow of water, great military tactic, armies need water, he rallied the troops and told them the truth that God was able to give them the victory

2 Chronicles 32:20-22 when it was all said and done it was when Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed that the Lord sent an angel and brought the victory

Vision of prayer and bombs hitting a beachhead and then a fortified city.

You are a Vehicle for the Glory of God!

Numbers 13:23-14:21

Numbers 14:21

but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD

Numbers 14:6-10

6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” 10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.

I titled my message: You are a vehicle for the glory of God! Originally, I was going to title it: God couldn’t do it, because Christian wouldn’t let Him. Then I struggled with the title. I couldn’t figure out why the struggle, was it because it was too negative and God didn’t want me to be negative? Then, I realized, no it wasn’t that. The reason why is because it simply wasn’t true. The truth was that God promised He would fill the earth with His glory, and the way that He is doing it is by using His people to bring his glory where He asks them to bring it. But it is also true that He could not do it through the 10, because they would not let Him, so with that said, which one will we be?

Will Christian let God work through Him?

When we face something that looks impossible, we need to remember that God’s work is performing the impossible. Christian’s work is believing God to do the impossible.

I can only imagine the chaos and confusion that was going on at that time. Fear had stricken the majority and confusion had gotten the best of the 10 spies, there was no turning back for these guys. Their faith was destroyed! They saw the enemy and gave up. Joshua and Caleb tried to speak godly truth, but it just made them more angry. They wanted to stone them.

• hatred,

• variance

• wrath

• strife

• seditions

Troubles sometimes arise in our lives like a sudden storm on open water, and there are other times that there are chronic problems in our lives that never seem to go away. And whether it’s acute or chronic, there is danger that the believer will not keep his part of the agreement for the circumstance, and his part is to trust, believe, surrender and act in faith.

As I was praying and thinking about the tactics of the enemy: fear and chaos are tools Satan uses to bring doubt and unbelief. These feelings can quickly spread amongst God’s people like they did in the story. The purpose of the enemy is to focus the eyes of God’s people on the problem instead of God’s power and without even realizing it unbelief takes root and faith  erodes.

We can be certain God watches over His people:

Psalms 121:5-8 NASB

5 The LORD is your keeper;

The LORD is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun will not smite you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will protect you from all evil;

He will keep your soul.

8 The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in

From this time forth and forever.

Psalms 33:18-20 NASB

18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope for His lovingkindness,

19 To deliver their soul from death

And to keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul waits for the LORD;

He is our help and our shield.

In prayer, God reminded how, His presence is poised and ready to move in chaos

…without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep…

• without form- waste; a desolation. A place of chaos

• void- ruin, waste, emptiness

…And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

As I prayed, I also heard: “Haman’s gallows”

Haman built a 75 ft high execution device to kill Mordecai because he refused to worship anything but God.

3:14…A copy of the edict to be issued as law in every province..3:15…Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews…the city of Susa was in confusion…

In the end, God turned the whole plan around and Haman was executed on his own device. When it looks like the devil is winning child of God, we must remember that God is faithful to deliver! God is planning to turn the whole situation around. His job is to deliver and our job is to believe, surrender and pray!

Believe and trust God… Job 39:11  “Will you trust him because his  strength is great And leave your labor to him?

Surrender… Surrender your will to God’s will—James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Make self subordinate, bring self under subjection to the will of God

Pray- 2 Kings 6:17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha—you’re not alone child of God, it  might feel like it sometimes, just pray, “open my eyes Lord”

Seek the face of God, call on His name and put Him in the battle. But it’s getting worse! That means it’s time to press in, not retreat. But the more I seek God, it seems worse. You’re in an ongoing battle for your faith— Satan wants to make you quit and walk away.

In the end, anything that can be shaken will be shaken.

Hebrews 12:25-29

25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

There is true Christianity and there is something else, that something else will be shaken and will not remain, the something else will lead you to focus on yourself and your best life now, and then, there is Jesus! True Christianity will always result in the magnification of Jesus,

But I just want to go to a church where all my girlfriends are like me and we sip coffee and get our toenails done together. Hold on, I thought of something. That’s not a bad idea.

There is nothing wrong with you and your girlfriends sipping coffee and getting your nails done, as a matter of fact, could you do me a favor and try to arrange something like that for the ladies that would be interesting, but do me one favor when y’all go, we can add verses to the song. “Jesus on the mountain, Jesus in the streets, Jesus with our coffee and while they do our feet, Jesus for my family. I speak the Holy name Jesus!

Jesus when you pick up your kid from school speak Jesus, but they’re going to think that I’m weird. They won’t think that you’re weird if you’re filled with the Holy Spirit and when you say His name, it sounds like honey dripping off your lips. No! They will want what you  want, or they will think your weird then, and when they lie in bed at night, they will toss and turn as the Lord reminds them of your words and He speaks Jesus to their hearts.

Jesus on the mountains. Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the darkness over every enemy. I speak the holy name Jeeessus. Your name is power!

Unbelief will cause death to the promise

Hebrews 3:17-19

17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Carcasses- a member of a body, particularly the more external and prominent members esp. the feet a dead body, corpse, in as much as the members of a corpse are loose and fall apart—the scattered corpses like individual members that didn’t make it, but it represented a whole portion of the congregation

Jacob wrestled with God

Genesis 32:24-25

24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

Chaos, Esau was around the corner…the story says that God could not prevail. The mind asks what kind of God can’t win a wrestling match with a man? It’s not that He can’t. He will not transgress man’s free will.  Jacob refused to give in, and the word says that when God saw that He could not prevail, he touched him in his hip. It’s not that God can’t out wrestle a man. And if you choose to refuse to surrender, at some point, He’s going to allow something to touch you to the point that you will give in to Him.

Paul said that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood; instead we wrestle against spirits It’s not always spirits that we’re wrestling, many times, it’s our own will and our own flesh

Galatians 5:24

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Luke 9:23

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

I love Caleb

Numbers 13:30

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”

Doesn’t that sound like the voice of faith? The HOLY spirit speaking to the child of God and encouraging him to trust and put his eyes on Jesus, to move forward with the plan, instead of looking at the problems, look to the solution.

The Lord has been telling me in prayer I want my Son magnified. I want the name of Jesus preached. I want to pour out my Spirit and move in the lives of my people, and I want this church exalting HIM. I have a hard time believing that He doesn’t want that from every church. I have a hard time believing that he doesn’t want to speak to every Pastor and tell him the same thing, but I’m not them, I’m me and all I know is that this is what a he’s telling me.

The voice of unbelief, is a voice that displeases God

God is asking His people to carry His glory into the land and the  question is… will He find someone faithful to do what He is asking? Will people have the fortitude, the tenacity, the sticktoitiveness to finish the race? Not without the help of the Holy Spirit they won’t, but even with His help, if they want their own will rather than the Lord’s will they won’t endure, because part of learning God’s will requires a willingness to let the cross have its way, a willingness to let self and self desires go

Numbers 14:19-24

Moses: 19 “Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

The LORD Pardons and Rebukes

Yahweh: 22 Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. 24 But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.

Sometimes the battle looks too fierce, the enemy seems too big, the chaos and confusion starts to wear us down and for a moment, we wonder if we will make it. Some points that we should be made aware of:

1. God made promises in the past v23

2. People who refuse His voice, will not see the promises

3. When people don’t listen, he takes it personal spurn-treat w contempt

A dream – the glory of the Lord is in the earth, it is going deep into the mud deep into the earth, The glory is moving through the depths of the earth, in and out of the earth and it’s breaking up the earth. It’s breaking up the fallow ground!

A Vision, a man on an old plow. He’s plowing the earth. He seems alone to the eye. He seems weak, he seems feeble and small, he plows with an old plow, I can’t see the animals, there are no animals, there is something else that cannot be seen pulling the plow.

It doesn’t look like much to the physical eye, but the same one that is pulling the plow is the same one that is releasing his glory into the earth, and breaking up the fallow ground!

Don’t take your hand off the plow child of God! Then the seed starts flying, the seed is raining in the air and falling onto the broken ground, entering into the broken ground. The Spirit is plowing hearts, the Spirit is breaking the fallow ground, in the breaking, ugly is revealed, confusion, chaos, irritation, it’s because it’s within the heart, within the heart, things are being exposed: your heart, my heart. Its being exposed, so it can be moved out of the way, wrong intentions, wrong thoughts, God wants them gone!

And then the seed enters the plowed earth, and what looked like gallows for the hanging, for my hanging, for the church’s hanging is suddenly turned into a victory. For a while, the chaos and confusion looked momentarily looked like an opportunity for Satan to prevail, it was an opportunity allowed by me, says the lord for you to trust me. Trust me, child of God, trust me, Church, let me cleanse you deeply, let me reach into the depths of the soil of your heart include you in preparation for your personal harvest, so I can use you in my harvest!

Let my glory, fill the Earth!!

Houma Bible Study Notes: Salvation History #1

The Flood

Genesis 6:9

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Satan and the fallen angels intermarried/ intermingled with the human creation— what would be the purpose for that? 1). War against God and His plans for the human creation 2). They knew that through the seed of the woman (Jesus), God would destroy their authority. Genesis 3:15 … it (seed of the woman ‘Jesus) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

God instructed Noah after the flood to replenish the earth. It is His will that the earth be filled with His glory. There is a day coming in the future where Jesus will sit on the throne of David and literally rule the world as King. God’s presence will dwell on a new heaven and new earth. This time is called the Millennial reign of Christ. At that time, God’s glory will completely cover the earth. The presence of evil will be locked away for 1,000 years. Until that time comes, God’s plan is that the earth be filled with people, that His truth be preached, that they receive His truth in themselves, and that in this way, the earth is filled with His glory.

Genesis 9:7

And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

Revelation 5:8-9

8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

The Tower of Babel

Genesis 10:8-10 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Genesis 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Genesis 11:1-9

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

The Tower of Babel is a tale of many Biblical truths: 1) direct rebellion against what God told Noah—multiply in the earth, 2) Man coming together to help man without the help of god, creating a society without God, 3) there are pyramid and ziggurat (tower) structures all over the world and near some of these structures, it’s been proven that there was human sacrifice involved, 3) so when they say, “Let us build a tower that reaches into the heavens, do they mean into the sky, or through occult worship to engage the power of fallen angels and demon spirits? 4) there is more to think about but one last thought: At Babel, man is trying to build his own city and a tower that reaches the heavens. But the Bible says that God is building a city in heaven and will bring it down to man (John 14:2,3; Revelation 21:10)

"About 101 years after the Flood we find a vast number of 'em [the offspring of the sons of Noah], if not the whole race of Noah, in the vale of Shinar, employed in building a city and large tower, in order to make themselves a name and to prevent their dispersion. And tho' they carried on the work to a monstrous height, and by their vanity provoked God to confound their devices, by confounding their speech, which occasioned their dispersion; yet their skill in Masonry is not the less to be celebrated, having spent above 53 years in that prodigious work, and upon their dispersion carried the mighty knowledge with them into distant parts, where they found the good use of it in the settlement of their kingdoms, commonwealths, and dynasties. And tho' afterwards it was lost in most parts of the earth it was especially preserved in Shinar and Assyria, where Nimrod, the founder of that monarchy, after the dispersion built many splendid cities, as Ereck, Accad and Calneh in Shinar, from whence afterwards he went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calch, and Rhesin— Masonic Encyclopedia

"At the makinge of the Tower of Babylon, there was Masonrye first made much of. And the Kinge of Babylon that height Nemrothe was a mason himselfe, and loved well the science as it is said with masters of histories. And when the City of Ninyve and other citties of the East should be made, Nemrothe the Kinge of Babylon sent thither three score masons at the rogation of the Kinge of Nyneve, his cosen. And when he sent them forth he gave them a charge in this manner. . . . And this was the first tyme that ever Masons had any charge of his science."— Masonic Encyclopedia

The last thought from Babel is that God confused their languages, which forced them to be spread across the globe into separate people groups. This resulted in establishment of multiple nations. We should be reminded that it was God’s will that the whole world would be filled with His glory and the way that He does that is by having the world inhabited with humans that willingly accept Him as Lord and are filled with His presence

Isaiah 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

And as we saw in Revelation chapter 5, the song praises God because Jesus redeemed humans back to God with His blood from every tongue, tribe and nation.

Abraham

The next major move by God is the calling of Abraham, which led to the creation of His own nation Israel.

Genesis 12:2-3 2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy  name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Abraham> Isaac> Jacob [Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Genesis 35:10), Jacob had 12 sons. His sons/ grandsons— Joseph’s sons {Ephraim & Manassah} became the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 tribes ofIsrael became the nation known as Israel. God brought them into the land of Canaan after the Exodus and the 40 years in the wilderness. When Moses died, God allowed Joshua to bring them into the Promised Land— formerly known as Canaan.

Let’s focus on Abraham. The New Testament calls him the Father of the faith ( ). God asked him to leave his father’s house ( ). Jesus said that we are to leave our old life and live in the new ( ).

The new life starts with death to the old one through faith. The old man dies in Christ and the new man resurrects in Him.

Genesis 22

The story of Abraham and his son Isaac in this chapter is undoubtably parallel to the story of God the Father and His Son Jesus. Scholars or commentators call these OT findings types and shadows. Abraham waits his whole life for the promise of God. He waits for the fulfillment that God will send him a son so that the promises that he will be a great nation. It is quite a long story, but there were many times along the way that Abraham became weary in his journey and seemed, momentarily, to question God, and even at one point took matters into his own hands when he and Sarai, his wife made a plan to have a child with Hagar their Egyptian servant ( ). The name of this child was Ishmael. The Muslim religion comes from the descendants of the Ishmaelites, Mohammed was an Ishmaelite. Christian’s are constantly being tested to either make decisions in the flesh (Ishmael), where they try to fix their situation their way, but it’s outside the will and word of God; instead of patiently waiting on the promises of God.

But God told Abraham that the promised seed would be Isaac a child born to Sarah, and that even though she was 90 and he was 99, the child would be born the way that God said— under supernatural circumstances. There are are multiple supernatural births in the pages of scripture, at least four I can think of off the top of my head: Isaac, Samson, Samuel, Jesus. Why? I believe it’s because God’s plan of new birth in Jesus is so supernatural! Have you been born again? Have you asked Jesus to forgive you? Have you experienced new birth? You will know you have when a love for the things of God and a desire towards obedience in His word have entered your heart.

After all this time Abraham finally had his promised son and, now, in Genesis 22, God requires of Abraham to take Isaac, the supernatural child and to offer him as a sacrifice on a mountain that God will show him. It is the details of the story that are so intriguing to me. The details intrigue me because 2,000 years before Jesus, God the Father was already writing the story of His only begotten Son. Look at these similarities:

Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Genesis 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

John 19:17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

In both stories, a son of supernatural birth, carries wood up a hill on his way to being offered as a sacrifice in obedience to his Father’s will.

Next time, we will talk more about Abraham and his connection to the New Covenant, but, just a couple points:

God has a plan for humanity. He is love and He created us with a free will so that we could choose to love Him, so that He could pour out His love on us. Creation shows me that all this that He did, He did for love!

God has an enemy. The enemy of God is full of hatred. His choice to rebel against God, resulted in a perversion of his purpose. He was intended to bring God glory. Now, he is driven to get his own glory and to take God’s glory for his own.

God looks for people to believe His truth and obey. Through these people, He performs His will upon the earth and His plan is manifest through the hands and mouths of His people as they preach the truth about His kingdom,  Matthew 7:14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. NASB—the Lord said that the laborers are few to work in the fields of the kingdom (Matthew 9:37-38). There will also be few that follow the straight and narrow path that leads to life.

Satan and his kingdom of darkness use the free will and hands of man also to build his kingdom on earth, like Babel, they make bricks and build a name for themselves, instead of building the name of God. Matthew 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. NASB— the majority of people and the majority of the church world today is building this kingdom. There will be many of that day that will say, “but Lord Lord—didn’t we…” (Matthew 7:21-23)

God called Abraham to leave the life he knew before: Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: KJV

When you believe God’s word, the Bible says we become born again: John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

When we are born again, we are translated into the Kingdom of God: Colossians 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, NASB

LOVE

First Corinthians 13

V1 NASB, …tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.:

maybe there’s a distinction in sound that would be noticed by a percussionist, but most people would not take notice at the difference between those two sounds.

Clanging sounds would become irritating, the of a believer speaking if God’s word whether it be through prophecies, tongues, preaching, if it’s done without the love of God it just doesn’t sound right, but how do we define God’s love in the day we live in, what is the definition of God’s love in these modern times? Many people talk about love, but how do they define it? Ex of when the youth pastor said that about the Samaritan woman.

So is the new definition of love that we never tell anyone that sin will destroy them? We never say homosexuality is wrong, transgender, fornication, adultery, gossip, lying slander, smoking, vaping, drugs, alcohol? Is it not love to tell the truth? So is it love to let people go to hell without them knowing they’re on their way to hell and not tell them they don’t have to go?

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NASB

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, , nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

It’s true that sometimes God’s love is uncomfortable, but God’s love heals and restores. God so loved He sent His Son into a fallen world. How bad is this world church? How hostile towards God and HIS Son do you suppose this place is? What a love, that in the face of hate and bitterness and jealousy and anger, as they wag their  head and cast in His teeth, “Save yourself!” His response, “Father forgive them”, It’s not a pretty, clean or romantic love. It’s heartbreaking, it exposes, it convicts of wrong, but this love is so full of passion, selflessness, sacrifice  it’s  unforgettable; yet, so many carry on without change. “Don’t talk about change, I don’t like change”, but He died, so we could change. The world was dark and He is light. God is light in HIM is no darkness at all.

What kind of love is this?

Numbers 21

Well, it’s a love like you’ve never seen, a love like you’ve never heard of:  “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. The people are perishing for their murmuring and complaining against God and rebellion against God’s will. He sends the poison of asps. God is not opposed to chastening His people. They rebelled, they murmured, they complained. He sent the serpents, but He also made a way of healing.

Look to HIS plan child of God – look to God‘s plan Christian on that pole sin was judged. The son of God was placed, upon that pole, and there He bore the weight of man’s sin. Your body can be healed— that is love, the bitterness in your heart healed, the brokenness of your heart healed, what love! Remember the problem began with— murmuring and complaining. This is the love of God. It doesn’t look like it, it doesn’t make sense, it’s bloody, it’s dirty, but if you accept that it’s for you, if you let it into your heart, love will flood your heart and change your life.

John 1:12

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Children reflect the image of their father. True children of God are molded into the image of his son and His Son is the image of the invisible God Colossians 1:15

God is love 1 John 4:7-9 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

When the sacrificial love of Jesus enters our heart, it changes everything because the revelation of His love changes everything. Lost and hopeless, humanity was stuck in a world of darkness. We don’t think much of history, we tend to only view the world through our personal experience, but what you and I were born into is far different than the rest of human history. If we could really understand the light of His love, the transformation power of the Love of God, we would so appreciate the Lord more. Without Jesus, there is only sickness, sin, disease, darkness and trouble, nothing but hopelessness; we were without him: yet, he loved. In spite of ourselves, he still loved us. He showed us his love (demonstrated) his love in that, while we were sinners, Christ died for us. When did he die for you? I would say he died for you when you were your worst.

Was that when you were doing drugs, and living a lifestyle of sexual sin or was it when he saved you and then you cheated on him again? You can figure that out between you and God. He and I will figure that out for myself. But while we were yet sinners, he died for the ungodly:

Selfless, sacrificial, relentless, a pursuing love that refuses to quit. Refuses to give up— He will not give up on you child of God. Please, let us agree in the Holy Ghost, we never want to give up on you Lord!

Until that love enters our heart. We will sound no different than the rest of the world. We will just be another noisy sound in the middle of a noisy world – it is the love of God that will give our words distinction.

Unless that love is in our hearts and manifesting the fruit produced from the Holy Spirit in our lives, you can have all the gifts you want, you will still be a gong or a clanging cymbal.

1. v2 you can have faith to move mountains. No love – you have nothing.

2. v3 give all your money to feed the poor – no love – nothing!

Visual manifestations of love:

1. It suffers long— it’s patient.

2. It is kind – useful

3. It’s not jealous or full of envy.

I’m happy God is using you. I am thankful to God that he is blessing you. I was praying for you brother or sister while you were in that spot. It is good to see that he pulled you through.

4. Not easily provoked – man you really hurt me. I don’t really understand why you did that to me. But 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.… you hurt me but you can’t really hurt a head man.

4. Love does not rejoice in iniquity.

5. Love rejoices in truth not lies.

• Prophecies will fail

• Tongues will cease

• Knowledge will vanish away

Remember Because there is coming a day when those things will no longer be needed, because all those things are currently simply tools used by God for the purpose of revealing Himself to a world that is sick with sin, and full of hate towards God.

But one day love will come, that which is perfect will come— when He comes, the fulfillment of God‘s plan— Jesus, when the manifestation of God’s love returns to this earth, The part will be done away with.

You see right now the love is only partly seen, and can only partly be seen by others through us. It’s sad that there is a world out there that is hurting so bad and need His love so much. They are drowning in hate and sin, and His own people called by His name struggle to love one another:  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 1 John 2:10 We must always be on guard: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. Matthew 13:25 But Jesus said not to pluck up the tares, because in plucking out tares, we could damage the wheat that is around the tares and the wheat is O’ so precious to our Lord; for the wheat are the very souls that He purchased with His blood.

**John under the tree crying and saying with tears in his eyes, “The Master told us to love”

Currently, we see His love through a glass darkly but when love comes, we will see him face-to-face.

So what is the revelation?

The revelation is the manifestation of God’s love. His love manifested on the earth in the form of His Son. Now being ascended, the great Comforter has descended and the great love has entered our hearts through the person of the Spirit. The revelation is that it’s not about my gift being greater than the next person, my tongue or interpretation, being more important than the next person. It’s never about me, it’s always about HIM. That’s why I can’t afford to be:

Provoked

Envious

Seeking my own or full of jealousy

That’s why I have to embrace truth and not lies

That’s why I would rather patiently bear with you rather than display your sin in front of the world (13:7) Proverbs 17:9 He who conceals a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.

That is why I have to endure all things – – which means not to recede— erosion, reveals the root

Revelation 3:2 Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.

Because you see anything else is me acting like a child. When I was a child, I understood as a child, and I thought as a child but now I have love I have the love of the father and the heart of God, and in Christ, I am made a mature man or woman of God! I no longer act like a child or act like: you take my toy, I take yours. You’ve be mean to me, I be mean to you. No, I learn to allow my old man to die and allow God’s love to live through me.

The love of God made me a man, and when I became a man I put away childish things.

1 Corinthians 14:1

Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.