Why America is in danger of Judgement and the different levels of sin

 

This video does a clear explanation of sin, trespass, transgression, and iniquity and how as a nation we are following into a dangerous pattern and if we don’t turn around and repent, then we will see the natural disasters increasing.  From the Bible it clearly explains what the cup of iniquity is and how when the cup of iniquity is full God can pour out His Judgment upon a nation.

I believe that the Church should take this standing in these last days –

Ezekiel 3

¹⁶ Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. ¹⁹ Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰ “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”

 

Jeremiah 18:7-9 says –

⁷ The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, ⁸ if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. ⁹ And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰ if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

 

So for the person and the nation when they sin, there is hope, and ultimately it’s hope remains in Jesus Christ, and turning away from the iniquity and repenting and living an honest and decent life before God.  When God gives people over to a reprobate mind, then He has no reason to spare the nation from violent natural disasters much worse than what we saw in Japan’s earthquake, and they were prepared for the worst case scenario.  This isn’t meant to scare you, but to caution you to get your heart right before God, and I know we all make mistakes and do things wrong before God, at times because we are not perfect people.  But as a nation – wouldn’t you like to see less people dying and being killed everywhere?   It would make the President’s job – whoever is easier, it would make the Senate and Congressmen’s job easier, and people would be getting along better if we just followed with this nation was founded on instead of going against the divine order of God.
Once again I’d like to thank Perry Stone for putting into clear perspective this teaching on the dangers of Judgment upon America and the different levels of sin and for now putting his broadcasts on youtube, and to God for allowing our voices to be heard so that we can share the Good News of the Gospel, then we are living a repentant life before God, then we can experience the grace, favor, and mercy of God resting upon our lives.

Thank the Lord that He provides through the programs for the poor and needy through the government, but at the same time, the Government has to do what’s right and follow a sense of ethics and pass laws based on wise decision making, instead of following the crowd and delighting in the demands of the people when they are not the best decisions to make.

 

America and Israel Connection Perry Stone broadcast

 

This is what happens you Pray in the Spirit.  This is a follow up to Prayer to Bless Israel, Successful Strategy for Liberty and Prosperous Nation, and even the post I had on Martin Luther.  I can see God working a theme in these last days bringing people together.  These connections that Israel has with America is very important.  Perry Stone is a man I respect because after years of watching his teaching he really does his homework and studies his Bible and deals with all kinds of questions with all kinds of answers.  But I also have to thank God for this video which was giving on a timely basis because at a time when I was asking God if someone can show the people what was on my heart for the nation of Israel and the America and connection which I knew we had, and then I watched this week’s show and here it was.  So Praise to be the Lord for answering my prayer for putting into words and into a simple to understand teaching what has been on my heart.  These are Historical facts and can be proven.  It is my prayer that Americans and people from Israel will be touched by this and even some people who had questions on why I posted the Prayer to Bless Israel the way that I did can come to understand the teachings.

 

 

 

Prayer for those being persecuted

Psalm 31

King James Version (KJV)

31 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

² Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

³ For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.

⁴ Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.

⁵ Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

⁶ I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord.

⁷ I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

⁸ And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

⁹ Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

¹⁰ For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

¹¹ I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.

¹² I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

¹³ For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.

¹⁴ But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.

¹⁵ My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

¹⁶ Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.

¹⁷ Let me not be ashamed, O Lord; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

¹⁸ Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

¹⁹ Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

²⁰ Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

²¹ Blessed be the Lord: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.

²² For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

²³ O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

²⁴ Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

 

 

Do you have little foxes that spoil the vineyard?

Today I was reading Song of Solomon, and I came across upon –

Catch us the foxes,
The little foxes that spoil the vines,
For our vines have tender grapes.  – Song of Solomon 2:15

I’m going to take an unusual twist on this verse.  We have cats and a new litter of puppies, which gave birth and they are stray, and sometimes they “spoil” the yard and driveway.  The Hebrew word here chabal means to in some cases to offend or to destroy or to pervert.  Our situation is that these horrendous animals were defacing our property, and we had done everything in our property.  Also they made it very difficult to go outside.
Imagine the Shulamite woman who wants to go to meet the shepherd at be with the flock and her beloved, but she has a responsibility to keep the vineyards clean, but her own vineyard she has not kept clean.  Why was it – because of the foxes?
I was wondering why God was allowing all these to happen to us, and only us, but apparently I know why – He wanted to at some point make this Scripture a revelation.  Foxes can spoil a vineyard by eating or doing some kind of destruction.  If you look up the Hebrew word for foxes it means “jackal or burrower”  So let’s say you have a lawn, it may be not be garden of the year, but it’s a pretty decent lawn, and some animal, either a dog or cat has defaced the property.  So that is what is these brothers felt like.
To backtrack we go to –

My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept.

Imagine if your neighbors because they were mad at you and they made you clean up the yards, but in the process your own lawn looked like a mess.  This is what the Shulamite woman felt like.  She was actually dark because she had been all day cleaning up her “neighbor’s” yards.   Now she couldn’t take care of her own.

Here she is the Shulamite woman – all she wants to do is to spend time with Shepherd, and her brothers want her to catch  the foxes that spoil the vineyard.  When I first this I thought it was the daughters of Jerusalem saying this, but it is actually the brothers.

So in relation sometimes we in a Church setting have to deal with little foxes that cause offense, travail, and destruction, but all we want to do is to be fully committed to Christ.

Sometimes as the Shulamite woman we want to be fully committed to Christ, but we have distractions of this world, or we have all these little problems and issues that get in the way.

Sometimes God gives you a promise and a vision, and a calling, but because of all these misunderstandings, which come from things taking out of context without proper interpretation of cultural and historical context, we end up with little foxes that have tender grapes that must be managed and cared for.
Nobody likes to have these foxes that spoil the vineyard.  But what are we to do, keep the Shulamite woman from the Shepherd?  I didn’t like to have these dogs and cats spoil my yard, but now I can see why that happens, and I hope someone somewhere can get something from this.

The Words we speak

 

This man has an amazing testimony, with some sound Biblical teaching on the words we speak with a call to repentance and salvation because the days are getting shorter before Jesus comes back.  It’s worth taking the 40 minutes to hear.  This man is Filipino so for those that are from that area you might want to check this video out, and it preaches a powerful message.  Praise to be God for men, like him, who have experienced the life changing transformation of Christ in their life.  I believe this will encourage you, dear bloggers.

Jesus’ heart toward the poor and needy

This is a follow up to Jesus’ heart toward the lame and cripple.

Ezekiel 22:29

The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.

We have a big problem in the Church today, and it is a problem that the government is trying to handle and is not being successful, so people are suffering in America.  We have fed the poor and starving in other nations, but in the process of preaching in stadiums full of people and expanding in big buildings, what have we done to help the poor and needy – whether that be the low income people, or the sick people, or the people that cannot support themselves.  Instead there are people who take the name of Church telling everyone to go and get a job, when most of them cannot find one, and even if they do they cannot get enough to feed their families and have to go on food stamps.  We live off of credit cards to buy expensive things, and we are all guilty of that.  What are we doing to feed the poor – forget about Africa, or India, but in this nation – the revival begins within one’s town, city, state, and nation.  Instead we have the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer and the Church can learn a lesson from Bill Gates who is a billionaire but he is using his money for philanthropic purposes and humanitarian purposes.  Remember the post – What is the purpose of God?  Instead we get preachers asking people for donations daily, but they don’t go and take what they have themselves, in their own comfort and feed the needy people.  So then the government of America has a heavy burden of taking care of several people with a large Social Security that no one can pay for.  There are people because of no other alternative, have to depend on Social Security – people who are not physically able to work, or have a disability that does not allow them to work, and then we have people who use the name of Jesus to support politicians who want to take money out of the poor to house their billion dollar homes.  Or even the mega Churches, which I have nothing against, but I know it really grieves the heart of God to see poor and needy people suffering.

⁹ Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, ¹⁰ but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. ¹¹ For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.  James 1:9-11

2 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. ² For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, ³ and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” ⁴ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? ⁷ Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”^[a] you do well; ⁹ but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. ¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,”^[b] also said, “Do not murder.”^[c] Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.  James 2:2-12

A truly poor person will not be greedy, they will be satisfied with what they get.  But a rich person will keep asking for more.

There is a blog posting I posted a while back called “Looks Like Pottersville.”  We need more George Bailey’s – many of us are experiencing George Bailey periods in our life.  This was a man who because of a man called Mr. Potter took away the money that George Bailey had saved from his own pocket to feed the people of Bedford Falls.  I was just thinking about this movie a second time – this was a man who had big dreams but sacrificed them, for the people, to help people, – he wanted to build buildings and visit countries – that was his dream, but instead he was put in charge of the bank after his father died.  It was almost a Book of Job based story.  But this man gave of his life to help people, and almost gave up on his life because of money greedy potter who wanted to take away the money for himself and take away the money of the poor and he thought he was doing them a favor.  But at the end when all things seemed hopeless there was a guardian angel sent to him named, Clarence, who was there to help him. – Moral of the story – that when things seem hopeless God always sends someone who will help you at the end of your rope, and your latter days will be richer than your past.

I believe Jesus had a great plan in the telling of the story – but what have learned – secular and Church people in these past ages.  Have we really learned to give like we are supposed to – if we had- there would be no need for Social Security.  But instead we have become greedy secular and nonsecular alike.  Especially in America, we feed our mouths to the full, and eat until our souls delight.  We purchase these clothes that are very expensive so that we will appear pleasing to the eye.  We are walking around healthy while other people are in pain.  We are blessed with air conditioning, and electricity, laptops, ipods, iphones, and computers, and education, when other people don’t have any – or may be hurting.

Thank God for the mighty ministers who are doing something – to help, thank God for the ones that are pouring out their life savings – to help others, but great revivals begin in your own nation and not other nations – yes we are supposed to preach the gospel in other nations and that is being done too.

Jesus wants to feed the poor and needy, the oppressed, and heal the lame and crippled, and He wants to use His hands to do it.  We are His hands.  Many people are suffering – and thank God that suffering children our safe in His arms.  I know it really grieves the heart of God when people on welfare who can’t find jobs and have to be Medicaid and cannot take care of their family go hungry.  The government has taken over because the Church has gotten lazy.

We all need to repent, for that.  How can we see a revival when all this is going?  Jeremiah says to mourn for His people, and to mourn and lament instead we are rejoicing and having our parties and celebrations while we our in Economic chaos.  The Church – the Bride, the Body of Christ needs to step up to the plate. This is ripe for an unfavorable for someone who we don’t want to step in and be the solution.  Only a poor person can tell you that a can of corn or a bowl of rice is a blessing.

Thank God that Jesus is the answer for all of our needs, and wants, and He clothes Himself with riches, blessing and honor, and majesty, and power, and that our God provides all of our needs.

Heavenly Father,

Forgive us as Church for not reaching out to the poor, needy, and oppressed.  Forgive us Lord for not giving the most of ourselves to the poor.  We are not worthy to be called your Church, but thank God that you delight in the good that we are doing.  We pray that you reach out hearts and touch hearts to give to the needy and the poor, and to help those struggling with sickness, pain and disease, we pray that you anoint our hands for revival and outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  This is our hearts cry.  We pray for all the needs of the oppressed, that You may break the bonds of the oppressed because that’s who You are.  We love You Lord, and We know You care, and help us to trust in You.  Thank You for Your Blessings.  Let Your will be done with the Economic and Political situation in America.  Only Your will.  Let Your hearts move the people.  You can make a way where there is no way.  You can provide a Daniel when there are only Nebuchandezzar’s around.  You can move the heart of the people.  We pray for blessings and favor upon your humble servants whose only desire is to obey you.  We know your heart is grieved by the injustice, and we know your heart is grieved by all that is going on.  Thank You for speaking to Your servant.  I seal this post with the Blood of Jesus.  Forgive us for not trusting that You will provide our needs.  Forgive us for using our tithes and offerings to build bigger buildings instead of reaching out to the poor.  Help us Lord to be more like You Lord Jesus.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

 

 

 

 

Stirring up a Revival across the world

Revival begins with prayer, and right now I am just learning what immense needs this world has.  We often feel the need to go out and have our lobster, and sandwiches and sit on the beach and celebrate July the Fourth with our families and there is nothing wrong with that.  Yes we should celebrate, but when you go back to the heart of Jesus, Jesus is not with the 99 that are righteous, but He is with that 1 that is the Lost Sheep.  So we need to start praying for those people who are the Lost Sheep in this world.  We need to as the bride of Christ, lay down our selfish desires and forms of entertainment and seek after God’s heart, and petition God to help people across the world, and in our own communities to pour out His Spirit, we need to pray for Protection, Restoration, Deliverance, Healing, Provision, for all the people across the world, and in our communities.  We need to not only pray but show acts of love, and make it a point to show love all across the world.  This is a lost and dying world, and people’s needs need to be met, and for the seeds that cannot be sown, by prayer God can send the right Laborer into the Harvest.  We need to Pray to the Lord of the Harvest and request Him to send laborers out into the harvest.  There are many people.   There is an increase in violence in the surrounding communities and we need to send our prayers to God to send His angels of protection all across the world.  There are so many needs – sick people who cannot afford to pay medical bills that are thinking of committing suicide, there are teenagers who are so depressed and locked into isolation where their computer is the best friend that they have and they have limited access to an outside world.  There are people that are being affected by the media industry and being seduced by darkness which then leads them to aggression, violence, and suicidal tendencies.  There are so many victims of crimes and injustices all across the world.  God is moved with compassion for them and there are over 7 billion people in the world today that are dying everyday without knowing Christ, and we are just idly standing by.  How much time do we spend in prayer?  I am learning that myself, but we need to start now.  We need to pursue God diligently and put aside our selfishness.  – There was a sermon I put up a while back, – Understanding God’s Purpose and there was one question on there – “What keeps you up at night?”  There was another question – “Is your burden God’s burden?”   These are just a few of the questions on the video.  I can probably repost it.  When you pray what do you pray?  Ask God to open your heart to the needs of the world.  That there are many needs and many people that are suffering across the world, and God is looking for a person who will pray, and it is not about us and our celebrations and our parties.  Yes Freedom is good and it needs to be honored.  But God has greater purpose and visions for His Kingdom, and how many of them are we meeting.  It’s time to wake up and start looking for ways to bless people.  If you cannot show the heart of God to many people start with just one- it may be that Old man in the grocery store who is looking for a bag of dried beans, maybe you can take time out of your shopping trip leave your cart behind and go looking for him.  He may not know that you are from Christ, but you are blessing someone.  This is more than just being a blessing.  This is about a radical pursuit of the Lost people with which we the body of Christ fulfill out the purpose of God – see What is the purpose of God post –

Luke 4

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,^[j]
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”^[k]

I believe there is a two part process of Revival.

There is an inward process of Revival – which begins in the Church or the Bride of Christ, which comes by coming to a place of brokenness and repentance of sin, and realizing that Jesus was actually crucified for our sins – the sins of all man were placed upon Him so that the whole world – yes the whole world – and if you sit down and ponder it for awhile, you’ll only come up with a little bit of amazement of How Great is Our God, and that when we sin we are actually putting Jesus if it were actually possible in more pain through that very sin, but, then there is the outward part of a Revival, where the community around us is reached.

There is also the characteristics of the revival – there is the signs, wonders, and miracles, and then there is the nature, and the characteristics of Christ, which must be developed in a person’s life through the fruit of the Holy Spirit,

We can have all these healings, and signs, and miracles, and wonders, but it won’t mean a thing unless we take on the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, meekness, and self-control.

There is a third part of Revival, it usually takes some kind of fasting – yes I know ugly word, right?  But it can be done, with the grace and the help of the Holy Spirit, and God will lead you in what kind of fast for you to do and how long to do it, and there will be times when the smells of the foods you are not supposed to eat will be coming into your nostrils and at that point you have to just put the flesh under subjection.  Your pastor may even ask you to eat something, and you will have to subjugate the flesh, and may be for quite awhile. You may be asked – are you sure you don’t want this, are you sure you don’t want that up to 4 or more times each day and as much as you want it, you have to tell yourself no.  You will be tempted by smells in the grocery stores of the food that you cannot have, and maybe celebrations where everyone is having food, and you have to just limit yourself to what God has allowed you to eat.

Someday I may tell of my fasting experiences as well, but after you have disciplined your body to fasting, and consistently pursued God in prayer with daily repentance to keep your conscience clear and free from condemnation, then you must ask God to keep the fire alive and burning everyday.  For the last thing we want to be doing is be praying for a revival for the world, and be dead ourselves.  This usually takes baptism of the Holy Spirit and daily seeking and pursing God by praying and interceding for others, which is God’s heart.  You must put others needs instead of yourself – it’s ok, to start off with asking God to give you the grace for the day, but then after that, praying for others is a vital key for intimacy and revival and growth in the Holy Spirit.  When you pray for others, God takes care of your needs. Persistance is the key as we have been learning in these past few posts – stay tuned for When You Pray, part two.

 

The heart of Jesus

This message was almost not preached, but thanks be to God, that He is able to give me the grace to deliver this message out.

Heavenly Father,

As I type this posting, let Your hands be upon me and let me preach the Word with simplicity and understanding and let anything that does not line up with Your Word, fall to the ground and be stripped away.  Let anything that lines up with Your plan, purpose, and vision be determined, and let it break bonds and free captives, or stir up a passion in the Body of Christ to fulfill Your plan and purpose.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

I can’t begin to describe the heart of Jesus in one post, because Jesus is multidimensional so much so that when the angels see Him in Heaven, they cry out, “Holy, Holy, Holy”.  But the part I want to point out today, is compassion and mercy.  Compassion comes from the word eleos which means compassion and mercy.  Jesus is the radical version of this compassion.

 

mercy: kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them-

Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for eleos (Strong’s 1656)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 11 Jun 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=G1656&t=KJV >

We see an example of this with the parable of the Samaritan man.

²⁵ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

²⁷ So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’^[h] and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”^[i]

²⁸ And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. ³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ So he went to himand bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ On the next day, when he departed,^[j] he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ ³⁶ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

³⁷ And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Notice that the priests didn’t go and help the wounded man, but the Samaritan man did.

We may go to Church everyday, sing worship songs, dressed in fine apparel, and think so highly of ourselves, but what will we do for others.  When we someone in a restaurant that has a cast or crutch on them, do we go offer to pray for them, or go and try to hold the door open for them.  When we go to the doctor’s office, do we go and try to tell people that, “God loves you?”

The mistake of the lawyer, is something we’re all guilty of, thinking that we qualify, but none of us have shown mercy on people, to the extent that Jesus did.  He showed abundant mercy.

But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious,
Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.  (Psalm 116:6)Abundant can also mean exceedingly.  It also means to overflow.

How many of us, me included, can say that we overflow with compassion?  We’re so focused on ourselves, that we don’t seem to get out of our comfort zone and help those around us.  Thank God, for missionaries, that reach the lost and unsaved people.  But we need to do more.  We need to do so much more Church.  My previous post was about the purpose of God, and we must not stray far away from that purpose.

I know it’s hard because we all have people employed to do certain things.  We also have ministries that do certain things.  But there are people committing suicide everyday.  There are people hurt with emotional and physical diseases who have lost hope and are broken hearted.  They may be close to death.  There may be people who are undergoing violence in the community and this scenario lines up with the scene we see today – a wounded man, robbed by thieves, and who stopped and helped him.  Thank God for hospitals, but the Church needs to be fulfilling that role.  The Body of Christ needs to come in and take care of the people so that we don’t see all these crimes.  We have all been desensitized toward death.  We hear on the news that a calamity happened only one person died.  Only one person?????  One person is too many.

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

We should get to them before they are hurt!!!

We are guilty of this, forgive us Lord, for not stepping out and helping others as much as we should.

We Christians have a way of saying one thing and doing another.  We all of us, with maybe a few exceptions of people who have developed really godly character, but we have a way of preaching on the pulpit and saying all these great and mighty deep things not realizing where the heart of Jesus is.  His heart is for the people that are broken hearted and suffering and in pain.

One thing that gets away is our pride, and we can see this in the parable of the rich young ruler that when he was asked to leave his possessions he was sorrowful because he had many possessions.

He had pride in his wealth.  We have pride in ourselves and think that we’re so much more sophisticated than to help people who are suffering, and people who are reaching out and we don’t see the signs.

There is a Pastor whose wife and him got a divorce and when he realized the way and the signs that she was giving to spend more time with him, then he felt sad that he had allowed that to happen.

Many ways, children are seeking to spend more time with parents, and we see that chaoticness of that in our society.

We need to do more than just prayer.  We need to take action.  We need to be active and pursue people with a passion, but many times we’re scared because of rejection and what people will think.  We need to go and actively look for broken hearted people.  We must seize every opportunity we have to minister to the hurting people.  Because that’s what Jesus called us to do.  He called us to leave our house to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world.  Not all of us are called to be missionaries, so start where you are.  When you go to the grocery store instead of complaining about long lines and the problems, see whose day you can make life easier for someone else like getting something off the top shelf for someone who is short.  See if you can help people find things.  See if you can just ease someone else’s burden.  We are supposed to bear another’s burdens.  That’s the heart of Jesus, and that’s really what’s meant about the heart of worship.

The Lukewarm Church

¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans^[f] write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: ¹⁵ “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. ¹⁶ So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,^[g] I will vomit you out of My mouth. ¹⁷ Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. ¹⁹ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. ²¹ To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

²² “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”

All throughout the message to the Churches about the lampstands, He says “I know Your works”.  We can be on fire for God, but how do our works, show it?   Are we passionately compassionate, or are we just lukewarm compassionate?   Or we can be cold which is also acceptable, means destitute of warm heart of Christian faith and a desire to be holy -Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for psychros (Strong’s 5593)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 11 Jun 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=G5593&t=KJV > and then we will not be able to show works.  But just the I don’t care attitude is disgusting to God.-  “I don’t care about the suffering person.  I don’t care about the needy people.”  It takes more than praying.  I pray that God gets us out of this spirit of apathy and go out to meet people where they are.

We need to learn to accept people, and to meet people wherever they are and wherever they are hurting, but we go and carry on with our parties, and festivals, celebrations, preaching, and all the stuff, but what does God care about, He cares about the people.  He wants us to minister to hurting and broken people.

Heavenly Father,

Forgive us Lord, for the times we have not met Your requirements for living a Christ like life.  Forgive us Lord for the times we’ve been too lazy or self-centered to be able to do anything for anyone else.  Forgive us Lord for anything that gets in the way of Your purpose for our lives.  Thank You for showing us Your heart, and what makes you grieved, help us to be equipped to change and meet others needs in a greater extent.  Help us to be able to live out the calling of You.  Help us to heal the brokenhearted and set people held captive by various problems free.  Help us to minister to them, and not look down upon them.  Help us to walk with passion for you and show it by our actions.  Thank You Holy Spirit for the Word which we have received, and thank You for Your blessings today.  May Your heart be upon Your people as they live and serve You this day and glorify You in all that they say and do.  I seal this post with the Blood of Jesus.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

 

Dangerous teachings about repentance

Repentance is a very sensitive issue in the body of Christ, and there is a way in which the message of the Gospel of Christ should be spread as not to harm the people.  We know we are to speak messages of repentance, which leads to sanctification, but the purpose of dying to yourself is not supposed to taken literally.  God loves you.  He created you and He knit you together in your mother’s womb.  For born again believers who are all at various stages of growth and some of them have reached a certain level of maturity and been through things where they can go and teach these kind of things, but you have to as one preacher said speak the truth in love.  You can speak the truth which is the Word of God, but you can be so harsh that it becomes unhealthy for the person, and they may be so desperate for God when they listen to you, and to see miracles happen in their life, and to have that implication that God doesn’t love them, and that God didn’t come to bring life and life more abundantly and that crush and wound the spirit so much.  There is a distinction between godly sorrow and sorrow of the world, but in the Church this line is getting thinner because people are getting so harsh, and yes there are people that need to change their lives, but when they are going through difficult times as we are going through now, we need messages of hope.  Millions of people are committing suicide everyday and some of them might even be Pastors, and yes some of them can’t live with their sin, and it’s so sad because God wants people to love, appreciate, and enjoy their life to their full.  Godly sorrow does not mean you hate your self, and you want your self to die, but there is a distinction between the flesh, soul, and spirit that needs to be drawn.  When you have these difficulties arising in times of crisis, and yes we do need to point out the laws for doing what’s right, but the greater Law is the Law of Love, and how much you love others.  Jesus said love God, and love your neighbors as you love yourself, so loving yourself is out of balance.  You might love God with all your heart, but if you don’t love yourself, then you can’t love your neighbor, so teaching people that the self is evil is very dangerous.  There is a method in preaching which involves understanding the makeup of a human mind, which will be transformed into God’s will, purpose and action, in a way that there is a sense of hope, encouragement, faith, and boldness, in knowing that godliness brings life to a person, and does not destroy the person, because the thief comes, to steal, kill, and destroy.

Now God may be testing your faith in some trials and obstacles, but when you need words of encouragement in the Body of Christ, you are sometimes bombarded with teachings about repentance, that don’t come to realize, that is a very slow process, and does not happen in an instant, and it is a life long process, that God takes one day at a time.  When you seek out God’s Word, first, and there will be obstacles, believe me, in trying to study God’s Word, but if all you can do is chew on God’s Word, and meditate on it, ruminate on it, and best of all don’t let people try to talk you out of this three part love cord, that you want not to be broken.  You want to see the best in people and it makes it hard when people you trust are crushing blow you down in the soul.  God is a restorer of the mind, and He binds up what has been broken, and he heals what has been hurt, but when people preach about this strict self denial it can defeat the purpose of God.  Paul said in Ephesians 6 that we are supposed to have the Gospel of peace,

Ephesians 6:15 talks about the Gospel of peace –

which is the word eirene in Greek and here is the meaning for it:

5) of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is

Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for eirēnē (Strong’s 1515)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 8 May 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=G1515&t=KJV >

People are going through a lot of stress these days, and need to learn that God loves them, and when calling people to repenting for their sins, it is wise to speak the words very carefully and to analyze your audience.  If you have a television ministry, and you know many people are watching, you can cater the message in a way with your speech seasoned with salt, and if your salt loses its savor, then what can it be savored with?

Colossians 4:6 says –

Let your ⁵²¹⁶ speech ³⁰⁵⁶ [be] alway ³⁸⁴² with ¹⁷²² grace ⁵⁴⁸⁵,seasoned ⁷⁴¹ with salt ²¹⁷, that ye may know ¹⁴⁹² how ⁴⁴⁵⁹ ye ⁵²⁰⁹ought ¹¹⁶³ to answer ⁶¹¹ every ¹⁵³⁸ man ^1520.

Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for ‘”seasoned” AND “with” AND “salt”‘ in the KJV”. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 8 May 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?
Criteria=seasoned+with+salt&t=KJV >

So when teaching about repentance, I urge Pastors out there not to be so hard on them that it breaks their spirit, because with a worried, anxious, stressed, and depressed soul, which comes from the enemy trying to use people, even anointed pastors and teachers, and preachers of the Word of God it can become unhealthy and defeat the purpose of God.  Bring restoration and not condemnation.

For those people that are living in sin, won’t get convicted anyway because they don’t realize what they have done wrong, and those people who are born again, will go into a downward spiral when you begin to speak words of death into their lives that make them devalue who God created them to be.  We are sons of the King and we need to be treated as such, and not as worthless sinners, who are good for nothing.  We need to be treated with respect, and courtesy and kindness, and when you know there are times when you will be tested on what you might say to someone whether you are a minister who is leading people or whether you are a person who is being served under a minister or leader, restrain your mouth from speaking evil, and when you have spoken evil, God will forgive you and turn it around for good, but just as with wounds of the soul, they take time to heal, but the enemy’s plan is to keep you constantly down and defeated and discouraged so that you cannot see the light, and that’s the last thing you want.  So bring hope and treat all of God’s people as sons of the King.  When you have a grievance with someone then forgive them, and if it still bothers you then seek counsel and support from others because the Church, the Body of Christ, is a Body where we are all growing and learning how to seek the Lord and to nurture and grow in health, and the last thing we want to see is someone so crushed and vexed in their soul, because of abuse. But hey, if God can work through Joyce Meyer and Paula White, who went through abuse and hardship in their lives, then God has surely found a way out for you, and teach you from your own life experiences and the way He has finally created you to be the shining example of who you are in the Body of Christ.   Also you need to keep in mind that for people who haven’t learn to dig their own well, or in speaking terms, study the Bible for themselves, then the best thing you can do is use wisdom on how to feed them, and have more Word and less you, that is how to really bring more of Christ in your life.  You don’t need to explain it to them, they understand, now if you are exhorting someone the body of Christ in general, with a correction, then realize that some babies or immature Christians can’t eat steak.  It is wise to measure the consistency of the food you are feeding to the people at a time.  You want to give them enough to chew on and meditate on for the day, and when they have come to spiritual growth, then you will be able to bring in more meat as God allows, but even that must be seasoned with salt.

 

 

 

 

Church

What is the Church?  Is it exclusive or inclusive?  Is it a building?  What defines the Church?  Is it organized religion?  In this sermon we are provided with a glimpse into what Jesus expects for His bride.