2024.03.31 - People Of The Resurrection

2024..03.31 - Easter Message 

Thursday, March 28, 2024

2:16 PM

From the moment mankind was created and placed in the Garden of Eden to watch and keep it, the enemy of God and Man has attempted to steal, kill and destroy that which God holds most dear. Though most are not imprisoned by iron bars and rock walls, many remain in bondage, fearful, broken  and imprisoned in spiritual strongholds sometimes for decades . . .we need to be delivered  . . .

 

We find ourselves lost and undone and each of us comes to a place in time where we realize our weak and broken condition, and that the life we are living, if we can even call it that, is not what we dreamed it would be and certainly not what we know it could and should be - we .  We need our chains to be broken, our walls whether real or perceived that have been crafted by enemy  hands to come crashing down. We live desperate lives in hollowed out places that we may as well call open graves . . .We need to be set free . . .

 

Just like a caged bird that has forgotten his song we have succumbed to life as we know it and inside the the defeat and mediocrity we embrace  His praise, worship and testimony no longer springs from our lips. Hearts of flesh have turned to stone, broken lives begat broken lives, hurting inside from a wound we cannot find healing for we hurt others until an entire generation has forgotten what it feels like to walk in the flames of  His holy power . . .we need to be set on fire . . . 

 

God time and again has heard the cries of broken man - and answered.  Time and time again God has raised up and sent one after another, and though each had different names and seasons - they were sent for "such a time as this" as God's Chosen Deliverer. 

 

Israel had been in bondage for 400 years.  The were subject to cruel task masters with little time to worship The God of Their Fathers.  They cried out to God and He heard - His answer was the man called Moses . . . Drawn out, rescued . . . Have you been drawn out? Have you been rescued?

• o Exodus 9:1  Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. KJV
• • Moses came in a power like no other had known - he came to deliver The Words of God spoken by the mouth of God.  He was the messenger of the Great I AM!
• • These were not people who belong to Pharaoh as he supposed, the very word to Pharaoh held power because it announced ownership and authority - let MY people go 
• ♣ we do not need to go to God to get permission to do what God has already told us we can do!

 

Hundreds of years later another story unfolds . . . Lazarus has died.  He has been buried.  Hope was dead and buried with him.  There was nothing left to do but to cry and to mourn - until I AM showed up in flesh, God the Son, the Messiah, The First and the Last, THE RESURRECTION came to the tomb where the dead man lay. Then The Christ showed forth The Glory of God in His faith in His Father - John 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth . 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. KJV

• o It has been said that had The Christ not called Lazarus by name that every dead person and thing that had died from the beginning of time would have come up out of the grave - 
• o Death could not hold Lazarus because Lazarus did not belong to death!  
• • we do not need to go to God to get permission to do what God has already told us we can do!

 

 

Luke 19:30-34

30 Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.

31 And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.

32 And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.

33 And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?

34 And they said, The Lord hath need of him. KJV

• o You have been bought with a price . . . 

 

Mark 16:15-18

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world , and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18.They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. KJV

 

People who believe in the resurrection should be people of the resurrection. 

But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." Millions of Christians will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus this weekend on

 

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection

KJV

 

 

2024.03.27 - History Makers

2024.03.27 - History Makers

Monday, March 25, 2024

9:06 AM

Ezekiel 22:30-31

30 And I sought(ask, beg, to search out, to strive after) for a man among them, that should make up(close up, repair,) the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. KJV

• o God not only welcomed participation in the outcome of the city, He went looking for participation!
• o It is an EXPECTATION that we cry out to God in intercession!

 

Someone who can stand in the gap - define what that looks like when a person prays a hedge around another 

 

In a sense we can “rewrite” history - when our sins are forgiven, or intercession is made is changes the course of the future that was set forth in the past 

• o Colossians 2:13-14

13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; KJV

• o Isaiah 43:25

25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.KJV

 

Abraham - 

• • Genesis 18:17-19

17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. KJV

• ♣ It is interesting to note that God was near when judgment was about to be delivered, He came so very near . . . 
• ♣ This place was called later "The Oak of Rest" or the "Tree of Abraham"  - picture of The Cross 

Aaron - 

• • Numbers 16:46-48

46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.

47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.

48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. KJV

 

Moses - 

• • Psalms 106:23-24

23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word: KJV

 

When do we NOT intercede:

• • When God tells us not to
• ♣ Jeremiah 11:14

14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in  the time that they cry unto me for their trouble. KJV

 

Paul, Esther, Jesus praying or Peter, 

They are lost - they cannot find their way home, the l light has gone out - will you take them home, will you lead them home?

 

What would you pay that one might be saved?

2024.03.24 - Be Real

Matthew 11:28-30

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.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

2024.03.20 - Character

2024.03.20 - Character

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

3:55 PM

 

How can you tell if a person is mature?  It would depend on what your definition of mature is . . .

• o Mature can mean age
• o Or personality

 

When it comes to character - I am not sure character can be learned - manners can be learned. Character is who you are, it flows from the inside.

 

How can you tell if a Christian is mature?

• o Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

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

• • Fruit grows where it is nurtured, though the Spirit is strong, our flesh my prevail if allowed 

• o Romans 12:2

2 And be not conformed to this world: 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. KJV

• • Transformation comes from the inisde out - when the heart changes, so does the character of a person

• o Luke 6:45

45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. KJV

 

You cannot count one mature in Christ because they do good things,  bad people do good things - though the opposite is not true:

• • Good people do not do bad things - because there is not such thing as good people . . .
• ♣ Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good(comes from a root meaning honest, worthy)? there is none good but one, that is, God. KJV
• ♣ Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; KJV
• • Be your own witness - can you see Him on the Cross, beaten, bleeding and bruised, do you deserve that love?

 

Old Dogs And New Tricks

Luke 5:36-38

36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.

37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.

38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

KJV

• • Being born again is not the learning of a list of do's and don'ts but a transformation of life, a new way of being
• ♣ A caterpillar doesn’t just wake up and take classes and sit in pews and learn to fly - he is completely transformed, literally from the inside out!
• • Christians are not caterpillars that have learned how to fly- they are butterflies that have forgotten how to crawl! 
• • Butterflies are what it looks like when the caterpillar is all grown up

 

For character to grow transformation continues . . .to be saved and cease to be thankful is to cease to be transformed . . .arrested development(which is defined as an abnormal state in which development has stopped prematurely, a synonym is regression which means to go back/backslide)

• • In  Romans 1 Paul gives a list of "fruits" of those who have ceased to be transformed or have never been.  This list is a symptom list of those who 
• ♣ Did not glorify God
• ♣ Were not thankful to God 

 

 You cannot for any extended period of time live outside your character - you will eventually be who you are. What’s inside of you will come out when you are squished  -Peter before and after Pentecost.  To be filled with The Spirit is to be emptied of self.  

 

Being  a mature Christian means I don’t just do Jesus things, but I am continually becoming LIKE Him 

 

By the way - people will often treat you the way they do based on their character - not yours