You will think I’ve lost my ever loving mind when I make the following opening statement… but here goes….On the count of three, I want everyone to fly around the room, that’s right, just rise up in the air and fly around the room… We have enough room for everyone, without anyone getting injured. Go ahead, right where you are, just rise up and take about 5 minutes… No one?
OK, that’s silly, I know, and yet everyone in this room believes that one day you’re going to rise up and fly to heaven and then after 7 years, you’re going to fly back to set up the millennium with Christ. Paul the apostle mentions 3 heavens. The third heaven is where the children of the Most High God, call our eternal home. There are mansions of splendor and robes that are dazzling white. It’s the city where the Lamb is the light, where tears are never shed and goodbyes are never uttered. There is no sorrow or pain, only joy and sheer perfection. It is the city where we will one day join the angels in singing, “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty!” around the throne of God. Oh, Heaven is real!
The second heaven is where Satan set up his headquarters when he was cast out of heaven. It is where he rules his evil empire with legions of demons and fallen angels. Demons have power in the earth because we give them power through sin and disobedience. They have personality and they have purpose. Satan has come to rob, to kill and to destroy. If he can mislead you down a wrong path that will destroy your life’s purpose… and he has won the battle for the will of man in too many cases. The second heaven is his base of operations. Make no mistake about it! Satan is a fallen angel who quotes Scripture to deceive and destroy the sinner and the righteous.
The first heaven is the heaven you can see with your natural eyes. It contains the sun, the moon and the stars.
When we fly back to earth at the end of the tribulation, we’ll live here for 1000 years. The earth is then renovated by fire and made new again. New Jerusalem, 1400 miles in length, width height and depth, will come down from God out of heaven and hover over the earth and we’ll fly back and forth to and from that. Then we’ll live and reign for eternity…and fly throughout the universe which will be our eternal home!
And even though you have never experienced any of that, you believe it because the bible tells you that it’s going to happen. You believe it, even though you’ve never experienced it.
Could I challenge all of us this morning… believe and you shall see greater things than you have seen and known before!!
1 Thessalonians 2:13 (Paul speaking) And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed is working in you who believe.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confident belief in what we hope for and assurance from God about what we do not see.
Ephesians 1:18-19 I pray that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and His incomparably great power is for us who believe.
Bob Feller lived his life for baseball. When he was 8 years old, his teacher asked him to write an essay about an oak tree, and here’s what he wrote: “An oak tree can be cut down and sawed into boards. You can make baseball bats out of them. You can also make home plates out of the boards. And you can make bleachers out of the boards so people can watch baseball games.” Do you think (maybe) Bob Feller wanted to play baseball?
It’s little wonder that he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, because this man was committed to being a great baseball player. In 1936, at 17 years old, he became a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, and he was so good that he played 18 seasons for them (only missing 4 years because he joined the Navy to fight in WWII). He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965 and if you have this baseball card, it’s worth 3,000 dollars. He is considered by many to be the greatest right-handed pitcher in baseball history. His fastball was so intimidating that they called him “Bullet Bob”, and in his career he struck out 2581 batters who faced him. Bob was willing to do whatever it took to be a great ball player.
That’s the kind of heart Elisha had in serving God. He wasn’t going to let anything or anyone get in his way.
2 Kings 2:6 “And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and Elijah and Elisha stood by Jordan. 8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided in two, so that they two went over on dry ground. 9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.”
Elisha wanted everything Elijah had and he got a double portion. The bible records that he did twice as much as Elijah did… Meanwhile the other prophets, who had the same opportunity, stood afar off and were satisfied to be spectators.
When I was a teenager, I heard an evangelist say, “God will take you as far as you’re willing to let Him…”
Elijah began his journey in Gilgal, and went to Bethel, then to Jericho, and finally to the Jordan River… where he was caught up to be with God. As the story unfolds he turns to Elisha and says “Please Stay Here!” at each town they went through, But Elisha refuses and says “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will NOT leave you.” And this happens over and over again. Finally, Elijah just gives up and lets Elisha go all the way to his destination. Elisha was willing to go as far as he NEEDED to go and do whatever he needed do to be what God called him to be.
How far do you want to go with God? Where do you stop and say, that’s all I want, if He is still saying “there’s more”?
One young preacher had psyched himself up to deliver a sermon. He jumped up, started out with a bang and ended with athoughtful and quite prayer. He told an older minister, that he just ran out of steam. And had to really depend on the lord to wrap it up. The older minister said to him, “Son if you had started the way you finished, you would have finished the way you started!”? I have told you that when I was a kid, I was seen and not heard. When I got in my 20’s I believed I had nothing to say that anyone wanted to hear or that hadn’t already been said. I was a pop corn preacher. I popped up, turned white and sat down. But it put within me the determination to improve and allow the lord to use me more effectively.
There was a group in the 60s called the Rolling Stones. They did a song called 'Satisfaction.' [I can't get no satisfaction...] In 2004, one magazine placed "Satisfaction" in the number 2 spot on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Seriously? How could that be? It can't be because of Mick Jaggar's voice. If he were on one of these talent shows today he would be the one that got all 4 buzzers. Still today, he comes on the radio and you wonder if the cat's tail got caught under your rocker. It's not because of some genius guitar mastery either...the whole song is 3 notes.
Why does that song resonate so? Because it touches a major nerve...it's the heart cry of our world that is unfulfilled and dissatisfied. They try everything they can to fill the void, and nothing does.
In each of the towns Elijah went through, there was a school of prophets, with young prophets that Elijah was training. But each time, those young prophets are mentioned, they were content to stay where they were, and never venture out any further. They were content, But without some sense of dissatisfaction with the level we’re at, there is no desire for growth, and without a sense that there is more, there is no hunger and thirst for all that God said we could have!!
Jesus fed 5000… but only a few followed Him after that miracle lunch. He had 12 disciples… but only 3 went further into the Garden. And only 1 stood with Him at the cross. The closer you get to the cross, the smaller the crowd becomes. Because God might want more from them than they are willing to give. Where is the cry to God, “Lord I want you more than anything”…. “I cannot live without your fullness”…. “Lord bless me that I may be a blessing”…. “Here am I Lord, use me”…..
When I was in track and field, I used to admire the pole vaulters. I even tried it, but I knew it wasn’t for me. But we had one guy, who wanted to pole vault, but he never made the team. He would run like crazy toward the jump point, and then run right by it. He never got off the ground, because he was afraid of falling. He never flew over the cross bar, because he was afraid to leave his comfort zone.
At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, former New York Yankee second baseman, Bobby Richardson opened the meeting with this prayer….“Dear God. Your will. Nothing more. Nothing less. And Nothing else. Amen”
When Elisha was asking for the double portion of the spirit of Elijah, essentially, he was asking for the right of the firstborn.Deuteronomy 21:17 tells us that - for a father to give the right of the firstborn was for him to give of “a double portion of all that (the father) has...” Elisha was boldly asking to be treated like a 1st born son of Elijah. That’s what we are church. We are the first born of the Father in Christ. God doesn’t have any grandchildren in the faith, only first born. The Double Portion Anointing is for all of those who are in Christ Jesus..
Look at Hebrews 12:23 " to the assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, before God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect" We are part of God's church of the firstborn, God's New Testament firstborn children! We should never let it slip our minds, that we occupy a unique and chosen position before God! Romans 8:29 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many (first born) brethren”. Somemissionaries, who were handing out soup to the residents in an impoverished area by means of a “soup kitchen” had instructed all the people to bring something that would hold about 2 quartsof soup. One little boy - all ragged and dirty – but with flashing eyes and a winsome smile, lugged in a container that could hold at least 3 gallons. They said “only 2 quarts in that bucket,wouldn’t look like much. And we knew this youngster came from a large and very poor family. We felt moved to give him at least a gallon, and so we did.” The missionary continued: “The Heavenly Father says to us as His children, ‘Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.’ (Psalm 81:10). We need to be more like that young boy who carried away twice as much as the others because of his bigger expectation and his greater belief!” Perhaps the other prophets who stood afar off, were so busy embracing what God did in the past, they weren’t ready to let go and reach forward to an even greater thing He was about to do in the future. They just wanted to keep reproducing the past glory and in doing so they missed the greater glory…The new thing in a new way! I want to quickly have us look at the 4 places that Elisha followed Elijah, and refused to leave him, till the double portion was given… The place called Gilgal, means “To roll away”…. And we need to let God roll the stone away that is keeping us from the next thing He is asking of us, the fear, the unbelief, the intimidation, the unforgiveness, and the past. That’s not who we are anymore. Leave it at Gilgal! The next place Elisha followed was Bethel… Originally it meant “House of Idols” or false Gods… But Jacob renamed it “House of Jehovah”… He redeemed it and put God above everything else. He was able to say, surely God is in this place… We Leave all the other things that want our devotion, and want to keep God from first place Behind us on the altar of Bethel! Then Elisha followed Elijah to Jericho, which means “The place of entering in” It was here that Israel left the wilderness wandering and came to the promised land. They conquered the final thing that blocked the way to God’s promise. Let’s leave that final thing that is keeping us from the promise, at Jericho, and enter in! The last place that Elisha followed before receiving the double portion, was Jordan, which means “Place of 3 springs” or fed by 3 springs. The water here parted and they walked across. They were now entering into life in the supernatural. Jesus said out of your innermost being, shall flow rivers of living water. Jesus was saying that a double portion would flow through us by the Holy Spirit. Elisha left his old life behind and entered a walk in the supernatural. At our Jordan. we Mount up with wings as eagles, we leave every weight of the old life behind and rise up.
Isaiah 43:18 says " Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland”. God does not change, but He is constantly creating new ways to connect with His people and relate to each generation. If we don’t look for God’s hand in every change we are in danger of revering our traditions so much that we begin to worship them and shut our selves off from God’s new thing. We are warned in scripture that the traditions of man have made void the word of God.! God used Elisha in different ways than He used Elijah even though it was the same anointing!
God challenged his people in Malachi 3:10 “Prove me now, saith God, that I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing such as you cannot contain it!” God loves to keep outdoing Himself!
A world renown philosopher was earning $30k per speech. He didn't like to fly so he hired a chauffeur to drive him all over the country. The chauffeur would stand in the back of the room and had the speech memorized. One day he was driving the philosopher and he spoke up and said. "It's just not right. You'll earn 30 grand for this same talk and I’ve heard it so much, I could give it myself... but I'm working for peanuts." The philosopher said, "Oh yeah, you think so? Let's trade clothes. They've never seen me. You give the speech and I'll stand in the back. And if you get it right, word for word, I'll give YOU the money!" "Deal." He gave the speech perfectly. It was almost over, and then a lady in the back raised her hand. "Oh, sir." She asked, "Do you feel that a cosmological universe is still valid in the existential world?" He thought for a second and replied, "I'm shocked that you would ask such a trivial question, mam. This one's so easy, I'm gonna let my driver answer it!" I believe the motto there is, Inspiration is not enough without information. We may be blessed but we still must study to show ourselves approved a workman that is prepared and informed. Get ready…
When God brings us to those places when He is ready to give us more, we usually start feeling miserable where we are. What used to be just fine, isn’t just fine any more. What used to fill our cup and make us happy, just doesn’t do it any more! We’re entering the fly zone! When juvenile baby eagles are in the nest, cared for, fed, and just sleeping and eating… days are glorious, the sun is shining, the nights have a cool breeze, and then suddenly Mama goes crazy! She starts tearing pieces out of the nest. She pulls the soft dawn and comfortable materials out of the nest, and she exposes the thorns that are underneath. No matter where the eaglets move and how they adjust, it’s uncomfortable…
Ouch, ouch, Ouch! Mama knows it’s time to fly!! Baby can’t lay around in the nest, fed by mouth, every need supplied. Baby will get so uncomfortable that it is willing to do what it never would have done…. Use those wings now….Fly!! Move to the next level….
God may be making some folks miserable until they’re willing to try, to change, to go ahead and fly! It’s more comfortable where we know and there’s no risk, but is that where God’s called you to be? If we learn the lesson we move on, if we don’t, we keep repeating the lesson, till we get it!
When God wants to drill a man, And thrill a man, And skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man, To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart. To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed, Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects, Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him, with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying, And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaks When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses, And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him To try His splendor out—
God knows what He’s about!
If he’s pushing you out of the nest, stop fighting and open to His new way… he’s pushing you out to a world of unlimited possibilities, so embrace it. Don’t fear it, get excited because He’s taking you to the next level! Don’t be miserable, get Supernatural!!! Go Ahead And Fly!!!
This thing will have a domino effect, which will spread through your family, your friendship circle, your job and folks you encounter all around you. Isaiah 40:31 “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up (and fly) with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”! Get ready to fly!
Satan meant it for evil, but God intended it for good! What looks likethe end is only a new beginning. It’s the difference in a period and a comma… You may get knocked down but you’re not out, get up and finish the fight! If God is for you, nothing and no one can succeed against you. Neither life or death, angels or principalities, things past, present, or things to come, neither height or depth, or any creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There are far more that are for us than there are against us… So, Fly, child of God, mount up, soar above all that has tried to hold you down…
They were hand-picked by God to be the vessels that brought us to life! It’s truly amazing when you stop and think about it, how much would never happen or exist without them. They labored a long time to bring us to Earth, not to mention the nine long months they carried us in their bodies while we did nothing but cause them sickness, aches, and pains that they didn’t even know they could experience and made them stretch everywhere in ways they never could have imagined. And they still wanted us in spite of everything they had to endure, which didn’t stop when they finally were free of our kicking and tumbling and keeping them awake, and limiting them in every way. Then there was the crying and filling diapers, and constantly demanding something in our tummies. Wow, it’s amazing that they have their sanity…. With all of this being said, it’s no wonder why so many have written so much in dedication to their mothers or about the wonder and amazing gift of motherhood.
I believe this Sunday is around my 50th Mother’s day message, so I should be getting the hang of this by now… Let me start out with some woman power humor.
There were 6 people hanging onto a rope that came down from a helicopter. five were men and one was a woman who were being rescued. The chopper informed them that one person would have to let go, because if they didn't, the rope would break and everyone would die. No one could decide who should go. Finally the woman gave a really touching speech on how she would give up her life to save the others, because women were used to giving up things for their husbands and their families and sacrificing for their men was nothing new to them. The men were so touched by the speech, they all started clapping. (OOPS)
Don’t try to outsmart these ladies, and don’t underestimate Woman Power!
So, my message today is “Woman Power”
In cars and engines you need horse power, manpower is needed on any project to complete it, brainpower gives us the ability to make intelligent, reasonable and logical decisions, Woman power is the force which nurtures, guides, shapes and equips the home and the family to connect with one another and the world around us …. Genesis 1:27 “So God created human beings in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them”.
The phrase “In His own image” means that just like God, they are one of a kind, unique, and special. God had need of nothing or no one, yet He chose to create human beings to partner with Him in the earth. To work with Him in doing His will and fulfilling His plan.
Psalm 8:4 “What is man, that You pay attention to him? and the son of man, that You visit him? v5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. v6 You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands and You have put all things under his feet.” I’m convinced that the most influential people on planet Earth are mothers. Not presidents or queens or CEO’s. Just plain ‘ole moms. Yes, that’s right, women just like your mom and mine.
Women reproduce the likeness of God, which He placed within the first man and woman. She partners with God in a supernatural event that takes place in her womb. That amazing moment when something that has been growing within her receives the spark of life from God, just like the first human He created. And she births an eternal being, that will never die, with a soul and a spirit whose purpose is to also partner with God in the earth.
They are constantly changing the world and from the generation they are part of, they send forth those who will shape generations in the future. Look at just a few examples which we are given from the scriptures….
Of course, Eve was the first mother and the mother of all living. Wouldn’t want to take her family out for Mother’s day dinner!!! She was instructed personally by God in matters of motherhood. Since Jesus is the physical form of God in the Old Testament, that means she and Adam had a personal relationship with the same Jesus we follow today. Scripture tells us that He walked with them in the cool of the garden and gave them instructions….
Jochebed married her nephew and was his aunt as well as his wife. She was the mother of Moses, Miriam and Aaron. She produced the liberator of the Jewish people, the first High priest, and a recognized prophetess and leader of the women…
Abraham is called the father of the faith. Scripture says that believers are grafted into the covenant through the seed of Abraham. His mom was Amsalai, the daughter of a Horite priest who worshiped idols. Yet God used this man, her son, to raise up a nation of people who would be stewards of the scripture which would find it’s fulfillment in Christ.
I think of the mother of King David, her name was Nitzevet. Here’s some information under things you never knew…. There was a time when David’s father Jesse, who was head of the Sanhedrin, separated himself from her after she had born him 7 sons. Jesse had arranged to have a relationship with her handmaid, who secretly informed her, and Nitzevet, switched places with the handmaid in the bedroom in the darkness. Well, Nitzevet got pregnant, and since all 7 sons knew of their father’s separation, they concluded that she was an adulterer and the son was illegitimate. She took a vow of silence and all David’s life growing up, hewas treated with disdain by his brothers and father. He was treated more like a servant than a son by Jesse. It was not until he was anointed by Samuel, who passed up all the brothers, that David was finally confirmed as a rightful heir by God. David is called the son of Jesse, but he was more the son of Nitzevet in those years of scorn. It was a mother’s love that encouraged, guided and kept him on the right path.
I must include the virgin mother of Jesus, who yielded herself as a young teenager to be the vessel of God where the divine seed would be placed, which would change the world and the destiny of mankind. She endured being put away by Joseph, until the angel brought clarity to him of what God was doing. She endured the long trip to Bethlehem on the back of a donkey in her 9th month of pregnancy. She was the voice of guidance and the place of comfort and assurance until he was 12 years old and Joseph took over his training. As surely as Eve was the mother of all living, she was the mother of all who believe in Christ, but I don’t pray to her or through her.
John 14:6 records for our benefit, “Jesus said unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come unto the Father, but by me.”
These are just a few examples, of the partnership between God and moms, but if anyone has the power and the potential to change the hearts and minds of this world, it is the mothers who are chosen as the instruments of God through faith.
We don’t really need moms to be cool, cutting edge, outstanding in their field, or fantastic speakers or movers of masses, even though they may be all of those…. We just need them to be MOM!
A man walked into a library and asked the lady at the desk, “Do you have the book, “Woman, The Weaker Sex?” The lady said, “Yes, we certainly do”. Great, the man said, I’m doing a study on how the man was made to rule over the woman. What section is it in? Without batting an eye, the lady said, “It’s in the section with every other fantasy and superstition”.
How is it possible that a woman could transform age-old stereotypes, break down the ancient walls of bitterness, and mold a better world? It’s thePower of motherhood!
Ruth was a young woman from a godless Moabite culture. After the death of her Jewish husband, she left her home, her parents, her people, her culture, and with a barren womb, went to live in a tiny little village with Naomi who was a bitter mother-in-law. Not the best of circumstances, for sure. If there ever was a woman with a few strikes against her, Ruth would certainly qualify.
She was a Moabite taking up residence in a city full of Israelites. She was a widow who was despised because she had been married to a Jewish man who married outside of the faith. She was barren, so she was unable to give her husband any heirs. Her people worshiped the false deity Chemosh, who required child sacrifice. On top of all that, when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot escaped with his two daughters. They got him drunk and had children by their father. The oldest daughter’s son was named Moab, the father of the Moabite nation.
NOT A GOOD BEGINNING! But Ruth believed SHE MATTERED and all that other stuff didn’t! She didn’t let her environment determine the content of her character. She didn’t allow her problems to outweigh her purpose.
She is just another proof that God has perfect timing. You see, after two months of gleaning in Boaz’s field, he married Ruth, who was barren. He was eighty and she was forty. Then, one day after Boaz and Ruth were married, he died, but she became pregnant with Jesse, the grandfather of King David!
What World Changers these mothers are!….Most of these mothers never preached a sermon, never performed a miracle, and never wrote book. They had no civic power, position, or great influence, and yet they quietly and generationally changed the history of the world!
God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the author and finisher, and moms, are some of the main characters in His story!
Moms…you are more powerful than you could ever imagine. Don’t ever forget that.
Jesus elevated the role of women. They were part of His ministry as he went throughout the area teaching and preaching and women were a vital part.
Luke 8:1 Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, v2 and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, v3 and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.
Paul declared that in the body of Christ we are all equal. That women should be able to serve and minister in any area that men do. There is no Holy Spirit for women and another for men. It’s the same Holy Spirit in men, women and children….
Galatians 3:26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. v27 Foras many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. v28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. v29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Kathryn Kuhlman, was the spiritual mother of Benny Hinn…. Joyce Meyer, has empowered multitudes of women… Gloria Copeland, co-founder, wife and partner with Ken Copeland ministries… Jan Crouch, co-founder of TBN which spreads the gospel around the globe….MotherTheresa, is called the mother of India….
The world has yet to see the influence which Moms will have on Historythrough those who are their heirs of promise!
Every woman can claim the covenant which God gave to Eve.
When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, He commanded them….. Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion” over all creation.” To emphasize how serious He was, time after time, God opened the womb of those women who were barren, in order that those He chose to be world changers, could partner with Him. Sarah the mother of Isaac, Rebecca the mother of Jacob, Rachel the mother of Joseph, Hannah (Samuel’s mother), Samson’s mother who is not named, and Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother), are all recorded as being barren. But God’s covenant was greater than their condition! Mothers are a powerful example of breaking the power of bareness in any and every area of life!
I believe what the bible says, that God is no respecter of persons, what He is willing to do for any one, He’s willing to do for anyone who will believe and receive.
Galatians 4:26 But the heavenly Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. v27 For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” …… That’s just another way of saying that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”
It declares that the spiritual covenant God has with His children, is greater than the way physical things may appear, as the heaven’s are above the earth and superior to physical things.
I said it last week, “We are blessed beyond the curse”…. Every form of barrenness is Satan’s attempt to stop what God has chosen. Just as abortion is Satan’s plan to keep world changers from being born, who can change history.
He wants to destroy pastors, evangelists, apostles, teachers and prophets, before they are born. He wants to kill Godly presidents, kings and rulers, congressmen, Christian media personnel, Godly movie producers, Christian teachers and college professors, Godly technicians, and mothers and fathers who will bring children up in Godly homes…..Before they are born…. A certain mom’s youngest son brought 4 ladies home to meet his mom. The reason was that he was in love and wanted to introduce his bride-to-be to his hyper-critical mother. But in order to get an unbiased opinion, he invited over three other friends as well who were sworn to secrecy, that they would not tell his mom which one he intended to marry. After a very enjoyable evening, the four women left, and he asked his mother, “Well, Mom, Can you guess which one I want to marry?” Immediately his mom said “The one with short hair.” “Wow mom! How did you know?” She winked and said “Because that’s the one I didn’t like.” (Mothers are very insightful and intuitive)
Every Mother is fulfilling the Great Commission. The Great Commission of Jesus is the spiritual renewal of the reproductive Mandate, which iscalling us to make Spiritual off-springs. Be fruitful and multiply. Just as God called Adam (and Israel) to reproduce and to rule, through the task of discipleship—by “baptizing” new believers and “teaching” them the commands of the Lord. Paul calls it the “Gospel beforehand”. Galatians 3:8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you (Sarah included)." Children are a covenant blessing, and raising them “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” is one of the best ways for the church to produce disciples of Christ.
In this process, Moms are capable of incredible compassion and self sacrifice, not only to their own families, but beyond….
One mom had just finished taking a CPR class at a local college when she was outwith her daughter and saw a big crowd gathered around a still body. She took off running and yelling, “Everyone back! I know CPR!” Just as she threw herself next to the body and was about to begin, a pair of strong hands pulled her to her feet. “Ma’am,” said a police officer beside her, “this man is on the ground because we are in the process of arresting him.” That’s a mom for you, always ready to fix, to comfort, to rescue and to heal….
There’s power in a mother’s song, for she sings into the soul and spirit of her child. There’s power in a mother’s love. Every child learns love through their mother.
There’s power in a mother’s smile. It speaks of approval, it bathes her children in joy and happiness and gives a consistent reference point to their lives.
There’s power of a mother’s words. Her child learns to trust and to believe that promises will be fulfilled and words instruct, describe, and reveal wonderful things.
There’s power in a mother’s faith. Her child learns to believe what it cannot see, hear the inaudible and see the invisible.
I want to close with Matthew 15:21 Then Jesus went out from there and .departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a mother from Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.” v23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.” v24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” v25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
v26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” v27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” v28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
Moms have a special place in God’s heart. We want to believe with our ladies today and come into agreement with what is on their hearts as they have believed God for the answer to the request they carry deep within them. Mothers not only birth our sons and daughters, but they give birth to the vision of the Lord, the desires of the Kingdom, and God plants in them the seeds of the God kind of faith to move mountains, break down barriers and send world changers out into the world….
Prayer…..Lord, we pray that You would lift the weary spirit and fill these moms with Your Divine rest, love and peace so that they may be restored and renewed in body and mind. Lord, pour your heavenly nourishment into their soul and give them the energy to sustain them in the vital role as a mother. Thank you for creating each mom with a unique combination of gifts and talents, as they guide and nurture their families as they grow towards and into adulthood. We thank you for the gift of their time, their perseverance, their vision for the famly’s future, and their devotion. We pray you grant to them strength, wisdom, and greater faith. We especially pray for single moms, that they would experience the Fatherhood of God in a special way. We also pray for mothers who never had the honor of bearing children, but whose love, compassion and care, extends to so many whose path brings them into these caring hearts. We honor, love and cherish the special women who have born us, who have nurtured us, and who have prayed for our well-being. May their days be filled with words of praise, affirmation, and encouragement from those who have received so much. Let their joy be contagious; let their passion be pure; and let their livesoverflow with all the blessing they deserve—on special days, and in every day of theirlives. In Jesus’s name, Amen
Proverbs 22:7 “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”
Excessive personal debt is taking a huge toll in this country and the world.
The U.S. national debt hit a new high of $28 trillion dollars as of March. That’s 28 followed by 12 zeroes! In 1990 we owed 54% of everything the country brought in (or it’s GDP) But in 2021, our country now owes 130% of its GDP, or 30% more than it takes in through every stream of revenue.
The interest we pay (that’s all of us) on the National Debt is 570 billion dollars per year. That’s 570 billion that isn’t coming back into the economy for the American people on top of all that is being paid to the flood of illegals coming across our borders every day, because one party doesn’t want the wall.
It’s a debt which every American has to pay through every dollar we spend. That breaks down to $67,000 debt, owed by every man, woman and child when you get up every morning .
This country owes a debt it cannot pay and it is a generational curse that every U.S. citizen must live with. But as Christians, we believe God will have the last say….
Well, I want to say, “Hallelujah, we are blessed beyond the curse! When king Balak commanded Balaam to curse the Jewish people, He told the king, “How can I curse what God has blessed”!! Somebody give me a Hallelujah!
Herbert Hoover said…Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt… But God said we are blessed beyond the curse!
Josh Billings said..You should always live within your income, even if you have to borrow to do so. – But God said we are blessed beyond the curse!
Bill Vaughn said… Economists report that a college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man’s lifetime income – which he then spends sending his children to college. But God said we are blessed beyond the curse
Sam Ewing said…Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair. But God said we are blessed beyond the curse...
Debt is one of the major causes of stress unless you’re a politician who is spending other people’s money…. (there’s no stress in that)
Debt is the major cause of lost time at work, lost sleep, lost hair, physical problems, obesity and divorce.
When the Lord was promising to make Israel a powerful nation, He spoke in terms of borrowing and lending as a gauge which would represent the strength and weakness of the nation.
Deuteronomy 15:6 says, “For the LORD your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.” Once again, the Lord is emphasizing that excessive borrowing will weaken people and nations, because the lender has power over the borrower. The Jewish people have thrived in their nation, by strict adherence to the principles taught in the Torah. If the Jewish nation had waited to understand the ramifications of God’s principles, they would not have obeyed. But they obeyed even though they didn’t totally understand all that was involved in the kingdom principles God gave them. You might say that we need to obey God’s requirements of stewardship, until understanding comes, not if we understand
1 Corinthians 7:23 simply says, “God has purchased you at a high price. Do not be enslaved by the world.”
Debt is very spiritual.. because it’s about who and what controls you as a follower of Jesus Christ. Satan seeks to get control of anyone who desires to follow the Lord Jesus. And He is very successful at this deception!
The root cause of financial debt, is discontentment. Discontent is the mother of greed and covetousness. Discontent is the source of non-violent crimes and crimes which lead to violence and murder.
Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., says, “our society is marked by "inextinguishable discontent." Our quest is to get what is bigger and better and what is next. We want a better job with better pay and a better boss. We want better relationships and a better car and a better backhand in tennis or a longer drive in golf. And, we have a propensity to live endlessly for the next thing - the next weekend, the next vacation, the next purchase, and the next experience. We are never satisfied, never content, and envious of those who have what we have not been able to getor accumulate”. At the age of thirty-two Doug McKnight was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Over the coming years it would cost him his career, his mobility, and eventually his life. Because of MS, he couldn't feed himself or walk; he battled depression and fear. But through it all, Doug never lost his sense of gratitude to God. Evidence of this was seen in his prayer list. Friends in his congregation asked him to compile a list of requests so they could intercede for him. His response included eighteen blessings for which to be grateful and six concerns for which to be prayerful. His blessings outweighed his needs by three times. Doug McKnight discovered that what he had in Christ was greater than whatever else he didn’t have in life, and that was his source of contentment.
Paul, the apostle, wrote, Philippians 4:11 "I don't say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in. v12 I know both how to have little, and I know how to abound:
everywhere and in all things I am instructed both how to be full and how to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. v13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.".
Paul is saying that true contentment is not found in what he has or where he is, but it is found in WHOSE HE IS!.... WHOSE HE IS!!
A man once went to a minister for counseling. He was experiencing a financial collapse. "I've lost everything," he moaned. All that I worked so hard for and poured my energy, time and money into is gone. All that I had hoped to build for the future is up in smoke. The minister said, "I'm so sorry to hear that you've lost your faith.' "No," the man corrected him, "I didn’t say that I lost my faith.""Well, then the minister said, I'm sad to hear that you've lost your character." "I didn't say that I lost my character," the man corrected him. So the minister said, “Well then, I'm sorry to hear that you've lost your salvation."
"That's not what I said," the man objected. "I haven't lost my salvation." Well, let’s see. The minister said…."You have your faith, you have your character, and you still have your salvation. Seems to me, that you've lost none of the things that really matter." Yes, it’s about Whose I Am!!
John Stott wrote, "Contentment is the true secret of inward peace. It remembers the stark truth that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. Life, in fact, is a pilgrimage from one moment of nakedness to another. So we should travel light and live simply. Our enemy is not possessions, but excess. Our battle cry is not “I must have everything!' but 'what I have at this moment is enough for this moment!' I can get to anywhere my God needs me to be, from righthere”.
Contentment comes when we can honestly say with the apostle Paul, Philippians 4:12-13 "I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret [of being content] - whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.
A short-term missionary met a leper he would never forget on a mission trip, on the island of Tobago. On the final day, he was leading worship in a leper colony. He asked if anyone had a favorite song. When he did, this woman turned around, and he saw the most disfigured face he'd ever seen. She had no ears and no nose. Her lips were gone. But she raised a hand with the fingers gone, and asked, "Could we sing 'Count Your Many Blessings'?"
The missionary started the song but couldn't finish, he got so choked up. His associate later commented, "I suppose you'll never be able to sing that song again." he answered, "No, I'll sing it again. Just never the same way I ever sang it before I met her."
This kind of contentment isn't natural. We're not born with it. It is a fruit of the spirit which is learned through surrender to the one who is the prince of peace and the ruler of our heart.
May I ask you a question? Where is your contentment located? What is the one thing separating you from contentment? How do you fill in the blank: "I will be happy when this or that happens" When I am healed. When I am promoted. When I am married. When I am single. When I am rich. How would you finish the statement?
We can become so busy with somewhere else, and what we don’t have, that we don’t fully cherish where we are and what we do have.
Now, with your answer firmly in mind, answer this. If your ship never comes in, if your dream never comes true, if the situation never changes, could you be happy? If not, then you are living in the gripof discontentment.
Contentment isn't just about denying our feelings about wanting and desiring what we don’t have, but instead it is freedom from being controlled by those feelings. Contentment isn't pretending things are right when they are not, but instead it displays the peace that comes from knowing that God is bigger than any problems and that he works them all out for our good.
Constantly trying to scratch our itches with one thing or another is like cotton candy. It's sweet for a moment and dissolves an instant later.
Contentment is always an inside job. It has everything to do with what is going on inside you, not what is going on outside. It’s about what you’re attached to. That connection is found in a soul satisfying relationship with our Heavenly Father that cares for us and promises to meet us where we are.
Contentment is a matter of the will
If we fail to surrender our will, we shall forever be discontent. Our freedom will be suffocated. We will be in bondage to our desires. Our relationships will be poisoned. Potential blessings will be sacrificed. Our peace will be destroyed, and we will be robbed of joy, we will be miserable, and we willtarnish our witness. We dishonor God if we proclaim a Savior who satisfies and then we live in discontent.
Contentment comes from letting go of the past
Philippians 3:13 "Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But this one thing I do: forgetting what is behind, I am reaching forward to what is ahead". We cannot hope to ever gain contentment while holding on to past failures and mistakes – the mistakes of others or our own. There's a difference between ignoring past wrongs and forgetting them. Forgetting means that we work through the process of forgiving others and allowing God's forgiveness to cover us.
We need to let go of such statements that begin with "I should have," “I could have”, "If only I had." True forgiveness requires that we see the wrongs clearly, articulate them, release them to God, and then walk away from them. This process may take some time and some learning by application, butwithout it we will never have a contented heart.
Tim Vanderveen from Spring Lake, Michigan was a great student at Hope College, Holland, Michigan. Tall, broad shouldered, curly hair, and a smile as broad as life. In the early 90s after graduating from college, he took a job at Johnson Controls. He climbed the ladder of success about as quickly as anyone can.
And on a rawboned, wind-whipped November afternoon, Tim called his good friend and former professor, Tim Brown. Professor Brown said, "Hey, Tim, how you doing?"
A weak, trembling voice said, "I'm not doing so good."
Professor Brown said, "What's up with you?"
Tim said, "I'm in the hospital in Grand Rapids. I got the flu or something. My folks are out of the country."
Professor Brown said, "I'm going to be in Grand Rapids later today. Maybe I can stop by and see you. Would that be okay?"
Tim said, "I'd appreciate that so much."
By the time Professor Brown visited Tim, the doctors had already been there. It wasn't the flu. It was leukemia. And that began a three-year, arduous battle that he would lose - or win, maybe.
Three years later, at Spectrum Hospital, room 5225, Professor Brown walked into Tim's room. His mother was sitting in the corner crying. You can't blame her. Tim is being assisted with breathing. He has lost a lot of weight and His hair was falling out. The professor got up close to the bed and said, "Hi, Tim, how’s it going buddy."
Tim said, "Hi, Professor."
There was a long, awkward pause. Professor Brown had been a pastor for twenty years and still didn't know what to say.
Tim broke the silence, with a voice that was just a whisper, he said "I've learned something."
So the professor said, "Tell me, partner, what have you learned?"
Tim said, "I've learned that life is not like a VCR."
So the professor said, "I’m sorry Tim, I don't get it. What do you mean?"
Tim said, "It's not like a VCR; you can't fast forward through the bad parts."
There’s a Long pause, as the professor is thinking to himself what Tim has just said.
Then Tim interrupts the silence again to say, "But I have learned that Jesus Christ is in every frame, and every event, and right now that's enough for me."
Hebrews 11.6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hey, the devil can’t kill a true Christian, all he can do is promote us to the next level, of eternal life….
If you have Jesus, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner, and an anchor for every storm. You come to understand that you have everything you need. I said last week, If you have Jesus, you’ve hit the biggest lottery of all time….
One day an old man wrote a letter to God....and he tied the letter to a tree outside a church. The minister saw it tied there and took down the letter.
It read "Please God, I'm a poor man, I need you tosend me $100,000 so I can pay my debts and live peacefully".
Being a compassionate man, the minister took donations around town for the old man and raised $5,000. He tracked down the old man and handed him the envelope marked "From God"…
The next day, the old man came back and tied another letter to the tree.
The minister took down the letter and read it excitedly.
It said "Dear God, thank you for sending me the money. Next time, please send it to me directly because the minister can't be trusted. Lord, can you believe he took $95,000 of my money!" (I think that’s called discontent!)
Psalm 89:18 All we are and all we have, we owe to God, the Holy God of Israel, our King!
We owe a Debt of forgiveness
We owe a Debt of praise
We owe a Debt of witnessing.. If you do not confess me before men, I will not confess you before my Father in heaven….. but aren’t you glad it also says ‘He ever lives to make intercession for us before the throne of God.”
We owe a debt of love…Jesus gave the ultimate gift of love for us…
We owe a debt to the one who provided finances, a home, a job, health and life to enjoy it all, and eternal life with Him beyond all of that.
Wow, we owe an eternal debt, and our eternity has already begun the moment we made Him our savior and lord!
Can leukemia infect your salvation? Can bankruptcy impoverish your prayer life? Can what happens in your world, steal your joy? A hurricanemay take your earthly house, but will it touch your heavenly home?
When I come into a relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ, I understand that it is now all about WHOSE I AM, not what I have or don’t have.
Paul the apostle said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”.
Our chief aim and goal as children of God, is to please God….Those who know God want to please God .. like Enoch in the Old Testament "who had this testimony, that he pleased God". Do you have that testimony? When Enoch walked into a room, they said, "There is a man who is pleasing God. There's a man of God who is living for the Glory of God." What do people say about you when you walk into a room?
I don't know about you .. but I want it said about me what was said about Enoch, "before he was taken, he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
Let me bring this to a close with a promise from God, which is about being free of discontentmentand becoming debt free, and free from the bondage of too much debt. When I say bondage, I’m not saying don’t buy that car, or that home, but I’m talking debt that is beyond your ability to pay…. That’s bondage.
John 8:35 “A slave (one who is in bondage) is not a permanent member of the family, but a son belongs to it forever. v36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”.
Now I want to get to what the Lord spoke to me about debt when I began to develop this message.
God told the Jewish people that when they loaned money to a fellow Jew, they were not to charge interest on the agreed term of payback. HoweverHe said something else, which is really amazing and it sounds a lot like John 8:35, because it’s about becoming debt free, or at least being able to pay your debt without being in bondage to it! Look at it with me….
Deuteronomy 15:1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release”.
IT IS CALLED THE LORD’S RELEASE! God wanted His people to be debt free so much that He provided a covenant of release from debt!
First, this is God saying, “It’s all mine anyway, you don’t own anything, it’s all on loan from Me”… I have loaned you the house, the car, the money, your children, your spouse, your job… etc…
Look at this….Luke 12:17 “And a certain manthought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my increase? v18 And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns, and build greater and there will I bestow all my increase and my goods. (He’s not thinking of God here) v19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. v20But God (everyone say But God) said unto him, you fool, this night your soul shall be required of you. Then whose shall those things be, which you have provided? v21 So also are those that lay up treasure for themselves, and are not rich toward God”.
What a question, and it is one that demands an answer…. THEN WHOSE SHALL THOSE THINGS BE?
Deuteronomy calls it the Lord’s release, John says He who the Son sets free is free indeed!!
The Holy Spirit has told me to believe this day, that God will perform the Release of The Lord… in your life and for your family.
I believe there is a special anointing in this place, that comes by the infallible word of God to His people. We are not called to be slaves to the world system, that would affect our place of Sonship, since it gives us a divided heart.
So I’m going to obey God today and speak the RELEASE OF THE LORD, over your debt and your bondage to it….
Galatians 5:1. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (or slavery).”
Nahum 1:13 For I will now break their yoke from your neck and tear away your shackles.”
Isaiah 10:27 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.”
God is establishing covenant with our finances, that your debt be cancelled and the yoke and the bondage on you or your family being broken and destroyed. I want everyone to come and stand here with me. This is the RELEASE OF THE LORD! Our dollar bills still say “In God we trust” on them, even though there are forces that want to remove that statement at their own peril. We enter into this covenant of the RELEASE OF THE LORD today.
Prayer…..Lord Jesus, You taught us to pray “forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” Lord, You said that as we give, it would be given unto us full measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. You said, in Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. We receive Your financial favor, which You bring to set us free. Jesus, You said that if we would ask for our daily bread, or provision, You would give it and it would be more than enough.
We declare, according to Your word that It is time for a reset. It’s time for a Jubilee. It’s time for debts to be cancelled. It is time for financial freedom.Thank you lord, for financial healing and recovery. Thank you for freedom from the stress, the pressure, and the bondage of debt. Thank You that He whom the Son sets free is FREE INDEED! In Jesus Name!!!
