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Sermon of the Week 
Monday, August 10 2015

The Best Is Yet To Come

When Jesus arrived here on earth at year Zero…..for 400 years, there had been no prophet, priest, or king who spoke for God. It was a time of spiritual darkness, when the law of sin and death, was the law under which mankind struggled….It was a time when heaven was silent, until John the Baptist appeared on the scene as the forerunner of Christ, a second cousin, just 6 months older than Jesus.

It was much like the time of Gideon, when Gideon had a knowledge of the historical miracles of God, but had not seen in his own life those miracles, signs and wonders. He cried out "Where is the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!" That was the cry of John the Baptist and the disciples who with this same yearning, and this same cry of the heart, were drawn and driven to Jesus!

It was into this environment that Jesus came and this major paradigm shift, was moving everything and everyone down a common path, either knowingly or unknowingly…....it was like going thru a dispensational tunnel.. From law to grace …..From commandments that were written on stone to those that were written upon flesh......From prophecy to fulfillment and reality …..From watching God work to being the instrument of God at work…..From a religious Hierarchy, to an every believer authority….From a set of religious rules, to the inner promptings of the heart…..From religious power and politics, to Holy Spirit Power and authority……From a Distant, Unknown God, to an intimate, fellowship and relationship with a personal Lord and Savior! ….

They were coming into a new Kingdom culture here in the earth, under the banner of His government and rule...... and unlike the kingdoms which had appeared and disappeared before, this kingdom would be forever, a kingdom within a kingdom, a new world without end, with the light of His righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!

Matthew 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in half from the top to the bottom; and there was a great earth quake, and the rocks split”….(The power of redemption was colliding head on with the power of the curse, Healing and wholeness were colliding with sickness and disease, Peace and blessed assurance was colliding with fear and strife, God’s great salvation was colliding with eternal damnation and on that battlefield, The King of Kings lead the faithful in a triumphant procession! Don’t you doubt it a minute…. When God is ready to move, He can break through the strongest barriers and the hardest hearts, He can shake, overwhelm, rearrange, and re-position…and nothing shall be able to stop Him.. it’s not a time to back off or to give up…it’s a time to increase our prayers, our witnessing, our faithfulness in whatever our hands find to do…..the bible says do it with all your might unto the Lord! Don’t you back down and don’t you give up!...it’s not going to happen…it has already happened!!! He has broken down the middle wall of partition that stood between us…and He has given unto us the victory!!!

Three young boys were walking down the street, arguing over whose dad was the greatest. One said, "My dad is the greatest because he is the president of the town bank." The second boy said, "That is pretty good, but my dad owns two grocery stores in town!" The third boy said, "That's nothing, my dad is a preacher, and he owns hell. I know because He came home last night and told my mom that the Church Council gave it to him!"

If you know Christ, Hell doesn’t own you, you own hell!!!

The bible gives us the conditions we are called to reign in, and if you have experienced mini-hell, they may sound very familiar to you…..

2Timothy 3:1 says “This know also, and be convinced, that in the last days perilous times shall come”. (Hmmmmm….Perilous times, I do believe that’s our territory.. it’s ours for the taking…OWN IT!….)

Sometimes life can get messy…. and you need a big towel to clean up your mess…. The Greek word translated “perilous”, is “khal-ah'-o” and it has the idea of lowering the standard, therefore the troubles, difficulty, and stressful situations that come are as a result of low standards. Somebody got sloppy with their kingdom values and principles and ended up with a mess!

This sort of atmosphere of Chaos in the Cosmos, will mark the last days and it calls for an added measure of discernment, wisdom, accountability and spiritual perspective….But we know that God’s Spirit is moving and working in the worst of times and the best of times… “Perilous”, is a word that is used in classical Greek both of dangerous wild animals and of the raging sea. Its only other New Testament occurrence is in the story of the Gaderene demoniac who was as savage and untamed as wild beasts and it’s described in Matthew 8:28 as 'so fierce that no one could pass that way." But Jesus brought it back into order and He will do the same at the end of time!

"As the Apostle Paul is praying in his prison cell, he is preoccupied with the future of the gospel. His mind dwells on the evil of the times, and the vicious attacks and accusations against the Christian community…. Christians are being thrown to the lions, and suffering all manner of persecution….and yet the Church of Jesus continues to grow and become stronger….in spite of the persecution!

Paul also concerns himself with the immaturity of Timothy. Timothy is so weak, and the opposition is so strong." Paul is concerned that Timothy may not be strong enough for the perilous times that are yet to come….The bad times Paul describes as coming, are not only about catastrophic events, but it speak also of the people who will orchestrate and create bad times. "We should notice what the peril and danger at this time is in Paul's view, not just war, it’s not just famine or diseases, it’s not other calamities or ills that befall the body, but it includes the wicked and depraved ways of men who have cast off all restraints." The pervading thinking today is question everything, believe nothing. If you can’t eat it, put it in the bank, buy more toys, get more thrills, or get more power, it’s not important, after all, we’re all going to die anyway…

A critic once wrote a letter to a magazine, he said, "Over the years, I suppose I've gone to church more than 1,000 times, and I can't remember the content of even one sermon over those many years. What good was it to go to church 1,000 times?" The next week, someone wrote back: "Over the past many years, I have eaten more than 1,000 meals prepared by my wife. I cannot remember the specific menu of any of those meals. But they nourished me along the way, and without them, I would be a much different man!" Scripture will do its spiritual work in us, but it’s up to us to get it inside of us….Faith comes by hearing, reading, speaking and praying the Word of God….

The Bible gives us eternal life (1 Peter 1:23).

The Bible spiritually cleanses us (Ephesians 5:26).

The Bible gives us power against demonic spirits (Ephesians 6:17).

The Bible brings spiritual power to heal our bodies (Matthew 8:16).

The Bible brings us spiritual strength (Psalm 119:28).

The Bible has the power to spiritually build faith in us (Romans 10:17).

God always responds to His word…..

A Messianic Christian stood at the church door greeting folks as they entered. "Good morning, he said to one Couple, I was at your wedding ten years ago but I never see any of your children in church." Well, we've not been blessed with children. My husband and I have tried but we've not been successful". "Well I'm going to Jerusalem for a few years, and I'll place a prayer for you in the wailing wall.. Perhaps Jehovah will look kindly on you and your husband." Well, three years later, back at the church door, the messianic Christian was once again greeting folks and sees the woman and asks did you ever have any children?" "Indeed we did, she said pointing towards the church nursery. "We've had a set of triplets, and two sets of twins since we last saw you." "Praise be to Jehovah. He has truly blessed you. The husband then spoke up and said “we really appreciate your prayers, but I had to fly to Jerusalem and pull that prayer out of the wall”!!!! (tell someone, Prayer changes things)

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have already overcome the world.”

If He overcame the world, we overcome also for this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith in His finished work and victory!!! There are victories that are yours before the battle begins, before the struggle starts, before you even realized there was a conflict….before and also during those perilous times.

Romans “4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith”.

Your inheritance includes reigning over every area in your life that has caused you pain!!!....Including Hell!!! Bring a heaping helping of heaven into Hell and drive them absolutely crazy!!!

Here is a declaration and exaltation of praise, which every child of God should memorize for all the seasons of their lives…..It’s in 1 Chronicles 29:10 “Blessed are You, Lord God, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all." Tell someone….(All means All!!!)

The bible tells us that when we were baptized, we were raised up to live in Christ, immersed in His Spirit of life and overcoming power….Paul says we are raised in His likeness!!!! WOW!!! Now what happened is that after we received Christ, and walked out of the baptismal tank….we left a trail of water everywhere we went….we were loaded with death when we went in, and we were dripping with overcoming life when we came out!!!! We are in the world, but not of the world……as a result of this, the bible tells us that they can kill our body, but they can’t kill the part of us that is in the likeness of Christ, which is forever…

God has prepared you, for everything and everyplace He sends you. The gospel song says, “if Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere. ’Tis Heaven to me, where ever I may be, if He is there! I count it a privilege here, His cross to bear, If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere! God’s not going to take His church anywhere it’s not already prepared and equipped to go. Christian, God won’t send you into any situation He has not prepared you to go into. He always prepares us for what we’ll face. And He’ll give you the wisdom and the equipment you need to get it done.

He will do above what we think or ask…..He will not be stopped when He finds a hungry heart.. There is nothing off limits to Him.. He will get in places where no one else can! The places of your fears, your hurts, your very deepest rejection and worry...He knows how to get it done, when every effort by others has failed…. God will use folks to get things done, who were never told that it couldn’t be done…

God is getting ready to LOOSE SOME FOLKS for the Kingdom. Cutting free their potential, Loosing some new ideas, Loosing some new means of LIFTING HIM UP. Loosing some new avenues of CARRYING FORTH THE GOSPEL. Get ready to be turned loose! Get ready to get untied from the things that have limited, restricted, and confined you, so you can march WITH Him into triumph, so you can be part of the great processional of overcomers and triumphant sons and daughters of the true king, who have triumphed down through the ages!!!

An old man, in his nineties was walking along the coast and someone comes up to him and says to him, “sir, you have been a Christian for a very long time. You have seen much and done much with God by your side. You have prayed many prayers…. What would you place as top priority when you pray for people?” That man was the apostle John the beloved, and his answer was ... “Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” This has been and always will be God’s plan for our lives….for us to prosper spiritually, to be our very best self for His kingdom that we possibly can be, and in doing so, to shut down hell and fill up heaven.

We will have our ups and we will have our downs, but God tells us in Deuteronomy 28:13…”the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath”… .

What you are going through is only temporary, it’s going to come full circle. Keep believing that you are above only and not beneath, even when you have hit rock bottom. It is God who always causes you to triumph in Christ. You are the head…because you are leading in faith, not following in fear….So often, we want to see it and then we’ll believe it, But the Lord says, believe it and you shall see it!!! He tells us that we are not of the world…. We are a new species of kingdom people in the earth….. because He overcame we will also overcome…..

There was a TV commercial that the Army put out, recruiting young men and women, who were looking for more in life, who felt they were at a dead end, or that their dreams were passing them by… In the commercial, a young man, around 19 or early 20’s, was scaling the side of a mountain in a place that looked like it was in the Rockies -- he was struggling on that last little bit -- as he reached for another handhold, he lost his grip and you knew that he was about to give up -- but he looked up at the top – and he saw the summit -- he knew where he wanted to go -- and seeing his goal and his purpose clearly, gave him renewed strength -- he reached out again and found a new handhold and kept going towards the top --and as the commercial faded, we saw him standing up on the peak of that mountain as the sun set, looking out over the view from the top as the slogan flashed on the screen -- “Be all that you can be”—

The first step in getting anywhere is deciding you no longer want to be where you are….The message was clear -- you could settle in life -- you could refuse to do the hard stuff -- you could take the easy way -- or you could accept the challenge and fight past the difficulties and push yourself past your limits and exceed where others had failed – The apostle Paul is saying much the same thing,

In Ephesians 4:1 “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”. Paul is making the point here that God is calling us to be more than we are -- to do more than we are doing -- to live more than we are living – to step outside of ourselves and into Himself! God will either catch you or teach you to fly!

God has issued a challenge for each of us as Christians and as members of His body, to inspire us that there are greater heights in Him -- God wants us to be all that we can be and not settle for a life of diluted spirituality by defaulting on the call of the Spirit within. In another place, Paul goes on to say, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” --- He is encouraging the Ephesians to see that they have a choice to make in their Christian lives – they can continue on as they are going and just settle and set the bar low-- or they can choose to live a different life --a life worthy of the calling that they have received and he encourages them by example.

John Maxwell has said “We all must be willing to constantly reinvent ourselves through our attitude and outlook. These two are the advance team and the way markers of our true selves. Their roots go inward but their fruit grows outward; They are our best friend or our worst enemy; They are our most honest and most consistent indicators…more so, than the words we speak. They are the external expression of the sum of our past experiences; They are the things which draw people to us or repel them. They are never content until they are expressed; They are the librarians of our past, the speakers of our present and the prophets of our future. They are our perspective, our attitude and our outlook” ….

You can tell a lot by your anxiety level that begins to manifest, when you consider stretching past your current limits. Your anxiety is indicating a barrier which must come down so you can excel and achieve greater heights.

If you understand The Law of Permission – then you understand that we have now become that which we have permitted ourselves to be. I cannot become anything I have become, without my own permission... Let go and let God!…Because God Himself is waiting for your permission.

Jeremiah 50:44 Behold, I will come up like a lion, who will appoint me the time?

Isaiah 6:8 “Who will go for me, says the Lord”.

Isaiah 43:13 says “I will work, and who will let it”…..

As we get untied from our limiting things, we can declare….I am free, I am happy; I am abundant in mind body and spirit, I am loved, and I am loving, Life is such a beautiful thing…I am surrounded daily with the beauty of life, I am one with God the Creator, I am fully present and in agreement as His Creation. Through His grace and mercy, I am guilt free, and I am shame free. Everything is working for my good, I trust in God's greater purposes in all things, I now choose to expand myself and my life, I now choose to be successful and happy, I now choose to be unafraid, as I move forward, I now choose to know myself fully and discover New dimensions of God's plan for and through me, I now choose wholeness and acceptance, I now choose to understand unconditional love…

God is bringing you into a new level, so you can defeat some new devils! He wants us to handle Him like doubting Thomas did, and it changed his perspective of everything! He wants us to know that we know that He’s the same yesterday, today and forever!! He wants us to Handle His anointing, handle His love, handle His grace, Handle His forgiveness and be confidence in His Power!

My Prayer for The Church of this hour is for a new hunger and thirst for the fullness of the Spirit, for an increase in the signs that are to accompany those who believe. That we would see more healings, accounts of Divine protection, more testimonies of power over demonic activities in people's lives and in the community, for boldness and renewed passion to communicate the good news of the gospel to those we know and don’t know yet. That God will send people from every community of believers, everywhere, to everyone with this good news of His transforming power. In other words, a post resurrection reality igniting our hearts and stirring our passion, as the glory of the resurrected Lord shows up! A glorious church, filled with His Spirit and ready, not only for when He appears in the heavens to catch His church away, but ready to occupy until He comes!

May we move beyond splitting theological hairs and debates that change no one…. and hit the ground at the foot of the empty cross that was transformed into a symbol of victory as it was seen through the lens of Christ’s blood and validated through an empty tomb and a resurrected Lord!

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