This message is titled “Dealing With The Elephant In The Room”....

In 1814, Russian author Ivan Krylov wrote a fable or parable, entitled "The Inquisitive Man" which tells of a man who goes to a museum and notices all sorts of tiny things, but in the process fails to notice a huge elephant that fills up the middle of the museum.  And with that story, the phrase "elephant in the room" was born.                                                                             It has come to symbolize those situations where there’s an obvious truth or problem that is being ignored and going unaddressed and unresolved.                                                        We all know that awkward feeling that comes with having an elephant in the room....                                                                                                            One day a diver was enjoying the under water world 20 feet down and he noticed a guy at the same depth he was, but he had on no scuba gear at all. The diver went downanother 20 ft, but the guy joined him a few and moments later. The diver went down still another 25 feet, but soon , the same guy joined him. This confused the diver, so he took out a waterproof chalk board, and wrote, "How on earth are you able to stay under this deep without equipment?" The other guy took the board and chalk, erased what the diver had written, and wrote, "It should be obvious, I’m DROWNING, YOU FOOL!!!"                                                                                                        My title has to do with ignoring the obvious... It is about the failure of those who can make a difference but who choose to do nothing and by doing nothing they actually allow the problem to continue or become even worse .... It happens in government, it happens in businesses, it happens in homes, in friendships, and it happens in the church.                                                               

People don’t just fall out of faith in Christ, it happens in little steps, and one decision at a time. How many times could intervention occur as those small steps are taking place which could avoid a major intervention processes, but it was all about an elephant in the room which got ignored.                                                                                                                                                                                                            

So the “Elephant in the room” is something everyone may know about, but no one is willing to do something about it...because we want to avoid confrontation which may upset someone. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can give guidance to those in any trouble,with the instruction we ourselves have received from God”.

My son David called Thursday night and said that they were at meeting and their battery died. Someone gave them a jump to get to where they could buy one. As the guy was installing the battery, they were talking about the condition of the world, and asked him “How do you feel about all that is happening”... the guy said, “I just need some peace”.... Well they told him how to have peace, prayed with him to receive Jesus, and turn his life over to Him. The guy said, “I think I need to start going to church, and reading my bible” They told him to start with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd   

John and he said, “I’m taking my family to church this Sunday”.                When our families have left God out of their lives and feel that they’re fine without Christ or Christianity.. or even more incredible, they believe there can be the benefits and blessings of Christianity without Christ....“There’s a big elephant sitting in center of the home that is begging to no longer be ignored”....

When folks begin to compromise a little here and a little therethey don’t even realize that it has now become embedded in theirway of life, and they know better but they just ignore and avoid the truth.... and it becomes “an elephant in the room”....

A big problem with the elephant in the room is that it’s always someone else’s job to deal with it, and someone else never does....

Elephants are messy.... I mean just one digestive cycle can leave quite a mess... And they bump into things and knock things over. They leave a lot of collateral damage behind them in order to function. And they will continue to wreck lives, destroy homes, and weaken the church if they are allowed to be the loose cannons that they always are!

Everyone ends up being affected by their mess, and folks try to avoid being pulled into it... they navigate around it.... refuse to deal with it.... they hide from it... sweeping it under the carpet... but ultimately you will always end up stepping in it, till you deal with it!!

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:5 “Love does not dishonor others, it does not demand its own way”....                                                                         That’s what the elephant in the room does... it dishonors others with its mess and it demands its own way.... everyone else is expected to navigate their way around it....

Someone said that “just because you disagree with someone doesn’t give you the right to disrespect or dishonor them”....

Superficial love, manipulated love, forced loved, and fleshlylove… are embedded with conflict, drama, anger, rejection, pride, and compromise, and they will always do anything to avoid “the elephant in the room”; but real love, pure love; the kind of love that keeps families strong, friendships healthy and churches thriving, will take the risk of addressing the underlying issues, so that the looming disaster and its casualties can be avoided down the road. 

Another name for the Elephant in the room is SELFISHNESS... It’s when what one person’s wants, supersedes the needs of everyone else. Sometimes it's blatant and in your face, and other times, its subtle and manipulative.

Selfishness breeds selfishness.  So, lets say, I’m selfish, which forces Winnie to be selfish in order for her needs to be addressed, which motivates the kids to be selfish to get their needs met.  And the more we allow selfishness to be the ruling force in our relationship, our families, or in our church, the more permanent the damage that is done, and a culture of selfishness is developed, which always implodes upon itself.

Selfishness dishonors and devalues others, and destroys the presence of peace.  In a marriage, it’s all about what you want or need.  In parenting, you selfishly prioritize your time.  With your siblings, its what you want without regard for others. With your church family, it’s all about me…and what I want and what I need....the church is here for me…And little by little, the stress, the tension, the pent up anger, and the growing distance between folks begins to takes its toll on everyone.

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.”

It's about where our values are.... We can be so focused on our rights  that we fail to value compassion, honor and loyalty above our rights. I have the right to be happy, but not at someone else’sexpense.  I have the right to defend myself, but not the right to get revenge. I have the right to freedom as long as it doesn’t trample on the freedom of others.... Too many families and churches, and lives, have been ripped apart because someone had to be right.                                                                                                                     1 Peter 5:5 “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another,   for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”                                                        John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”                                                                                     Matthew 20:26 “Whoever would be greatest among you must be your servant.”    When we accept Jesus’ invitation to come walk with Him, what does that look like, where is that going to take us, and what will change in the way we live?

1 Corinthians 6:12 “All things are permissible unto me, but all things are not expedient (or profitable) all things are permissible for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any but Christ.”

We live in a dangerous world, and we can see with the situation in Ukraine, that there will always be forces in the world that want to push you into their mold. But it shouldn’t take a crises or national emergency for Christians to be Christian.... 

If you don’t deal with the Elephant in the room, it will begin to demand things of you, in order to maintain it’s power and justify its existence...The elephant knows it’s an interloper but believes that no one will finally deal with it...so it will taunt you and accuse you... Dealing with the “Elephant in the room” Takes commitment ...It’s so easy to see what everyone else needs to do, and to tell everyone else what they need to do, because there’s no personal commitment in that...

Several men are in the locker room of a private club after exercising. Suddenly a cell phone on one of the benches rings. A man picks it up and the following conversation takes place...."Hello?"....."Honey, It's me." "Oh, hey Sugar!"...."Are you at the club?"...."Yes, I sure am." ....”Great! I'm at the mall 2 blocks from where you are. I saw a beautiful mink coat. It is absolutely gorgeous! Can I buy it?" "What's the price?" "Only $1,500"....."Well, okay, go ahead and get it, if you like it that much."...."Ahhh, thank you sweety, and I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the 2022 models. I saw one I really liked. I spoke with the salesman and he gave me a really good price ... and since we need to exchange the BMW that we bought last year, well, you know..." "What price did he quote you?"....."Only $85,000!"....."Okay, but for that price I want it with all the options."....."Great, honey! Before we hang up, something else."......"What now?"..... "It might seem like a lot dear, but I was reconciling your bank account and...well, I stopped by to see the real estate agent this morning and I saw the house we had looked at last year. It's on sale! Remember? The one with a pool, English garden, acre of park area, and it’s beachfront property..."....."How much are they asking?"....."Only $850,000... a magnificent price, and I see that we have that much in the bank to cover it easily..."....."Well, then go ahead and buy it, but just bid $820,000, OK?"...."Okay, sweetie. Thanks! I'll see you later!! I love you!!!"...."OK, Bye, Bye."                                                             The man hangs up the phone, lays it down, looks around and asks aloud, "Does anyone know whose phone this is?"                                                        It’s easy to make decisions, if it’s someone else’s commitment....

Offences can be the elephant in the room....You’ll start keeping a scorecard.... “I can’t believe how my brother treated me this last Thanksgiving.  How my spouse did me last month.  How my child did me.  How my parents refused to help me. How thatperson at church offended me by what they said or did. Can you believe what my pastor said!”

Elephants can become very heavy if you continue to ignore them, and tolerate them, and they can wear you out spiritually, as well as physically... It’s hard to carry them around. And the next thing you know you have allowed an attitude of resentment, feelings of bitterness and anger, pride, and all kinds of toxic, stinking thinking to climb up in the driver’s seat of your heart and start telling you what to do.                                                                                                                          Scorecards give us permission to play the comparison game, so we overlook our own mess and focus on the mess of other folks. Hey, compared to them, I’m not so bad just the way I am!

Listen, when we start keeping scorecards in the family, with our friends, or in the church, no one wins.  But yet, we can all very easily fall into keeping these emotional scorecards.  

Watch out for the big ticket items which help the elephant in the room to thrive and prevents every effort to deal with it, and that’sconvenience.....We live in a society that is addicted to Convenience....                                                                                                                                           During the pandemic when so many businesses were struggling, a guy walks into a convenience store...And he says, "I'm looking for a job." The store owner replies, "You're in luck! We have an open position that pays $10,000 per a month, and you only work when it’s convenient!"The guy says, "You've got to be joking." The store owner says, "Well, you started it."                                                                                                                              Our modern world emphasizes doing or not doing things, based on how convenient it is. We’re family as long as it's convenient for me...for my lifestyle, and for my needs, if its convenient for my schedule, and my priorities.                                                                                                                   It's why we have drive-thrus, Google, banking online, shopping online, online movies, shows on-demand, microwavesand on and on.... I want it now, I want it at my convenience.... It’s too inconvenient to attend church, I can do it on internet.... It’s too inconvenient to call someone, I’ll face book them... it’s too inconvenient to take time to read the bible, I’ll tune into a Youtube scripture for today...

In New Roads, Louisiana, there is a drive-in mortuary. For the convenience of time-pressed mourners, the deceased is displayed before a five-by-seven picture window. Friends and relatives can drive up to the window and pay last respects without getting out. The owner says it’s for those who find it inconvenient to attend a funeral service....and speaking of convenience, Scientists from the Universities of Dundee and Edinburgh have formulated a new recipe for an ice cream that doesn’t melt. Let’s not have the inconvenience of melted ice cream...Please! Now you can eat your non-melting ice cream while you drive through your convenient funeral service! 

I hate to burst your bubble, but Christianity isn’t convenient, love isn’t convenient, the life of faith is not convenient....

When the apostle Paul was brought before Felix, he shared the gospel with him and scripture says Felix was terrified, and said “leave me and I will speak to you at a more convenient season”...... How easy it is to blame our unwillingness, our disobedience, our rebellion, and our compromise on inconvenience.... and we kick the can further down the road for later, but later never comes... and forgiveness never comes, and freedom never comes and deliverance never happens...

If you could talk to Felix today, right now this moment... He would say, stop putting off what you need to do because it’s inconvenient.                 Dealing with the “Elephant in the room”...is never convenient. Love is not convenient, The Christian faith and practice is not convenient, Healthy families, and strong friendships, and spiritually dynamic churches are not convenient!

Love doesn't give up just because the circumstances tell us to.  Love doesn't give up when we’ve been hurt, rejected or offended.  Love doesn't give up when the family dynamics changes.  Love doesn't give up when it’s no longer convenient for us.

We need to stop chasing after convenience and settle for nothing less than Agape love, servant love, which is Christ love!

1 John 4:6 “We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God finds its deepest expression toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live our lives through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the complete reconciliation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another with the same love.”

The only thing that has the potential to erase and overcome our Elephant in the room.. Is FORGIVENESS.... First forgive yourself for failing to deal with your elephant, then give yourself permission to take whatever measures you need to as you confront the elephant you’ve ignored for so long. Forgiveness doesn’t overlook failure, it overcomes failures.

But watch out for selective forgiveness. 

I'll forgive him for that, but not for that.  I'll forgive her for doing this, but if she ever does that, I'm out.  There's a line and if you cross it, then it's over.  You can’t put a threshold of forgiveness, because then it becomes demanding again, and selfish again.....

If God, had put a threshold and drawn a line on forgiveness, I would have crossed over, and gone way beyond that line, years ago.

The servant heart doesn’t say, “Do to them before they do to you,” It says, “Do unto them as you would have them do unto you.”....

Today we tear up our score cards, we no longer use the excuse that it’s not convenient, we let go of disobedience, and we face the elephant in the room that we have avoided. 

And no matter how difficult it is... “no matter what the elephantis”.... freedom, peace, joy, intimacy, contentment and full life in Christ is waiting on the other side of that. The price of obedience is not nearly as great as the cost of continuing in disobedience...

What about when you obey and nothing seems to change....                      In Mark 8: 22 Gives us a scene recounting one of Jesus' many healing miracles. All Jesus' healings are extraordinary, but this one is very surprising, because when Jesus prayed, the man still couldn’t see clearly! Jesus takes the blind man, spits on his eyes, lays hands on him, and — ta-da! — the man should see. Well, no, not quite. What the man says is that he can't see clearly yet . When he looks around he says, I see people but they look like trees walking around. In other words it’s all very cloudy....( when nothing has happened yet, instead of coming to a conclusion, which would bring us into doubt and unbelief…. we need to stay in faith and say instead… “to be continued”)This one is a miracle in the works!

I want to give everyone an “elephant in the room” so you can identify it for what it is! You may even want to write down a description of it and the steps you need to take....Becauseacknowledging that it is there, helps us to no longer avoid it,  ignore it or put it off...

It may be the thing you know you need to do in order to move beyond this place you’re stuck in, or what you’ve avoided, but nolonger!!!

There’s too much at stake.... your peace, your fuller life, and your freedom. And it’s not just about you, because others can move on in their lives as you move on in yours. It has a domino effect which is set in motion...

Joshua 1:2 “Now therefore arise, you and all these people, and cross over into the land that I am giving to you. 3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised”

May God give us all the power, determination, and resolve to finally face the “Elephants in the Room”....

Let’s come forward and stand in faith and God’s love together. Let this be a crossing over, and a moving beyond...bring your elephant with you...and start the journey today into getting a handle on that thing that has been put off, ignored and put aside too long....

Prayer..... Heavenly Father, I open my heart wide to receive your pure, complete love today. I open up and receive Your healing and restoring power as I overcome the obstacles I am facing. I believe, and affirm Your miraculous power to make all things possible. Lord You are the full expression of all that I need and the source of my joy, my strength and my freedom. Heal in me, whatever You see that needs healing, as I receive Your wholeness and restoration. Free me of any fear or unbelief from my heart as I lay my life before You.                                                                                        I am praying for a miracle that can only come from You and I am willing, ready, and waiting. Wherever there are strongholds, demonic influences and spiritual attacks, I receive Your Spirit and truth to rise up within me and allow me to conquer the darkest enemy, break the strongest barrier, and silence the greatest deceiver. Help me to remember the reason I began. Help me to see the purpose behind Your plan. Thank you for grace and favor as I  find strength for the next step and keep believing that miracles are possible.                                                                                                I am laying claim to my personal victory today in Your name and by Your Almighty power. Your redeeming light frees me, gives me peace, and snatches me back from the enemy’s grip. I receive my blessing today. In Jesus name, Amen.

We Start With Jesus, We Stay With Jesus, We End With Jesus!

Psalm 110:1 ”The Lord said, “Sit at My right hand (the place of favor) until I make your enemies into your footstool. 2 For the Lord extends your authority, so that you may rule in the midst of your enemies.”

If you would feel led of the Holy Spirit to support this ministry, you may send your donations to "Eagle's Rest, P.O box 2820, Key West, Florida 33040.... Thank you in advance and God richly bless you..

We Are More Than Conquerors

In ourselves we are weak, but through Christ we find our strength, our peace, our guide and counselor, and light for the journey.                         At my lowest, God is my hope....At my darkest, God is my light... At my weakest, God is my strength.... at my saddest and loneliest, God is my comforter & friend...

Romans 8: 11 “For if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

(skip to verse) 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

You know Church, I’ve been walking this Christian way longenough, that I’ve found out something..... I may get hit by discouragement but I don’t have to stay discouraged... I may get knocked down but I don’t have to stay down....    I may get buffeted with some storms here and there, but if I can keep the storm out of my boat, I’m going over to the other side.... I may experience times of not enough, but if I can hold on to the one who is more than enough, it’s gonna be alright.... And I may have to deal with situations and circumstances that are more than my strength and abilities, but if I can stand in His strengthand power, I am more than conqueror!

Whether it be a single mom, a person struggling with illness, a widower, or a retiree who is entering their waning years, the message is the same... We’ve been made more than conquerors.

Say with me today.... “When my thoughts are not His thoughts, I will change my thoughts.... When my ways are not His ways, I will change my ways”.... 

This is not hardwired into any of us. We do not come into this world with this concept. It comes into us through mentoring, discipling and impartation in the home, the church, (it used to be the school system), our Godly peers, and immersing ourselves in the Word of God. 

A man told his doctor that he wasn’t able to do all the things around the house that he used to do. When the examination was complete, he said, "Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what’s wrong with Me." The doctor replied, "You’re just lazy, sir"

The most dangerous thing in your house is probably your easy chair. Not because of what it might do to you, but rather because of what you might not do when you are in it. I mean the name says it all “Lazy boy”

God’s part does not eliminate our part, because this is a partnership.       A group of researchers published a study of Japanese mothers and mothers in the U.S. The mothers were asked to rank the most important things that a child needs to succeed academically. The answers tell a lot about the difference in our two cultures today. The mothers in Minneapolis chose "ability." The mothers in Japan said "effort."

Someone told me, that they put their scale in the corner and it’s going to stay there until the little liar apologizes.... (an honest look at ourselves is not easy to handle)! Many times we forget that God is not as interested in our abilities as he is in our availability.                                                          There is a well known book called “The road less traveled” it starts out with a 3 letter phrase that a lot of people would agree with. That 3 letter phrase is “life is difficult” but that’s not where the statement ends for the believer, because even though live is difficult, “God is more than enough”....At the end of myself, I find the Eternal, all powerful, all wise, all present, all knowing God!!!

You need to watch out for Rabshakeh. Cause he wants to make you “SHAKE-A, SHAKE-A” .....When it comes to the overcoming life, Rabshakeh will dog your steps every mile of your journey. 

Rabshakeh, was the messenger and emissary of Sennacherib, King of Assyria, who had surrounded Jerusalem with the intention of keeping King Hezekiah from rebuilding the city and the temple when the tribe of Judah came out of Babylon after 70 years of captivity. The same Babylon where the fiery furnace story, Daniel and the lion’s den, and Queen Esther all took place.Remember that Persia defeated Babylon and absorbed it by the time of Esther, which was part of Daniel’s prophetic dream. Daniel and the first captives were taken to Babylon around 605 BC. The second group of captives were taken about 10 years later. 10 years after that, the third wave of Jews are taken captive. About 50 years later the Jews are allowed to return under Cyrus the great of Persia to rebuild the city.

The message Paul gave the Ephesian church is that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”.

Well, Sennacherib, and Rabshakeh are some of those guys.... Look at it...

2 Kings 18:17 “The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field”. 

Rabshakeh is a real potty mouth and his message to the people of Jerusalem was full of lies, boasts, and blasphemies which were designed to divide and dishearten their mission and purpose. 

• he questioned the object of their faith and trust

• he ridiculed Hezekiah’s strategy as weak and ineffective

• he discounted any help they might receive from Egypt*.....

• he told them the Lord had turned against them

• he claimed the Lord had sent him to destroy the land of Judah

• he wanted them to focus on the horrors of being under siege

• he accused Hezekiah of deceiving the people

• he scoffed at the notion of trusting in the Lord

• he offered gifts of land and peace to anyone who would surrender

• he reminded them that no nation’s gods had yet been able to deliver them from Assyria

• he compared the Lord with the impotent gods of the other nations.           He asks why, if the Assyrian army has managed to defeat everyone else's gods and desecrated their temples, wouldn’t they now do the same thing to the Jewish God? Of course, he isn't able to do that to Jehovah because his army gets totally massacred by an angel and he is killed in battle. 

What was Hezekiah’s response to Rabshakeh at this time.... I need to know, because Rabshakeh is still messing around with the thinking of God’s people today, and he’ll show up every time God hands you an assignment... 

2 Kings19:14 “So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD: “O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 16 Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see.          Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God. 17Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands. 19 And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”

It’s good to know when you are beaten, because then you cannot be defeated. Because you trusted in the Lord Your God you can surrender to God, not the enemy, and let God fight for you, “If God be for us then who can stand against us” 

Hezekiah laid it before the Lord... Hezekiah knew that just because he was not able to see the answers, didn’t mean that there weren’t any answers. Oh, yes, God will always give you an assignment that won’t happen without Him. It’s more than enough for you, but He’s the “More than enough God”! As a matter of fact, one of the names He gave to Moses, was El Shaddai.... “I am more than enough”

It was El Shaddai that told Moses to stretch out his rod, and the Red Sea opened, so they could cross over, then closed it and drowned the army of Egypt. When they had nothing to eat, it was El Shaddai that sent manna from heaven to feed them, and water from the rock to quench their thirst.

It was El Shaddai that gave them shade by day and fire by night to light up the camp... He was their umbrella and their night light.

When they ran out of wine at the marriage feast, El Shaddai showed up and brought out His best!

That’s all great, for sure, but there’s more.... His name is also                           “The All Sufficient One” Listen, at the end of yourself, you are looking into the face of El Shaddai! I can admit my weakness because of His sufficiency!

When I am weak He makes me strong. When I’m poor I know I’m rich, for in the power of His name, All things are possible....                                                                              (How about this one)...He's never early, He’s never late It takes 

Courage and it takes faith, Trust Him and see, He’s got all the power, you need... All the power you need, All the power you need!

This All-Sufficient, Unchanging, More than enough God tells us in 

Psalm 91, that He would do seven things for those who set their hearts upon Him. He promises to:

1) Deliver you, 2) Set you on high (promote you), 3) Answer you when you call on Him, 4) Be with you in trouble and deliver you, 5) Honor you (that’s His favor), 6) Satisfy you with long life, 7) Show you His salvation (the word salvation means “completeness and wholeness”)

Being more than conqueror means that through Christ, you have not only conquered the enemies around you and outside of you, but you have conquered the enemies within you. That’s so exciting!

You no longer live for “num-ero uno”.... but you care about the health and success of others.... You no longer try to “just get by”... You have moved beyond the “us four and no more” mentality and you understand that you are a piece of a bigger puzzle... 

A Teen was talking with his father and he picked up an imaginary phone and said "Hello, sir, I was calling you to see if you could use a lawn boy to do your yard work!" "Oh, I see you already have one!" "Well, is he doing your work to your satisfaction?" "He is! Thank you, sir, I was just checking," then the young boy hung up the imaginary phone. The father looked at his son and said, "Sorry son, you didn’t get the job!" "Oh, no"said the boy. "I’ve already got the job. I was just calling to check up on myself!"

It is my prayer that we would all check up on ourselves from time to time. And find that everyone is going the extra mile. Thatwe’re doing our best to be the kind of friend we would like to findfor ourselves, and be the prayer warrior we would like, when we need prayer, to discover that we are the kind of encourager we would like to have, when we are trying to push through confusion, fear, worry or doubt... that we are a person who is filled with the joy of the Lord, who is compassionate and patient, and that we would reflect the kind of Jesus that others would want to be like.

I’ve got the job, I’m just checking on my performance!

I read an article about A Massachusetts doctor who was a Harvard graduate, who has been suspended for leaving a patient on the operating table in the middle of a spinal surgery, so he could deposit a check at his local bank before they closed.

The state board of medicine said that the orthopedic surgeon, posed "an immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare" after he left the patient with an open incision in his back.

According to Reuters, he left a surgeon who was not qualified to complete the surgery. After his trip to the bank, he returned to the operating room and finished the surgery a few hours later.

How many minor and unimportant distractions have caused us to leave folks on the operating table who have big holes in theirlives, because they have not been introduced to the God of more than enough, who can move them from defeat to success, from lack to sufficiency, from lost and struggling to more than conqueror!

That means when you plan your calendar, you block in some God time first. When you write your budget that God gets the first fruit, not the left overs. You ask yourself, “When people think of me, who is it they see as the most important thing to me.”

The same God who turned the best that a little boy had (5 small cakes of bread and 2 fish) into a feast for over 5,000 people, is available right now for all of us. 

We feel that we have to have all of this great faith for God to do something like that in our lives.... but hold on a minute.... Scripture says that God’s men of faith and power were skeptical and unbelieving, during that multiplication miracle, but,someone say BUT, but they were obedient. Obedience is better than sacrifice.... They simply did what He asked of them, and He displayed to them that He was “The More Than Enough God”!!! 

There will always be the sick, the hurting, the lonely and forsaken, but tragically, there will not always be those who are simply obedient,

Who will discover that little is much when God is in it, and that is the super power we all have that can transform the sick, the hurting, the lonely and forsaken, into MORE THAN CONQUERORS!!

Don’t let offences, someone’s ignorance, a careless statement, or action, distract you from opening God’s treasure chest to “More than enough”....

There will come times in our life, when the problem seems so overwhelming, so over the top, and so impossible, that we might respond to Jesus and say, look God, I’ve got this problem and not go any further.... But always finish that statement, with “But You are the God of “More than enough”..... and watch Jesus turn it around and use your problem as the light someone has been waiting for! Don’t miss those defining moments someone has been praying for you to grab hold of...

(song says) “It’s in your hands, you hold a miracle. Though not much to you, it matters to Him and He’ll take what you give to Him, and make it what it needs to be, a miracle, it’s in your hands.” 

Let’s do something.... Just open your hands for a moment and hold them up to God... 

Now say with me, “Father, this is all I’ve got, but I give it to You, take it and use it as you will, I believe You are the God of More than enough. All you ask from me, is obedience.” 

Now, I want you to take those hands that you lifted to Him, and go over and put them on someone’s shoulder and expect to see God do what you or them, could never do.!! Watch God turn that person to the overcomer, the conqueror that He said they were!!

Prayer.... Heavenly Father, we come into agreement in the wonderful and powerful Name of Jesus Christ, that where two or more are gathered, there You will be in the midst of us and anything we agree upon as touching in obedience, You will surely do. Lord, in Your name, we have the power to overcome whatever difficulty we may face. It may be through it, around it, under it or over it, but we can conqueror it, through Your victory which you have given us. 

The past is behind us and the future is full of hope and promiseand we speak to any hindrance and command it to bow down and yield to Jesus Name! Let Your peace flow where there was worry and fear, let Your favor now flow where there  was struggling and resistance, let Your victory overwhelm all failure and defeat! We declare that we are no longer under the problem, but it is under our feet. 

Every obstacle is moving out of our way, and the Holy Spirit within us is greater than all that may be against us. No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper and every tongue that rises against us shall only work for good and not for evil. We declare it, believe it and receive everything we’ve prayed and give You glory in advance for the answer, by faith in Jesus Name!

Now give Him praise and thank Him for the answer before you see it, feel it or enjoy the manifestation! It’s time to take back what the enemy has stolen from you..... It’s time to take your family back... It’s time to take your job back..... It’s time to take your joy and your strength back.... it’s time to take your vision, your promise, your mission back... It's time to take the gifts of the spirit back......Take it back.... Satan you can’t have it anymore....

I Will Not Be Denied

My message today is based on the experience of Jacob as he wrestles with his past and presses into his future. He has come to the tipping point in his life, when there is a collision between the values which have brought him to where he is, and the values which he needs, in order to get where the Lord wants to bring him. This wrestling match which we all face at one time or another, is capsulized in Genesis as Jacob struggles with the truth about himself which comes to him through an angel messenger....This is really about Jacob wrestling with himself in the transition from the old Jacob to the new man that God intend.              Genesis 32:26 “And the angel said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.

But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” (I would not be denied) 27 So the angel said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “It is Jacob.” 28 And the angel said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

I think of the words Rocky Balboa said to his son when he was ready to give up....(and no, it’s not in the bible, but it should be)

He said...."Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and be what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not point fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that! "

A man returned from being over seas and was feeling very ill. He goes to see his doctor, and is immediately rushed to the hospital to undergo tests.

The man finds himself in a private room at the hospital, and he shuffles to the door only to find it locked from the outside! Just then the phone by his bed rings.

"This is your doctor. We’ve had the results back from your tests and we’ve found you have an extremely potent virus, which we are completely helpless to destroy or even slow down Its spread!"

"Oh my goodness," cried the man, "What are you going to do, doctor?"

"Well we’re going to put you on a diet of pizzas, pancakes, tortillas & pita bread."

"That’s crazy, but will it cure me???" asked the man.

The doctor replied, "Well no, but... it’s the only food that will fitunder the door!"

Someone said, that winners are not those who never fail, but they are those who never quit....

Someone else said, I already know what giving up feels like, I want to see what happens if I don’t....

We all wrestle and struggle with things in this life. Some pass without much impact on our lives, and then others change us forever.                  

Every mom knows well the experience summed up by the words...    PUSH, PUSH, PUSH! Because what can be, will always belongs to those who determine that they will not be denied the blessing of a new life where there were only hopes and dreams before. What was within them could now be held in their arms. And because they prevailed, there are generations that will now be made possible and be blessed by one person’s determination to overcome and not be denied!                                    When Jacob prevailed, his name was changed to Israel, and generations have identified themselves with that new name he was given.

Wrestling with God, is personal, it is one on one, it is hand to hand and face to face. It moves us from vague generalities, and abstract impulses, to specific issues, values and spiritual mandates between us and God. It is far better to wrestle with God, than to dance with the devil! It takes us from “any old thing will do”, and “Kay-sa-ra-sa-ra” to “There is something I must do”... There is something the Lord requires of me! He calls us each by name and we can’t avoid him by hiding in the crowd, for He seeks us out and challenges us to come, wrestle with Him. He waits for us to seize Him and hold Him and demand His blessing. He longs for us to grip Him in such a manner that He canchange us in such a way that we will never be the same again because of this personal encounter.

Genesis 32:22 “And Jacob rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok”  

I want to look with you at this place “Jabbok” that Jacob has come to, because the name means “place of surrender”. Jacob had sent everyone on ahead except his wives and their hand maidens. He then went off by himself to pray in a solitary place. 

It was here at Jabbok, that the event of wrestling took place. Not only did Jacob prevail and overcome through surrender. But if you see the setting, he was alone with God. At this time, Jacob had become a multitude of people. But here, none of his power, his influence or possessions meant anything with God. It was not about what Jacob had, it was all about who Jacob was. You see, God had a covenant with this man and

God did not change, his mind about it. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever... But it was Jacob’s perspective that had to change. Jacob needed a change in his priorities.

You can give a $1,000 dollar bill to a small child and they will just put it in their mouth, or tear it up, because their reference point does not include the value of a piece of paper with a one and 3 zero’s on it. Their value system needs to develop and their knowledge of the inner working of things must expand and grow.

A Man got up and went off to work without saying very much to his wife. His Wife, got annoyed, and shouted, “You’ve forgotten what day it is, haven’t you!” So, he went to work and confided to a fellow worker, “I think I forgot my wife’s birthday.” “Oh, that’s Not a problem,” his friend told him. “Just go out and buy her a beautiful new dress and a pearl necklace.”  

So after work he raced home and showered his wife with gifts.“Oh my,” she replied, “what a beautiful new outfit you chose just to go and pick my mother up from the airport.” (can all the men say OOOPS)

Today is the day God wants me to see everything from his perspective. Genesis 28:16 “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” v17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

How many times have we allowed the struggle we’re going through, to determine our perspective, instead of encouraging ourselves in the steadfastness and faithfulness of our God.

I found out that Jabbok also means the place of crossing over...

Jacob needed to go from being a troubled man, to entering the place of God’s peace. That God was in the midst of all his places of struggle, and all he had to do was cross over in surrender.                                                               At Jabbok religion crosses over into true Spirituality... Guilt and condemnation cross over into God’s grace and forgiveness....Doubt and unbelief cross over into confidence in God’s promises and His unwavering covenant of grace. Fear crosses over into God’s faithfulness and steadfastness. 

Paul says “His grace is sufficient for me”.... If you need healing, His grace is enough. If you need help in a relationship, His grace is enough.

If you have an unsaved loved one who is running from God, His grace is enough. It doesn’t matter what the devil or the world throws at you, because God grace will always be enough. It reaches to the highest mountain, and it flows through the lowest valley, It goes deeper than the deepest ocean, and it opens springs of refreshing in the desert place.

The song we sing says “When I am weak you make me strong, when I’m poor I know I’m rich, for in the power of Your name... All things are possible”.

This is more than a memorized repetition, it is a settled conviction!

He Failed in business at the age of 22.. He Ran for the Legislature and was defeated at 23....He failed Again in businessat 24...He was elected to the Legislature at 25.... The love of his life died when he was 26....He had a nervous breakdown at 27... He was defeated for Speaker of the house at 29....He was defeated again at 31.... He was defeated for Congress at 34.... He was elected to Congress at 37.... He was defeated for Congress at 39....He was defeated for the Senate at 46....He was defeated for Vice President at 47...He was defeated for Senate at 49.....

He was Elected as President of the United States at 51... And that's the record of Abraham Lincoln.

For the struggle we find ourselves in, His grace is enough. It’s enough when things are going wrong. It’s enough when we think we cannot stand, it’s enough when we don’t know what to do, It’senough when we don’t know which way to turn....                                                                                                                                Paul the apostle, wrote to all of us in 1 Corinthians 9:27 “But I keep my body under subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (or disqualified).”

A husband and wife were both doctors, one was a doctor of theology and the other was a doctor of medicine. Whenever someone came to their house and asked for “the doctor,” the maid would ask them, “Do you want the one who preaches or the one who practices?"

Because we are in obedience to God doesn’t mean we won’t have struggles.....But we can’t let our struggles disqualify us from practicing what we preach.

"We struggle with our fears, we struggle with our flaws, westruggle with our temptations, we struggle with our insecurities, with our guilt, with regret, resentment... weaknesses, compulsions, sins, and addictions."

But we can’t let our struggles identify us, or label us.

When I say Starbucks, you think of coffee... When I say KFC, you think of chicken.... When I say Comcast, you think of cable TV.... When I say your name, what do people think...... (think of that) What identifies you?

Hallellujah, Jacob woke up and said “Surely the Lord is in this place”.... Yes, Yes, Yes..... God is very present in the place of our struggles....

There’s a story about a little girl who climbed up on a chair beside her great grandmother and looked at her white hair and traced her wrinkles with her fingers and then asked, “Did God make you?”                                 “Yes,” the great grandmother replied.

Then the child asked, “Did God make me, too?”

Grandma again replied, “Yes, He did dear.”

“Well, said the little girl, “don’t you think He’s doing a better job now than he used to?”

Listen, friend, we have the foundation which was laid by all of those who have come before, who have fought and won, who have lived and showed us what the victory looks like, who have given us an advantage through their own battles they pressed through and won....

We can be better because of all of them, and the lessons they have left us

Yes, God can do better with us, because of their sacrifice. Lessons learned.... truth revealed.... wisdom received.... and our lives enriched. 

So fight on, child of God, fight on, and know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, because there are those who will come after us, who will reap the benefits of your struggles overcome, and your battles won!!!

In Oct, 1995 off the coast of Newfoundland there was an exchange between the Canadians and the Americas. The Canadians radio message said please divert your course 15 degrees to avoid a collision. The American message said, no, you must divert your course 15 degrees to avoid a collision. The Canadian message said I repeat, divert 15 degrees to avoid a collision.

The American message said, “This is the captain of a United States air craft carrier, the USS Lincoln, second largest ship in the Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers, and a number of support vessels, I demand that you divert your course at once, 15 degrees to avoid a collision, or counter measures will be taken. The Canadian message said “This is a light house. Deal with it.”

Our God is greater than all the forces that would align themselves against you. Satan will try to intimidate, scare, accuse, deceive, and manipulate you, but we look to God’s lighthouse, that’s where our help comes from.                                                                                                                                                                                                   If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator....If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist....If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist....If our greatest need had been pleasure,

God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, So God sent us a Savior, Jesus Christ, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Have you received him?

Psalm 77:13-15 “Your ways, oh, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? 14 You are the God who performs miracles. You display Your power among the peoples. 15 With Your mighty arm You redeem Your people”.

Believe it, child of God, Believe it! And never, never, never give up!!

If you believe that He preserved Noah and his family through the flood, that He parted the Red Sea and let His people walk across on dry ground, that Peter walked on water, that over 5,000 people were fed from a little boy’s lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish, or that He turned water into wine, and was born of a young virgin... then you have the foundation for the miracle that your time of struggle shall bring forth!

Ephesians 2:19-20 says that we are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens of the saints and members of God’s household,  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Deuteronomy 11:23 “Then the LORD will drive out all your enemies before you, and you will dispossess (be established in place of) those who are greater and stronger than you. 24 Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours.”

Yes, there are struggles, but we see a powerful promise. To avoid the struggle is also to miss the promise. Scripture tells us that this struggle which comes our way is not a strange thing, but it comes to manifest something valuable and precious in our lives. There is treasure in the field if we are willing to dig for it. 

Many have mined it before us and they have marked the way for us. Winnie and I watch Gold Rush every Friday night, if we are able. We act like we know these people. We talk to these people... Parker, Tony, Rick and Fred.... they’re like friends. We cheer for them, and we’re disappointed when they fail. We act like we’re part of the team. I mean, who doesn’t like gold! They build on the experience of others, and they get better at capturing the gold the more they do it. I feel like their successes have made me a better gold miner on the ground God has given me. I watch these guys and they always find a way to get it done!

THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THERE TESTS AND TRIALS!                                                                       When hard times come, are westudents, or are we victims?                                                Some people go through life as professional victims, always talking about how they have been mistreated so they never learn the lessons that are there for them. A victim says, “Why did this happen to me?” A student says, “What can I learn from this?” A victim blames other people for his problems. A student asks, “How can I use this to become better?”

A victim looks at everyone else and cries out, “Life isn’t fair.” A student looks at life and says, “What is this revealing to me about me.”

A victim believes his hard times have come because God is trying to punish him. A student understands that God allows hard times in order to help him see something he may have missed.

A victim would rather complain than find a solution. A student has no time to complain because he is busy making the best of the situation.

A victim feels so sorry for himself that he has no time for others.              A student focuses on helping others so that he has no time to feel sorry for himself.

A victim begs God to remove the problems of life so that he might be happy. A student has learned through the problems of life that God alone is the source of all true happiness.

David was able to stand before Goliath and say.... 

1 Samuel 17:45 “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand”.

Those words are now our words, as we face our struggles. That victory is now our victory, and that outcome is now our outcome.David has given them unto us as we face our giants.

In a relay race, each runner in each leg of the race builds on the runner before them. The last runner may cross the finish line, but it is because of every runner who ran well before them...

Every one who struggled and overcame in the bible record, is now part of our victory. They have marked the path, prepared the way, and given us the confidence that because they overcame we can overcome also in Jesus’ name. 

We too can joyfully say with those winners.... 

2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: v8 henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing”.  

Can the Church say AMEN!!!

Lord, we ask you to give us a heavenly perspective on this thing called life. Help us not to be distracted by the things of this world but to constantly turn our gaze toward you. Help us to see with clear sight both the hardships and blessings of our lives. Lord, as we are tempted to despair over hardships, remind us that you never let us go through trouble without gifting us with the right measure of Your goodness, grace, peace and love. As we reflect on our blessings, help us bless others. Lord, we praise You for the foundation that Your Word provides us.                                                      We get caught up in our mistakes and failures so easily, giving them a foothold that threatens to discourage and defeat us. But You never give up on us, as You teach us how to repent and keep moving forward into the purpose You have laid out for our lives. Every time I'm tempted to become discouraged or depressed because of negative events or situations, help me turn my eyes on you. Help me to remember all the times you've been there for me, and all the ways you have brought me through difficult times. Holy Spirit, thank You for guiding us and reminding us that You never leave us, and you protect us and comfort us. 

Lord, help us to reflect Your love, and help us to develop patience and perseverance to navigate our mistakes with grace. We want Your will and Your plan for our lives. With your perspective, I can push past the impossible and find the strength and courage to believe that no matter what happens, your hope will lift me to a higher plane—where joy and purpose rule and reign in every area of my life. In Jesus name I believe and receive, Amen.

The Transformed Life

Over the years in ministry, I have seen many who were “saved”, but not transformed. I mean, they said a prayer which said that they had received Christ as savior, but they behave like they did before Christ. So the world, I’m sure is saying, “why accept Christ if I’m going to be the same person I am now, without Him”.

Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ, never the less, I live, and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me”.                                                                                                                      Every place in our lives as believers that we insist on holding onto the old unredeemed lifestyle and it’s type of behavior is the place we stop living the abundant life Christ died to give us.                                                   The message today is for the purpose of looking at the contrast between living the transformedlife of abundance in Christ, and living a life of refusing to enter in because we’re holding out and holding on....We must deal with the “hold out zones” in order to fulfill our purpose.

What do I mean when I say “hold out zones”?....Those are areas where we refuse to let go and let God.                                                                                   A man entered a restaurant, bought a glass of coke and then immediately threw it on the waiter. Quickly grabbing a napkin, he helped the waiter dry her face while he apologized with great remorse. "I’m so sorry," he said. "I have this compulsion to do this. I fight it, but I don’t know what to do about it." "You had better do something about your problem," the waiter replied. "You can be sure I’ll remember you and will never serve you another drink until you get help." It was months before the man came into the restaurant again. When he asked for a drink, the waiter refused to wait on him. Then the man explained that he had been seeing a psychiatrist and that his problem was solved. Convinced it was now okay to serve him, the waiter gothim a coke. The man took the glass and splashed the coke on thewaiter once again. "I thought you were cured," the shocked waiterscreamed. "I am," said the man. "I still do it, but I don’t feel guilty about it anymore."                                                     Well, that’s definitely not the transformed life Paul is talking about. 

Here's a quote by Ann Landers, who said “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do something positive about it.”

I believe the word “Praise” is an appropriate illustration for letting go. The Hebrew word for praise is “Hallal”, which means to give exuberant praise with arms lifted and with open palms. And when you add the Hebrew name “Jah” to it, it becomes “Hallelujah” ... To praise God with exuberant praise, by leaping and jumping and spinning with arms lifted and palms extended....If you ever watch the Jewish people dance, then this pretty much describes it!

In other words, you can’t truly praise God without letting go!There is a time to hold on and a time to let go, but you can’t do both at the same time because that’s just schizophrenic! 

When you let go of what holds you back, you release yourself fromthe limits you have placed on your own life.                                                                   Mark 3:25 Jesus said that “A house divided against itself cannot stand”.

The old joke goes like this: A man falls off a cliff and part way down grabs a piece of bush hanging there and he looks down and there is a 300 foot drop. He looks up and yells, “God, help me, I’ll do anything you ask of me, I’ll serve you faithfully and I’ll tell everyone about you. Just get me out of this mess I’m in!” God replies, “let go and I’ll catch you!” The man thinks about it for a minute and then yells, “Is anybody else up there?”

What is the bush you’re hanging onto instead of just letting go and trust that God will do what He says He’ll do?

Is your bush you’re hanging on to about needing to be in control, about needing to manipulate by using your misfortune to get others to feel sorry for you, is it about denial, or insecurity, or fear of getting outside of your safety zones, or fear of what God may ask of you, just to name a few. God is saying let go and see what I can do! That’s part of the crucified life!

Romans 6:3-4"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life".                                                                                                                    Paul considered himself truly crucified with Christ, and now raised together with Christ, so this obligated Paul to live a whole new kind of life. As believers in Christ, we are on a journey that is totally unbelievable except by the miracle of God’s Spirit — I’m talking about realities that you cannot know from any other source than the Bible — realities that are so astounding that if you see them for what they really are, you will be radically, pervasively different from people who have not seen and do not believe in this reality. Paul saw that this new reality in Christ was made available to him in His rebirth experience. 

Max Lucado in one of his books, tells of a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century she was quite wealthy but also very frugal. People were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. "I’m wondering if you can explain something to me," he said. "Your meter shows hardly any usage. Are you using your power?" "Oh, I Certainly am," she answered. "Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough so I can see to light all my candles; then I turn the electric lights off." You see, She tapped into the power but didn’t know how to use it. She was connected but she was not transformed."Connected but not transformed!

Paul says in Romans 12:2 “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”.                                                                                                             Most of us have probably witnessed one of the TV shows where a person consents to a complete make-over. Often times the results appear to be dramatic in the transformation of the individual’s appearance, but seldom produces long term changes in their character. Their appearance is different, but their thinking was not changed.                                                                                        Hey, the Prodigal Son, is having a blast while the money lasts. But he ate with the pigs at the end of the gig!

When the famous missionary, David Livingstone, started his missionary journey across Africa he had 7 crates of books and 3 packs, weighing 180 pounds. After the party had gone 300 miles, Livingstone was forced to throw away some of the books because of the weariness and discomfort of those carrying his baggageand supplies. As he continued on his journey his library grew less and less, as they discarded more books, until he had but one book left—that book was his Bible. You can’t let go and hold on too!

Tim the tool man Taylor was always trying to install things and operate things without reading the instructions, and he just made a mess....We don’t want to get through life with a big OOOPS at the end!                   We have been given the operation manual for a transformed life, if we will only follow it. We need to turn to the bible for the supernatural, transforming force that it can be in our lives, if we will dedicate ourselves to its values and life principles. It is the only book which will blaze a path for us into the center of God’s will and plan for our lives. 

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Is a mandate, not a suggestion. This is about placing the Word of God between you and everything else. It can’t get to you without going through the Word. God knows that nothing short of transformation will allow us to enter into the supernatural life He has designed for us. It indicates that our lives, our character, our very nature cannot be changed without it.  

I’ve said it before, but the language of heaven is the word of God. Jesus said “My word shall not return void” so, you can’t do better than speak, think, and live out the word of God, in every situation of life. 

Our minds are the real battleground where Satan tries to get a foot hold. If we transform our thoughts, then we transform our lives. 

What we sow we will reap. Sow a thought, reap an action, sow and action, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character, reap a destiny. Our mind is like a field that we are sowing seed into, so that we can have a harvest. What we sow, determines the harvest we will reap. Only God’s word seed, will produce the kind of harvest we truly desire, of freedom and power and victory!

If we’re watching TV and something inappropriate comes on, we change the station. If we’re on the internet and something contrary to the harvest we want pops up, we can click it off. When it comes to our inner thoughts, we can do the same thing and click on the word in it’s place. 

I can’t live on Twinkies and snickers bars, (or whatever your poison) and be healthy, and I can’t fill my mind with garbage and have a transformed life!

Matthew 4:4 “People need more than bread (physical food) for their life; they must feed on every Word of God.” 

Psalm 119:147, David says, “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my hope in Your words. Lord, how I love Your Word. It fills my thoughts all day long.” 

Psalm 16:7 David says “Even in the darkest of night your teachings fill my mind.”

God’s word is truth, and truth reveals and destroys every lie, and empowers God’s will in all areas of our lives.                                          Colossians 3:1–4 “If you then have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”. 

Look at it again... “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” We locate things in heaven and bring them into the earth where the supply matches the need.

Another thing here, How can all the things that used to bother you, have any effect on you, if you are dead, and now have entered into a new life. It’s the “GOOD” IN “GOODBY”.... Goodby fear, Goodby sickness, Goodby defeat, Goodby lack and insufficiency! Grab on to the good in goodby!

Notice also, it says “Your life is hidden with Christ in God”.....You’re in God’s witness protection program, you have been relocated, You are His witness, you have been hidden in Christ, you have a new identity!                                                               Oscar Cervantes began to get in trouble as a child. Then as he got older, he was jailed 17 times for brutal crimes. Prison psychiatrists said he was beyond help. But, during a brief time of freedom, Oscar met an elderly man who told him about Jesus. He placed his trust in the Lord and was changed into a kind, caring man. Shortly afterward turning his life over to Christ, he started a prison ministry. Chaplain H. C. Warwick describes it this way: "The third Saturday night of each month is ’Oscar Night’ at the Soledad prison. Inmates come to hear Oscar and they sing gospel songs with passion and fervor. They sit intently for over 2 hours as he preaches the gospel, and every night, they come freely to the chapel altar.... What professionals had failed to do for Oscar in years of counseling, and rehab, Christ did in a moment of conversion. But it was up to Oscar to immerse himself in the word of God...                                     GOD SAID: Let us FORM man in our image. THE DEVIL SAYS: I will DEFORM man by sin. THE WORLD SAYS: We must CONFORM man in our image.EDUCATION SAYS: Let us INFORM man by our knowledge.SOCIETY SAYS: We will REFORM man by our culture. BUT ONLY CHRIST SAYS: I will TRANSFORM man by MY WORD AND MY SPIRIT.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone (put your name in there) is in Christ, he (put your name there) is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, all things have become new”!

Stop looking in the mirror and seeing yourself the way you used to be... That’s not you anymore, and you don’t live there any more. Either the bible is a lie, or you are a new creature in Christ. You need to look at yourself and picture what that looks like! Stop looking at the limitations you used to have and see yourself with all those limits gone and now you’re free to be what He says you are.... Redeemed, delivered, set free to be, peace giver, healer, anointed, highly favored, leader, full of creativity, filled with purpose, vision and ability!

What you were, you are not that anymore! The things that used to dominate and oppress you are now under your feet, The powers that once overwhelmed you, you are now able to overwhelm. The anointing in your life is breaking every yoke of bondage that has hindered and blocked you. 

You’re free from unforgiveness! Free from Poverty! You’re free from, sickness and disease, free from the curse of the law! You’re free from strife and division! Free from chaos and other people’s toxic attitudes!

You’re free to operate in peace.... body, soul and spirit....FREE TO LOVE!

When you’re renovating a house, it can look pretty terrible before it starts looking great! Rotten wood has to be ripped out. Rust and corrosion have to be removed. Walls are knocked out, flooring is ripped out, and part of the gutting process is replacing wiring and plumbing. Oh my, it’s a mess, but if you can get ahold of the plans and you can see what it’s going to be like when all is done and finished, you begin to get excited and filled with anticipation...                                                                                                                                         GOD IS NOT CONCERNED ABOUT WHO YOU WERE, BUT WHO YOU NOW ARE IN CHRIST!                                                                                                                

So what if God has to rip out some things, like false expectations, unscriptural belief systems, assumptions that aren’t based on truth, and things that are unprofitable in our new walk with the King. He’s giving us a NEW SET OF VALUES, and NEW MOTIVATION AND NEW POSESSIONS.

"IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION, OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW”.                                                                           In the same manner that Elijah dropped his mantle to Elisha, Christ has dropped His mantle upon us to go forth in His power. PUT YOUR NEW HOLY SPIRIT WARDROBE ON...

A RENEWED SPIRIT, A RENEWED MIND, A RENEWED HEART, A NEW LEASE ON LIFE,  LIFE EVERLASTING, AND BLESSINGS WITH NO END IN SIGHT!

Romans 12: 2 “. . . And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. . .”                                                                                          The word “transformed” means to change from one form to another.” We get our word “metamorphosis” from this. The change is so radical, that the butterfly that emerges from the cocoon cannot even be recognized as the caterpillar that went in!

2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

We have a mind with God’s word embedded in it. It’s also referred to as “having the mind of Christ”.

I want everyone say, “If it’s in the New covenant of Christ, I’m for it”

1 PETER 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again (transformed) to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Amen.

Jesus said that to the spiritual all things are spiritual. We deal with the cause behind everything, and that is spiritual. That’s where our authority springs from, our anointing, and our power over this physical world. So, get up, get dressed up, and show up for some supernatural action! 

Our Prayer today.....”I pray Lord Jesus, that You would take Yourrightful place of authority and reign supreme over my mind. Lord, I want to fix my mind on You and Your love, knowing that this will surely bring me to the place of Your peace. I know that I need to be bound tightly to You so that my flesh has no control. By Your word, dominate, and quiet all voices except Your own. I transition into the perfect peace that only You can give as I surrender my will to yours.

Guard my heart and mind Holy Spirit, and Lord, make my mind Your strong place in this battle for souls. I breathe out a deep sigh from within my spirit and open up to the new creation which Your grace and favor have formed in me. I pray now that You would lead and guide me deeper and deeper into this new creation nature that Your resurrection has made possible. 

Lord, empower me by the Holy Spirit to see people as You do and help me to take people to a higher level in their work, their attitudes, and their lives. I desire to have the mind of Christ in every situation. I believe and receive everything I have prayed and I give You glory in advance that this prayer is already answered”!

In Jesus’ name, Amen

Identity Crisis in the Body of Christ

I enjoy the way kids view God.... Here’s some letters to God...

“Dear God, I would like to go to heaven someday because I know my brother won't be there” Your friend, Joshua. Another one says “Dear God, I think a lot more people would come to your church if you moved it to Disneyland. Thank you in advance, Loreen. Then there’s Ellen, “Dear God, I hope to go to heaven someday but please make it later rather than sooner. I hope you get this. 

How we identify, determines how we will live our lives and interact with others. 

And let me say....If a groundhog is your weather forecaster, you might have an identity Crisis....

The definition of an identity crisis according to Webster, is...                    (are you disoriented yet)?

“A psycho-social state or condition of disorientation and role confusion occurring as a result of conflicting internal and external experiences, pressures, and expectations, often producing acute anxiety”, as well as “distress and disorientation, resulting from conflicting pressures and uncertainty about themselves and their role in society”, 

A person who is suffering from anorexia may identify as overweight, when in reality they are starving to death. A person with hypochondria, identifies as having every illness coming down the pike. A person with depression, identifies everything as negative and sees only hopelessness and despair. A person with P.T.S.D. may identify that they are being victimized again and again, or a military person may identify as being in a war zone over and over and unable to move on with their lives. An attractive person may identify as unattractive or unlovely. A married couple who have everything going for them, may identify their relationship as troubled and turbulent. It’s all about how you see it!

A believer may identify with their life before Christ, more than the new life they have been given at salvation, because it doesn’t happen all at once and because it is a progressive journey of cooperation, and surrender and trust in the Shepherd, who is leading us into the redeemed life. We must trust the Good Shepherd more than we identify with how we may feel based on our experiences. Faith believes what it cannot see, trusts what God has said, and acts on what it cannot feel...                                                                                                                                                                                                      Someone said “My old life is so hard to find, because it’s in God’s witness protection program!”....So it can’t be used against me!

I feel this message on “Identity Crisis”, requires that I give some foundational insights from the word of God... so let’s look at a few scriptures to get started....

Exodus 4:22-23 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, ‘Let them go that the may serve Me’.... Israel had been in bondage so long, that when they went free in the wilderness, they still identified as slaves. That’s why they went in circles for 40 years.. it was more difficult to get Egypt out of the people, than it was to get the people out of Egypt...They were victims of an identity crisis!

John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (the power) to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God”. “Empowerment is critical in changing how we identify, if there is confusion about who we are in Christ”...It’s how you get off the merry go round of identity confusion and stop the cycle of blame, regret, and unforgiveness.... 

Romans 8:12-25 “So then, brethren, we are not under obligation to the flesh, to identify according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die (to how you identify) but if by the Spirit you are putting to death (the power that) the deeds of the body (have over you), you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”.Jeremiah 1:7 “But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a child(unable, uncapable, untrained) for wherever I send you, you are to go, and whatever I give you orders to say, you are to say”. (The prophet had to change how he identified, or he would never be able to operate as the prophet God called him to be as the voice of God to the people) He had to get off the merry go round of excuses, poor self image, and stinking thinking....

Listen to Solomon....1 Kings 3:7 “And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in”. (Solomon had to change how he identified, in order to reign as the king he was born to be)

1 John 15:14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you (to identify as) servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.(That’s the merry go round of standing outside the place of favor and blessing and wondering why everyone else is blessed and you’re not... get yourself off that merry go round!! You’re blessed and highly favored!

We all want to be loved permanently with a love that lasts forever.  We want to be loved faithfully by someone who will never betray us.  We want to be loved fruitfully in a way that gives us life.  We want to be loved totally.  We want to be loved with someone’s whole heart.  We want to be lovedunconditionally, no matter what happens.                   This is how Jesus loves us.  His love is everlasting.  God is love, and He will never stop loving us.  His love is faithful, He will never betray us.  His love is total, He gave himself completely for us when He died on the cross.  His love is unconditional.  He died for us,even though we are sinners. So why would we ever settle for anything less than that.....

In order to receive that kind of love and acceptance, we must be able to identify as a person who can offer that kind of love and acceptance because that’s the way He loves us. That means a change in our own identity and willingness to let go of every experience that is opposite of that, which we have held onto in our lives. I no longer have a right to be angry, or resentful, or grouchy and cantankerous....

A righteous person is someone who does the right thing no matter what everyone else is doing, because they are in right standing with God. They not only do the right thing, but they do it without judging or putting labels on someone else. (It’s a challenge, but that’s why Paul said)...

Philippians 3:12 “It is not as though I have already attained, either were already perfect, but I press forward, that I may apprehend (identify with) that for which also I am apprehended (identified) in Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended (attained) but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I (keep on) pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.

If we are not clear about who we are and why we are here, the world will begin to press us into it’s mold. I would submit that there are four chief reasons for this: A lack of belief, A lack of understanding, A lack of knowledge, and A lack of application.

Lost people aren’t very good tour guides.....

Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. This implies that if we don’t know then we’re not free.

Pilate said “What is truth” when the truth stood right in front of him. Which means, truth was there, but he chose not to know it, so knowing the truth is a matter of choice. If we don’t know, we have decided to choose something else. 

In his book “The Prince and the Pauper”, Mark Twain writes about two boys who were born at the same time in London, and they looked identical. Edward was a prince and Tom was a pauper. Edward was raised in privilege while tom grew up in the squalor of the slums and was beaten by his single father. Tom dreamed of being a prince and snuck into the palace to see its privileged life. He was caught and thrown out, but the Princesaw it and intervened. Edward wanted to see what life was like outside the palace, and since they looked exactly alike, they switched places. Soon after, the king died and Tom became king. Prince Edward couldn’t convince anyone who he really was, so at the coronation, Edward managed to sneak in and get to Tom, and when Edward produced the royal seal which he had hidden away, everything was made right again. 

Edward was rightfully king, but until the identity crisis was solved, he could not fulfill his role and the authority that went with it.                       Jesus switched places with us, so that we could identify with Him.

Jesus said that when the prodigal son came home, the father put a ring on his finger, a robe on his shoulders and shoes on his feet. He was brought back into full standing as a son. He was giving us a picture of himself. Our difference is in our calling, not in the favor and honor He gives to us. 

When a team wins the super bowl, not only do the first string get rings, but the second string, who are the back up players, also get super bowl rings. They have equal honor in each achievement.

You are as significant in the kingdom as Billy Graham, or TD Jakes... Hebrews 4:16 says that we are to come boldly to the throne of God. Ephesians 3:12 says that we are to have boldness and access with confidence because of Christ.

There are no second class citizens in the kingdom of God. 

We are not trying to get access, we operate from the place ofaccess! Trying to get access means you don’t understand that you already have it. Working from the place of access, means you are still pressing into your full identity, but you are confident in your place and position in Christ. You have full access to healing....You are a full child of God..... you are more than a conqueror through Christ, who loves you.... you are thedwelling place of God..... His Spirit and His life dwells in you......you have been established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ, and you have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge,guaranteeing your inheritance to come..... you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing..... you can approach God with boldness, freedom, and confidence...... you have been given a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline...... you have the right to come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in time of need. ..... you have been rescued from the domain of Satan’s rule and transferred to the kingdom of Christ..... youhave been made complete in Christ..... you have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God through which you are a partaker of God’s divine nature...... Because you areborn of God, and the evil one…the devil…cannot touch you.

We must realize that there is nothing we can do for God to love us more and there is nothing we can do for God to love us less. But He loves us enough to not leave us like He found us!

We no longer identify with our hurts, our hindrances, and our harassments, and we must begin to identify with all that we have access to and all that we have been made to become in Christ. 

Paul told the church of Ephesus, in Ephesians 3:17 “I pray… that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness (completeness) of God”.

To be full of anything, means there is now no room for anything else... this means that God is the controlling influence, your feelings, desires, thoughts, hopes, relationships, words, actions, reactions, calendar, check book, etc. At any given time, you may be angry, sad, lonely, offended, or indignant, but you are not allowing those emotions to control you because you’re already full... (say I’m already full).

(repeat after me) I’m not moving toward a place of fullness, I should be operating FROM a place of fullness.......

Our DNA is what makes us unique..... It makes tall people tall, and handsome people handsome, and men, men, and women, women...     Just as the acorn has within it a towering oak tree, and the caterpillar contains a beautiful butterfly, dancing on the wind, or the tiny mustard seed should identify as a towering tree that touches the sky, or a tiny eaglet contains within it the DNA of a mighty bird of prey.... So likewise, we are to operate from the DNA of God’s design in and upon *.......our lives. In this case DNA stands for God’s Divine Nature and Attributes. That’s what every believer contains...God’s Divine Nature and Attributes!(Shine baby shine)

Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Psalm 8:4 “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet”…

1 Corinthians 6:2 “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life”!

And all of that is true....But the problem is we often prefer sleep to prayer...and Razzleberry pie tastes way better thanspinach....and the lazy boy is more appealing than the jogging shoes....and the elevator is more desirable than 4 flights of stairs....etc...etc.

Which begs the question, how can I take more control of my life in 2022....Sometimes getting back on track is like herding cats!

Freedom is usually about being truthful with ourselves and ourGod.    The Identity crisis we’re talking about comes from a truth crisis..... John 8:32 says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”   But it will usually sting and get a bit crazy before it does..... Our cleansing starts with prayer. We must come to Him, earnestly asking in faith that He make us whole. And we must be willing to receive His diagnosis and surrender our resistant, stubborn wills. OUCH!!!

It was a military hospital unit, and the doctor had just told the nurse that the young man they had just treated would not last till morning. But will you tell him, said the nurse. No, it’s better that he doesn’t know, but if you feel to tell him, that’s fine. She went and attended to him, he asked when he could get well enough to leave. She hesitated but said, it’s worse than we thought. The doctor says you won’t see the morning light. He immediately asked, then do you know how I can be saved, so I can join my dad in heaven? The nurse told him she didn’t cause she wasn’t ready herself for that moment. He begged, but she didn’t know how to help him. But there was a bible on the table, and she began to read where it fell open, to the book of John. She read of Nicodemus who came to the Lord Jesus by night and got his questions answered. She read of God’s love, she read on of the woman at the well, and he was grabbing it all. 

Then she came to John 5;24, “Verily, I say unto you, he that hears My Word and believes on Him that sent Me, haseverlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life.' He said, 'Stop right there, I see it—I see it, The Light is coming in.!' Thank you, oh, thank youJesus.' I believe the Lord Jesus Christ bore my sins. He has given it to me. I have passed from death unto life.' Then he said “Thank you—thank you. Tell my mother Christ saved me at the eleventh hour. “I have Peace! I have Peace!” These were his last conscious words. He had begun to identify himself through God’s redemptive words

The truth set him free...

We have truth all around us, if we dare to receive it... Most of our problem is not that we don’t have access to truth, the problem runs deeper than that. 

A pastor was visiting one of the church members’ homes, and was talking with little Maggi. He directed her attention to the Bible on the mantle and said to her, "Whose book is that”?Maggi shrugged her shoulders and the pastor said, "Why honey, that is God's book!"

Maggi thought about it, and said, "Don't you think that we had better give it back to him? No one around here ever reads it." 

We have the truth but we don’t want it to change us, so we deflect it, ignore it, deny it, attack it, argue with it and in general avoid it in any way we can. Like a star trek episode, we come under attack and we put up our force field so that it is deflected and never gets to us where it can truly affect us.  

The bible stays on the mantle and that’s why . . .

We’re still a whole lot like we were before we got saved, we’re angry, We’re still stubborn, We’re still in bondage, We’re still struggling with lusts, bitterness, unforgiveness, greed, compromise and walking the fence.... 

Many see the truth as something that’s against them and threatening to expose them, or punish them, but that doesn’t sound like someone who would take their place, bear their judgment, give their life and in the end say “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”..... The Holy Spirit may not do what you want, but He will always do what is right.

Joseph was a type of Christ in the Old Testament. 20 years after they had thrown him in the pit and told their dad he was dead, they have to go to Egypt for supplies, where they stand before him, but they don’t recognize him. They had a great celebration, together and they were sent out with the supplies they needed, but Joseph hid a gold cup of truth in Benjamín’s sack, and when Joseph’s guard found it, they brought them back and Josephreveals himself unto them. They were about to be set free from the lie they had lived under, but the truth would sting first. They were afraid, and full of fear, but Joseph said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good”...

Listen, whatever it is, Satan meant it for evil, to steal, kill and destroy. To keep you from your destiny, and hold you in the shadows of compromise, and hold you down below your potential, but a dying, resurrected king of glory, meant it for good!

He rose triumphant over death, hell and the grave, so that we could hear, and believe and know that “He whom the son sets free is free indeed”!!!

Joseph said to his family what Jesus said to us... Go tell the rest of the family about all the glory you have seen, and bring them here, because I have a place prepared for them....

Genesis 45: 10-13  “You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 

And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my glory, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my family to me.”

That’s exactly what Jesus is saying.... I want you to prosper and be in health as your soul prospers, and I want you to be with me forever in my glory!!!! Thank God, we can have some heaven to go to heaven in!

How many would stand with me, and in standing you are saying I know God has so much more for me, and I open myself to receive it!!                        Operate from the place of fullness, redemption, completeness, and identify with the God who has supplied all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Allow it to reshape the way you see yourself, your world, and everyone in it!

You Hold The Keys

One of the awesome moments in my life was at 16 when I received my driver’s license. It was my key to freedom! But the problem was that I had the key to freedom but no car to drive... So, I saved every dime and dollar I could, so I could get my own car. Finally, I had saved enough to get the car of my dreams. My mom, my brother in law and I, went down to the used car lot, and there it sat... a 1960 Jaguar, cream colored, with a tan top and leather interior.... It was so hot!! I had the money, but my brother in law said, you don’t want one of those foreign cars. They’re too expensive to fix, if something breaks down, it will cost a fortune... I almost cried, but my mom was on his side, so we continued to look.                                                                                                                  So. he took me over to a 1956 Ford Fairlane convertible with a T-Bird engine... Black with red interior and A black top. And I got my joy back. I gave them the money, signed the papers, and he handed me the keys. I drove that baby home. It was the most liberating moment of my life at that point. I know that my parents most likely did not feel that same sense of joy that I felt that day. From my own experience I have learned that they likely had more of a sense of dread and apprehension at what may lie ahead. I had a license, I had the keys, and I had something to put the keys in and drive!....

I’m so glad that Winnie and I could give that same moment to each one of our kids, that liberating moment of handing them the keys to their own car.... (I’m reliving it even as I say it to you)!

The Lord feels the same way, when we come to the place that we are ready to receive the keys of our freedom and walk in the liberty which He has purchased for us!

Matthew 16:18-19, "And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Jesus was speaking to Peter, but his words were not only directed to Peter, but to every disciple of Christ that would ever live. Jesus has given each one of us access to the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and now it is up to us what we will do with those keys. So, let’s talk about those keys this morning....

Jesus said that these keys can be used to either lock, or bind up; or they can be used to open and set free, and Jesus said that whatever we do with them, He will honor our action and He will allow us to make certain decisions that will stand in the courts of Heaven...

We have been given the key of salvation. How will that key work and what power comes with its usage?

The key of Salvation is operated through the preaching, teaching and witnessing of the message of the Gospel to those who don’t know Jesus as their Savior. Every time we tell someone about the Gospel, we are using that key to unlock the door of the kingdom of Heaven for that soul. At that moment, wehave unlocked and opened the door which gives them access, to either accept Christ or to turn and walk away.                              When we tell someone about Jesus, and we open the door with that key, I can envision the door of the kingdom of Heaven swinging open wide and the choirs of Heaven standing and waiting to hear that sinner pray and ask Jesus into their life.And then, Oh, what celebration takes place as praise bursts forth with singing and worship as they walk through the open door of salvation.  What we have opened with the keys and loosed in the earth has now been loosed in Heaven and the portals of Glory ring with celebration.

Colossians 1:13&14 “He has conveyed (translated) us into the kingdom of His dear son In whom we have redemption”...                                    The keys are to enable us to operate in a redemptive manner in this earth dimension. Wherever we are, the kingdom is carried forth that we may lock doors and unlock doors. We can refuse access to the works of the enemy and we can allow access to the things that are redemptive. That’s important in our homes and families. We are assigned to speak and declare redemptive words in our home, our family, in our workplace and throughout our community....

Luke 19:13 tells us to conduct (transact) kingdom business until He returns. I am authorized to carry out heaven’s business in the earth. To transact means to exchange one thing for another. I buy groceries, and I exchange them for currency. I get a salary which I have exchanged for agreed upon services. If you apply that to the kingdom, then we transact human needs with kingdom resources. We trade fear for love and grace. We trade sickness for healing and wholeness. We trade weakness for strength and power. We trade bondage for freedom. That’s how you conduct kingdom business....

Most of us feel the tension within us between having the keys to the kingdom and effectively applying them in our lives and circumstances. Just like driving a powerful car... the key gives us access to all it is capable of, but learning to drive on a busy highway and learning all the rules that apply is an ongoing process. 

A senior citizen called her elderly husband during his drive home. "Herman, she said, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on Interstate 90, Please be careful!"There was a long pause and Herman said, "It's not just one car. There's hundreds of them!"

How can everyone else be wrong and only you are right.                      There are many twists and turns on the highway of life and we all must choose which turns to make if we are to arrive at the destination which is best for us. God has given us a GPS through the Scripture and the inner guidance of the Holy Spirit, to navigate our way....

I was thinking about the fact that Judas and Peter and John all lived under the daily teachings and demonstrations of Jesus’ power and authority. They all had the best pastor on the planet, the best leader, the best advisor, the best counselor, the greatest opportunity... yet Judas failed, while the others successfully operated the keys to the kingdom. Judas refused to make Jesus Lord, even though he had all the advantages that the other 11 had. 

I can give you paint, I can give you the best brushes, then give you canvas and all you need to be a great painter. I can even get someone to give you lessons, but these will not be enough without the passion, self-sacrifice and dedication necessary to be a good painter and artist. Without delayed gratification and the right priorities you will remain at the entrance to painting and never move all the way in to become an accomplished painter and artist. The opportunity is always there, but you must use the keys you are given effectively...

1 Peter 5:8  “Be sober-minded; be alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking the unsuspecting, to devour.              9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith.....”.                                               Our enemy is not the IRS, or DMV, or the DHS or the GOV. And our enemy is not drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and it is not homosexuality or lesbianism, or fornication or adultery. Your enemy is not sickness and disease, and poverty and lack, (Yes all these things may be manifest against us but they are just masks the devil wears. Our real enemy is the (D-e-v-i-l).

Stop taking it personally, Satan is attacking Jesus in you. He’s attacking righteousness, Godliness, Holiness, and your hunger and thirst for the Holy Spirit! Thank God, the Holy Spirit (our new coach), now dwelling within us, and He is here to help us fundamentally change how we respond. Our training begins to feel more and more normal, instead of some weird thing that is happening to us. .The good news is: We Have been well equipped to fight this battle.

2 Corinthians 10: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

We must be like the little girl whose pastor asked her, “what would you do if Satan came to your house and knocked on your door. She said, “I would send Jesus to answer it”….GOOD ANSWER!!!

While our salvation is not based on works, nor is it conditional upon our performance... Still, we will be judged according to our faithfulness in how we used what we were given by God, by our obedience to His Word, and if we had love and compassion for one another. 

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘Depart from me, I never knew you!” 

Oh my, there are going to be some surprises in heaven! Some folks are going to be shocked that we are there, and we’re going to be shocked when we see the folks we had written off, walking with Jesus.             

J Taylor Ludwig wrote the following poem....

“I was shocked, confused, and bewildered as I entered Heaven’s door,

Not by the beauty of it all, nor the lights or the decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven who made me sputter and gasp–

The thieves, the liars, the sinners, alcoholics and trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade who swiped my lunch money twice. Next to him was my old neighbor who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought was rotting away in hell,

Was sitting pretty on cloud nine, looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, ‘What’s the deal? I would love to hear your take.

How’d all these sinners get up here? There must be somemistake.

‘And why’s everyone so quiet, and amazed – could you give me a clue.’

‘Child,’ He said, ‘they’re all in shock. They never thought of seeing you!’ One little boy asked his mother who was her favorite child...She thought for a second and said, "Do I have to pick one of my own?" 

Then there’s little Johnny who asked his Mom, "Mommy, who is your favorite child?" His mom thought about it and said "Johnny, you know I can't answer this. I don't have a favorite child." "But mommy," Johnny says, "I am your only child." 

Jesus tells us who his favorites are.... Matthew 12:46 “While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers 47 stood outside, asking to speak to him. (Some religions say that Mary had no other children) 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”                                                                                                   You are His favorite if you are striving to do His willand obey the pattern             

May our greatest concern and goal in life, be, to hear the master say His, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” as we stand before Him on that day. “Well done” in witnessing to others by your example, not just with your opinion. “Well done” in showing compassion instead of impatience and intolerance. “Well done” in loving who I love, and serving one another in my name. “Well done” in faithfully using the Keys to the Kingdom that I gave you.

Exodus 25:40 tells us “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I showed you.”  We live in a time that believers, for some reason, feel that everything and anything will do. I’ll do it my way, and it will all be O.K. ....REALLY!! God’s glory came to rest on the tabernacle and the temple because they did it according to the pattern given to them. They did it God’s way, carefully and fully according to the instructions He gave them. If we want His glory and we want to see His power displayed, it is no different now, today. We must do it according to the pattern He has given us. Any old way won’t do. 

Oh, friend, hear the lord speaking this, we need our passion renewed for God’s pattern, God’s way, God’s time!

Isaiah 22:22 “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder so he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open.”

The Keys to the Kingdom is about power and authority and without it, access to all the places and things that have been closed and shut up to you, will not happen. 

I want you to picture Jesus who is of the house of David, with a huge key ring, and it has thousands of keys on it. A key for every situation and place in life we need access to....

A key to the spouse He has for you... A key to the right job, the right home, the right neighborhood, the right friends and family. The key to your past and your future. The key to your health and your peace. How about the key to your finances and your career.The key to every addiction, to depression and low self esteem.... On we could go, let the Holy Spirit show you your area.... Amen!

But understand, He gives us the keys. Without Him, we do not have access to the key ring. Isaiah sees the Lord with the keys. Without Him, the keys don’t operate. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, anyone who enters by another way is a thief and a robber”....

But look at this.... Romans 8:19 “The whole creation eagerly awaits the manifestation (the coming forth) of the children of God.”                        Wow, do you get it....this tells us that the whole creation is eager to cooperate with us when we get thisthing right!                                    The right job, the right spouse, the finances and career, freedom and success, are all eager to help you and cooperate in the right outcome...   

1 Corinthians 15:48 “As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthly and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”

We were born earthy, but we are reborn in the heavenly image and likeness. We now operate in two dimensions. Jesus said that we are in the world but not of the world. Because of this, we have access to operate supernatural keys that supersede the natural order in Christ. Wherever I am, I take the keys of heaven with me. 

If we will only learn to use the keys that Jesus has given us, what greater blessings, what great revivals, what great works could be loosed in earth, that will be loosed also from Heaven. If we will only learn to use the keys that we have been given, what great sins of darkness, and what powers of Hell could be bound in the earth and in Heaven with those keys.

I want to propose a scientific experiment today, and I need your help.  Will everyone who has keys on them please take them out and hold them?  Here’s my experiment: For the next few seconds, I want you to go through each of your keys and see if you know what each of your keys are used for.  If you come upon one or more keys that are on your keychain but you have no idea what it unlocks OR if it unlocks something you no longer have, please raise your hand.

I noticed a few months back that I had a couple of keys that I never used.  I couldn’t remember what they were used for. I didn’t really know.  But I was afraid to throw them away, because, ya’know, what if I needed them some day? You have the keys to the kingdom, but do you know what they are for? And if you don’t know what they are for, how do you know what they open or shut, or bind or loose?

Have you ever locked your keys in the car, or misplaced them so you spend all your time retrieving them instead of using them....well you have keys but you can’t use them... Satan wants to lock you out, or cause you to misplace your keys, by distracting you, or getting you to focus on something else... You’re blinded by emotions, or anger, or unforgiveness... so you’re locked out....

Let’s all quote together, Matthew 6:9 “This is how I pray (and believe): ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, in earth as it is in heaven”. Jesus said that when He came the kingdom came to earth. 

Oh, church, say not the kingdom is here or there, for He has given you the keys, it is within you!!! When He gave you the keys, you officially became appointed to bring heaven into the earth. Didn’t Jesus say that it was to be in earth as it is in heaven. He told us to pray, believe and receive that very thing in our daily affairs of life. Know your keys, and use them according to the instruction manual we have been given....

Let’s pray together....

Father, in Jesus name, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray that out of Your glorious riches you would strengthen me with power in my inner being so that I might fully offer myself to You. I pray that I would be rooted and established in love, that I might grasp how wide and long and high and deep Your love is. I believe that you are able to do far more than I can imagine by Your power that is now working in me.       Lord, I ask you to transform my mind and my spirit daily, that I might receive the blessings and opportunities you have planned for me. I choose to step out in faith knowing that You hold the future and You have plans for my life for good and not for evil. When the world sends out hate, help me to love. When the past won’t let go, help me to remember Your grace. When the enemy taunts with lies and surrounds me with darkness, help me to stay in your light.                                                                   Lord, when a relationship feels broken or I’m betrayed or rejected, help me to forgive by the power of Your Spirit. By faith, I move through the new doors which you are opening before me, that no one will be able to shut. The power of Your presence in me, prepares my path before me and strengthens me so that I can succeed and prosper, even when it seems impossible, even when it doesn’t make sense, I know that You are the same yesterday, today and forever, and you will do exceedingly above and beyond what I think or ask, In Jesus name, Amen!

Now let’s close by just taking time to pray for one another as the Lord tells us, if two or three shall agree as touching anything, it shall be done....

ENGAGED” .....

That word means you have said “yes”.... to something and you have become pro-active in that area.

Being engaged can mean many things... 

You may be engaged in Education, Good health, Building a business, Politics, This meeting, Self improvement and many more things....

OK, how many thought of a man and a woman getting engaged when I announced the title of this message? Most of you.... Since that’s the case, here’s a few statements I came across about that....

“Don’t just say you love me, Put a ring on it”! Put some commitment on it.

Whoever called it an engagement ring... should have called it the “Yes Dear” Diamond?

Before an army officer can get married, they need to know the rules of engagement.

This one guy asked his girlfriend what sort of engagement ring she'd like. 

She said, “Don’t get me one that's like you."....  “But I’m full of sparkle, he said. “No, you’re Cheap and round" she answered.

My dog swallowed my engagement ring last night, I couldn’t give it to her until he coughed it out when he barked. I told her it was a lot like me, It was a diamond in the RUFF.

One guys engagement fell through, because when he told her that his dad was very rich and divorced, she became his mom.

We say a couple is “Engaged” but In Croatian, it’s zauzet... in Czech, it’s Zapojeno.... In Dutch, it’s bezet.... In Irish, it’s gabháil.... In Italian, it’s impegnato.... In Portuguese, it’s acionado.... In Swahili, it’s kushiriki....

Well, my opening scripture is about engagement....                                       Matthew 1:18,19 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused (engaged or committed) to Joseph, and before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost”…You may notice here, that The angel didn’t appear with the miracle message, until there was a commitment.                                                              

Many folks want God to do something, and if He does, then they will make a commitment. But throughout scripture we find the opposite is true. God waits for our commitment of faith and trust, before He moves and reveals. You don’t just give God a road test, or try it before you buy it.... Man looks at the outward appearance, but God sees the heart...At some point you move beyond kicking the tires and looking under the hood....to get in and drive this thing!!!

The woman with the issue of blood, pushed through the crowd and made a commitment to get to Jesus... The blind man kept yelling louder and louder until he stopped Jesus, even though the disciples tried to shut him up....Zacchaeus climbed a tree, so he would be able to see and hear Jesus. He made a commitment... The friends of the paralyzed man tore the roof off to lower their friend down to where Jesus was ministering... that commitment resulted in wholeness and healing...                            You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great... We are committed in the ups and the downs, the little things and the big things of life...There are no unimportant decisions, they all have significance and impact.                      

An engaged man asked his father for advice for a long and happy marriage... He said, “Dad, you and Mom have been happily married for 50 years now. How do you do it? "Oh, That's easy son, when your Mom and I first got married, we made a deal. She would make all the little decisions, and I would make all the big decisions. "

Hey, that sounds like a good arrangement. But how do you decide what's a big decision, and what's a little decision?

"Well son, she told me that we haven't had any big decisions yet."                           The biggest decision anyone can make is the decision to make Jesus their Lord and master. And give Him permission to call the shots in their lives. In the same way, when a couple becomes engaged, It’s official that there is no more place for anyone else in that way in their lives. They are stating that they are no longer in the market but they are off limits.....

A young woman entered a bible preaching Church out of curiosity. While there, she heard the gospel for the first time and was converted. As she continued to attend, she heard God’s call on her life to go to China as a missionary. She was the only daughter of a multi-millionaire. She was socially prominent and wealthy. But her parents were not Christians. When she told them of her decision to go to the mission field, they sneered at the very thought. They were sure that they could quickly put a stop to what they called, “a passing whim”. This girl was engaged to a successful, prominent businessman—but he was not a Christian either. When she talked with him about giving his life to Christ, he took a stand just as her parents had.                                                                                                Later on the parents gave a social event and invited their wealthy friends. They told these friends about their daughter’s intentions and enlisted their help to change her mind. During the evening the daughter listened to all their arguments against going to the mission field. Finally, she walked over to the piano and began to play and sing: the words of the song were “Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave and follow Thee, destitute, despised, forsaken, and now to You my all shall be.”                                              Her fiancé was so touched by her action. He walked over to her and said, “I did not know Jesus could mean so much to any person. If He means that much to you, please pray for me that I might know Him as well.” They both made their commitment to one another and to the Lord. They were married and BOTH went to China. Where they labored among the people for many years together and saw many come into the kingdom.

The Jewish engagement ceremony, and the wedding are meant to be very prophetic events, pointing to Christ and His church....                                                                                                                          Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 11:2 “F or I am jealous over you with a holy jealousy that comes from God. I promised to give you to Christ, as your only husband. I desire that you be committed (engaged) to Him as His pure bride”.

Engagement is a state of being considered married before you actually are married. When Paul calls us the Lord’s pure bride, it means we enter marriage as virgins. For we have saved ourselves for Him alone. In the custom of the Jewish Hebrews, the woman and man who were promised to one another, but were not intimate until after the wedding ceremony. Until that time, she would aways wear a veil in his presence, representing her purity. 

Likewise we are reserved for Christ alone. There is no place for any but Him in our lives. Like the Bridegroom of the bible, the time will come when He will take us unto Himself and we will be glorified for we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. 

Look at Revelation 19:6-9 “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure” for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

In the Hebrew wedding customs during the time of Christ, typical weddings were divided into 3 ceremonial sections;                                      the betrothal (ketubah), 

the wedding (Chuppah), 

and the feast. Seudat Nissuin) 

During the betrothal, the father of the bridegroom would present a bridal contract (ketubah). Once both sides agreed on the ketubah, the bride would be showered with gifts and the bridegroom would offer his covenant bride a cup of wine (mohar).. If she drank the cup before everyone, she thereby expressed her will to marry him by her own consent. The glasses are then broken. The bridegroom would usually leave a special gift (the mattan) to help her remember their covenant. The “mattan” (a type of the Holy Spirit) helped the bride remember and grow in love with the bridegroom day by day when they were apart.

Then the bridegroom’s party would depart. The bridegroom would spend at least nine months to one year working to build a house for their future family. (Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us)                                  The bride would prepare herself and her bridal garments, usually made up of fine linen. She had to keep herself chaste and undistracted by other would-be lovers while her bridegroom was laboring to build a house for them, (she was reserved for him alone) She never knew when he would come to receive her when he had everything ready. When the bridegroom had finished all preparations, he would usually seek permission from her father to go and receive his bride. The timing of the coming of the bridegroom to receive his bride, whom he had redeemed and paid for with a precious bridal price, was in herfather’s authority. Before the bridegroom left to receive his bride to himself, he would usually send his friends ahead to blow the trumpet (shofar) and shout a warning, “The bridegroom is coming” would be the shout, as they moved through the streets!

When the bride heard this trumpet and shout, she would go out, dressed in her bridal garment together with her friends. These friends would accompany the bride in a procession to the bridegroom’s home. They would prepare lamps to light the way, because it would usually be dark, but a typical lamp had an oil compartment that only contained sufficient oil to light the lamp for a couple of hours. If the bridegroom delayed his coming deep into the night, their lamps would run out of oil. Those who were wise would bring along larger containers with extra oil to last through the long, dark night. We need to check the oil of the spirit in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit, the operations of the Spirit, and the character of the Spirit that are all about the oil.

The bridegroom would usually come between sunset and sunrise. He would come like a thief in the night to snatch away his bride, which was part of the fun and ritual

When the bridegroom saw her, he lifted her up and carried her back to the home he had built for them. In that home, under the chuppah, they would receive the wedding blessings and consummate their marriage covenant. The feast then began in the house of the bridegroom and would often last for seven days or longer. We will be 7 years in heaven with the bridegroom, before we return to earth.

So, all believers are grouped together, from every continent, every race, every denomination, and every language. We are all called the bride of Christ. Jesus prayed that we become one, even as He and the Father are one. If this is true, shouldn’t we try harder to get along. We are the bride.

Can you imagine a person fighting themselves. Giving themselves a black eye, or a smashed nose.... hitting themselves in the head with a hammer....I mean just really beating up on themselves. Or refusing to like themselves, mistreating themselves, constantly saying terrible things about themselves, and not taking care of themselves? Eventually that would have disastrous results. 

That’s what the Lord sees when we don’t take care of each other, in the body of Christ, and we don’t like each other, we talk against each other, and don’t treat each other in love as the bride of Christ. When I set myself against someone in the body of Christ, I am opposing the bride whom He loves and died to have as His own....                                                                                                                             In Jesus’ time a young girl would be engaged, or committed to an older man when she was 5 to 12 years old or younger. He might be 40 and possibly a successful business man. So he and the girl’s father would come to an agreement and seal the deal. He would then instruct the father and mother how hewanted the girl to be raised, to his liking....   She was not her own, but she belonged to another. From the time of engagement, her life was shaped and guided so that she would be pleasing to the man she would marry. She was all about pleasing him. And he would check in often to see how that process was being carried out till she was 13 and could marry. That is what it meant for the future bride to be espoused to someone. 

When things try to intrude upon your commitment to Christ. When there are conflicts which distract you from serving Him, and pull you away from His first place in your life, and He gets put 2nd, 3rdor last on your priority list....after fishing and football, You need to declare... I AM ENGAGED! I BELONG TO ANOTHER, I AM RESERVED FOR THE ONE I LOVE. My life Is now lived to please Him! That relationship should shut down our critical spirit, cause us to be quick to apologize and repent, examine our heart and be willing to change our habits and patterns.... 

Listen to the prayer of Jesus for His bride.....                                                       John 17:13 “Father, I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. 14 I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 

19 For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. 22 I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are One— 

23 I in them and You in Me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. 24 “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world”.

If you are a believer in Christ, you have given Him the right to order your life, and determine your priorities. You have given Him the right to order your daily schedule and speak into your plans. And He has done that... It’s called His written plan... The word of God. 

How can I call Him my Lord and never check to see what He wants for my life, and what He wants me to do each day?                                                                                                           He is Lord of the New Year… He’s the true Victor of the Super Bowl of life…. He’s the great lover of Valentine's Day… He’s the King of Kings on Presidents' Day… He’s the King of Saints on St. Patrick's Day… He’s the humble servant of Palm Sunday…. He’s the resurrected, risen Lord of Easter… He’s the Holy Spirit sender of Pentecost…. His banner over me is love on Flag Day…. Independence Day, He is my source of freedom…. Labor Day, He is my rest…. Halloween, He destroys the works of the evil one…Daylight Saving Time, He is my Redeemer….. Election Day, He is the undefeated one…. Veterans Day, He is the lord of armies…. And Thanksgiving, He is my reason to Praise….

The appearing of Christ at the rapture, will consummate in two amazing events... The marriage supper, where Jesus fulfills His promise and receives His bride to Himself, to be with Him for all eternity.                                            Revelation 19:7 “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Then, Following this, will come the judgment seat of Christ. This is where believers are rewarded based on how faithfully they served Christ.             2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad”.                                                                                               The bad referred to here, is about not repenting, not forgiving, not getting rid of some secret sin in your life. Some of the things we might be judged on are how well we obeyed the Great Commission (witnessing to others), how victorious we were over sin, did we overcome? And were we faithful with what we were given?.

Luke 18:8, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith (pistinon...or faithfulness) in the earth?”                                                                                                     There are five heavenly crowns mentioned in the New Testament that will be awarded to believers. 

They are the imperishable crown (immortality), the crown of rejoicing (for maintaining our joy in every situation), the crown of righteousness (overcoming sin), the crown of glory (we glorified God with our lives), and the crown of life (Those who valued the Lord more than their own life, and put Him first in this life).

Romans 5:17 says, "Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." This is describing this time and beyond, when we will be given rulership so that we may reign in whatever position we are given as we come back to earth in our glorified bodies to rule in the millennium and on into the new heaven and earth. 

Friend, whatever it takes to overcome in your life here, believe me, it will be worth it when we get there. He wants us to have heaven to go to heaven in.....

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven...”

Be encouraged in the testing and trials. In the ups and downs and good times and bad.... When we the bride, stand before Jesus our espoused.... it will be like no celebration you’ve ever experienced. Nothing on this earth can compare to that time. Get your joy back, get your peace back, get your confession back, get your shout and your praise back... It won’t be long now... till the heaven’s open, the trumpet sounds, and we rise together to meet Him in the air and so shall we forever be with the Lord!

If there are things which need repentance, if there is forgiveness needed, if there is obedience to something God has put on your heart but you have not done it.... do it now....                                                                                                                                          

Let’s take a moment and give our first love, first place....                                                        Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ And you shall love your neighbor as yourself”.

If you would feel led to support this ministry, send your donation to "Eagle's Rest, P.O box 2820, Key West, Florida 33040. I want to thank you in advance and may God richly bless you for your faithfulness.... See less

Break Up, Break Out, and Break Through

These are 3 things I want to unwrap today, although possibly not in that order, because we may believe for a breakthrough, but there are steps we can use to get there and into the light of day, whatever that may look like.....

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 For God has anointed us in Christ, and He hasalready given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Let’s say this in a way that we might speak in modern English.... “If Christ is in you, you already have received in advance, all you need to accomplish His will and purpose for your life”...

In other words, The Breakthrough you’re looking for, is already in you, if Christ, the anointed one is in you.

God will never send you a message that says the content is no longer available. Your Breakthrough is in you now, earnestly waiting to be released! It has not expired, the shelf life is still good. You can still be the person God says you can be. 

If anyone had their head stuck in the sand, it was the Apostle Peter. How did the guy who denied Jesus as he was being beaten by the Roman soldiers, the guy who was hiding in a locked room for fear following the crucifixion and this same guy was hidingwhen John and Mary were the only ones standing at the cross.How did this man became fearless in the face of persecution, opposition, imprisonment, and punishment? How did he become so empowered to perform amazing signs and wonders so that people would even bring out their sick and his shadow falling on them would heal them? So what happened in this guy to transform him into the man who stood up on the day of Pentecost and boldly preached to thousands?   

Peter’s breakthrough is really a breaking out.....He decided to get off the merry go round of self limitations that was taking him nowhere. What was already in him needed a breakout... His gifting, his higher purpose, his calling and mission, were all in there but lacked the power to get beyond his fears, his doubts, his intimidations and his old patterns....This is made so clear in the following scripture.

Matthew 16:18 “And I say also unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. v19 And I give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”.

We don’t have to be like the monkey at the typewriter, hoping if we just pound on the keys long enough and we’re patient enough, something will eventually make sense....the unction of the Spirit makes a difference

It was in Peter, but he couldn’t get it out! 

He needed something outside of himself, to get all that was in him, OUT OF HIM!

Friends, it is no different with us today. That thing is called unction... It is the force which allows what’s in us to break out,so that we can break through. We pray for breakthrough, but what we need is the “Break out”!!! Sometimes, when everything says it’s time, but the baby won’t come, the doctor has to induce labor....so, the life that’s inside can get outside!

Let me say here that it is important for us to see that the word “anointing”, also means unction or a “compelling force”....

1 John 2:20 But you have an UNCTION from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. v21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because it is in you. 1 John 2:27 “As for you, the unction you received from Him is in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you (if you just use what is in you) For His unction is in you, and continues to reveal to you all things and that unction is real. So, just as it has continued to reveal to you, remain in Him”. (allow that unction to continue to bring your break out from within you)

Jesus told the disciples the difference between having something within them, and getting it out where it can make a difference... It’s the principle of receiving it, so that you can have it! If I believe it enough, then I will do what is necessary to receive it so I can operate in it.

Mark 11:24 “That is why I tell you, that whatever you pray and make request for, if you believe that you have received it, it shall be yours”. 

This is why it is so important to store up God’s word in our spirit, so we know what He wants us to ask for, believe for, and receive.

Well, if it’s yours when you believe for it, why isn’t it manifest.... because you must stir up the Holy Spirit in you to bring the unction to push it out!!!

Paul tells his disciple Timothy, 2 Timothy 1:6 “Therefore I remind you to stir up (receive the unction of) the gift of God which is in you...”                                                                                         The word gift here, is also translated, “favor, endowments, extraordinary operations of the Spirit, virtues and fruit of the Spirit)                                                                                                                               Another version says.... For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you....”

Now follow that up with Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power, (unction) after that the Holy Ghost is come upon (ep-er'-khom-ahee.. “ tocome into, to have influence, to compel”) you: and you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (everywhere you go, in everything you do).”

I have often had Holy Spirit remind me that these gifts, endowments, favor, operations of the Spirit and fruit of the Spirit, are not for me alone, but for the building up of the church, the edifying of the body of Christ, and the convincing ofnon-believers as well.

We are the channel through which God wishes to deliver the gifts to others. If we could just get out of the way and be the best channels we can be, God could really do some amazing things.                                                Too often, we’re like a person trying to pour gas through a foam rubber spout.... (this guy is using a foam rubber glove) very little gets in the tank because the sponge either soaks it up or spills it on the ground......That’s what we do when we think it’s all about us, and our needs and wants instead of understanding we are the channel that God is allowing the gifts to flow through to be given to others.... 

Peter and Paul experienced transformation, when they realized that the gifts in them, were not all about them, and just to bless them, but to bless the body of Christ and bring non-believers to righteousness....

So, I guess the big question is, How do I stir up the gifts that are in me, so that I can have a break out that will result in break through?

First, we stir up the gifts by remembering.....How quickly we remember all the bad stuff that has happened, betrayals, injustices, losses, disappointments, and heartaches, we have gone through.... But all that those things do is bring us down, and keep us where we don’t want to be... Often, we have the right equipment, but we don’t know how to use it.....                                                                                                                      Like the folks who bought a brand new, expensive boat, with all the latest gadgets. They were new to boating and after launching their new toy at the boat ramp, it was sluggish, and were having problems. No matter how hard they tried they couldn't get their mini -yacht up to speed. It was very sluggish and hard to steer, no matter how much power they applied. After about a half hour, another boat pulled up next to them and told them that the trailer was still attached....                                          If you’re going to go somewhere in your spiritual life, at some point you have to take the training wheels off and step out by faith....                                                                                                      If you want to really make progress, you have to let go of your baggage....which is just another word for limitations.                                   How about dwelling instead on how He saved you by putting His Spirit in you; gave you eternal life, hope and assurance; deposited all His promises in you; and the fact that you have heaven to gain, with your family and friends forever and ever (if they are saved); and you have blessed peace that it is well between you and God (and if not, make it so today). If you feel a distance between you and God, it is not God that has moved away, it is you....                                                                                                               Remember that Holy Spirit isspeaking every day, all day if we will listen. You can feel the nearness of His presence in everything you do. You can know that whatever you need is waiting to flow out of you, by the unction of the Spirit....

Second, stay around those who will stir up the things of God within you. Hang out with God chasers, and lovers of Jesus, who will lift you up and keep you on the high road. Satan wants to isolate you, that’s one of his most effective weapons. There will always be plenty of people and things to bring you down and dump on you.... Stick with folks who are quoting the word and reminding one another of God’s promises. How uplifting it is, to join with the body of Christ to lift the anthems of praise and worship, and sit under those who will bring forth the revealed word of the moment. How sweet the fellowship of those in Christ. Didn’t scripture tell us to “forsake not the assembling together with those of like precious faith”, for these very reasons.

Next, continue daily to discover the treasures that are in God’s word. Scripture describes this as precious pearls buried in a field, which a man found and he bought the whole field, in order to have them. Go for the whole word of God, not just picking and choosing. Be like Ralph, who said “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”!!! We need more Ralphs!..   Too many bibles are sitting on too many shelves or end tables, gathering dust. The treasures within, are still buried, waiting for the hungry, the needy, the disappointed, to discover them and never be the same again!

And last, once you have received, then guard it as though your happiness, your peace, your very life depends on it, because it does. How easily the pressures of the moment, or the cares of life can cause us to forget who we are in Christ.... Know who you are in Christ, and guard that reality with the importance that it deserves....                        I was reading of a man who wasvery sure who he was.... as he spoke frantically into the telephone and said, "My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!" The doctor on the other end said, "Is this her first child?" The man SHOUTED, "NO, YOU IDIOT, THIS IS HER HUSBAND SPEAKING!".....Well, this guy knew who he was!

Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life”.  Another version says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”. Still another version says “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”.

In 2 Kings 6:1-7, the bible tells the story of Elisha’s school of prophets, where Elisha was stirring up and training the prophetic gift in young students that he had taken under his tutelage . The school had become so crowded that the young men got the master’s permission to expand the facility, and they were chopping down trees for that purpose.                                                        Suddenly, one young man cried out that he had lost the axe head, which had come off and gone into the water of the lake. He lost his “cutting edge”. He lost his power element. He lost the thing that made him effective. Believe me, it can happen to any one of us. It has surely happened to me at times. There have been seasons when I been so spiritual dry that I could spit dust. 

I can bet you. that the axe head didn’t just fly off the handle all at once. It had been loosening over time. But he was so busy swinging that he didn’t notice. That’s how life is. A flat is rarely the result of a sudden blowout. There has been a nail in the tire for some time. It’s much Like Samson, who was so busy fighting Philistines, he took for granted that the cutting edge would be his automatically, and he rose one day and discovered the power had departed and he knew it not. It has well been said that God’s word will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from God’s word.                                                                                               Wouldn’t it have been stupid if the young man who lost the axe head had kept on banging away at the trees with the axe handle after the axe head fell off. He would not have accomplished very much. But we do the same thing. We mistake the handle which is the instrument God uses, for the axe head, which is the real force which is getting the job done.... 

When we go without reading the word, and without spending time in His presence, we’re trying to cut down trees with the axehandle. We need to constantly stir up, fan into flames, give unction to the gift of God that is in us, by the Holy Spirit!

David could not fight in Saul’s armor, he had to go in God’s power that was in and on, what he already had. Hear this warrior for God as he speaks to the giant that stands in his way....                                                                                                       1Samuel 17:45 “Then said David to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you havedefied. This day will the LORD deliver you into my hand; and I will smite you, and take your head (your authority) from you, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands”.                                                                                              David received it before he had it! He stirred it up with his words. He fanned the flame, He set the extraordinary operations of the Spirit in motion, He let it break out, and then he had a break through!

Pat O'Brien was a gold medalist in the Olympics back in the 1940's for throwing the shot put. The shot put is a heavy piece of metal, or lead, weighing 16 pounds, that the athlete will throw. And they would, up to this point, come up to the line and throw it. Whoever could throw it the furthest, of course, was the winner. Well, Pat threw it 16 feet, which is remarkable. It set a new record. But he wasn't satisfied with his own record. He felt with the right unction, and greater release of power, he could do more.... so, instead of just coming up to the line. He found thatwhen he did a double spin, he could build up more momentum. With this new style, the distance is currently 23.37 feet. This is far beyond the old record of 16 feet! In other words, when the limits that regulated the power were removed, greater results were achieved. The Break out resulted in a huge break through.                                                                                                                                Wherever you are, in your spiritual walk, there’s more power available for your Break Out. My Bible says that He goes from glory unto more glory. From faith unto more faith. From strength unto more strength. That looks like Break out to me. Break out is always there compelling and declaring that there’s more! .....MORE!          

Are we vision driven or memory driven?                                                                    A researcher took fleas and put them in a jar, and put the lid on top of the jar. And for weeks, the fleas jumped up, trying to get out, and they would bump into the lid that was on the jar. But after a few weeks, they took the lid off. And what they discovered was the fleas would jump only as high as the lid had been. Even though the lid had been taken away, the lid in their minds was as real as the lid that was on the jar and they were being dictated to by their past experiences. Their past experience told them that this is as high as they had gone in so long that now they accepted it as their new limit, it’s as good as we can ever do. They were now convinced it couldn't be done. But I have come to declare: it can be done. The lid is off. The lid is off!                                                              Somebody say, Because of Jesus, the lid is off.                                                                   Notice Hosea 10:12 in our opening scripture, tells us that when they broke up the hard, dry ground, there was a break out of righteousness....                                    So, let me add one more ingredient to this....                                                        If we are to have break through, then we start with the Break Up, then move to a Break Out and that’s when we will see Break Through....It’s the same shot put, but there’s more we can do with it through the unction of the Holy Spirit!!! While some folks are standing around asking “can God do it”... We’ve Got to have folks standing tall and saying “ Yes, God can!) Which one are you?

A CAN GODDER OR A GOD CANNER?

There’s a whole lot of distance between God will, and God can!It’s the difference in a spectator and a participant... Refuse to let your past limits describe your greater future ahead! You’re not there anymore, you’re not that person anymore... Old things are passed away, behold all things are now become new!                                                                                                                                 Church, let me put it another way.... We need a Break Up, a Break Out, and a Break through....                                                                                                                                                                          You and sin need to have a break up.... it needs to get a “dear John” letter from you with “Urgent” written all over it!!

Anything less is just banging into the wall.....You and compromise need to have a break up.... You and spiritual laziness, where you’re depending on the T.V preacher, or getting all your spiritual input from a Sunday service, need to have a break up....and you need to start personally seeking the Lord until he rains righteousness on you.... all those other things can be included, but you need to get off of the spiritual couch potato status....and BREAK UP WITH THAT SPIRITUAL COUCHPOTATO and tell it you don’t need it anymore!! Paul told Timothy to study that he might show himself to be a workman that would never be ashamed, who understood God’s word in it’sapplications of life....

The Bible says that the Ark of the Covenant was stolen from the Israelites. And a woman was having a baby. And when she heard the news that the Ark of the Covenant, which was the presence of God, was stolen, she named her baby a terrible name.                                               She named him Ichabod, Please don’t even name your dog, Ichabod, which means the glory has departed. If she had heard this sermon today, she would have named him “an-at-el'-lo”, which means “I will rise up” in Hebrew.  But, she named her future, by her present circumstances and her past experiences. Never name your future by your present trouble or your past experiences. She should have named him “I will rise up’, because God is with us.                                                                           There was a Break Out, and a Break Through because David retrieved the Ark and brought it back. And whatever you've lost, I've come to decree you're about to get a break up with the past and a break out from the limits that have kept you back before, So, I declare that you're going to have a breakthrough in the face of the enemy, and take back what the enemy has stolen.

Our Lord wants someone to know that He has broken through the enemy's front line. And what He broke through, you can GO THROUGH...

Because He overcame, you can overcome also in His name....

The Holy Spirit is breaking up some hard ground, some dry resistant ground, some patterns that are resisting His stirring.... There is a young man who is resisting and struggling against the pull of God. But I see him dropping to his knees, as he comes to the place of surrender....The unction to Break Out, is here today.... To get what’s already in us out of us, where it can make a difference.... The Break Through we have hoped and believed for is now possible, and is even now upon us!....This is your morning.....God has been speaking, the Holy Spirit is bringing His compelling force, There is an unction here today.... And you’re going to stop banging into that wall and break through it and out of it and into God’s “LET THERE BE” for this time in your life!!!

WHEN SHILOH COMES..

Shiloh is a prophetic parable about God’s plan for man through the ages.

The first mention of Shiloh is found in Genesis 49:10 as Jacob is giving blessings to each of his sons. When he blesses Judah on his death bed he releases a historical prophecy into the earth.....

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” 

Here, Jacob is referring to a person—who would bring peace and tranquility to the earth. As it is used here, the name Shiloh would have derived from shālâ, which means “the Messiah of righteousness”.     Jesus descended from the tribe of Judahwhose name means “Praise”. We also get Shalom, the Hebrewword for Peace from this root word.                                                                                   Let’s begin with a quick geographical history of the place called Shiloh.                                                                                                   

When the Jewish people entered Canaan, the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh, around 1400 BC, with the ark of the covenantresiding there for 300 years. It was at Shiloh that Joshua divided the land among the 12 tribes. Shiloh is the place of rest, (Jesus is our rest)

It was here at the temple in Shiloh, that Hannah cried out for a child in her bareness and God heard her and gave her Samuel, one of the greatest prophets of the bible. She gave Samuel to the temple to be raised by Eli the priest after he had been weaned. 

Later on, the ark was captured by the Philistines and taken to Philistia and God allowed the city of Shiloh to be destroyed because of the wickedness of the people. They had begun to take the ark out of the Holy place and bring it into battle, as a weapon, and lost the reverence and respect which God had commanded it was to have. They thought they could use God’s glory for their own ends. But, God will not be used....

1 Samuel 4:10 “So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured”.

It was then that the temple was moved to Jerusalem where itremained for 410 years, until it was destroyed by the Babylonians and *.......the people taken into captivity. In 540 BC, Jews, led by Zerubbabel returned and rebuilt the city and temple. It remained until Titus led the Roman army to destroy it once again in 70 AD.

From the first mention in Genesis till the coming of Messiah, there were many twists and turns as the mystery of iniquity collided with the mystery of righteousness. On many occasions all seemed lost, and it looked like God had missed it as he spoke through the prophets. The chosen people were dispersed throughout the world. Jerusalem lay in a pile of rubble for over 1878 years and in 1948 the Jews were allowed to return. But with the rise and fall of kings and kingdoms, everything was moving steadily toward the fulfillment of “When Shiloh comes”.....

As I looked at Jacob’s prophecy, in my spirit, I saw it unfolding in 6 phases of it’s fulfillment or unveilings....I saw these as 6 interlocking circles. It took me a couple of weeks to unwrap and unpack all that I was seeing, So, I will take the majority of my time, looking at this with you, because it says a lot about the way God always works as He moves in the earth and in our lives...In His times He brings about the fullness of time for everything He has planned and will do by covenant and promise.

First, there is the Establishing of all things according to the will of God.. I call this “The Plan”

We must understand that there are variables and non-variables. When God says that a thing will take place, we can rest assured that it will occur. The variables are about who will choose to be a part of the fulfillment of it. God says “Let there be”....and we must choose to be a part of it, or to allow doubt, unbelief, fear, intimidation, our own choices and so many other things, to keep us from receiving it.

1 Corinthians 2:7 “For we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden, which God destined for our glory before time began. 8 For if the rulers of this age understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" -- 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

This secret wisdom, deals with the fact that God foreknew the sequence of events which would unfold in the earth, from creation, until the new heaven and earth and beyond, and knew all the options and choices which were available and the outcomes of all of those choices and options. We can’t conceive of such omniscience and omnipotence!

Look at 1 Peter 1:18 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake”.

God chose the means of our redemption, and salvation, before the world began. He spoke His “Let there be” concerning the plan which would be put in place for our salvation, long before sin found it’s way into the garden and into the lives of mankind. God had the answer before Satan created the problem!

So, we can see here in 1 Peter,  “The coming of Shiloh” was before the creation of the world.

As Jacob speaks over his son Judah, he taps into an event which took place before creation. As we have stated in previous sermons, Prophecy doesn’t only speak from the past into the future, it speaks from the future back into the present, where it already exists in the plan of God! If God says it will be, then it already is in His will and His plan.....

Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified”.

This does not eliminate our choice, or our right to choose. But it incorporates our choices which determine our outcomes. God sees all the options and choices and sees how those work themselves out and through our lives. When Jesus sat at the Lord’s supper table with the disciples, He already knew that Judas’ choices would take him to choosing 30 pieces of silver, instead of the kingdom of God. Predestination doesn’t eliminate our choices but it includes those choices in the outcome....

The second phase of “The coming of Shiloh” I want us to see, is         “The Revelation”... Prophets foretold, so that all the players in this great drama could begin to understand and move into place.                                Prepare the way of the Lord... Those were the words of John the Baptist. John was 2nd cousin to Jesus and 6 months older, and he was the final voice revealing who Jesus actually was, the Messiah!

Moses lived about 1445 years before Christ, and wrote the book of Genesis, as well as Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.       He lived 2500 years after Adam. Yet God revealed incredible details about the creation and beyond to this Godly man. One of the earliest revelations of messianic prophesy found in Genesis 3:15 came through Moses “And the seed of woman shall crush your (Satan’s) head, and you shallbruise his (man’s) heel”  Don’t emphasize the bruise, emphasize that Satan shall be crushed. Don’t elevate your sickness, your delay, your problem more than God’s promise that You will crush the source of all of it, (the Devil)

The next step we will see is “The Manifestation” ....

1 John 3:8 For this purpose is the Son of God revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

John 10:10, Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly (Exceedingly above, more in quality and quantity, beyond measure, in greater capacity, at a higher level, to abound in every circumstance)."

A woman went to church and heard the pastor preach on the verse, in 1 John 4:17 “As He is, so are we in this world”. The same week that she heard this verse preached, her doctordiscovered cancer in her breast. She wrote on her medical report, “Jesus, does not have lumps in His breast! Then she wrote, “As you are, so am I, in this world.” She continued to declare that, until her next appointment, and when she went back to the doctor, they couldn't find any lump!

As He is, so are we in this world!!! That’s manifestation!

That brings me to the 4th phase of “When Shiloh is Come”....                       or The Impartation” ..... We’re called to participate in this prophetic event, until the end of the age.

Matthew 28:6 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Too many folks are just visiting, chasing the blessing....but we’re called to be part of this plan to the end of the age... In it to win it.... in it for the long run... No turning back...

Matthew 10:7 “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have incurable diseases, cast out demons. Freely you have received; freely give”.

This is what Jacob describes as the passing of the scepter. “The scepter shall not depart” He said.....Most of us have been so busy swinging the sword in battle against the devil and his demons, that we have not picked up the scepter!!! When you pick up the scepter, you put the devil where he belongs.... UNDER YOUR FEET! You start living in the authority Christ has given you, instead of compromise and victimization. 

Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority (the scepter) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

Shiloh, is about walking by faith and not by sight, not by feelings, and not by the collective consensus.... It’s walking by what you know in your spirit, because God said it, I believe it and that settles it!

Shiloh, is about examining the prophetic record and knowing that every prophesy that has come true, which is all of them... guarantees that every one that has yet to be fulfilled, shall come to pass, right on time.  

The next level of “The Coming of Shiloh” Is referred to as the Glorification when we shall reign with the scepter of His power,in our glorified bodies as we prepare for the “beyond what we can ask or think level”.....You might say “infinity and beyond”....here.

Satan will be bound, no sickness, no death, for 1000 years!

Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them [the saints of God]. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years”

And finally, there is the last Phase, which I will call, “The Completion” At the end of the thousand years, Satan and hell will be cast into the lake of fire, to bother mankind or creation no more. The very elements of earth will be purified by fire so that every remanent of the curse is removed, and there will be a new heaven and earth wherein dwells only righteousness.  

2 Peter 3:10-12, “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. The heavens will pass away with a great noise, the elements will melt with fervent heat, the Earth and all that is in it shall be burned up”.                                                                                                      

All who die in the Lord, will return for the final battle. I believe the real issue is, that if we can’t rule and rise over sin here, how could we ever rise above it there. We can overcome sin through his sacrifice now, and accept our salvation. If we could do it in ourselves, He would never have had to die on the cross. Jesus said believe on Him, repent, make Him the lord of your life, and you will share in His eternal life. This has nothing to do with how I feel, but what God requires. 

If sin didn’t feel good, no one would want to sin! Sin has pleasure to the physical man, but that doesn’t mean it is pleasing to God. My life as a Christian is lived with the question, “what is pleasing to God”.... What does the Lord expect of me?

Step into His glory.....II Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”.

It’s one thing to observe and acknowledge God’s glory, but quite another to stand in and move in the glory. We are not saved to go to heaven, but to bring heaven into the earth.... In our homes, our work place, and our community. To be changed from the power of sin, to the presence of His glory. Miracles, healings, signs and wonders, are in His glory!

Song says.... It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus, life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase. So bravely run the race, till we see Christ!

The emphasis here is not just getting to heaven, but to make the journey here and now, worth the trip and count for eternity. 

So what does the “coming of Shiloh” mean to us in this New Year? It means I can still believe and hope when it feels like there’s no reason. It means that anyone can beat the odds and all things are possible. It means that light is still greater than the darkness, that truth is still greater than the lie, and that there is a mystery of righteousness that will continue to win over the mystery of unrighteousness and evil. 

Shiloh brings the scepter of power and authority into our life and our life situations.... So be ready to be Inconvenienced, because some of your patterns and methods and ways of thinking are about to be challenged. Things may turn out much different than you expected. God is about to do things His way and in His time.

The scepter, means that you can expect Divine Settlement and resolution to take place. Expect a way where there is no way, and an answer to the what, where, when and why that has puzzled you. What doesn’t make sense will make sense and become clear.

Expect Victory over your adversaries. Before your blessings cancome, someone and something must be removed and taken out of the picture. Two opposing things cannot occupy the same space any longer.

Expect unusual favor in High places. Favor that you didn’t deserve and you didn’t have to earn. 

Expect deliverance from what is trying to hold you captive and expect the restoration of your dignity, your rightful inheritance, and the return of what was yours all along. 

Shiloh is the place of divine visitation for you and your family 

Shiloh is the alter of sacrifice which releases empowerment.

Shiloh is the mountain top of answered prayers.

Shiloh is the Divine decree that releases impossible things and supernatural breakthroughs.

Shiloh is not having to fear death, but having peace in the face of death. It is knowing that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord forever. It is knowing that this physical life is only the beginning of the eternal life that is ahead. 

1 John 5:11 says: "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have eternal life."

We are training here to reign there.... ...And training begins NOW!

Prayer..... Lord Jesus, I pray that I might more and more, operate in the authority that I have been given by You. Teach me Holy Spirit, to pray with power and authority. I want to work together with Your Spirit to determine my future and the future of my nation. I want to pray with the authority of Your finished work, for my city. I desire to pray powerful breakthrough prayers that bring heaven into the earth. Lord, I am learning to pray faith-filled prayers for my needs and the need of those around me. 

I can’t reach my workplace or neighborhood without Your power. I thank You that You remember all of my prayers and that they influence Your heart. Continue to give me revelation of the authority I have been given in Christ. Lord, We are in a critical time in history and we need breakthrough in prayer. Help us to press through in intercession in order to see Your plans fulfilled. Teach us to stand strong in faith and hope. We will not fear the future but choose to take our awesome responsibility in prayer and declaration.

I thank You that there is hope for the future because You have already defeated Satan at the cross and we fight a defeated foe. Impower and anoint us to enforce Your authority and Your will on earth through Your name. Thank you that collectively, we have breakthrough authority to change nations. Teach us as we take hold of prayer and pray down blessings on our world. Thank You for the power that is available to us now and in the days ahead. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Forever Christmas

Winnie and I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Thank you for being with us today, as we celebrate this special season. This has been a blessed year for us. We were able to be with all the children for our anniversary. Karen was here for my birthday. Chris and Christy were here for Winnie’s birthday and Thanksgiving, and now, David and Vickie will be with us for Christmas. So it’s been an unusually special year for us.  

Let me begin today, with the proclamation of the angels on that First Christmas which made this celebration the greatest event on earth since creation....God reinvented Himself and took on flesh.....              

It begins with Luke 2:8 “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watching over their flocks at night. v9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. The angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior is born to you, He Christ, the Lord.”

I think I would be safe to say that there are many, when Christmas has come and gone that would say they’re glad Christmas is overand things can settle down to normal. They’ve had it with putting it all up and taking it all down and putting it all away for another year. It's done and you’re glad we are all moving on. Unless you’re a Christmas junkie....

I know it takes me several days to get up the will power to put it all up and take it all down again...                                                                                               But most children would love for Christmas to last forever because they don’t have to do the work of Christmas. I am reminded of the family that had a great Christmas morning diving into the presents with squeals of joy, and laughter filling up the room. Tommy was really happy. He got the new drum set he wanted so much and immediately began to pound away on his wonderful gift. As a matter of fact, he spent most of the day banging on those drums. He was one happy camper, but the family was glad that Christmas was almost overand they could put Tommy in a sound proof room.....

As I was writing this sermon for today, and as I began, I was inspired to write a poem I’ve titled it “Christmas Has Found Us”

Christmas has come once again

All efforts to stall are only in vain

So persistent so deliberate it comes 

until it has found us...

Quietly at first, in store and main street,

Traces here and there, now entreat

But other things are on our minds

Until it finds us

Christmas anthems with familiar strains, 

Workmen and merchant in tandem again, 

The countdown begins.

Christmas has found us

We were here all along, busy with living,

So much taking, and so little giving,

Busy with the business of life.

Till Christmas found us

Then comes the awakenings of Yuletide cheer,

The spirit of giving, of folks drawing near.

The season has shifted us, lifted us,

Christmas has found us.

Oh, that what is found here, might last for all time,

Family, and neighbor, and friend would all find

We can live here and stay here, truly we can

And keep this season around us

When Christmas has found us

A lot of folks need to learn how to spell Christmas. Because without Christ, there is no Christmas. It is the “Christ mass”, the time when we give thanks as we acknowledge God’s gift of (the Christ) the Savior of the world. The Mass means, to come before Christ with faith, devotion and worship. He came gift wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. This offends a lot of folks, who have tried to brainwash others into saying “Happy Holidays”, in order to avoid the real message of the season, which would cause them to confront the Christ of Christmas. In order to say Christmas, the name of Christ must come from your lips!

All of you have or will, wrap your gifts that you place under the tree at Christmas. Everyone that the gift is for, will look at it and even see that their name is on it. They may pick it up and feel it and shake it, but it’s not time to unwrap it yet. It’s theirs, but theyhaven’t unwrapped it yet. Oh my, God has so many amazing gifts which He has prepared for us. And they’re wrapped with our name on them. Some folks are still checking it out, sizing it up, butthe time of unwrapping is coming.                                                                        Habakkuk 2:3-4 “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.”

So God wrapped His gift up and it took 30 years unwrapping the gift as he grew under Mary and Joseph’s guidance and nurturing. Remember that Jesus was 2 years old by the time the wise men arrived to worship Him. And this gift unfolded and unwrapped as He went from baby to child, to manhood.                                                                                             At 30 years old, Jesus is baptized by John and God announced and began to unwrap his gift from heaven. The wrapping is coming off and the word begins to go outwith those who were witness. Let’s read it...                                                                                          Matthew 3:11 John said “Truly, I give baptism with water to those of you whose hearts are changed; but he who comes after me is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to lace up, he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire, 12 In whose hand is the instrument with which he will sift the grain, he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned up in the fire which will never be put out. 

13 At that moment, Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be given baptism by him. 14 But John would have prevented him, saying, It is I who have need of baptism from you, and do you come to me? 15 But Jesus made answer, saying to him, Let it be so now, because it is necessary for us to make righteousness complete. Then he baptized Him. 16 And Jesus, having been baptized, came up from the water and the heavens opened, and those standing there saw the Spirit of God coming down on him as a dove; 17 And a voice came out of heaven, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to Him”. Matthew 4: 17 “From that time Jesus went about preaching and saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin, for the kingdom of heaven is near”.

Howard Thurman wrote....

When the song of the angels is stilled,

And the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and the princes are home,

And the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers,

To make music in the heart

Two men were walking along a beach where hundreds of starfish had been washed up by the tide. They came across a little boy who was picking up starfish and throwing them back into the water. As he tossed one back to the sea, one of the men said, “What’s the point of doing that? There are too many starfish on the beach to save them all. What difference can you possibly make?” As the boy threw another starfish back into the sea, he said “It makes a difference to that one!” 

The work of Christmas continues, long after the tree and all the decorations are put away and the gifts are in the toybox or the closet.

We must keep on unwrapping the great gift of Christ-Mass to all that will be willing to take a look beyond the wrapping...                                              It was 2000 years ago, that Jesus gave us theincredible gift that would change the world forever, and we are still trying to unwrap it, because in this one gift, everything we need is supplied, everything we desire is offered and simply needs to be unwrapped and received. 

A mother was Christmas shopping at the mall with her twotoddlers in tow. All day long they had been pestering her to buy everything in the store. They’d been running around like maniacs, touching everything, and knocking over displays. Then they wanted to go see Santa AGAIN!.

Finally she was at her wits end. She crammed herself, all her shopping bags, and the toddlers into a crowded elevator.

As the doors closed she said out loud, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should receive a sound beating.”

From somewhere behind her she heard, “I believe they already beat Him and then crucified Him.” WOAH... Wake up call!​

Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

There is a commercial that says “Diamonds are forever”,  it’salso a 007 movie, and a Santana album, but a lot of folks are giving diamonds this Christmas, but my friends this gift that God has given us, will outlast all the diamonds. (even though I’m sure the ladies would still like one) Another commercial says “Diamonds are a girls best friend” but there’s a friendship in Christ that is far more valuable and longer than diamonds.

Winnie told me, forget the diamond, just tell Santa to get me a real good electric razor for my legs.... But I’m sure Santa could force a diamond on her!                      

Someone said that men in stage One: believe in Santa. In Stage Two: they stop believing in Santa. In Stage Three: They look like Santa and in stage 4 they are Santa.

We didn’t plan on it, it just happened!

There will be some folks who will take a good look at the gift of Christmas, they will handle it. They will shake it. They will guess at what’s inside. They will ask questions about it. But, if you tell them that the gift will require something of them, and It will cause them to live different, act different, speak different, even think different, they will never unwrap the gift, even if it is the thing they need the most and will let them live the life they desire, with peace, joy, and fulfillment.

But, praise the Lord! There will always be some who will unwrap this great Christmas gift and will experience the power of God in and upon their lives and they will want to share it with everyone they know.

I watched a movie once about a mom and dad who gave their child a very humanoid robot when it was born. (One of these is a robot, and one is the real deal. Can you tell which one is the robot?) They actually have these now. Anyway, The robot would be there whatever the child did and wherever it went, for the rest of it’s life, from cradle to grave. To keep it safe, to make sure it was provided for, to give it the benefit of it’s vast store of knowledge. What a gift to be able to give! And yet, that’s exactly what God did at Christmas, and it’s the gift everyone has available to them if they will just unwrap it and receive it. 

Matthew 28:20 He said, “I will be with you always, even until the end of the age.”

Isaiah 58:8 “The glory of the LORD will surround you. v9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer you will cry out, and He will say, “Here I am”.

Someone has said “What we see will clash with what we know unless what we know expands so we can see."

I’m thinking here of how Mary and Joseph had to be willing to have what they knew transformed, in order to unwrap their Christmas miracle. 

We are inspired with Mary’s words about what she has been told by the angel, because it blew her ever loving mind. And she says “Let it be unto me according to your words.”

Some of you are like me sometimes, “Ready, fire, aim”.... You do or say something, and then you have to deal with what you just said...

Well, after Mary has given this answer to the angel, it goes on to say, that Mary was "greatly troubled". Other translations describe her as "deeply confused", "perplexed", and even "thoroughly shaken". If I wrote a translation it might say, "Mary was freaking out."

Sometimes we must process places we’ve never been....Mary was trying to unwrap Christmas, because she had never been there before. Little could she know how many she would affect as she processed all that was crashing into her world. And the whole world waited with anticipation, as she walked through this mind blowing adventure!                   Our Lord has promised to go before us and prepare the way before we ever get there....

Our Lord has been where we’re going, that’s the beauty and power of the incarnation....Mary had to unwrap a lot of stuff, but God was there with the answers as she stayed open and receptiveand Gave God the benefit of the doubt. 

Are there some things you’re struggling to unwrap about life, about the twists and turns you’ve experienced that were not on your “to do” list?

When there is uncertainty and challenge in our lives, we can choose to play out the worst case scenarios in our heads. We can let all the fear and anxiety take hold of us and allow those emotions to undermine what we know deep down to be true of God and His plan for us.

Or we can ponder and consider what we know to be true. We can ponder all the ways He has loved us, protected us, and comforted us when we didn’t even know or realize it, over the entire length of our lives. But for the grace and mercy of the Lord, where would we be?

Christmas isn’t about our search for Him, but His search for us.God sent His answer for our here and now and for our tomorrowsat this Christmas season, with this gift that He laid in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, in the village of Bethlehem, 2000 years ago.

Many folks identify too much with the wise men of Christmas who set out in search for the Lord, when the truth is, that Christmas is about the reality that God has come all the way from heaven, in search of us.

Christmas finds us, every year, throughout the year it finds us—in good years and bad years and all the in between.  Christ comes into the world where we live, to bridge once and forever the great void between God, and us.

He comes to us again and again and He delights in our being found and He wants us to live in a forever Christmas, as the people of eternal hope.

I remember when Karen was just a wee thing (that’s her little bald self In the middle) and she wandered out the door, down the street, trying to get to the church, where she knew we were. We went into full search mode. The police and everyone we knew were out searching. And when the police called and told us a neighbor had saw her in the street and took her into their house. We had a lot of rejoicing, as we hugged and kissed on her. We weren’t going to stop until that which was lost was found!

How much more is our Heavenly Father doing the same. He came all the way from to heaven to a silent, holy night, in Bethlehem, to put on flesh, experience life as we know it, then give His very life, to show us how much He loves us and wants to bring us home to Himself. That baby in a manger is declaring that He has found us, and saying MERRY CHRISTMAS, is asking the question, have weaccepted the gift!

My kids have bought me clothes for Christmas that was a waste of money... didn’t fit, not my style, or the last thing I needed.... Wouldn’t it be great to just pick out one gift that fits everyone, or is exactly what they need and that they will appreciate......

Well, we have found the universal Christmas gift..... We give them money for them and their family... They have never brought it back and said it didn’t fit..... I’m glad that I can report to you, that God has chosen the universal gift to give at Christmas..... It has something for everyone... A Savior, (for all have sinned); A Provider, (we all have needs); A Healer, (you can live a long time if you just stay healthy); As a matter of fact when He called Himself the “I Am, that I Am”...He was telling us, I am what you need when you need it.

His gift never wears out, (it’s eternal). It’s never out of style, (it’s always up to date), and it’s always new....(it’s new every morning, great is His faithfulness) But it does no one any good unless you unwrap it and receive it.....

I want to take this time, to lead us all in a prayer, to unwrap the greatest gift of Christmas. .....(Would you pray with me)

Father God, I have come to this moment, where I am ready to unwrap Your gift to me. Thank you Jesus for your gift of salvation that you offer to me. I receive your forgiveness, and I reach out and take you as my savior. 

You said If I believe and receive, my sins would be forgiven and wiped clean. Come into my life. Thank you for saving me and forgiving me, In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

He’s the gift that keeps on giving, and He doesn’t mind if you regift what He’s given to you, as a matter of fact He insists on it!!

Give and it shall be given unto you, full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.....shall others give, (or regift) unto you....

Merry Christmas means “He has found us”.....