Fulfilling The Great Commission: Convolution of Same Sex Marriage.

Ask any Christian about the biblical basis for missions, and most, if not all, of them will point to Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples of all nations.”

These famous last words from the Gospel Narrative of Matthew chapter 28 comprise what we know and have been taught as the Great Commission.

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV).

When we look closely at this passage, we see Jesus uses almost the same word four different times: the word all.

Consider these four “alls” of Christ’s commission:

“All authority”
To go to “all nations”
To communicate “all his teaching”
Empowered by his presence “all the time” (translated always)

Don’t miss the claims — they’re Bible basics, but they’re beyond enormous!

Jesus claims to have all authority in the universe to lead us on this journey.

He further claims that his teaching is the most important thing in life to follow.

Therefore, he claims that all nations need to know his teaching.

And last but not least, Jesus claims that he will be with us for all time.

Massive claims, and in the literal sense, far beyond incredible — you can’t believe them unless Jesus is God. “If Jesus Christ is who He said He was, then we cannot respond to Him mildly” (Tim Keller, The Reason for God).

When many of us think about entering ministry, beginning a new ministry or joining an ongoing ministry, becoming a missionary, we see the obstacles —

both known and unknown — both obvious and not so obvious, facing us.

Move halfway around the world to live among people who might not want us there and might never care about the message we bring?

Bring a message which in their understanding and belief system is inconsistent and even dangerous to their own way of living, moving and having their being?

Jesus said – Matthew 10:16 (Amplified)

A Hard Road before Them

¹⁶“Listen carefully: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves [have no self-serving agenda].

It is those phrases – “Innocent as Doves” and “have no self-serving agenda.”

Those are very scary propositions!

How do we or should we or could we interpret: “Innocent as Doves?”

Trying to get into God’s way, we can get in our own ways – bring our personal biases, interpretating our life experiences (good and bad and catastrophic), in the process bringing our anger, resentment, hard core prejudices into action.

We can let fear crowd out our faith.

Let “politically correct truth” crowd out what is clearly God’s Truth (John 14:6)

But pause for a moment and soak in this Great Commission passage.

Let the four “all’s” speak peace to your heart.

Jesus spoke these words to give us a task and to give us courage in the task.

The Great Commission isn’t about marketing Jesus.

No matter how eloquently (or not) you proclaim the good news, gospel salesmanship won’t bring the least-reached into God’s kingdom.

These “all’s” remind us that the burden isn’t on us but on the One with quite literally and theologically, ALL OF THE AUTHORITY.

What is on us, however, is the obligation to obey Jesus’ command.

Many of us look for confirmation in a “calling.”

But Jesus didn’t call some (or any) of his followers to his mission.

Rather, he called them to himself and sent them on mission.

If we are indeed 100% genuinely, truthfully, walking with Jesus, this Great Commission command is absolutely incumbent on us all.

Think of it as an implied fifth “all” — a command for all believers.

Every disciple must be a transformational disciple-maker, whether God sends you to your next-door neighbor, down the street or the other side of the world.

As you and I go — to school, to work, to the grocery store, and to the gym — to our large and small churches, our faith communities – live and love like Jesus.

Be confident in his authority. Teach his commands. Abide in his presence.

Matthew 28:16-20 Amplified Bible

The Great Commission

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. ¹⁷And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted [that it was really He]. ¹⁸Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Does the Bible indeed teach that the only “true” way it can help all people face all tomorrows in the power of God’s love is by becoming a diverse and inclusive congregation – multiracial, multigenerational and multicultural – offering all who come to enter its sanctuaries a warm, non-threatening environment to all?

What about churches choosing a different path to fulfill the Great Commission by becoming “Open and Affirming / Welcoming” rather than becoming places of supernatural transformation?

What about those many churches who see themselves as a place that, no matter where one is on their journey of faith, they are 100% unconditionally welcome?

Some within the church choose to believe the only way it can help all the people face tomorrow in the power of God’s love is by becoming a diverse and inclusive congregation – multiracial, multigenerational and multicultural – offering all who come an inclusive, warm, non-threatening environment to absolutely all.

It is believed that by being “Inclusive,” “Open and Affirming,” they show a willingness to offer koinonia, and even future membership to everyone who could be blessed from belonging because they are willing to tackle the severe faith, hope, love, issues of the day with moral passion and genuine tolerance.

Churches that are not “Open and Affirming” have, in their view, adopted a sectarian mentality that insulates themselves from the culture and causes the arson burning of bridges which connect the church with the un-churched.

On the surface that seems reasonable.

Jesus said in John 10:16-18 (Amplified)

¹⁶I have ^[a]other sheep [beside these] that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they will listen to My voice and pay attention to My call, and they will become ^[b]one flock with one Shepherd. ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life so that I may take it back. ¹⁸No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down voluntarily. I am authorized and have power to lay it down and to give it up, and I am authorized and have power to take it back. This command I have received from My Father.”

By God’s Command, The Kingdom of God does include all of God’s children.

Jesus came to seek out the downtrodden, He associated with many who were considered outcasts of society, such as a prostitute, a tax collector, and a leper.

He accepted all individuals for who they are, yet not condoning what they do.

No one should ever discriminate against anyone because of their age, beliefs, gender, ethnicity, skin color, sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation.

However, the divisive question becomes, does the real meaning behind being “Open and Affirming and Inclusive” as becoming a church that accepts not only the individual but inclusively, specifically their lifestyles and sexual behaviors?

The Authority of Scripture

Based upon the authority of the Old and New Testaments it is evident that normal sexual behavior is that which functions according to its design.

Biblical record reveals sexual union was established exclusively within the context of the male-female relationship and formalized in God’s ordinance of marriage.

The natural order of Creation and empirical Science dictates procreation for the survival of every species

From the beginning, Genesis reveals to us that God created mankind as male and female, to be joined together as a reflection of God’s love and relationship with His bride, the Church universal.

Because God’s character and nature is love, He would never create someone opposed to the design of His natural order, then say it is wrong to be like that.

Marriage Morphing

Same-sex “marriage” is about overthrowing cultural norms that have for centuries set traditional marriage apart from other household forms on the basis of ‘correctness’, tradition, legal precedent, and social-science evidence.

Marriage has always been properly and appropriately discriminatory, as when it denies a man the right to marry his mother, daughter, sister, a child, someone already married or someone of the same gender. (Read the Levitical Codes).

It is erroneous to assert that homosexuals are being denied the right to enter the marriage union when the immovable foundations of natural law dictate that marriage is by definition a heterosexual institution – a union between one man, one woman – because men and women are the only categories of human beings who can ‘procreate’, ‘bear fruit,’ ‘multiply,’ bring forth the next generations.

Limiting marriage to one man and one woman alone cannot be construed to be discriminatory.

It is a necessary condition for marriage.

The church’s moral obligation to protect the sanctity of marriage is based upon creation, nature, human physiology, the authority of Scripture, the protection of family and children, and safeguarding the ability to build strong, sustainable societies based on biblically grounded, biblically sound ethics and moral values.

In the New Testament, the oneness of male and female in marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and His Church.

Every Believer is to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness – period!

When historical Christian tradition is examined from the first century, and on through the ages, it is seen that the moral teaching tradition of the Christian church has declared any other behavior to be contrary to the will of God.

“Be Ye Transformed”

God gives anyone who humbly surrenders their life totally to Jesus Christ – the Creator, Author of Life, and Lord of the Universe – the ability to be changed if they sincerely desire to be changed. (Romans 10:9-13)

The ultimate challenge for every Believer is to live a holy life by allowing the Holy Spirit to give them a new nature and transform them

“into His likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV).

2 Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified)

“¹⁸And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.

If Christians, in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, “openly” welcome people to become a Disciple of the risen Lord and do not teach that, through

God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

they have the power and ability to be changed from the inside out, and they do not have to remain just as they have always been,

living according to the old fallen nature, they negate the work of the Cross and fall far short of being “Warming, Tolerant, Inclusive, Open and Affirming” and fulfilling God’s good, acceptable and perfect will (See Romans 8:26-28, 12:2).

The Apostle Paul writes to us these words in

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (Amplified)

¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. ¹⁸But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him], ¹⁹that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].

²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ’s representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. ²¹He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].

For the Church, becoming truly, biblically, scripturally, “Open and Affirming” is to walk in holiness [Ambassadors for CHRIST alone], fulfilling God’s Law through the ministry of reconciliation and forgiveness by loving one another.

All people must openly be welcomed into the church where their individual dignity and legal rights will be biblically affirmed and vigorously upheld.

The Natural Order

I have great difficulty with those who would say that the proof of a transformed homosexual is that they are now a “heterosexual.”

I would feel compelled to argue that God did not create man to be heterosexual (sexually attracted, oriented, to persons of the opposite sex) or be homosexual.

I believe God created humans “asexual’ in the way they are to behave towards one another until marriage. (Psalm 139:13-18 KJV,

Psalm 139:13-18 Amplified)

¹³
For You formed my innermost parts;
You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴
I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was being formed in secret,
And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].

¹⁷
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸
If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

Much of human “sexuality’ is an environmental and learned behavior.

Many “straight” people assume the natural order is for a man to be sexually attracted to a woman and visa-versa.

For the Christian, I do not see any proof of that in Scripture. Quite to the contrary, I see the Bible saying that there are those who can live celibate lives.

Christians are to treat one another as brothers and sisters – first and foremost. They are one family united by Jesus’ shed blood.

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, MALE OR FEMALE. For you are all Christians–you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28-29 NLT – emphasis mine).

What is called “natural” desire in Romans 1:26-27 makes sense in a procreative sense, but not in a “sexual” sense.

I strongly believe that there are far more heterosexuals who need to have their sexuality transformed and sanctified by Jesus Christ, as there are homosexuals.

If the church is to be a spring of healing and fulfill the commandments of God,

then it must openly offer and affirm to those who desire to be set free – whether it be from their homosexuality or heterosexuality – the way found only in Jesus.

The ultimate challenge in 2022 for every Christian is to allow the Holy Spirit to transform them “into His likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor 3:18 NIV).

Christians must allow Jesus to be the healer through them by looking at others as Jesus sees them – lost sheep in need of a Shepherd.

Without condoning their behavior, they should let God “work out” the sins and failures of others.

When they do, they will gradually, and prayerfully – graciously, see the lives of literally everyone they touch healed and transformed by God ALONE, into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ thereby fulfilling God’s Great Commission.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God our Father, God, Author of our lives, we thank you that when you are for us, nothing can be against us. We ask you for a miracle, and we know that you will freely give us all things. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are at the right hand of the Father, continually interceding for us. We thank you that nothing can or will ever separate us from your love. We thank you that in all these things, we are more than conquerors through you, who unconditionally love us all. Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Parenting by Faith. Why is Faith in God so vitally important to today’s Families? Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Ephesians 6:1-4.

“UNLESS THE LORD BUILDS THE HOUSE, THEY LABOR IN VAIN WHO BUILD IT” – PSALM 127:1

Families are to be built upon loving and worshiping the Lord God with all our hearts, with all of their strength, with all of their bodies, minds and souls.

In our marriages, raising children, building up and edifying our families, are “cultural icons, technological idols” undermining such a genuine worship?

Are there practices and values we need to confess, repent of, and forsake?

As Parents, are there priorities we need to faithfully reevaluate?

Is there a place for genuine “faith in God” in our homes and in our families?

Are there “faith-filled” “faith-testing” matters we need to prayerfully discuss with our spouses and then frankly share the results with our children?

“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14).

Is there such a thing as “Painless Parenting?

Pain – even excruciating pain – is a natural part of the family process in our broken world.

Women know better than anyone that pain is how the family got started. And the aches and the pains, the hurts and the hassles, will continue to intrude into the parenting pathways through the years – whether we like it or not.

That is why a vital faith in Jesus Christ is so utterly crucial to a ‘happy’ family.

God equips us through faith to meet all of the challenges of parenting and raising a ‘Godly’ family in these 2022 days of idolatry and brokenness.

Even in the most toxic of environments which constantly challenge “Faith” in the context of faithfully holding together faithful, faith-filled mom, dad, kids.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9Amplified Bible

⁴“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one [the only God]! ⁵You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength [your entire being]. ⁶These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be [written] on your heart and mind. ⁷You shall teach them diligently to your ^[a]children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand (forearm), and they shall be used as ^[b]bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead. ⁹You shall write them on the ^[c]doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

WHY IS FAITH IMPORTANT TO FAMILIES?

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health recently published a paper that concludes that a religious upbringing is linked to better health and well-being during early adulthood.

At first, when I read this, I thought this was great news, since we’ll literally do anything to improve our kids’ chances of being happy and healthy adults, right?

Then I started considering the real-world reasons why we think faith in God is important to our family.

It’s a lot more complicated than our, as parents, or stepparents, just wanting, willing, them to be well-adjusted adults, though that’s apparently of a great benefit and blessing too.

So why is it important to us to raise our kids in the Christian faith?

The 2022 fact is that a lot of young people take a break from their church-going habits as young adults, “stretch their wings,” explore their life” then return to their Christian roots and practices when they get married and have children.

There’s something about raising families, bringing kids up in a church, with the habits and lessons of Sunday School, worship and service that we, as adults, feel is good for our families and pleasing in the sight of the Lord our God. (Verse 7)

Maybe part of that “something” is knowing that the Christian faith has truly provided billions of Christians for thousands of years the spiritual tools for approaching our earthly lives with courage, peace, community, hope and love.

Modern bookshelves are filled with books about how to lead healthy, happy lives (and how to raise well-adjusted kids) and the lessons look similar to those the bible has taught for millennia.

Scripture teaches us lessons about love, forgiveness, compassion, community, loyalty, praise, grace, trust, overcoming adversity, gratitude and perseverance.

We are given commandments that help us, and our communities stay on course.

We are taught to take time to pray, providing important moments of praise, and very desperately needed moments of peace, reflection, conversations with God, our Creator and our Father, which are physically and spiritually edifying and ethically and morally healing to our bodies and our souls.

And our Christian identity provides a powerful framing to understand self-worth rooted in God’s unconditional love and purpose.

These are just some of the foundational elements of our faith that create fertile ground for cultivating a life well lived.

Certainly, our faith does not guarantee an easy life.

Growing and cultivating that “most perfect of Roses” still comes with thorns.

As adolescents, teenagers, emerging adults and throughout our adult lifetimes, we will face severe, even catastrophic adversity, cultural opposition, deep loss, betrayal, societal conflict and suffering that will challenge and test our beliefs.

God’s message from thousands of years ago, from that barren wilderness is still incredibly relevant, perhaps even more so in the year of our Lord 2022.

There is no shortage of “complexities” which today’s families must navigate.

Considering our socio-economic, socio cultural, counter-cultural complexities, Families in all stages desperately need a strong faith foundation to live through the challenges and the questions, return to scripture, consult our mentors, lean deeply, heavily into our Christian communities, and recall the power of prayer.

So, we can consider faith-building as an essential part of our job as parents and stepparents “to faithfully prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child.”

Our own journey of faith gives us an enduring, perhaps even wiser, relationship with an ever-present Father, Son and Holy Spirit, along with a whole toolbox of “soft and hardcore” lessons, resources that helped us through our earthly lives.

And it gives us the gift of a community of believers who share our commitment to each other and the teachings of Jesus to love God and serve the world.

And finally, it gives us the sacred promise and Shalom of eternal life when we have faithfully’ done all we believe we can when we come to the end of this one.

It is our responsibility to pass on these awesome gifts to the next generation.

So, we faithfully try to keep our kids closely by our sides upon our own more experienced Christian journeys, teaching them the gifts of a relationship with God along with the responsibility to care for and minister to others as Jesus did.

Verse 7 We teach, lead, pray, show and then hopefully send them out into the world with their Christian toolbox abundantly filled with faith, hope and love.

And along the way, the wisdom of God, from God, becomes abundantly clear to them that “it’s not what you leave for them, it’s who and what you leave in them.”

Deuteronomy 6:5 speaks of the central truth for developing a godly family:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Ephesians 6:1-4 Amplified Bible

Family Relationships

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord [that is, accept their guidance and discipline as His representatives], for this is right [for obedience teaches wisdom and self-discipline]. ²Honor [esteem, value as precious] your father and your mother [and be respectful to them]—this is the first commandment with a promise— ³so that it may be well with you, and that you may have a long life on the earth.

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive; nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them], but bring them up [tenderly, with lovingkindness] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Consider Ephesians 6:1, for example: Children, obey your parents in the Lord [that is, accept their guidance and discipline as His representatives], for this is right [for obedience teaches wisdom and self-discipline].

Children, obey your Parents – How? IN THE LORD!

That means Children of God, Mom and Dad obey God, your Father –

How? IN THE WORD OF THE LORD!

Or Husbands read Ephesians 5:25-30

²⁵Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], ²⁷so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless. ²⁸Even so husbands should and are morally obligated to love their own wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own body, but [instead] he nourishes and protects and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰because we are members (parts) of His body.

Or Wives read Ephesians 5:22-24

Marriage Like Christ and the Church

²²Wives, be subject ^[a]to your own husbands, as [a service] to the Lord. ²³For the husband is head of the wife, as Christ is head of the church, Himself being the Savior of the body. ²⁴But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives should be subject to their husbands in everything [respecting both their position as protector and their responsibility to God as head of the house].

HUSBANDS, WIVES BE SUBJECT TO ONE ANOTHER AS SUBJECT TO THE LORD!

All of these instructions to the family wrap around the central core of faith in:

God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!

Do not try to build your family without faith in Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

Throw yourselves upon the full weight of His grace and mercy and say to Him:

“Lord! I know, We know, that apart from You, I, We, can do nothing but mess this gift of family up. So, I am, We are, going to hang on to You, with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, with all of our bodily and spiritual strength, with all of our minds, with both hands, with both sets of our aching and tired feet. Together, with You, I, We, will make this family work unto Your glory alone!”

Being a “Godly” family is such a big responsibility.

A family’s love, emotional presence, approval, and support for their children—from their early lives, through their teenage years, and beyond—is a significant factor in helping them to become secure, able to love and give to others.

On the other hand, a lack of love from a family can contribute to various kinds of anxiety and insecurity in relationships and in life functioning.

Fatherhood and Motherhood matters so much.

Yet, obviously, painfully, neither is an easy task.

That’s why the words of God from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and the apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:22-30 and 6:1-4 are so foundational, edifying helpful for us.

Moses and Paul here give instructions to fathers and mothers. It’s not a detailed manual for exactly what to do in every situation. But what Moses says, and Paul says, here is fundamental, goes a long way to helping us see how to be a family.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God, our Father, show us your children loving devotion and grant us your deliverance. As Mothers and Fathers and Families, incline your ear and answer us, for we are challenged by great hardship. Restore us, O God of our salvation.

We ask for a miracle from heaven for our families, that we may rejoice in you. Surely your rescue is near to those who reverently fear you. O Lord, we praise you that your righteousness looks down from heaven. We praise you that you will indeed provide our families what is good, and we will see increase. Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Searching for a Miracle. Considering the Power of Salvation. “If I could but touch the hem of His Garment.” Mark 5:25-34

People today are searching for many different things.

o Some are looking for love

o Some are looking for money

o Some are looking for opportunity

o Some are looking for answers

o Some are looking for fulfillment

o Some are looking for physical and spiritual healing

o Some are looking for a touch of humanity

0 Some are looking for acceptance and belonging

To state the obvious, some are just looking for a miracle – ANY miracle!!

Whatever the reason, they are facing certain situations seemingly beyond their control, beyond their human resources to cope, their only answer is a miracle.

Webster’s defines a “miracle” as: an event that appears to be contrary to the laws of nature and is regarded as an act of God

You may find yourself at a place where you cannot solve your problem on your own, you have tried everything, you have looked everywhere with no success.

Through your struggle you have failed to look to the One who can do what no other can do.

We serve a miracle working God and nothing is beyond His power.

Just think for a moment about some of the miracles that Jesus has performed in the Gospel …

He:

o Turned water into wine

o Healed the Nobleman’s son

o Cast out demons

o Healed Peter’s mother-in-law

o Healed many of the sick in the city

o Cleansed a leper

o Healed the Centurion’s servant

o Healed a paralyzed man

o Healed the man with the withered hand

o Raised the widow’s son

o Spoke unto nature itself and calmed the raging storm.

As we come to our selected text we find one miracle being interrupted by another miracle.

First look to Mark 5:24 “And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him”

We arrive in the midst of the story of Jairus and his sick daughter.

She was 12 years old and at the point of death, in fact she did die.

Jairus went to Jesus for a miracle and that is exactly what happened, Jesus raised the little girl from the dead.

As they are headed to Jairus’ daughter, Jesus is interrupted by the lady that we read about in verses 24-34.

She is described as a “woman with an issue of blood”

She is a lady who is searching for answers …she is searching for a miracle.

Today, I want to devote our time and attention to the subject “Searching for a Miracle”

In this coming encounter between Jesus and this lady we see certain elements of our lives today which may come in the life of one who is searching for a miracle.

Mark 5:25-34Amplified Bible

²⁵A woman [in the crowd] had [suffered from] a hemorrhage for twelve years, ²⁶and had endured much [suffering] at the hands of many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse. ²⁷She had heard [reports] about Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His outer robe. ²⁸For she thought, “If I just touch His clothing, I will get well.” ²⁹Immediately her flow of blood was dried up; and she felt in her body [and knew without any doubt] that she was healed of her suffering. ³⁰Immediately Jesus, recognizing in Himself that power had gone out from Him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched My clothes?” ³¹His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in around You [from all sides], and You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’” ³²Still He kept looking around to see the woman who had done it. ³³And the woman, though she was afraid and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴Then He said to her, “Daughter, your faith [your personal trust and confidence in Me] has restored you to health; go in peace and be [permanently] healed from your suffering.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Mark 5:24-34 tells a story of a woman who had suffered a tremendous amount.

It had been twelve long years of suffering.

This disease was only getting worse, every dime she had had been spent in an effort to find a cure, there was none.

No physician or amount of medicine of the day was helping or would help.

All hope of any help was beginning to fade, and the future looked bleak.

The Bible does not tell us her name or her back story.

However, from the little information that we are given, we know that she had come to a point in her life where she was beyond desperate and out of options.

This is a story of not only suffering, but faith and courage.

This woman seeks out her last possible miracle of hope from the one whom she has not only heard has healed many but believes them all to be genuine, true.

Her beyond desperate pursuit of the power of Jesus Christ gives us a picture of what it means to be driven forth by our faith, to hang on to God’s faithfulness.

There are three main lessons I wish to highlight from this miraculous story.

To be desperate for God’s help
Our faith is to be rooted in Christ’s power to work out any trial we face
God lovingly welcomes us when we come to Him.

Come to God in Desperate need of Him

Scripture tells us that she had gone through all the options that one had to find a cure to her disease. The account in Mark 5:25-26 says she had

“suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.”

Miracles… we get really skeptical in a really big hurry when we hear that word.

Even Christians roll their eyes when you speak about God working a miracle.

We fail to realize miracles still happen today just as they did in the time of Jesus.

It is one thing for an unbeliever to be skeptical about a miracle, but if you are saved you’ve already experienced the greatest miracle of all time SALVATION!!!

Some people have to reach a devastating situation first before they are willing to open their eyes and see the power of God is their only hope and to see that the power of God unto Salvation can, will work a miracle in their life, even today.

Look at this woman’s situation for a moment:

A. The Sickness – v25a And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood

“An issue of blood” – speaks of hemorrhaging, or bleeding, from some part of the body.

This woman endured a continual flow of blood.

Due to her constant blood loss, she would have been incredibly weak, anemic.

She would have been pale in appearance and would have had no energy at all.

Do you know what it is like to have no energy at all?

It is frustrating and discouraging.

We can assume as a result of her physical ailments, she may have experienced much more than physical weakness but too, depression and discouragement.

B. The Span – v25b “twelve years”

– Not only did she face serious health problems, but she also found no relief.

She had endured this disease for 12 years …over a decade of sickness.

This woman would have been considered severely unclean, even untouchable according to the Law.

This would have resulted in social isolation:

Leviticus 15:25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. 26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. 27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

Could you imagine 12 years of continuous unyielding isolation and separation?

What a sad existence.

C. The Suffering – v26a And had suffered many things of many physicians,

She not only suffered the effects of her disease, but she suffered as a result of those whom she has hoped could heal her.

For a long time, this woman had been looking for answer but to no avail.

The Doctors were no help at all; you can read into this verse that they did more harm than good for this woman.

D. The Spending – v26b and had spent all that she had, – The doctors and their useless remedies had not helped her.

But they apparently took her money anyways.

After all of her searching and trying and suffering now she had spent everything she had. Here she is, sick, separated and desperately broke – but still spending!

Yes! I would absolutely say she is in a place of severe desperation!

Oh, but it still gets worse!

Notice:

E. The Ceaseless Spiral – v26c and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

– After 12 years and many doctors, after hoping and repeatedly praying that the next remedy would finally, ultimately be the one to cure, to heal her, things just get worse (as if she needed worse) …literally her life was draining out of her.

During this time period, it was common practice for those who were diagnosed with difficult medical cases, to consult with numerous different doctors.

They would undergo many forms of treatments and the supposed cures were often very abusive and would lead to the patient feeling worse than before.

This woman was so desperate that she not only went to so many different doctors but spent all of her money to find a cure.

The account in Luke 8:43 suggested that the woman could not be helped because her condition was incurable.

She was left feeling hopeless, untouchable and desperate to find an answer.

There was literally nothing that could humanly be done to help her and from a human standpoint, she was out of options.

It was only until she had heard about Jesus coming that she became aware that this would be her last try at a miracle, and final attempt at being made well.

^“She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.”

The passage tells us that there was a large crowd of people.

This woman, on the point of physical and spiritual death, who was most likely physically and emotionally exhausted, pushing her unyielding hopelessness and weaknesses aside,

“came” through the crowd of people to “draw near to Him.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4334/kjv/tr/0-1/

There was a “quiet” “unnoticeable” sense of desperation to get to Jesus because of her quiet faith that only He could bring her the hope that she was looking for.

Her eager attempt to “quietly” push her way through the crowd was a true picture of someone who is in desperate need of Christ.

The true lesson is not in our own ability to bring a solution to the trials we face, it is in our coming to the power of God with a heart which longs and yearns for the power of Salvation in Christ ALONE to come and to enter in and fill the void, of our untouchable measures, seasons of sadness, hardships we all go through.

It is crying out as the Psalmist did in chapter 63:1.

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

This is a cry of desperation and longing for the miraculous power of God.

Furthermore, a desperate heart, beyond desperate for the miraculous power of God, hangs on with every imaginable amount of energy to the truth found in

Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” We know that when we come to God, desperate and open, we can also trust Him fully with our lives and find rest in the one who is our true refuge.

As I mentioned, sometimes folks come to a place of “severe desperation” before they are willing enough to look to the power of Jesus for a miracle.

You may be here reading this devotion and spiritually you are in much the same situation as this woman.

You are suffering desperately with a desperately unclean disease …SIN!

You are looking for help, hope and happiness

You have searched everywhere with no success

You have looked to other people, and they couldn’t help you

You have spent entirely much money trying to buy things that will provide you with happiness …it didn’t work

You have dedicated yourself to your career goals and now you are desperately miserable; without the needed resources, you have a void that cannot be filled.

You thought a new “brand” of relationship might solve your problem

You thought that maybe more material goods, money would make life better

You may be turned to drugs and alcohol, crime, to numb the pain you face.

You have tried it all AND NOTHING IS WORKING!!

YOU ARE MISERABLE AND YOU NEED HELP NOW!

You my friend are at a place of “Severe Desperation” and that may be the best place for you to find the answer that you need!

This woman was at that point in her life too and she sought, found the answer… but how?

That is the next thing I would like for us to see.

Consider:

Our Faith is to be desperately rooted in Christ’s power to work out any trial we face

Verse 28 tells us that her faith was so deeply rooted in Christ’s power to save her from her trial,

“For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well”

II. The Specific Information Involved

– v27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. 28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

Notice the phrase -“When she had heard of Jesus”

How did she hear of Jesus?

o She didn’t have a Facebook account

o She did not have a Twitter or Tik Tok account

o She didn’t have any Internet or Wi-Fi services

o She did not have ZOOM or Tele-Medicine

o She did not have any Cable television to watch the Health News.

o There was certainly no Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

o There were definitely no Libraries at any National Institutes of Health.

She heard of Jesus because there were some excited people in the area talking about the man who had done so many miracles.

We have already reviewed the miracles of Jesus thus far in the Gospels.

It is possible that she has had a first-hand encounter with one of the people who were healed.

Maybe she had heard from or spoke with someone who witnessed one of the previous miracles.

Maybe she heard from someone who heard from someone who witnessed the miracles by actually and genuinely receiving the miracle.

I can’t prove this, but I would think that instead of any 3rd or 4th hand info, she may have heard an actual 1st hand account …a personal testimony, of someone who was radically changed by the powerful touch of Jesus Christ.

Here is why I believe this – Notice her statement “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” That statement alone shows extreme faith…

Somebody, face to face, soul to soul, shared powerful testimony with this lady!

“It is no secret what God can do”

“What He’s done for others, He’ll do for you”

“With arms wide open, He’ll pardon you”

“It is no secret, what God can do!”

Regardless, we know somebody told her of the healing power of Jesus Christ!

The one and only true source of where our faith can truly be placed, is in Christ.

As a human, the common thing to do when you’re sick, is turn to medicine and make a doctor’s appointment.

We go there expecting a clear answer to why we are feeling sick and a cure to our ailment. There is almost a sense of hope that is placed in the doctor.

I am not the least against modern day medicine at all, I come from a family that is filled with Professional Nurses – Myself, my late Mother, a RN for 40 years.

I have repeatedly witnessed the miracle of modern medicine through the skilled hands of many surgeons as both of my wife’s have been replaced giving her the ability to walk pain free and her arthritic back has been surgically reenforced.

I have the utmost respect for the men and women of our health care services.

The point here is that ultimately despite her diagnosis, this woman’s faith was set on the ONLY one who knows her biological make up better than any doctor.

God is the creator of our human bodies and knows exactly what we need.

This woman recognized despite her best efforts to get help from many doctors, Jesus Christ was the true source that could help her through this difficult trial.

Whenever we are faced with that beyond desperate situation that seems almost impossible to face, we are sometimes driven by our desperation to look to other “material” “worldly” things to bring us a solution, a peace to our circumstance.

This woman’s faith was so strong that notice how in verse 28, she mentions touching his garments, not even Christ himself.

She believed that in Christ’s unlimited power that her words held no doubt that if she “touched” the hem of Christ’s garments, she WOULD be made well.

If she was able to even slightly “… to fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to …” the hem of his garments, she WOULD IMMEDIATELY be MADE WELL.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3916/kjv/tr/0-1/

MADE WELL … Open this link to see the deeper meaning of this phrase!

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2476/kjv/tr/0-1/

The main lesson here does not lie in the outcome of her faith.

This woman could not foresee the future.

The Bible does not tell us that her faith predicted the future.

What scripture does tell us is that her faith was so strong that she knew her answers lied with the power of Salvation through Jesus Christ ALONE.

The end goal was to turn to Jesus Christ and look to Him for strength regardless of the outcome.

Unfortunately, too many people today are keeping secret what they should be shouting from the housetops!

People need to hear the specific information concerning what Jesus can do in their lives!

When people experience “Severe Desperation”, and they are given the “Specific Information” then there may be a “Supernatural Transformation”

III. The Supernatural Transformation Involved

– v28 … For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

What do we see in verse 29? …A MIRACLE!!!

This woman exhibited great faith in her determination to get to Jesus.

In past miracles the people were healed by the words of Jesus Some were healed when Jesus reached out and touched them.

This woman says, “All I need is to touch a piece of His clothes and I know I will be healed”

Her determination is also seen in the fact that she fought her way through the crowd to get to Jesus.

v30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? 31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

There was a great crowd gathered around Jesus.

This weak, frail, sickly and desperate woman fought through the crowd with what little strength she had.

She finally gets to where Jesus is, and risking quite literally everything she had left within her, she reached out and quietly touches “the hem of His garment”

We are told that “immediately the fountain of her blood dried up.”

The miracle that she had been looking for and longing for had happened.

The thing that she had spent so much time, money and effort on was wiped away in an instant.

This woman who was deemed unclean by the law is now clean because of Jesus!

WE CAN RELATE TO THAT!!!!

Listen to what Paul said in

– Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

When it came to the Law, we were helpless and hopeless.

We were deemed unclean!

Just like this woman we did not possess even the minimal ability to solve our problem, but praise God through the touch of Jesus Christ we’ve been healed!!

This woman with her physical disease sought Jesus, when it came to my own spiritual disease Jesus sought me

Who He was and what He did

How He loved and Who He is

Jesus is the miracle to me

What could be more miraculous?

That God Himself would come to us

Jesus is the miracle to me!

God lovingly welcomes His Children

When confronted by, with the fact Jesus had asked who had touched Him, He wasn’t asking because He didn’t know, He was beckoning her to come to Him.

Jesus is all knowing and sovereign, yet He still wants us to come to Him with an open heart and a burdened soul. He wants to hear us pour out our hearts, it is a clear indication that we’ll trust Him when we come with our burdens and joys.

Her approach to Him is described as being fearful and notice how the text says that she “fell down before him and told him the whole truth” (vs 33).

Her admission to touching His garments is so much deeper than the physical.

It also shows us a picture of what a true, repentant sinner looks like when being convicted of their sin.

She makes no excuses, she does not try to run, she comes and surrenders it all to Him.

Surrendering our sin, anxieties and worries about life is not a natural human reaction.

We tend to come kicking and screaming before God, as a last resort because our own attempts have failed.

Regardless of our attitude, when we finally plead for God’s help, His response is always filled with Grace towards His children.

Here he looks at this woman and lovingly says,

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed for your disease”

She is not only cleansed physically but, in that moment, has experienced the miraculous healing power of salvation through Christ ALONE in her life.

You and I too have that same opportunity to come before God and surrender it all to Him.

Like this woman, you and I will desperately try and live life in our own ways, rejecting that there is a God who has been there along.

The God who loves you and paid the penalty for our sin by dying a painful death so that we would not have to.

If we miraculously choose to place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the one who has the miraculous answer to life’s struggles and our reason to experience joy. He also miraculously looks at us and in the same way miraculously says;

“Daughter or Son, your faith has made you well”.

What HE did for this woman He can and will do for you!

A woman one day Tried many physicians

But daily grew worse in the bible were told

But when she had heard of this man called Jesus

She found what she needed for her body and soul

She said: If I can just touch the hem of his garment

If I could just touch one part of his robe

I know I’d be healed my sins all forgiven

If I could just touch him I know I’d be whole

One day I sat by the wayside begging

But nobody could help me down life’s weary way

Then my Jesus passed by, and He heard my sad crying

And He Reached down His hands and he saved me that day!

Do you need a special touch from the Lord today?

Are you “searching for a miracle”?

You have a choice; you can “bump into Jesus” like so many in the crowd that day or you can reach out and literally risk everything, touch Him with purpose.

AND MIRACULOUSLY BE MADE WELL AND LIVE!

You can find a miracle today!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Perform miracles in my life Lord to display your power and glory. Increase my faith to trust in you. May my whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless to the end. Through the miracle of salvation in Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Moving forward into Ministry: Trust, Faith, a Living Hope, after a Tragedy. Job 13:13-18

I have been asked several times how we can have trust or faith after tragedy.

Considering the scope and the magnitude of our recent events – several mass shootings, I took it as God’s Spirit moving me today to write this devotional.

As with a host of countless others, I have been through a few tragedies in my life and never genuinely thought of myself as a trauma survivor until I was trained as a Professional Registered Nurse in the field of Psychiatry.

I have never in my life experienced the scope of the tragedies from those events.

The closest: My father was a two-tour combat veteran of the Korean Conflict. I lived my life as a first-generation male child born from his combat experiences.

My Father was 100% Service Connected for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I as the only male child, bore the full brunt of his experiences on those battlefields.

His mental health issues and his alcoholism created enormous challenges for our relationship as father and son. I was constantly, desperately trying to cope.

These struggles and challenges shaped and reshaped each of my career choices.

I tried engineering like my father wanted me to except the math was too hard. I flunked out of college trying everything I could do to make him ‘happy’ with his career choice for my life. I learned to fear what might happen if I indeed failed.

Instead, I followed my RN mother into Nursing and became quite successful.

I got a position as a Psychiatry – Mental Health Counselor for a new Homeless program serving a diverse population of long-term Homeless Veterans, from both peace time military service and military service in a combat zone.

Part of the introductory speech was to be sure you identify yourself as a trauma survivor, if in fact, you were. One identified this way out of maximum respect. I myself am a veteran of both the Navy and Army serving sixteen and a half years.

As that Professional Counselor, I was able to see how people handled their grief and the impact of that tragedy and grief impacted their outlook on their faith.

How you trust, have faith and develop a living hope after a tragedy may be in direct correlation to how you faithfully trusted in living hope prior to tragedy.

Indeed, in good times it is easy to trust, have faith and a living hope and our trust, faith, hope may be a bit shallow and naive, immature and uninformed.

When all is well there is very little to trust since there seems to be so much evidence of God being good and good to you.

Seldom do we genuinely trust that God would ever allow any tragedy or sorrow to come our way. Yet, that is not consistent with what the Word of God teaches.

Job 13:13-18 Amplified Bible

Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated

¹³
“Be silent before me so that I may speak;
And let happen to me what may.
¹⁴
“Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
And put my life in my hands [incurring the wrath of God]?
¹⁵
“Even though He kills me;
I will hope in Him.
Nevertheless, I will argue my ways to His face.
¹⁶
“This also will be my salvation,
For a godless man may not come before Him.

¹⁷
“Listen diligently to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.
¹⁸
“Behold now, I have prepared my case;
I know that I will be vindicated.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

We may quote that verse from the oldest book of the Bible at times and even think we have that kind of trust, but we do not want it tested.

Indeed, all of us would fail that test.

I suspect very few people have suffered as much tragedy as Job.

He lost his wealth, his ten children and his health in a very short time.

The trauma of it all so devastated his wife that she encouraged him to curse God and die. Sometimes folks are hard on Mrs. Job as if she was being heartless.

Indeed, she may have been seeking relief for his suffering and hoping God would kill her as well to stop her pain.

During the many times of war and plagues since then people have had some Job moments.

Still, Job said God could kill him and still he would trust God. Is it any wonder God pointed to him as a man of God and the devil wanted to destroy him?

We tend to forget that we are in a sin cursed world because of Adam and Eve.

Everything was in perfect peace and balance in Eden.

Once they chose to opt for being like God all of that changed and in essence man was in charge of a world he could not control or fix as it deteriorated.

Mankind also began deteriorating so that here we are in the last spasms of the Earth with men and women of minds and souls so depraved that we are seeing indescribably lethal, and unbelievably violent horrors almost on a daily basis.

Indeed, the song “This Is My Father’s World” is accurate in the title, but not in theology.

While God owns the universe, He gave the Earth to man who gave it to the devil at the Fall.

Now that man is cursed and influenced by satan more so than God it is being destroyed like a bad renter who breaks everything and allows animals to use it as their bathroom while never cleaning allowing the place to be infested by roaches and rats. (Apologies for the brooding anger behind that description).

One day God will come to repossess the world and after a thousand years he will destroy it and build new.

In a sense, since man has chosen the devil over God this world is our father, the devil’s world.

Unfortunately, due to some bad theology many people lose their trust or faith after a tragedy because either they have not read the Word, or someone taught them that God wants His people to always be healthy and wealthy.

If you pull some Scripture out of context you can come up with many errors that will blast your brain, your trust and faith and hope when they do not prove true.

3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Many use this passage to teach health and prosperity is a right.

Yet, John only wished that they would prosper and be in health.

It is not a guarantee any more than when we wish someone to have a good day and stay safe.

Note that John wants it to be in direct proportion to their soul maturing in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

Many immature Christians cling to this as a promise and when they lose their job or their health or worse, then they lose their faith in God and the Word.

If our health, wellbeing and wealth were truly tied to the prosperity of our soul many of us would be in near total poverty and near death. Grace is wonderful.

2 Timothy 4:20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.

Philippians 2:25-27 ²⁵However, I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, [who has been] my brother and companion and fellow soldier, who was also sent as your messenger to take care of my needs. ²⁶For he has been longing ^[a]for all of you and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷He certainly was sick and close to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.

We believe in divine healing and yet God does not always heal as some teach.

Some healers say if you are not healed it is because you did not have faith.

Paul had enormous faith and yet, for some reason he could not instantly heal Trophimus like he did others.

Epaphroditus nearly died and it appears that God did not use instant healing in his case, but still healed him without Paul.

I would easily suggest that all three of men had far more faith or trust than the average “Christian” today, but they suffered, one even to the brink of death.

If you believe that God always heals and must heal every time prayer for healing is made you are going to have a crisis of faith after that loved one died that you had on twenty prayer lists and had them anointed three times.

You are going to be extraordinarily angry with God and throw the Bible on the shelf or in the recycle bin and declare you no longer believe or trust God. Your faith was based and cemented in bad doctrine, your emotions instead of God.

How so many good and bad and horribly bad people can believe the saved are somehow surrounded by an iron dome keeping us free from sickness, poverty, persecution, oppression and death is beyond me when so many in the World did not have a life like that and we are even warned about what we will experience.

Tell that to many believers around the world today who suffer great persecution and yet love the Lord to the max and take great risks to worship and evangelize.

John 16:32-33 (Amplified Version) ³²Take careful notice: an hour is coming, and has arrived, when you will all be scattered, each to his own home, leaving Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]

Jesus said we would have tribulation!

The word is literally ‘pressure’, but is also translated as persecution, anguish and affliction.

No promise of exemption from it, just that He has overcome and so will the saved though they will have to bear up through heavy burdens or tragedies.

1 Timothy 3:10-13 ¹⁰Now you have diligently followed [my example, that is] my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, ¹¹persecutions, and sufferings—such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, but the Lord rescued me from them all! ¹²Indeed, all who delight in pursuing righteousness and are determined to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be hunted and persecuted [because of their faith]. ¹³But evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Paul had listed some of the trials and persecutions he had gone through and is saying this is not just my issue or legacy.

You live godly and the ungodly are going to persecute you.

There is a connotation of fleeing your pursuer in the Greek.

It begs the question that if I am not being persecuted am I living a godly life?

I believe it was Menno Simons who said something like a church that is not being persecuted is not a true church. Ouch! So, if everything is peachy keen maybe we should be in prayer asking why instead of asking why when it is not.

Romans 8:16-21 ¹⁶The Spirit Himself testifies and confirms together with our spirit [assuring us] that we [believers] are children of God. ¹⁷And if [we are His] children, [then we are His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His spiritual blessing and inheritance], if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory.

¹⁸For I consider [from the standpoint of faith] that the sufferings of the present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us! ¹⁹For [even the whole] creation [all nature] waits eagerly for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration and futility, not willingly [because of some intentional fault on its part], but by the will of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will also be freed from its bondage to decay [and gain entrance] into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Christ said that the student was not greater than the teacher and if they hated Christ and called him of the devil ultimately crucifying Him what do you think they will do to you if they can?

The “if so be that we suffer “is not saying you might not suffer with Him, but more that it is our lot to look forward to being glorified with Him because we suffer with Him indicating He is near us when we suffer. It comes along with the divine bloodline. If we have to suffer, fine, because we will be glorified.

Romans 8:34-39 ³⁴Who is the one who condemns us? Christ Jesus is the One who died [to pay our penalty], and more than that, who was raised [from the dead], and who is at the right hand of God interceding [with the Father] for us. ³⁵Who shall ever separate us from the love of ^[a]Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶Just as it is written and forever remains written,

“For Your sake we are put to death all day long;
We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us]. ³⁸For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul would not go through this list if there was no possibility of these tragedies happening to saints making them wonder if they were separated from Christ.

Jeremiah 29:10-13 ¹⁰“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years [of exile] have been completed for Babylon, I will visit (inspect) you and keep My good promise to you, to bring you back to this place. ¹¹For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. ¹³Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Some of you may have been wondering how in the world does all of this square with Jeremiah 29:10-13.

Israel was in captivity because of sin, but then God promised an end to it and great blessing.

Yet, they suffered and when you tie in the next verses the key to 11 is 12 and 13. When they seek Him with all of their hearts and pray in earnest then He will hear and set them free. That goes for us as well.

How do we trust after tragedy?

It boils down to do we really believe what we often glibly ask. “Is God good all the time and all the time God is good or not?”

If He is, then we can believe that in His omniscience and omnipresence He has opted to exercise or withhold His omnipotence for the greater good or to bring us closer to Him because we have strayed away or because it is just part of this sinful world to lose a loved one because we are in a world of death.

If Christians never died or became ill, disabled or unemployed or financially distressed, then everyone would want to be a Christian to escape those things.

Both believers and unbelievers need to see that we do not ever escape the pain, but we have Jesus Christ who 100% gets us through the pain because He is good.

If He were not good, nothing good would ever happen because both He and the devil would be bringing evil to us.

We always question why bad things happen to good people when really the question is why good things happen to bad people since no one is righteous.

We will never know (why should we want to know?) exactly how bad our lives could be or could have been without the faithfulness of God until we get home.

I have had tragedies in my life, but still He has been faithful and so good to me.

God’s thoughts towards us are not evil.

The devil on the other hand has no good thoughts about us.

He wants to steal everything we value.

He wants to kill all of us and if our good God did not thwart his desires, we surely would all be dead and everything we have sought to build in our lives destroyed; marriage, children, testimonies all gone.

Too often we create our own tragedies.

Free will can cause our greatest pain when we do what God said not to do or not do what He told us to do.

The worst tragedy is running from God instead of to Him.

No one or nothing else will heal your pain and offer your life that is abundant either in quantity, quality or both even when you had to pass through the valley of the shadow of death to get to those green pastures.

2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

It also comes down to it not being all about us.

God will comfort you, if you allow Him.

When you are ready. Be still and ask Him to take the pain, bring comfort and ultimately peace and joy.

He may never explain why the tragedy was not averted.

We may not know until we get to Heaven and then that puzzle piece with the question mark on it will fit perfectly, but we will not care then.

Listen to Him.

Read the Word.

Fervently Pray even when it seems useless to the maximum.

Let Him change your theology, if necessary.

Parents do not always outlive their children.

People are not always healed.

Not everyone will be rich, but through His Holy Spirit working in you it can be a life rich in many more things than money.

Peace with God and a ministry to use your gift is worth all the material wealth in the universe.

You cannot trust a person until they have been proven trustworthy.

God is the only one you can 100% trust and often you will not fully believe that until He has proven to you that He is in the time of trouble.

Open your hands, your heart and your soul to Him.

Tragedy does not have to define the whole or any single place of your existence

You can be healed of your tragedy, your pain and you can and WILL trust again.

Maranatha!!!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord, we pray for those who have been utterly devastated by recent tragedies. We remember those who have lost their lives so suddenly and without cause. We hold deep within our hearts and souls the families forever changed by grief and loss. By Your mercy, Bring them to their Shalom, their consolation and comfort.

Surround them with our prayers for strength and healing. Bless those who have survived and likewise, in Your own way, in Your own time, heal their memories of trauma and devastation. May they have the courage to face the days ahead.

Help us as compassionate human beings, to respond with generosity in prayer, in assistance, and in comfort to the best of our abilities. Keep our hearts focused on the totality of needs of all the community. We ask this in Jesus’ living name. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu9VC-i4Gv4

https://translate.google.com/

Ordering our First Steps. Moving Forth into Mission and Ministry. Proverbs 9:10

Perhaps each and every one of us has our own nuanced version of this story.

A little boy comes to his father: “Daddy, I cannot get these two pieces of my model airplane to fit together. I know they come together somehow, but no matter what I try or how I try it, they just will not come together for me.”

The father walks his young son back to where he was working on his model. He sits down with his son and looks over the table where the model is now laid out.

The father picks up the directions which came in the box with the model, and he carefully looks over and through them – occasionally looking back at the pieces that were laid out on the table. He moved the pieces around a couple of times to try and make sense and match up the individual pieces to the written directions.

He calls his son over to the table and together they now both starts looking at the pieces, then at the directions, then back to the pieces arrayed on the table.

Then together they both discover the problem was that both of the parts should have been brought together s few steps sooner in the model building process.

Dad and son now look at each other with giant smiles plastered on their faces. In the next several hours, both Father and son complete the model as it looked on the box. They put the completed model next to the box – it all came together!

See what happens? The father asked the son. “They tell you to put these pieces together early because they know it will be way more difficult to do so later.”

Lesson being, sometimes when it seems that life’s pieces do not fit together, it maybe because we skipped over the first step because we thought it was all too obvious what that first step was supposed to be. We skip over the first steps.

We seem to “automatically” skip over the first essential steps – then we cannot figure out why all those later steps just do not work the way the directions read.

The first step to any project – big or small – always and forever start with God.

Proverbs 9:9-12 Amplified Bible

⁹
Give instruction to a wise man and he will become even wiser;
Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.
¹⁰
The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of wisdom [its starting point and its essence],
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding and spiritual insight.
¹¹
For by me (wisdom from God) your days will be multiplied,
And years of life shall be increased.
¹²
If you are wise, you are wise for yourself [for your own benefit];
If you scoff [thoughtlessly ridicule and disdain], you alone will pay the penalty.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

“What to do first and then what to do next?”

Who is ordering our steps – giving us our directions – step by step directions –

Adam and Eve, evicted from the Garden to cultivate and toil the soil – where did the very first step of those very first step-by-step instructions come from so to even begin what had not been previously known – the cultivating of new soils.

Whose wisdom first taught and then guided Adam on those very first “best gardening practices” how to till and cultivate the previously unworked soils?

Patriarch Noah and God’s command to build the ark. Such a vast and seemingly impossible building project.

What skill sets did Noah possess to even begin such a magnanimous project?

Where did the “blueprints” come from? Who drew them up and hands them off to Noah alone? Blueprints are truly complicated and detailed drawings – who drew, detailed the plans for the construction of the Ark?

Where did Noah begin? Genesis 6:13-17 Amplified Version

It began with God’s command –

¹³God said to Noah, “I intend to make an end of all that lives, for through men the land is filled with violence; and behold, I am about to ^[a]destroy them together with the land. ¹⁴Make yourself an ^[b]ark of ^[c]gopher wood; make in it rooms (stalls, pens, coops, nests, cages, compartments) and ^[d]coat it inside and out with pitch (bitumen). ¹⁵This is the way you are to make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits (450’ x 75’ x 45’). ¹⁶You shall make a ^[e]window [for light and ventilation] for the ark and finish it to at least a cubit (eighteen inches) from the top—and set the [entry] door of the ark in its side; and you shall make it with lower, second and third decks. ¹⁷For behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all life under the heavens in which there is the breath and spirit of life; everything that is on the land shall die.

How would Noah know what the first and most essential steps would be? The first step in any project is always the most essential step to get “exactly right.”

Such a vast and previously untried and seemingly impossible task as building that very first and specifically “God-detailed, God directed, God measured,” mission minded and ministry-oriented project to be finished by man’s hands.

Genesis 12:1-7Amplified Bible

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now [in Haran] the Lord had said to Abram,

“Go away from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
²
And ^[a]I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you [abundantly],
And make your name great (exalted, distinguished);
And you shall be a blessing [a source of great good to others];
³
And I will bless (do good for, benefit) those who bless you,
And I will curse [that is, subject to My wrath and judgment] the one who curses (despises, dishonors, has contempt for) you.
And in you all the families (nations) of the earth will be blessed.”

⁴So Abram departed [in faithful obedience] as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the [great] terebinth (oak) tree of Moreh. Now the ^[b]Canaanites were in the land at that time. ⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So, Abram built an altar there to [honor] the Lord who had appeared to him.

Consider the scope and magnitude of the task God placed before Abram –

How did it all begin – “The Lord said to Abram …

The Lord commanded a polytheistic man who had not ever heard God before.

The Command – Verse 1

“Go away from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;”

Can we presume that Abram would automatically know which ‘land’ God was talking about?

Can we presume Abram already knew exactly where that ‘land’ was located?

Can we presume that Abram knew the exact route to any and every ‘land’ God might have in mind to ‘blindly’ send him to?

What maps did Abram possess as there certainly was no Garmin GPS system?

Read that first and last line again – “Go! … To the land which I will show you …”

This incomprehensible mission and ministry project began with God’s Wisdom.

Verses 2 and 3

It outlined the promises of “if you, Abram, follow me step – by – step …” then the rewards of your fullest obedience to “MY step – by – step …” instructions.

It moved to Abram’s obedience – Verses 4 – 6

Verse 7: It concludes with Abram’s praise and worship for God’s step – by – step directions. ⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” So, Abram built an altar there to [honor] the Lord who had appeared to him.

In fullest possible obedience to God’s carefully detailed, specific step – by – step directions, Abram obeyed! Let God order each of Abrams’ steps and his journey.

The Reward – God made Abraham the Father of “Many Nations.”

Genesis 17:1-5 Amplified Bible

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the ^[a]Lord appeared to him and said,

“I am ^[b]God Almighty;
Walk [habitually] before Me [with integrity, knowing that you are always in My presence], and be blameless and complete [in obedience to Me].
²
“I will establish My covenant (everlasting promise) between Me and you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly [through your descendants].”

³Then Abram fell on his face [in worship], and God spoke with him, saying,

⁴
“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
And [as a result] you shall be the father of many nations.
⁵
“No longer shall your name be Abram (exalted father),
But your name shall be Abraham (father of a multitude);
For I will make you the father of many nations.

Everything we have received, everything we have right now in life, everything we will receive in the future always came arrived and will always and forever come to us, will come to us from God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, with the already fulfilled and forever promise of “new beginnings.”

The word ‘beginning’ can mean either “the first part” or “the main part.”

In both cases, the eminently practical message is exactly the same.

The absolute most essential “first step,” and the continual first and foremost priority, in fitting all the parts of life together is to glorify, to honor, to revere, and to worship God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Why?

Because all knowledge, and all wisdom and all truth comes first from God!

And in obedience, we must absolutely first seek our answers only through Him.

If we find ourselves stumped with a part of our life that completely refuses to fit together no matter manners and methodologies, we try –

Revelation 1:8 Amplified Bible

⁸“I am the ^[a]Alpha and the Omega [the Beginning and the End],” says the Lord God, “Who is [existing forever] and Who was [continually existing in the past] and Who is to come, the Almighty [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all].”

#1: THINGS WITH GOD!

THEN END ALL THINGS WITH GOD!

Revelation 22:12-14Amplified Bible

¹²“Behold, I (Jesus) am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, ^[a]to give to each one ^[b]according to the merit of his deeds (earthly works, faithfulness). ¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End [the Eternal One].”

^14 [c]Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) are those who wash their robes [in the blood of Christ by believing and trusting in Him—the righteous who do His commandments], so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lead Me on Level Ground Prayer,

God, my Creator, God, the Author of the entirety of my life, teach me to do your will, for you are my only true God. May your Holy Spirit lead me on level ground. I see your faithfulness and goodness in what you have done for me throughout my life. I think about these things, and I thirst for you. Let me hear of your unfailing love every morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Keep me on firm footing for the glory of your name. Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Fresh Fire: Becoming the Person God Has Called You to Be. 1 Corinthians 2:12

We sometimes get frustrated when people outside of Christ do not seem to be able to understand the teaching of Scripture.

However, we must not forget that there are two realities to the truth of Scripture that non-believers do not experience.

First, the Holy Spirit, who inspired Scripture and uses Scripture to form us, also helps followers of Jesus understand the truth that God has given us.

Second, the truth of Scriptures often becomes more understandable as we obey it. The Holy Spirit is at work helping us understand the Scriptures he inspired!

Whether we might be rookies or veterans, let’s never approach our time in Bible study without asking for the Holy Spirit to make God’s truth known unto us!

Years ago, I remember hearing Campus Crusader founder Bill Bright teaching on the Holy Spirit. In his message, he talked about a man to whom he had been in the throes of witnessing to. One of the “Problems” with the Christian faith was he had tried to read the Bible several times but could not “figure it out.”

Then the man received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and went back to talk again with Dr. Bright about one week later. He had an amazing story to tell him.

During that weeks’ time, he said, it was as though somebody had re-written his Bible. Suddenly, he said, the Scriptures came alive to him. The understanding of them had broken into his thoughts as when quick lightning strikes the ground.

How had it happened? The Teacher – the Holy Spirit, had taken up residence in his soul. What had once been obscure and confusing drivel was now pulsating with most profound degrees, measures of meaning, encouragement and hope.

1 Corinthians 2:6-12Amplified Bible

⁶Yet we do speak wisdom among those spiritually mature [believers who have teachable hearts and a greater understanding]; but [it is a higher] wisdom not [the wisdom] of this present age nor of the rulers and leaders of this age, who are passing away; ⁷but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom once hidden [from man, but now revealed to us by God, that wisdom] which God predestined before the ages to our glory [to lift us into the glory of His presence]. ⁸None of the rulers of this age recognized and understood this wisdom; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; ⁹but just as it is written [in Scripture],

“Things which the eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”

¹⁰For God has unveiled them and revealed them to us through the [Holy] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things [diligently], even [sounding and measuring] the [profound] depths of God [the divine counsels and things far beyond human understanding]. ¹¹For what person knows the thoughts and motives of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So also no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the [Holy] Spirit who is from God, so that we may know and understand the [wonderful] things freely given to us by God.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

To be the person God has called you to be.

And that got me thinking. Yes dangerous, I know.

You see I believe that the Holy Spirit does do amazing things in people today.

I believe that right now He is doing stuff in each of us, to refine us, to change us, to bless us.

What I started thinking about was,

what if instead of becoming the person God has called me to be,

I had become the person I myself desired to be?

What kind of person would I be today if the Holy Spirit had not led me?

Where would I have been this morning if I had chosen not to allow the Spirit to lead me?

If God were not guiding you according to His plan, and His purpose, who would you have followed?

Who would have been your role model?

What would you be like if you could become anyone you could want to be?

Would you be a scientist or an artist?

Would you be a musician or a mime?

Would you be a best selling author or a teacher?

Would you be a butcher, baker or candlestick maker?

Would you be a politician?

Would you be a professional sports athlete?

Would you be a banker, an industrialist, a world leader?

Would you have been like some Greek mythological hero born of Hollywood?

If you could desire above all other possibilities to become anyone, would you be willing to become the humble servant person that God has called you to be?

Let’s face it, you are who you are, for a reason today you are you because you are you.

But, are you, all the you, you can be today?

Are you allowing the Spirt to work in you today?

What would your life be like if you allowed yourself to fully be the person God wants you to be?

What differences would there be in your life tomorrow if you allowed the Spirit to work in you today?

Today as part of this seasons Pentecost experience I want to encourage you, to genuinely challenge you, to examine where you are where you really want to be.

The verse I want you to focus on this day is

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 (NIV) which says:

“God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”

The NLT translates this verse:

It was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

For so many people in the world today there are times in life that nothing seems to happen, then times where everything is boring without sense or meaning.

So many people want to be someone else simply because they feel their own life is empty.

Be honest, in your own spiritual walk, have there been times when you have complained that everything is the same, no growth and no direction, yet when you have felt the Spirit prompt you to do something, you have chosen not to?

Maybe there have been times in your life when doubt has stopped you moving forward.

Stopped you from allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life.

Maybe there have been times when you have asked why?

Maybe there are times when you have refused to ask yourself why?

So, let me ask you why.

From our text, let me form a question for you from the bible verses we have read.

Why when, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us – why do we choose to accept less than God has freely given us?

Why do we spend so much time desiring to be like someone else and ignore who God is calling us to be?

How can we move past the feeling that something is wrong and allow God to work in our lives today?

How can we have greater joy in our lives?

How can we be satisfied?

How can we be the people that God has called us to be?

The simple answer is we must allow the Spirit to work in our lives so that we can become the people God has called us to be.

Do you allow the Spirit to work in your life?

Are you thankful for the blessings God has freely given you to enjoy everyday?

When was the last time you thanked God for the beauty of His creation?

When was the last time you thanked God for what He is doing in your life?

When was the last time you thanked God for what He provides you with everyday? Your bed, your food, your clothes.

When was the last time you thanked God for His love, His grace, His Mercy?

When was the last time you allowed the Spirit to work in you and through you for God’s glory?

When was the last time you thanked God for the work of the Holy Spirit in your life?

When was the last time you asked the Spirit to work in your life to help you be the person God has called you to be?

It is true to say that God knows your past, God knows your today, and He knows your future.

You know your past, you are living in your today, and I’m sure you have a hope for your future.

Does your plan for the future align with God’s plan for your future?

Actually, does your plan for today align with God’s plan for you today?

So often we try and prepare for things in our own strength, and too often we wonder why things didn’t go according to our plan when we never stopped to find out what God’s perfect plan for us was.

The past, the present and the future belongs to God and we need to be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into our destiny.

We must be open to the leading of the Spirit.

Are you willing to become the person God has called you to be by allowing the Spirit to work in you today?

Are you willing to give control of your life to God?

Are you willing to allow the full power of the Holy Spirit into your life, in your home, in your family, in your workplace.

We will never experience the full joy and contentment that God wants us to have if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to work in us.

We all need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.With His power our life can become a blessing to others.

With His power others will see and experience the love of Jesus Christ through us.

Today, do you consider your life to be a living witness for Christ?

Today, would you allow the Holy Spirit to help you share the truth of Jesus with others?

Friends, you may look at others as role models, as people you aspire to be like, are you willing to be the person God has called you to be?

Are you willing to allow God to use you to bring glory to Him?

Are you willing to open your life to the Holy Spirit and be a blessing to people you meet?

Remember we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

As Christians we received the Spirit who is from God and not of the world, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God

So that we might use the gifts and talents God has given us, so that we can be the People that God has called us to be.

God has called us to communicate the truth with others, are you sharing the truth?

You can do it verbally, you can do it in the written word, you can do it on Facebook or Twitter, but are you doing it?

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you today?

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you today to become the person that God has called you to be?

Let me encourage you to become the person God has called you to be.

Allow the Holy Spirit to work in you today.

Share the Good News of God’s Saving work in your life.

Allow the Holy Spirit to help you become the person God has called you to be.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Jesus, Giver of peace, I so easily get distracted when I’m trying to focus and hear your Holy Spirit. Help me quiet my mind in the middle of my busy life. Help me to pause and to make space to listen to the most important voice of all.

Empower me to be a good listener to the gentle whispers of your Spirit. Help me follow the example of Jesus, who would slip away into the evening or the early morning to be alone with you. Teach me to abide in you. Amen.

Savior Jesus, you sent the Holy Spirit to your disciples so they would have a helper and a guide at all times. I pray that you send to me your Holy Spirit to be my helper. May your Spirit pour light into my heart and make my spirit glow in your glory. I seek to understand and to stay in your word, oh Lord. Illuminate my heart with your Spirit. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

I am reaching for the unquestionably great promise of now unquestionably living the unquestionably great life of Christ – seeking God with my WHOLE heart, my WHOLE soul. Acts 2:37-39

The first Pentecost after Jesus’ death and resurrection was the birthday of Jesus’ church.

The Holy Spirit moved in Jesus’ apostles; they suddenly proclaimed the good news to people from many parts of the Mediterranean area (Acts 2:8-11).

Thousands were baptized, forgiven of their sins, and given the Holy Spirit as God’s gift.

But even in the unquestionable greatness of that day, there was the promise of more unquestionably great days to come.

The promise of God’s forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit are for all whom the Lord calls, including us and others he will call.

Like all unquestionably great stories with unquestionably great promises of an unquestionably great future attached to it, they must all begin with a minimum of at least one someone somewhere who will take the risk to jump in with both feet with at least a minimal degree of belief it will actually, absolutely be true.

Someone, somewhere, somehow must dare to question the “truth” of such an unquestionably great promise – it must somehow be proven if it is to continue.

Life must be lived – but we have that choice to determine how we should do so.

“Nothing Ventured – Nothing Gained”

“Go for the Gusto or Just plain Go Away.”

Live as if it is only according to the principle of “maintaining the Status quo.”

Live as if there is the possibility that the unquestionably great promise being offered of unquestionably great things coming your way – if you’ll take a risk.

“As a guiding principle, life shrinks, and life expands in direct proportion to your willingness to assume risk.” Casey Neistat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Neistat

The Holy Spirit moved in an unquestionably powerful way that first Pentecost Day.

Unquestionably remarkable and unquestionably miraculous events took place in the thousands of lives of those who had gathered Jerusalem that day.

Lives were unquestionably changed.

Unquestionably a great promise had been fulfilled by God to come among them.

Now, how would these people respond to such an unquestionably great event.

A shrug of the shoulders and the maintenance of “Status Quo?”

Somebody “girding their loins” learning how to get trained up in the operation of the Gospel Train of God – because now people could know – that God is now completely on our whole life’s train track – and there’s no stopping God now!

Peter makes a promise for all those everywhere who will turn their hearts to God and submit themselves to him in baptism, fully trusting in Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

They will be filled with God’s Spirit and forgiven of their sins because of the mighty name and gracious work of Jesus Christ.

This whole passage (Acts 2:33-47) demonstrates that Peter and the apostles had begun fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20):

they were making disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching people to obey what the Lord commanded.

Like those early disciples, let’s accept the challenge, share this grace so the whole world can unquestionably know Jesus is not only our Lord, He is also unquestionably Savior and King for all who hear God’s call and trust in him.

God’s great promise of Holy Spirit guiding, getting our whole life on His track!

This unquestionably great promise of God is extended too literally everyone!

Without exception – one promise for literally everyone to come to and “LIVE!”

If that first person would dare to come forward out of the crowd – and prove it!

By the power of the Holy Spirit, have you or anyone you know ever shared this life transitioning message of promise, forgiveness, and power with others?

Acts 2:37-39Amplified Bible

The Ingathering

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart [with remorse and anxiety], and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what are we to do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children and for all who are far away [including the Gentiles], as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Bible says in Acts 2:38

“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”.

The word repent is to express sincere regret, remorse one’s wrongdoing and sins. Repentance is the action we ourselves choose to exercise of turning away from that wrongdoing and sin and our choosing not to partake in that again.

The thing we really need to understand is that repentance is not a one-time event that one does to receive salvation.

True repentance causes a person to say,

“I want to live in Christ, prove it with a 180-degree change of their direction.”

Repentance requires true brokenness.

It is NOT asking our God for forgiveness with the intent to sin again, but is an honest, regretful acknowledgement of sin with a true and total commitment to change – to choose between sin’s “status quo” and freedom in Christ Jesus.

I remember some years ago while I was still young in “my Christianity” we had a Pastor at our spiritual retreat, and I remember him saying to us one Sunday:

“We all need to change every day therefore we need all to repent everyday”.

I was then still in the ‘young’ mind-set that repentance was something just for salvation until I found myself having to repent not committing some atrocious sin prese but omitting something, like not studying like I should, not fasting in the “prescribed biblical way” and when I was or was not praying like I should.

Since God was dealing with my “youthful Christianity” as the first partaker with that message, I had to repent because I began to see what I was omitting and falling short of the glory of God in my life personally (Romans 3:23).

I began to be like David and pray like he did in Psalm 51:6-10

“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”.

Now before someone gets the wrong impression, I am not talking about my committing a sin that is punishable with Hell’s damnation, but I am talking about realizing your personal short comings, being totally pleasing unto God.

There’s a saying that confession is good for the soul. It comes from an old Scottish proverb, which said in full, “Open confession is good for the soul.”

There is biblical truth in that!

When John the Baptist was preparing people to meet Jesus, his first advice was to repent.

Peter then on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:38 said

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”.

I remember being handed a two-sided bookmark for my Bible which had this prayer printed on its front and its back –

A Prayer for Daily Repentance

Dear Lord, thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for not abandoning us to our mistakes, but for reaching out instead to bring us home. Help convict me of sin and help me accept your mercy without shame. Thank you for the love you have poured out for me and all your children. Help me live out of that love today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

That was almost seventeen years ago, and I believe I still have that bookmark.

I truly believe my “Christianity” has grown up and matured just a bit in these intervening years since my long weekend attendance that spiritual retreat.

But sometimes I find that my premise of a “more mature” Christian life being tested by the unquestionably life changing events of these last several months.

We have experienced unprecedented life events that leave us bewildered at best.

The truth of the matter is that these past two years have changed society as a whole and will continually and continuously change many of us personally in ways unlike any we could not have even imagined, for many more months.

For many, the old pattern of life has been broken, and a new one has come into play. Social distancing has changed the way we will each choose to interact with people probably forever. Hand shaking and the ever-popular hug except for our close family members will if ever done again will be done with extreme caution.

When we look back over the last two years, we have been inundated with events, information, rather good or bad, racism played out to the fullest, hatred spewed from the mouths of leaders both political and spiritual, never before imagined acts of gun violence being done in the United States carried out by Americans.

We see the War in the Ukraine.

We have seen hospitals pushed to the limits; deaths reaching and seemingly passing Biblical proportions. We have experienced seismic paradigm shifts in politics, life and religion, today is so majorly different then it was only a year ago. In the prophetic, immortal words of Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”.

I can honestly say for myself and maybe for a lot of you I haven’t watched CNN or other major news stations as much as I have these past two years in my life.

I, like many of you, am completely inundated by my television set with all the bad news, all the intrigue, killings, politics, civil uprisings, unbelievable reports of increasingly lethal mass shootings, deaths, panic, Breaking News Headlines.

I saw this statement that said there are more televisions in the average home than there are people. And this does not include other electronic devices upon which television shows and programming can be watched.

I believe it can literally be blamed that the increase in violence, unrest, hatred, and godless upheaval being seen in our society today is a direct result of what is coming across our computer and television and other social media outlets.

The Bible says it like this in Galatians 6:7 “Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

“We must reap the change which only comes from living Christ to the fullest.”

For 20 years, I “grew and matured in my faith” in the church and I know for a fact many times this scripture will be used when it comes time for the offering.

However, today I am going to deal with something different because we need to understand we reap what we sow more today than probably any time in history.

We are sowing not so much monetarily into a ministry or church organization, but we are sowing and having sown more than you realize into your spirit. We are allowing things to affect us in ways more than we normally would. Many of us have developed new patterns and habits that we did not have just a year ago.

Now is the time that we need to be cognizant of the influences of our lives and what is being sown into our spirit.

Proverbs 4:23 says “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”.

In the Old Testament the word “heart” is used more than 800 times, but more than 200 times it deals with one’s thoughts, emotions, and the wellsprings of the choices we make about living life, those things that motivate and mold us.

Solomon says in Proverbs 23:7 “For ah he thinketh so, is he?” WHY – Because this will control the rest of your life. What you think is what you are.

Your thoughts rather positive, negative, good, or bad control your attitudes.

Your attitudes are the sum of your thoughts.

Your attitudes lead to your actions.

That is why we must guard our hearts and be careful with what we allow to be sown or what we sow into our spirit.

It is so easy to be influenced by what we see on T.V., the internet, read in the paper or are texted across and upon the whole host of social media outlets.

Luke 22:31 says “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat”.

That means to continually and continuously confuse and poison your heart.

Don’t be confused by the manipulation of people.

The devil wants to continually and continuously contaminate and corrupt your WHOLE heart. You must guard your heart against contamination from jealousy, philosophies, traditions, speculation, arrogance, pride, lies and everything else.

God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit wants your heart for Himself.

It was the basis of your original union with Him.

God didn’t appeal to your intellect; He asked for faith.

The enemy despises your heart because it is with your heart that you believe unto righteousness.

Romans 10:10 says “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”

Reaching for the promises of God, the unquestionable truth of abundant life in Christ, we must live to fully protect our hearts from being contaminated at all.

We must guard our hearts from anything that is contrary to the Word of God.

When you realize how much is sown into your heart by the avenue of your eyes or your ears, then unquestionably, we need to pray, ask God for a clean heart.

I’m not asking for high men to know my name, I’m not asking for fortune or my “15 minutes of fame” but give me ‘Lord a clean heart and I’ll follow thee.’

The best way to guard your heart with all diligence is to seek God with your whole heart.

Seeking God with All Your Heart!

The Bible promises that if you seek God with all your heart, then you will find Him.

If you seek to know God in real and personal ways with all your heart, then you will get to know God by Him revealing Himself to us.

I believe this is called Progressive Revelation!

When I say progressive revelation, I believe it is a move originated from God, not man which God brings us through spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity.

It is a growing process that is done by the planting of good seed.

This is what the devil is trying to stop from happening in your and my life at any chance he can.

Luke 22:31 says “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat”.

Meaning of Seeking God

In the Bible the words for “seek God with all your heart” means to: to seek the face of God, the glory of God and not just His hand.

It is to desire Him more than one desires oneself.

Psalm 42:1 says, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God”.

It is fixing our conscious and focusing our attention and our heart’s affection on God.

This setting of the mind is the opposite of mental coasting.

It is a conscious choice to direct the heart toward God.

This is what Paul desires for the church in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ”.

It is a conscious effort on our part.

To seek God with all your heart is all about having a love and desire to know Him.

Paul said in Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”.

1 Chronicles 22:9 says, “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God”.

Understand this is not some emotional aspect of seeking God like He is lost, God is not lost, but striving to find that which has been hidden.

Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter”.

There is always something through which or around we must go to meet God spiritually, emotionally, and consciously.

It is this going through or around is what seeking is.

Paul said I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God.

The woman with the issue of blood came in the press to “just touch the hem of His garment.”

My own repentance was due to the fact that I was unquestionably letting things block me from seeking His face like I should have but the honor was my own making the living choice, searching Him out in the midst of what was going on.

Please Understand there are always going to be obstacles which we so need to avoid, seeds that are trying to be planted that bring nothing but weeds in our lives that try to block out our sight of God, that try to slow or stop our maturity.

Matthew 13:25-26 says, “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also”.

We must be aware of the tricks of the enemy and know the things which causes us to become insensitive to God and the try to block us from seek Him with our whole heart.

That is, unquestionably, what unquestionably seeking God with our whole heart and unquestionably our whole soul is all about.

Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near”.

The Lord is always near – Acts 2:1-13

Job 8:5 says, “If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty”.

This is what David was doing in Psalm 51:6-10

and what I did this week. WATCH THIS:

– Unquestionably seeking God involves my calling and pleading unto the Lord.

“O Lord, have mercy on me, open my eyes, my ears, my heart to be sensitive to you Lord. Unquestionably remove anything that is not like you, unquestionably cleanse me from all unrighteousness for I want to unquestionably know you Lord. “

This is humility which is essential in seeking God.

Psalm 10:4 says, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts”.

We must avoid pride in order to seek God with our whole heart.

Remember in the beginning of this devotional we talked about reaping what we sow. We guard our ever-questioning hearts, and we can seek all of God with our whole heart by unquestionably reducing the trash that we put into our spirit.

Guarding your heart is more about feeding your soul than avoiding sin.

When our heart is strong, we can resist the temptations that cause many to stumble.

Minimize the trash in will reduce the trash out.

Unquestionably guarding your heart includes unquestionably seeking God, but we cannot ignore the instruction to strive to minimize the trash from our lives.

Some trash is easy to identify. Moral corruption, perverse sexual behavior, evil towards others. Other trash is more difficult to discern and to remove.

A lack of faith, unforgiveness, materialism, pride, hatred, racism, bigotry envy, strife. Trash, big or small, is still, unquestionably, nothing but stinking trash.

Hebrews 12:1-2 says

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”.

Unquestionably guarding your heart is unquestionably critical to experiencing all that God unquestionably desires for your life.

God in His infinite wisdom knew that we would have problems with guarding our heart with all diligence, so He created us and made it impossible to be able to focus on more than one thing at a time.

So here is a little secret on how to unquestionably guard your heart, seek God.

Philippians 4:8-9 unquestionably says to our questioning hearts and souls,

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do and the God of peace shall be with you!”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Praise to you Almighty and gracious Father. You have given me hope when there was none. You have given me unquestionable strength when my questionable resolve was gone. You have unquestionably blessed me with grace and poured your love into my heart through your Holy Spirit, your gift from above. For your love, grace, forgiveness, salvation, and Holy Spirit, I praise you. In Jesus’ name. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

ACTS 2 – PENTECOST! GOD FULFILLS HIS PROMISE! THE HOLY SPIRIT IS POURED OUT UPON THE CHURCH.

How often do we really seriously pause and meditate upon God’s desire to be close to us and among us? It should be an important part of our understanding of God. After all, God created us all to love, serve and communicate with him.

The God of the Old and New Testaments is a Triune God who wants to be with and among His creation and His children in such a way as to celebrate them.

That’s us! So, He moves in his spirit as close to us as we will allow him to come.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens, the earth and then us, God came down and walked and talked to us, with us and among us in the garden.

God was exactly that close. God was interested in being “talking and walking” close to us, exactly because God wanted to be “talking and walking close to us.

Even after we somehow managed to get ourselves into serious trouble with sin, separated ourselves from his presence, he continually “stayed home.” He never gave up on us, let us out of his sight. God rescued humanity over and over again.

And Scripture tells us that in the fullness of time, God came to earth where the sin problem was, and still is. Jesus, the word became flesh and lived among us.

This was certainly something new, God becoming flesh! God coming among us.

Nothing, whether political, social, moral, economic or spiritual would ever be the same again. Yet although this looked different, it turns out to be the same story. It was God wanting to be among his people and to restore us to his image.

That very first Pentecost marks and celebrates the powerful beginning of a global movement of the power of God’s presence sweeping across the earth.

As we again read the account of what happened as the Spirit descended with power on God’s people, place yourself in their midst. Imagine for more than just this one Sunday’s day of Worship, what it would look like, sound like, and feel like to witness firsthand such a powerful movement of God’s Spirit.

Pentecost means so much to us as believers. The day of Pentecost changed everything for us. Today we will celebrate! Today we’ll explore walking with the Holy Spirit and how he affects our daily life so much. May your heart grow in gratitude and friendship with the Spirit today as a result of your time with him.

Today, as we gather, may there be a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit upon you!

Acts 2:1-13 Amplified Bible

The Day of Pentecost

2 When the day of ^[a]Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, ²and suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³There appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were being distributed [among them], and they rested on each one of them [as each person received the Holy Spirit]. ⁴And they were all filled [that is, diffused throughout their being] with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other ^[b]tongues (different languages), as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out [clearly and appropriately].

⁵Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout and God-fearing men from every nation under heaven. ⁶And when this sound was heard, a crowd gathered, and they were bewildered because each one was hearing those in the upper room speaking in his own language or dialect. ⁷They were completely astonished, saying, “Look! Are not all of these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸Then how is it that each of us hears in our own language or native dialect? ⁹[Among us there are] Parthians, Medes and Elamites, and people of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and ^[c]Asia [Minor], ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and the visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes (Gentile converts to Judaism), ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—we all hear them speaking in our [native] tongues about the mighty works of God!” ¹²And they were beside themselves with amazement and were greatly perplexed, saying one to another, “What could this mean?” ¹³But others were laughing and joking and ridiculing them, saying, “They are full of sweet wine and are drunk!”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Holy Spirit is our greatest gift.

When the disciples received the Spirit, they began living as Jesus did.

They believed in the promise of God to always be with and among them. They finally began believing in themselves. speaking to, healing, and transforming a “conquered” world that had known no restored relationship with their Creator.

And Scripture makes it clear that our lives are to follow their example.

We have been given the same Holy Spirit as those first disciples, the same Holy Spirit who moved so powerfully in the Creation Story, revealing to us our loving heavenly Father to a world in desperate need of relationship with their Creator.

What a glorious vision comes to my soul of God quite literally; “among us!”

With that vision clearly before me, I feel there are three areas in which the Spirit would anoint us more powerfully today as he did the disciples at Pentecost.

Let’s boldly seek out all that the Spirit would do in our hearts and lives today.

The first act of the disciples upon being filled with the Spirit at Pentecost was to come out from behind the Upper Rooms “locked” doors to ‘speak’ to all who had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate God’s long covenanted Day of Pentecost.

All who had gathered to worship God in the Temple, who had brought their required sacrifices of “first fruits,” a captive audience” to be blessed of God for a good harvest and a prosperous life that year, who would ‘listen,’ to the Priests and scribes explaining all the powerful acts that were going on around them.

Except, this harvest celebration was immediately recognized as being different. It was not the Priests nor the Scribes nor the Elders of the Temple speaking and preaching and teaching them. It was no longer “Temple Business” as usual.

It was a complete newcomer – Peter, it is an uneducated Galilean fisherman!

And this complete newcomer’s words were speaking mightily different words to them. Words they’d undoubtedly never heard spoken before and much to their surprise, the were words they could understand and be mightily inspired by – in every one of their own native tongues and dialects of their own native lands.

And with the preaching of Peter several thousand listeners accepted the free gift of salvation in the name of someone whom they’d probably never met nor had ever talked to nor walked side by side with nor shared a meal with or heard on any street corner nor transacted any business with – Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

In these 21st century days, we too will gather amongst people whom we have seldom or never met, whom we never or seldom shared meals with, or heard on any street corner, nor ever seriously thought to share in any celebration of God with. We are now that world community gathered outside the Temple that day.

Like those first century thousands who gathered in Jerusalem, we too, who are marked by the Spirit’s presence are disciples who move forth the power of love.

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The Spirit longs to use us to proclaim the goodness of God’s love to this lost and dying world.

The Holy Spirit longs to fill us with the desire to love this world the way he does.

1 Corinthians 16:14 says, “Let all that you do be done in love.”

Galatians 5:22-23 Amplified says,

²²But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

And in Mark 12:31, Jesus says that the second greatest commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Is your life marked by love for others?

Does our life “bear good fruit” for God’s Kingdom in the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit?

Or does it bear “bad fruit” “sour wine” for ‘worldly’ consumption, drunkeness?

Do you live your life in service to your heavenly Father and his children?

Seek out a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit today.

It’s the Spirit who bears the fruit of love in your life.

You cannot love nor serve others on your own, for true love and service comes solely from God.

But the Spirit longs to fill you with a desire and anointing to love and serve all others around you that they might better know the love of the heavenly Father.

The coming of the Holy Spirit also brought powerful unity to the disciples.

Acts 2:44-47 Amplified says,

⁴⁴And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] ^[a]were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. ⁴⁵And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. ⁴⁶Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

Only the Spirit can bring unity between broken, competitive, and needy people.

Only through the Holy Spirit do we have the ability to love and accept others regardless of our differences and unite toward the common goal of loving God and others wholeheartedly.

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1-3 Amplified,

Unity of the Spirit

4 So I, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called [that is, to live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature behavior—a life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation], ²with all humility [forsaking self-righteousness], and gentleness [maintaining self-control], with patience, bearing with one another ^[a]in [unselfish] love. ³Make every effort to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace [each individual working together to make the whole successful].

In and amongst our own generations, can we genuinely say we too are a disciple marked by a desire to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?”

In and amongst our own generations, can we genuinely say before God, we too are a genuine Christian marked by grace-filled love for your fellow believers?

In and amongst our own generations, we all absolutely and desperately need to seek out, with all vigor, a greater anointing, desire from the Spirit toward unity.

We cannot be selfless in our own strength.

We need the help of the God of perfect love to pursue unity through humility.

In and amongst our own generations, seek out a desire and anointing to be a person who works tirelessly toward the goal of unity instead of division today.

In and amongst our own generations, we absolutely need to spend time in God’s presence together allowing him to transform our hearts to look more like HIS!

Lastly, Pentecost filled the disciples with the ability to connect directly to God through the avenue of the Holy Spirit.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 Amplified,

Acts 15:27-29 Amplified says,

²⁷So we have sent Judas and Silas, who will report by word of mouth the same things [that we decided in our meeting]. ²⁸For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place on you any greater burden than these essentials: ²⁹that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from [consuming] blood, and from [eating the meat of] things that have been strangled, and from sexual impurity. If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well. Farewell.”

These first century disciples knew God’s desires, received revelation from him, were steadily being inspired, transformed into the likeness of Christ through fellowshipping with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

We as disciples are to be marked by direct connection with the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Peter had no special human ability to talk to God.

Prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit, Peter was an uneducated fisherman. Paul was zealously persecuting the followers of the very God he was trying to serve.

Peter chose his own personal safety over the very life of Jesus, who had shown him such an immeasurable degree of wisdom, forgiveness, love and grace.

It was only with the Holy Spirit that these men were able to connect to God so deeply, and we can have that same connection today.

So, in and amongst our own generations, are you a believer who is genuinely marked by direct connection with the Holy Spirit?

In and amongst our own generations, can we genuinely say before God, we all spend quality time and abundant energy, seeking his presence, his wisdom, his truth, his counsel, and his fresh “every single day of our lives,” anointing?

In and amongst our own generations, let’s be children of God who pursue deeper connection with our heavenly Father today.

In and amongst our own generations, let’s seek the face of God as the early disciples did and be believers marked by relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Spend time during guided prayer pursuing all that the Spirit would do in you.

Open your heart and mind to be transformed by his love. And commit to living your life with direct connection to the God who dwells within you.

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

1. Meditate on the Spirit’s desire and ability to anoint us with the power and desire to love others.

Ask him to show you how to better love others today. Ask his forgiveness for any way in which you have been hurtful to those whom he loves. And receive the anointing to love people from his heart and strength rather than your own.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31

2. Now meditate on God’s desire to use you to bring unity to his children.

Confess to God anyone who annoys you or angers you. Confess anyone whom you have a hard time loving. Ask him for his heart for that person. Ask him to fill you up with a supernatural ability to love those who are difficult or different. Ask him to help you be a person who pursues unity.

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:44-47

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3

3. Now seek after a direct connection to the Holy Spirit.

Ask him to guide you into the knowledge of his presence. Ask him to show you the overwhelming love, grace, and anointing he has for you today. Seek out answers to any questions you have of him. May you discover a wellspring of friendship in the Holy Spirit today.

“But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” Psalm 73:28

“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10

“And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” 1 Corinthians 2:13

Go

It’s crucial that we as children of God seek out all that he longs to give us.

Relationship with God is meant to be anything but stale, stagnant, and weak.

The disciples demonstrated that those filled with the Spirit of God are to be marked by adventure, mystery, and the miraculous.

God has a story for the ages written with you in mind.

He has a plan beyond what you could ever imagine if you will seek him out, trust him, and follow him.

Rest today in the fact God loves you enough to lead you away from a mundane life. Pursue his plans and watch as he fills your life with adventure and wonder.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Absolute Joy of Heaven, we are so blessed that You came to dwell in each of us on Pentecost, when Your church was born. Surely, through Your Spirit, we have died to sin and are alive to holiness. May we each serve You faithfully, in praise, prayer, and loving service to others, as we are changed from glory to glory. May we each walk as children of the light, in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Did The Holy Spirit Only Empower 12 Disciples on The Day of Pentecost? Acts 1:4-8

There is a teaching in the church that on the Day of Pentecost, only the 12 Disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and not all of the 120 who were in the Upper Room, including Mary, the surrogate mother of Jesus.

There are those people use the term “ghost” from the King James Version of the Bible to refer to the third person of the Trinity.

However, the word is an improper translation of the Greek word ‘pneuma’ which refers to the Holy Spirit, wind, or the breath of God.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4151/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/

The English word “ghost” refers to the spirit of the dead or a phantasm.

The Greek word translated as ‘ghost’ is ‘phantasma’ and is never used in reference to God.

Creator God chose to send the Holy Spirit during the Jewish national holiday, known as Pentecost, the Feast of Harvest, which was 50 days following after the crucifixion of Jesus.

It was the celebration of the wheat harvest and was intended to remind all of the people of their harshest time spent in Egypt and it marked the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

They were to bring offerings to God to celebrate with great rejoicing in music and dance because they had been delivered from their bondage. Everyone was invited to this harvest feast, including Levites, servants, sons and daughters, the fatherless, the widow, and even strangers (Deuteronomy 16:9-12).

Pentecost was so incredible that it affected the entire human race and their relationship to God.

The Holy Spirit was given as a gift from the Father on that day as the truest confirmation that the New Covenant of grace – paid for by the shed blood of Jesus, and now written on the heart of every Christian – is more effectual than the Law given at Mount Sinai that was written on stone (2 Corinthians 3:3-18).

It also confirms that those who place their trust in Jesus find true deliverance and healing from the penalty of sin. There is no better reason to all peoples to gather together, celebrate with great rejoicing in music and dance on that day!

Acts 1:4-8New American Standard Bible

⁴^[a]Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for ^[b]what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; ⁵for John baptized ^[c]with water, but you will be baptized ^[d]with the Holy Spirit ^[e]not many days from now.”

⁶So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority; ⁸but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

The Word of God for the People of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

It was during the Last Supper that Jesus gave farewell instructions to the Apostles.

He declared to them

(John 14:12 NASB): ¹²Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father.

The promise was the sending of the Holy Spirit, “the Counselor… from the Father” who would “testify” or prove, affirm, and demonstrate that Jesus is Lord so that all those who would put their trust in Him would “receive power” to be His “witnesses…both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (John 15:26; Acts 1:8 NIV).

This was not a new promise.

The gift of the Holy Spirit had been promised in the Old Testament:

“…for with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people. To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing…” (Isaiah 28:11-12 KJV)

The difference between the Old and New Testament ministries of the Holy Spirit is that, prior to the Day of Pentecost, His power came upon spiritual leaders at particular times but did not take up residence within them.

Before a person becomes Born-Again and transformed at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit is WITH them to draw them to Jesus, but this is not the same as being IN them.

Jesus promised the Disciples before He was crucified and resurrected that He would “ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor” who would not just live with them but would take up permanent residence within them when they become a Christian (John 14:16-17).

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at the moment a person becomes Born-Again.

It is this baptism which makes the Christian complete in Christ.

All that the Father is, Jesus is.

All the “fullness of the Godhead bodily” dwells in Jesus (Colossians 2:9 NIV).

This means that Jesus is the physical presentation of all that the Father is.

A person can’t be a Christian and belong to God if the Holy Spirit is not 100% fully living inside them because “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9-11 NIV).

From within the text from His High Priestly Prayer, we read Jesus prayed,

“… 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.” (John 17:21-22 NIV)

The Gospel is essentially the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

It is obtained by faith and faith alone, plus absolutely nothing. Through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is placed in Jesus because they “have been crucified with Christ… and…Christ lives in” them” (Galatians 2:20 NIV).

When Jesus died, the Christian died in their position with Him.

In the same way, when Jesus was buried, they were “buried with Him by baptism,” and just as Jesus was raised from the dead, they are “risen with Him” (Colossians 2:9-12 NIV).

After a person is converted and becomes Born-Again by repenting of their sins and receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they each receive all of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There is no partial filling.

They are now “baptized into one body (the Church), whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been made to drink into one Spirit” and placed “in” Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV).

The Christian is made “complete in Him” and immediately they enter into the “the kingdom of God” because they received “Christ,” “the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27; 2:10; Luke 17:21 NIV)

They are now a child “of God” and are given the power to overcome the enemy “because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (Romans 8:15; 1 John 4:4 NIV)

The Bible says every Christian has “been baptized into Christ” and has been “clothed…with Him” (Galatians 3:27 NIV).

When a person comes to faith in Jesus, they receive all the blessings that are in Christ.

These blessings are not received one day in the future once they reach some self-assumed place of ‘real’ holiness.

God’s blessings are entirely the possession of the Christian because they have already received them through Jesus.

The blessings are received when they first called upon Jesus to forgive them of their sins and become the Lord of their life.

There is absolutely nothing that can be found outside of Christ that has any eternal value to it!

Like a Mighty Wind

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4 NIV)

“All,” not just a few, of the people there were “filled with the Holy Spirit.”

In the Bible, the wind is often a picture of the “breath of the Almighty” that releases creative power and “gives me life” (Job 33:4 KJV).

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/job/33/4/t_conc_469004

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7307/kjv/wlc/0-1/

In the Hebrew text, “wind,” “spirit,” and sometimes “breath” are the same word (ruwach).

The Bible declares that at the beginning of Creation, God first breathed His breath upon the waters of the Earth “…And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2 NIV).

God formed human beings “from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And man became a living person” (Genesis 2:7 TLB).

It took His breath to create the Universe; “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth” (Psalm 33:6 NIV).

At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, He read from the Book of Isaiah to declare that the “ruwach” of the Lord God was upon Him (See Luke 4:17-21).

God promised He would “pour out” His “Spirit on ALL people” (Joel 2:28 NIV – emphasis mine).

After His resurrection, and before the Day of Pentecost, Jesus re-generated ten of the Apostles when He “breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:22-23 NIV).

At that moment, they were Born-Again because they received the Holy Spirit.

A person cannot receive salvation by becoming Born-Again unless they are 100% filled with Him (John 3:3-4).

However, those 10 Apostles were not yet endued with power until the Day of Pentecost. For them, that was an entirely separate and distinct experience.

The other 110 Disciples who were with them in the Upper Room were still not yet regenerated/born from above through salvation.

They believed in Jesus, but they had yet to receive Him and become Born-Again.

Believing that Jesus is God is not the same as receiving Him. Even “the demons believe that and shudder” (James 2:19 NIV).

This is also the case with the people of Samaria, Ephesus, and those at Cornelius’s house who were not yet Born-Again because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14; 10:44; 18:24).

Tongues of Fire

The tongues of fire were a sign to the Jewish people God was exceedingly pleased with those who had received Jesus, the promised Messiah, as their personal Lord and Savior.

God showed the people their sins were forgiven through the death of Jesus, and He was stopping the plague of sin’s eternal consequence, showing those who become Born-Again are now His dwelling place – His temple, the new Holy of Holies.

On at least three previous occasions, I found that God sent fire from above to consume a sacrifice because He was pleased (1 Chronicles 21:26; 2 Chronicles 7:1; 1 Kings 18:36-39).

Each time this happened, He was making an important point.

In David’s case, God forgave his sin, halting a plague in Israel and choosing where the future temple would be built.

In Solomon’s case, God consecrated that location as the place where His name would dwell forever (2 Chronicles 7:16).

The people’s reaction was to worship the Lord and say, “He is good; his love endures forever” (2 Chronicles 7:3 NIV).

God was telling the crowd of people at Pentecost that those who become Born-Again by receiving Jesus as the promised Messiah become consecrated for His glory. He would dwell within them forever.

In Elijah’s case, God shamed the prophets of Baal, whose god sent no fire, and claimed His rightful title as Lord God of Israel.

The people on Mount Carmel “fell prostrate and cried, ‘The LORD – he is God! The LORD – he is God!'” (1 Kings 18:39 NIV)

God showed the people on the day of Pentecost that He alone is almighty and deserves to be worshiped, honored, and praised forevermore.

The Power of Pentecost

Acts 2:14-21New American Standard Bible

Peter’s Sermon

¹⁴But Peter, taking his stand with the other eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, ^[a]know this, and pay attention to my words. ¹⁵For these people are not drunk, as you assume, since it is only the ^[b]third hour of the day; ¹⁶but this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all ^[c]mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
And your young men will see visions,
And your old men will ^[d]have dreams;
¹⁸And even on My male and female ^[e]servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days,
And they will prophesy.
¹⁹And I will ^[f]display wonders in the sky above
And signs on the earth below,
Blood, fire, and ^[g]vapor of smoke.
²⁰The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
²¹And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

After the Holy Spirit was poured out, the crowd was amazed at what was happening.

Peter stood up before them, along with the 11 Disciples, and spoke to the “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,” including women and children.

The word “men” was a common term used in addressing a company of people, and could include women and children, not just men alone.

Peter then quoted the prophet Joel and told the crowd that the giving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was for ALL people, both male and female, and not just the 12 Disciples.

Both men and women are baptized in the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation to receive the power to spread the Gospel (Acts 2:17-18; also 1 Corinthians 11:4-6; 14:3,31).

Pentecost was the birthday of the Church universal.

It began the ministry of the Holy Spirit who is now the agent and executive of God on earth to carry on the work of Jesus (Acts 1:2-8; 5:9; 8:29,39; 10:19; 11:12; 13:2-4; 15:28; 16:6; 20:28; 21:4-11; 1 Corinthians 2:1-14; 12:1-30; 2 Corinthians 3:8; Ephesians 2:22; 3:5).

The Sacred Secret of God Revealed

On the day of Pentecost, something else happened that was incredible and had never happened before – the Holy Spirit came to reveal the sacred secret held hidden for all of eternity past, the new covenant of grace.

He came as a love gift from the Father to dwell within those who receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.

“Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.” (Ephesians 3:2-3 NIV)

There are two Greek words used in Scripture for the word “mystery” They are ‘kruptos’ and ‘musterion.’

The Greek word ‘kruptos’ is where the word “crypt” comes from.

It was used when something was secret or hidden away (Matthew 6:3-4, Luke 8:17, Romans 2:16, 1 Corinthians 14:25).

The English word “mystery” means something incomprehensible, unknowable, and beyond understanding.

The Greek word “musterion” was only used for secrets in the religious realm, including mystery religions.

In the Bible, they are sacred secrets.

A secret is something that can be known, but every person does not know it.

The things of God are not mysterious or impossible to understand. They are secret only to those who don’t take the time to study God’s Word, the Bible.

When Jesus taught a Parable, He spoke with a facet, or portion, of the sacred secret of the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:10-11). However, now it is no longer a mystery (Romans 16:25,26, Colossians 1:26, also Ephesians 1:9).

The enemy and the hordes of Hell didn’t know this secret.

If they had, they would have never allowed Jesus to be crucified.

No human eye had ever seen, no ear had ever heard – no mind had conceived what God had prepared for those who love Him because they were hidden until the Cross (1 Corinthians 2:6-10).

When the Holy Spirit came upon a person in the Old Testament, they often gave a word of prophecy.

In the New Testament – the Church Age of the sacred secret – when a person gives their life to Jesus, they receive the Holy Spirit and the right and privilege to receive the manifold sacred secret of Heaven.

The Holy Spirit indwells and seals the Christian at the moment of salvation and gives them the daily anointing with power for the work of ministry.

Before Pentecost (excluding the 10 Disciples in John 20:22), a person could not be Born-Again and receive eternal life.

The Facets of the Father

God intended that through the church:

“… the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-12 NIV).

The word “manifold” means ‘many-faceted,’ and the wisdom of God’s sacred secret was revealed after the Cross.

Starting from the creation of Adam and Eve until the Day of Pentecost that was spoken of in the book of Acts, God had dealt with humanity as a master would to an indentured servant.

However, that changed because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

The Church is one Body with Jesus as the Head because of the Cross.

The Father chose to lavish His great love on those who would receive Jesus and willfully choose to become a Christian (1 John 3:1; 1 Peter 1:23).

Every Christian is a child of God and a member of His body.

They are spiritually identified with Jesus.

Christians are partakers of the divine nature and are now a new creation (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Jesus has anointed and set His seal of ownership on them and placed the Holy Spirit in their hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Nothing can separate them from God’s love! (Romans 8:38-39, 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 10:17, 12:12-27, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22,5:22, Ephesians 1:14, 2:16, 4:4; Col 3:15)

When Jesus was crucified, the Christian was crucified.

When He died, they died.

When He was buried, they were buried.

When He was raised, they were raised.

When He ascended, they ascended.

When Jesus sat down at the Father’s right hand, they sat down as well! (Romans 6:4,6,8; Ephesians 2:6)

The sacred secret revealed that God is now working through His Church – each member of His Body – to do those things that He did directly before the Cross.

Every Christian has been given power and glory, unlike anything that has existed on the face of the Earth before.

It is their covenanted responsibility to make God’s wisdom known by living naturally in that glory and power, teaching the truth, and turning people from darkness to light through the love and goodness of God.

The Age of Grace

“For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you” (Ephesians 3:1-2 NIV).

The Church has now entered into the age of grace.

The Law that dominated the Old Testament was a “ministry that brought death” (2 Corinthians 3:7 ESV).

The all-encompassing sacred secret is that the Church has entered into a new age which is much more glorious than the Law because it brings righteousness (2 Corinthians 3:3-10).

This truth was hidden, but now it has been made known.

The administration of the grace of God is the administration of the multi-faceted sacred secret.

It is now the covenanted responsibility of every Christian to live in the power and glory of what God’s wisdom has revealed.

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV)

CONCLUSION – Empowered to Serve

“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:1 ESV)

Salvation makes the Christian “complete” in Christ. ALL that the Father is, Jesus is. “All the fullness of the Godhead bodily” dwells in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwells within the Christian (Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV).

Because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, all of His promises and spiritual gifts have never changed, nor will they ever change.

Every Christian was “given the one Spirit to drink” and is positioned “in” Jesus, and He is “in” every Christian (1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV).

Over 100 verses in the Bible describe the Christian as “in” Jesus.

Because the Christian has Jesus living in them, they possess and have access to all of His promises and the spiritual things of God because He is the giver of the gift of the Holy Spirit who helps them to do “greater works” than Jesus.

The “greater works” are far more than just evangelism.

The Father anointed Jesus with the power to do good works and to bring healing (Acts 10:38).

It goes hand in hand with His first public declaration to:

“…bring Good News to the poor.”… “…to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19 NLT)

The Apostle Paul declared:

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV)

The word “power” is the Greek word ‘endunamoo’ which means to empower.

It is a compound word from the Greek word ‘en,’ meaning within, and ‘dunamis,’ meaning power.

Words such as dynamite, dynamo, and dynamic come from ‘dunamis.’

The understanding of this word in Greek is to receive power within.

Christians are to depend upon God’s power because they are weak without Him.

God desires that His children move naturally in power He has given to all Christians beginning on the Day of Pentecost.

Jesus offered the rebirth by the Holy Spirit on the day of His resurrection (John 20:21-22).

The apostle Paul prayed that the Church would come to know:

“… the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.” (Ephesians 1:19 NIV)

Paul also declared that this power was the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:11 KJV)

The Holy Spirit has not stopped operating in the life of the Christian because the canon of Scripture is now complete – and neither have the spiritual gifts.

The active use of the supernatural gifts does not undermine the finality and sufficiency of God’s Word – instead, they serve to validate and complement the Scriptures.

The Church has been living in the end times since the day of Pentecost.

God has yet to pour out His Spirit on all flesh thoroughly.

There is no absence of miraculous gifts in church history since the first century.

Walking naturally in the supernatural should be the normal spiritual state of the Christian.

Sadly, far too many never experience it, and many never maintain it, primarily due to immaturity and pride, but mainly to a lack of knowledge.

“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly — mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-4 NIV)

The gift of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out on the 120 Disciples on the Day of Pentecost, was promised to each and every one, without exception, who truly repents of their sin and receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

There is “neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:28 ESV).

When we SEEK the Holy Spirit we will find the Holy Spirit, when we KNOCK on the doors of heaven with our prayers for the Holy Spirit that God will open up to us the wonders of knowing Him.

And when the Spirit comes, He’s coming with POWER! Yes!

Power to walk uprightly in a world given to sin.
Power to avoid the temptations of the flesh.
Power to resist the devil.
Power over drugs and alcohol.
Power over anger and sexual sin.
Power to understand the word of God.
Power to teach and preach God’s Word.

But not only that, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit they were given

power to speak the word of God with boldness even when their lives were on the line.
They were given POWER to speak in languages they had not spoken in before and to interpret those languages.
God confirmed their testimony with miracles, signs and wonders (Heb. 2:4).
The sick were healed.
The dead were raised to life.
The blind received their sight.
They prophesied.
They casted out demons.
They served one another with a love and concern they had never expressed before.
And those who sat in darkness saw the light of the glory of God and the veil which Satan had placed on the hearts and minds of unbelievers was ripped away as they trusted in Jesus for their salvation (2 Corinthians. 4:3-4).

I invite every single reader to join me at the altar – let’s get on our knees and ask God to give us that power to accomplish his purpose.

Ask for the Holy Spirit to be evident in our life…

Seek him in the area that He’s placed on your heart.

Knock on the doors of heaven for God to open up to you the gift of His Spirit.

In order for the Promise of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled in our lives we have to believe the promise of salvation.

Because sin entered our world God the Father sent God the Son to save us from His wrath against sin.

Jesus lived a perfect life unlike anyone else and He died in your place.

He was crucified on a cross for YOU.

He was buried in a borrowed tomb for YOU.

And on the third day He rose from the grave by the power of the Holy Spirit of God for YOU.

Because He loves you, He is offering you forgiveness for your sins an eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Our heavenly Father says that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13).

The Promise of the Father begins with Jesus.

He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You that You have not hidden the truth from us but have revealed it in the perfect truth of Your Living, Life Transforming Word.

Thank You that I am part of that great cloud of Church-age witnesses to the truth of the glorious gospel of grace – which was started at Pentecost, and which has spread to every nation and tribe, every people and language.

Thank You that I have been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit and baptized into the body of Christ, which had its beginning in that special room, on that first day of Pentecost, when Holy Spirit was sent to be the permanently, indwelling Helper for all Christians – Thank You in Jesus name AMEN.

https://translate.google.com/

Encountering the Resurrection – The Presence of Jesus – “Breathe on Me!” The Gospel of John 20:19-23.

“And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” John 20:22.

Our personal journey of faith travels past many milestones where God “simply shows up,” sometimes in surprising ways and sometimes in rather subtle ones.

There’s no rhyme or reason for us to be sitting around waiting for God to do something supernatural in our lives.

If we have responded to God’s call on our lives, we need to be moving forward in those areas we already know God would have us travel.

God will equip us further as we progress on our very personal spiritual journey.

Today’s verse reminds us we need to be open to what God might do when God in Christ Jesus enters into what we believe, even prefer to be, our “locked away” lives, living like our ideas are set in concrete, thinking now we are Christians.

“God hasn’t anything further for us.”

“God may want to equip us for something we don’t feel ready to do it.”

I’m reasonably sure the disciples didn’t feel like being “sent” anywhere there might be an “arrest warrant,” a Roman spear or sword to greet them (verse 22).

At this point, these disciples were still “meeting alone” behind locked doors.

Then without any notice whatsoever, catching each and every one of them,

inside their own uniquely personal “I’m too busy getting my story straight in their own heads in case the door should be splintered” moment,

Jesus enters.

His sudden presence – “ALIVE?” materializes – Can they be any more shaken?

What can the presence of Jesus bring into our lives behind our locked doors?

What happens when we allow Jesus’ presence to come through our locked doors and straight into our hearts, our minds and our souls?

Let’s look at what Jesus did for these disciples and discover what He can do for all of us this morning.

John 20:19-23 Amplified Bible

Jesus among His Disciples

¹⁹So when it was evening on that same day, the first day of the week, though the disciples were [meeting] behind barred doors for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “^[a]Peace to you.” ²⁰After He said this, He showed them His hands and His side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with great joy. ²¹Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you [as My representatives].” ²²And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven [because of their faith]; if you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained [and remain unforgiven because of their unbelief].”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

Have you ever been in a room when suddenly (or subtly) someone walks into your seclusion and suddenly there is this air of electricity; this certain spark of energy that accompanies them?

Is it you or is it I as we are bristling at our privacy suddenly ending?

It seems that certain people just possess an added bit of charisma or charm that can change the very atmosphere of a room or a meeting. They possess a certain “uniqueness,” a “specialness” which causes people to stop and pay attention.

Some would see this as an intentional, malicious act of major annoyance and maximum rudeness and almost immediately be “turned off” and “ticked off.”

In spite of how we feel in that exact moment when our privacy ended without our permission, have you ever noticed that certain people defuse our annoyance with their ability to possess an extra amount of charisma, charm, and allure?

Their presence makes a room come alive. There is a magnetic pull towards them as they begin to talk and walk around.

They have that something “special” that causes people to stop and listen. They have that something “special” that speaks to the very heart of people’s lives.

When they walked into a room, the whole atmosphere of the room changed.

You knew immediately someone important was present. You rushed forward, people rushed through you to be near them and hushed to hear them speak.

People like Elvis Presley. Elvis was able to electrify audiences with his voice and presence even before his band played a note or before he sang his first words.

However, there is one that possessed more charisma, more of that something “special” than any of those that I have mentioned.

As charismatic, as charming, electrifying as all of the most charismatic men throughout history, there were none who had more power to change the atmosphere of a room than our Savior and LORD Jesus Christ. No one.

Jesus was able to immediately command the attention of thousands of men, women and children for hours, for days at a time. He possessed charisma plus.

Our reading (John 20:19-23) this morning deals with one of those electric moments in the life of Jesus and his followers.

It deals with one of those singularly unique times when Jesus’ mere presence in a room immediately transformed everything.

Instantly, with Jesus’ presence things went from negative to positive.

With Jesus in the room there came courage and faith where there once was fear and doubt.

With Jesus in the room there was laughter and joy where once there had been sorrow and despair.

And what Jesus was able to do in that room so long ago, I believe this morning He wants to do in our lives and in our Church Services each and every worship session, every bible study session, every prayer and fellowship session.

I believe when encounter Christ, we invite Jesus into our sinful humanity, to be with us and within us, to be present among us, we will experience seasons of newness, joy, peace, transformation, salvation, courage, faith in amazing ways.

Ways that will certainly unsettle us in unanticipated ways, change not only the atmosphere of our worship settings, but ways that will change all of us as well.

In our passage this morning, we see Jesus doing the same thing.

The Disciples locked away in that Upper Room were all wondering in their own way if their Messiah Jesus had really died, was actually dead or actually alive.

Then suddenly Jesus comes into the disciples’ room and the whole atmosphere inside that locked Upper Room is transformed.

Things go from being downcast and negative to becoming electrifying and positive.

The disciples go from being anxiety ridden and fearful to possessing courage.

They go from experiencing feelings of severe uncertainty, anger, fear, anxiety, confusion and sorrow to experiencing blessed assurance, joy, peace, happiness.

I. Jesus’ Presence Brought Peace and Stability

In verse 19 we read where Jesus’ disciples were hiding behind a locked door because they were afraid.

Even though they had heard the message of the Risen Lord from the women and had then listened intently to what Mary had said, listened intently to Peter and John to the “apparent emptiness” they had witnessed at the “empty tomb” they were still very much afraid of “My God! My God! What could possibly be next?”

They were afraid for their lives and for the lives of their families.

Down deep, the disciples knew it would not be long before the Sadducees and the Pharisees would want them silenced.

They knew that both Pilate and the Temple would be doing all they could to destroy any teachings or influence of the Jesus Movement.

After all, the Temple had been successful in finding Jesus guilty of both treason and blasphemy.

That meant that Jesus’ disciples could also be arrested for the same things, treason and blasphemy.

They could find themselves arrested, beaten and at the very least thrown into prison and at the very worst hanging on a cross taking their last breaths of life.

I am sure the people huddled down in that room were wondering how long they would have to hide out in Jerusalem until things died down.

How long would it take before they could safely go back to Galilee and disappear back into the woodwork of their old lives?

What would they do now?

+Could Andrew, Peter, James and John go back to fishing?

+Could Matthew go back to being a tax collector?

+Could Simon the Zealot get back into politics?

+Could Bartholomew go back to his royal family?

Would they or their families ever be safe?

What would the new normal look like?

Just as they were perhaps wondering about all of those things it happened.

Suddenly, in the middle of all their anxiety and angst Jesus appears.

Right there standing in front of them was Jesus, alive and well.

I am sure it had to startle them.

After all, the doors were shut. But right here in front of them was Jesus.

There was no denying that it was Jesus.

He showed them His hands and feet.

They saw the nail prints and they heard His voice speaking peace

– “Peace be with you.”

“Peace – Be – With – You”

There is no fussing about why they were not at the tomb.

There is no fussing about locking the door in fear.

There is no fussing about how they had abandoned him.

There is no judgment or condemnation.

There was just the voice of peace.

There was just the voice able to bring harmony, stability, courage and calmness.

That is what happens when Jesus enters our rooms when they are filled with fear, with doubt and despair.

That is what happens when Jesus enters our rooms when they are filled with uncertainty, confusion and chaos.

Jesus brings peace.

Our Risen Lord brings tranquility.

He replaces doubt and despair with peace and salvation.

He removes the negative and replaces it with positivity.

Remember Psalm 107?

It is a song about peace.

A song of praise and worship and prayerful contemplation centered on how the LORD brought peace to four diverse and uniquely different groups of people:

+Verses 1-9 – Wanderers who have nowhere to go

+Verses 10-16 – People who find themselves imprisoned

+Verses 17-22 – People injured by their own sinfulness

+Verses 23 – 32 – Sailors who are overcome by a storm

All four groups are beleaguered and overwhelmed.

In each case their only hope is in God.

Only God can rescue them.

Only God can bring them peace.

Only God can bring them harmony, stability and joy and in all four cases God does bring them peace, harmony and stability.

It’s why we love some of the old hymns that speak of peace in the midst of trials and tribulations:

+I Need Thee, Every Hour

+It is Well with My Soul

+Peace Like a River

+Blessed Assurance

+Amazing Grace

+To God be the Glory

+Great is Thy Faithfulness

and our own singularly unique lists which are far too long to be placed here.

They all remind us that in Christ there is peace.

They all remind us that when we feel like shutting and locking the doors, we need to invite the Presence of Jesus.

They all remind us that when fear, doubt and worry overtake us we need to understand that in the midst of it all is our Lord and Savior Jesus wanting to bring to us an amazing measure of peace, salvation, stability and tranquility.

Today, no matter what we are going through the truth is right beside us is the Risen One. Right beside us is the Alpha and the Omega. Right beside us is the pre-existing one who can bring peace to our troubled hearts, minds and souls.

Jesus can bring us a peace and a stability that is tangible. Jesus can bring a peace that passes all understanding (John 14:25-27, Philippians 4:4-9)

II. Secondly, Jesus’ Presence brought Great Joy and Forgiveness

Not only did Jesus bring peace into the room but He brought a great deal of joy and forgiveness.

When those disciples saw Jesus’ hands and His side it revealed to them that what the women had said was true.

Jesus had in fact risen from the dead.

The proof was right there in front of them.

He was there to see, to feel and to experience.

Can you imagine how much joy suddenly rushed into that room?

The one they thought was dead was not dead; He was right there with them.

Jesus had risen from the dead. He was alive. Their friend, their teacher and Lord was alive. There was no doubt now that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

Today, there are a great many people trying their best to manufacture their own joy.

Often, they take a similar route taken by the Prodigal Son we read about in Luke 15:11-32 (Parable of the Prodigal Son.)

+If you remember that young man thought that he could find ultimate joy in possessing certain material goods or belonging to the right crowd.

+If he could just enjoy certain physical pleasures then he would have joy.

+If he could just have enough money then he could have joy.

He did everything he could to manufacture true joy.

He spent everything to experience joy but, in the end, he discovered that true joy had escaped him.

Instead of finding true joy he found himself sitting in a hog lot wishing that he had it as well as the hogs.

We know deep down that true joy cannot be bought.

It can’t come from immoral pleasures.

It can’t come from just having a bank account full of riches.

The young man found joy when he went back to His Father.

He found true joy when he found himself surrounded again with people that truly loved and cared for him.

He found lasting joy when he found himself surrounded with people that understood how to forgive him, accept him and that wanted him.

This is the joy that Jesus gives. It is the joy that Jesus’ church is able to give.

III. Jesus’ Presence Brought the Holy Spirit

In verse 21 we read where Jesus simply breathed on them His Holy Spirit. He filled the air with His Spirit for them to receive, enjoy and experience.

This is the same Holy Spirit that we read about in Genesis chapter one that helped creation take form.

It is the same Holy Spirit that God breathes into a lump of clay called Adam and he comes alive.

It is the same Holy Spirit that we read about in Ezekiel chapter thirty-seven where a valley of dry, dead bones comes to life.

And now Jesus breathes on those gathered there and gives them

+Peace +Stability +Joy +Forgiveness +New Purpose

They no longer have to live under their own power.

They are now able to live with the breath of God inside of them,

the Holy Spirit in their lives, revealing to them how to live and leading them into what Jesus earlier called the Abundant Life.

It is astonishing, utterly amazing what the Holy Spirit can do in a person’s life.

John 20:20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

The disciples were overcome with joy when Jesus arrived in their midst.

More than anything they needed and wanted to be with Jesus.

Joy is such a wonderful thing and yet for all to many people it is evasive.

These disciples learned that true joy is relational in nature.

That is to say, true, lasting joy happens between people.

Our society promotes that true joy can be found in things and in the possession of things.

All you have to do is watch a car or phone commercial.

The idea is that if you own this item or that item you will surely, suddenly be overwhelmed with great lasting joy and happiness.

And yet, history is littered with stories that belie that premise.

Joy lasts about as long as the shine does on our new toy. In a matter of days people are again overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness and despair. Often because after the shine wears off the payments continue on and on.

The disciple rejoiced that day – peace and joy filled that little house – because the resurrected Jesus was in their midst.

Joy replaced fear and sorrow because of Jesus being there.

Joy, laughter and celebration filled the air.

If we could only experience this as we gather together as His people today.

If only Jesus’ disciples today could only experience His presence of joy, laughter and celebration in the same way those first disciples did amongst themselves.

How different would be the air in our sanctuaries. Our services, our study times, our prayers, must be saturated by His Peace and His Joy.

And what a big difference that would make in how we learn to respond to the presence of God, what we do here, what we experience here each Lord’s Day.

Pope Francis is right when he stated;

— “An evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral.” (“Evangelii Gaudium,” Nov. 24, 2013).

In other words – in our churches there should be a spirit of joy, of laughter and celebration. For in the Church there is life – in the world there is death. In the Church there is peace and joy – in the world there is sorrow, pain and despair.

But without Jesus – the Church will look and feel forlorn.

Without Jesus these disciples were full of gloom, heartache and despair.

Without Jesus they could only hide and lock their doors.

But with Jesus – there is JOY.

Breathe on Me, Breath of God by Edwin Hatch, 1835-1889

1. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do.

2. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until with thee I will one will,
to do and to endure.

3. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
till I am wholly thine,
till all this earthly part of me
glows with thy fire divine.

4. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
so shall I never die,
but live with thee the perfect life
of thine eternity.

There is a spirit of enjoyment, there is an atmosphere of praise.

Is it not time we allow Jesus to bring joy back into our fellowships?

It is not time to cast out doom and gloom from our faces?

Paul tells us to rejoice, to rejoice evermore (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Because this is the power of the resurrection living and breathing within us,

This is the covenant call of Christ Jesus on our lives!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord God, my Way-maker, I know you have a destiny for me to achieve in this life. I want to follow the plan that you have laid out. Help me to understand and follow your call. Show me your will for my life and what I need to do right now to get started. Enable me to know who I am in Christ, and the special gifts and abilities you have given me. Give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation as I seek to know you more intimately. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

https://translate.google.com/

A Hard Road before Them

Matthew 28:16-20 Amplified Bible

The Great Commission

Share this:

Deuteronomy 6:4-9Amplified Bible

Ephesians 6:1-4 Amplified Bible

Family Relationships

Share this:

Mark 5:25-34Amplified Bible

Come to God in Desperate need of Him

Our Faith is to be desperately rooted in Christ’s power to work out any trial we face

God lovingly welcomes His Children

Share this:

Job 13:13-18 Amplified Bible

Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated

Share this:

Proverbs 9:9-12 Amplified Bible

Genesis 12:1-7Amplified Bible

Abram Journeys to Egypt

Genesis 17:1-5 Amplified Bible

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

Revelation 1:8 Amplified Bible

Revelation 22:12-14Amplified Bible

Share this:

1 Corinthians 2:6-12Amplified Bible

Share this:

Acts 2:37-39Amplified Bible

The Ingathering

Share this:

Acts 2:1-13 Amplified Bible

The Day of Pentecost

Unity of the Spirit

Go

Share this:

Acts 1:4-8New American Standard Bible

Acts 2:14-21New American Standard Bible

Peter’s Sermon

Share this:

John 20:19-23 Amplified Bible

Jesus among His Disciples

Share this: