Who will you worship?

Luke 4:1-13 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”

5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

8 And Jesus answered and said to him,“Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’

11 and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

In today’s world there are things/people wanting you to bow down to them. You’ve got special interest groups, and diseases, etc. demanding that you bow down to them.  If you bow, you’re compromising. There’s immense pressure and it’s only getting started.  Every time you bow, you will be pressured with even more. 

Whatever you worship continually, you become like! You take on more characteristics of whatever you bow before, and if you continue to do it, you begin to serve that. If you worship God, you’ll become like God.  Everything goes back to worship. 

Daniel 3 – The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego

3 men out of the whole nation wouldn’t bow down. What does this show us? You can’t follow the crowd and worship God.  This whole chapter is a picture of worship.  

Revelation 4

What we learn from this is, people can go their whole lives and never discover their purpose. There is a difference between your purpose and your call. Most people chase their call and not their purpose. This is a mistake. Your purpose is the same as every believer, but everyone has a different calling.  The purpose that you’re breathing air for right now, is to give glory and honor to the one who created you. Why? Because He gave you life! If you don’t keep God in His proper place, nothing else in your life will be in its proper place. If you won’t worship God, it’s because you’re full of pride. This was Lucifer’s problem. He wanted the glory and honor instead of giving it to God. So, when you aren’t worshipping Him, you’re more like Satan than you are God. But, when you bow down and worship God, you’re doing what He created you to do! Everyone on this planet is worshiping something. 

Leviticus 26:1 You shall not makeidols for yourselves;neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;nor shall you set upan engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.

An Idol is nothing within itself. God is the only one in existence that can give you what you need to become who you are supposed to be. 

Leviticus 2:2-9 2 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:

I am the Lord.

3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

5 Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;

you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;

I will rid the land of evil beasts,

and the sword will not go through your land.

7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight;

your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

9 ‘For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.

What He is saying here is, I’ll treat you like you treat me. If you respect, revere, and honor me, I’ll do the same.  Isn’t that how we are to live our lives with each other?  He has set you totally free from darkness, all you need to do is worship Him.  When are you going to make up your mind? When will you establish a daily time of worship with God?  This is more important than ANYTHING! 

The Secret Place

July 1st. 2020

Wednesday PM

Psalm 91 

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.

4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.1

6 With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

 This is a psalm in a time of trouble. It’s a psalm of life and preservation when there’s destruction.  

 In verse 9 and verse 14, it says, “Because you…”YOU have to do it. You have to set your love on Him. And if you do you reap the benefits of the rest of the verse. 

Verse 10 -  No evil shall befall you,Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;He is not just talking about your home. You are a spirit and you live in a body. Your body is your earth house. Your dwelling. You don’t have to fear sickness! God is bigger than any disease.

 God gives us warnings to protect us and so we can be prepared. He never warns us to scare us or make us afraid.   

 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

 God gave us a spirit like His. It’s powerful, it’s love, and those two things will produce a sound mind.  A sound mind means disciplined. When it comes to fear, if you lose control of your thinking, you lose control of your life. You have to be reminded of what the truth says and discipline your mind and control your thoughts. You can’t use human will power; you have to have the Word of God. When you lose control of your thoughts, you lose control of your emotions as well. Feelings aren’t reality!

 Truth is the highest form of reality that exists. Facts and truth are NOT the same. Truth will always trump facts. There’s a reality in the natural. Then there is God’s reality. You may be sick, but God’s higherreality is, “by His stripes you were healed.” You have to take the truth and you have to TRUMP the fact.  You don’t deny them, you just deny their right to remain. 

 In a time of war, you put things aside that are less important. Right now, there are some people who still don’t see the severity of the situation that we’re in. They’re going right on with their lives, doing and living the way they want to.  If we could see what’s coming, we would take things a lot more seriously. You can take things seriously without getting in fear about it.  Fear and the Lord can’t co-exist. It’s one or the other.  IF you see the danger ahead, you have to prepare for it though. 

Proverbs 22:3 A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself,
But the simple pass on and are punished.

 A man of wisdom sees the problem coming. He prepares himself. The simple man goes on like everything is alright, and when trouble comes, he is not prepared. He will suffer.  God is endeavoring to prepare us for what’s ahead, so it does not have the intended effect on us. You can live above it! There is a place where you are safe and secure. A place where you are aware of these things, but you are more aware of HIM. A place of 100% immunity.  Even if there is trouble, because you chose to dwell with the Most High, He will be your security. His deliverance, saving power, and answers will be there. BUT, it all hinges on you. Cling to God with the deepest affection. It’s time to seek the Lord. Some people seek Him for what they want. God wants a people that will seek Him for what He wants. Base the relationship off of fellowship, not need. When you seek him out of need, he is merciful and gracious. He will be there if you seek him. But there is a higher place. That’s a place where you’re seeking Him because you want HIM. When God finds a heart that wants HIM, the needs are taken care of.  There’s nothing more important than spending time with the Father every day.  

Wisdom

June 28, 2020

Sunday PM

Proverbs 7:1-5 My son, keep my words,
And treasure my commands within you.2 Keep my commands and live,
And my law as the apple of your eye.3 Bind them on your fingers;
Write them on the tablet of your heart.4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And call understanding your nearest kin,5 That they may keep you from the immoral woman,
From the seductress who flatters with her words.

2 women. 2 houses. 2 systems. 

(Because this passage refers to Wisdom/Holy Spirit as the feminine gender we will do the same in our notes.)

We have to start treating Wisdom as a person. As if it were your sister going along with you every day through your life. Wisdom is with you 24 hours a day.  The Holy Spirit lives in you! You have to develop the ability to hear and recognize Her voice. You must be aware that She is there with you 24 hours a day! How do you do this? Talk to Wisdom as if She was there with you, because She is! Act as if it were your sister! That is what this passage is explaining. She knows everything. She knows the future as well as the past. There’s no question Wisdom doesn’t have an answer to! There’s no problem that She can’t solve.  There are no limits to Her. She is your BEST FRIEND. She wants you to develop your walk with Her to the degree that you get instant answers from Her for immediate problems. Simply turn and ask Her and She answers. Most people don’t think that is available because they’ve tried it at different times and got nothing. But it does work, it is available. When you become aware of Her presence, it creates a recognition of Her leadings and an ability to hear Her voice.  It’s not that Wisdom isn’t responding to your questions, the problem is you aren’t hearing.  She doesn’t speak to your natural ear. It’s an internal, spiritual “ear” that She speaks to. That part of you has to be developed. 

 The natural human mind is an enemy of God. Because it works against the Spirit.  She might tell you something that seems outlandish! An example of this, is when She told Jesus to make mud and put it on the blind man’s eyes? Why? That’s none of your business! Do what She said and you get the results! To the human mind the mud didn’t make sense, but it brought forth the reward. You’re dealing with someone who is smarter than you! She’s operating in a realm of physics that you’re not a part of! 

 Proverbs 7:10-12 
10 And there a woman met him,
With the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart.11 She was loud and rebellious,
Her feet would not stay at home.12 At times she was outside, at times in the open square,
Lurking at every corner.

 You get up every morning, and you are faced with these two women. You get to choose which you will follow after that day. The difference between the two, is that the harlot woman doesn’t stay in her house. She comes out hunting you. But the Holy spirit, is not that way! She doesn’t come out and offer Herself to you. You have to pursue Her.  The harlot woman is at every corner! She will appeal to every unsanctified part of your life. If she can take your time, she can take your life! Your purpose! Choose to go to Wisdom every morning! Daily take up your cross! That’s Her only requirement. Do what is necessary to go into Wisdom’s house!  Take away the excuses!  You don’t have to operate in human sufficiency! Don’t do life without God’s sufficiency. Anyone can do this! Every morning you are presented with a choice! The harlot woman is pursuing you. But, are you pursuing wisdom? 

The Holy spirit is the only One of the Godhead on earth. And She lives in you.  
She’s your best friend! There is no one that cares about you more and wants to help you more than Her. She has seen you at your best, and She’s seen you at your worst. You can’t shock Her! She has seen every human failure ever! She will not walk away from you, as long as you’ll walk toward Her. Start that relationship with Her! Every morning get up and go to Wisdom’s door! Whatever you need is found inside Wisdom’s house! When you give into the harlot woman, like Samson did, you lose God’s sufficiency. 

Choose Wisdom! Every single day! For without Him, you can do nothing!

Prepare!

June 24, 2020

Wed PM

Revelation 3:1-5. “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,

‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

In this passage Jesus was saying to the church at Sardis, your present reality does not line up with your reputation. This church had a reputation of being alive, but it was in fact, dead. Jesus never points out a problem without also offering a solution!  You can never come out of the problem until you recognize what the problem is!  Jesus is saying, “wake up! Be on high alert! The enemy is about to overtake you, and you need to keep him out!”   

“Be Watchful”

Be – start where you are and be becoming. Take action today. Get moving in the right direction. 

Watchful - To be watchful means to be on guard, alert, aware. 

“strengthen the things which remain.”

 Jesus is saying, “You’ve lost a lot, but there’s a few things that remain. Strengthen them or they will die!’

We have defined 2020 as a year of preparation.

Preparation - Make someone ready or able to do or deal with something.

We want God to use us in the upcoming outpouring. He wants us to be ready to deal with obstacles in front of us too.

 God doesn’t warn you to scare you. He warns you to prepare you. God wants His people to know things beforehand! You better prepare for what’s coming! Don’t get in fear! Regardless of what comes, If you’re prepared it won’t have the effect on you that it would if you weren’t prepared. So, focus on being prepared! The enemy will do everything he can to stop the move of God. If God is going to pour out His best, so will the enemy. Don’t get in fear about what is to come! Fear is of the devil. You can’t tolerate it. Fear is sin!   Strengthen the things that remain. Reinforce the pillars and foundations in your life. Healing scriptures, fianaces and provision scriptures, get them in you and meditate them day and night! Strengthen those areas! Speak those scriptures out of your mouth!  

2 Timothy 1:1-7 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, a beloved son:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, 5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Are you Ready?

June 21, 2020

Sunday AM

Revelation 21 & 22

 Earth is not our home! We cannot live like it is. The vision of heaven and hell isn’t put before us as often as it should be.  The best day on earth cannot even compare to one day in heaven! Don’t allow yourself to become earthly rooted.  Heaven is LIFE! There is no pain or sorrow there! NO demonic influence! As Christians, with the loss of a loved one, we should be rejoicing! Heaven is part of your reward!  In the old days, Preachers kept heaven and hell before you at all times.  It adjusted the way you live your life. It adjusted the way you treat those around you! 

The pandemic that we have been faced with was not created by God. It was allowed though to get our attention. God is not the author of anything that brings sorrow and pain.  God has nothing to do with viruses and diseases. He DOES NOT put those kinds of things on you to teach you a lesson.  God put those things on His son at the cross and judged them there. He put them in their place there. God corrects through His word and through the people in authority over you.  Why did God have to shut down the entire world to get our attention? Because we were on the wrong path.  We were following our own plan and not His. God granted us a space of mercy and grace so that we could make adjustments! The whole world shut down so that we could look at ourselves honestly. What adjustments have you made? What are you doing differently than you were prior to COVID-19? Jesus Christ is coming soon.The world nor the church is ready to meet Him. As human beings we can be so caught up with our own lives that we don’t realize, we are not ready! He gave us this time so that we can get ready! He is so merciful.  He doesn’t want you to miss heaven! He made a way and paid a price so that no person has to go there, but everyone has choices.  Make the right one! We all have things we need to fix and things we need to remove from our lives. But God has a plan for us that is far beyond anything we can have here on earth. He wants us to keep our eyes on the prize! Keep your eyes on His best, and while you are here on earth going through things, and dealing with things, He wants us to have joy in the journey because we know how it’s going to turn out! It will turn out for our good, if we follow Him. You only need to be willing! Anyone can do it! God has always worked through the remnant! He’s always got a handful of faithful people! 

Revelation 3:1-4 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,

‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomesshall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

In verse 4 He gives a picture of a remnant of people. They refused to soil their garments. God has raised them up and they refuse to go the way of the world and the flesh. They will pray and seek God and follow after Him. The remnant has always been the group of people that God used to carry out His plans in the earth! Why? Because they were the only ones who were ready and prepared! This is our year for preparation! Dedicate yourself to Him! 

God forbid we be a church that thinks they are alright, when we are not!  The way people get in that condition is lukewarm preaching! When it comes to life or death, heaven or hell, we need to hear the truth even if it hurts our feelings! It doesn’tmatter if it makes you mad!If you go to hell, then you will be really mad! And you can’t do anything about it at that point! Do you want to be miserable and alone for the rest of eternity? Jesus is coming soon! You will wish your preacher was HARDER ON YOU! Are you ready? Ask God, “Am I ready?” Is that sobering? Here’s the good news: anyone can get ready! If you’re breathing right now, there’s still time!

Lester Sumrall once said, “I pray to God I die a poor man. That I expend every dollar and resource I have to win people to God before I die.”  That is a foreign way of living for most Americans! Will you be found in God? Or will you be found in the world chasing possessions? This is not a time to be straddling the fence! Lines are being drawn! There’s no time to play games!

Reap What You Sow

June 17, 2020

Wednesday PM

Luke 6:46-49 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

Jesus said, if you build on the rock, when the storm comes, your house will stand. The house He is talking about there is your life, your family, everything pertaining to you. What is the rock we are to build on? We’ve always been taught that Jesus is the rock to build upon.  But, do you know people who are born again and have based their life on Jesus Christ the Savior, and you’ve seen their life go down the stream? We all have.  The “rock” is not just Jesus himself. We have to do his sayings. You must be a doer! What sayings are we talking about here? 

-      I always come out on top

-      With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation

-      The joy of the lord is my strength

-      By his stripes I am healed

-      God hasn’t given me a spirit of fear

-      My God meets all of my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus

These are all sayings that we speak out of our mouth because we want them to work in our life! This is a great thing.  Confessions create realities. You don’t possess until you confess. 

It’s important that we don’t take scriptures out of context because God’s words contain images of what they are to produce. It’s easy to do. Think of it like a corn seed. Each seed contains within it what is needed for a corn stalk, leaves, and two ears of corn. If you take that seed and cut it into thirds or in half, that seed will never produce the image it was meant to. In all of Jesus’ teachings, every word was a stroke of the brush on the canvas. If you don’t start at the beginning and take all of the words in context, you will not get the entire image that He was trying to paint. 

At some point in life, everyone has a “flood.” What is a flood? Sometimes it’s disease, or financial problems, or marital issues. When the floods arise, that does not mean you are a bad person. When they do arise, we want to be ready. And if we will do what Jesus says, we can overcome and go on with our lives. That’s the will and promise of God.  Jesus says if you’ll HEAR and DO His sayings, then you’re guaranteed to win.  An example of one of these sayings can be found in verses 27-28.

Luke 6:27-28 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 

Kenneth Hagin once said, “If you’ll do these two verses, you’ll make it in life.” This is a MAJOR saying, but we usually MINOR on them.  You may be in a storm, you may be a long way from a storm, there may be a storm headed your way. Don’t wait until you’re in the storm to start obeying verses like this.  It doesn’t just say to love your enemies, it says to do good to them.  You can’t do good to them without getting involved with them. Most people will try to love their enemies from afar, but this verse is instructing us to do the opposite! That’s how you know you’ve really forgiven. You can be involved with them and do good to them.  God doesn’t want you to have any negativity towards anyone in your heart. Because it will hinder your faith and your walk with God. So, we must love our enemies and do good to them. We must love them when they hate us and curse us. Even further than that we must bless and pray for them.  This is way more serious than we ever considered. People die over this. Healing, God, the church, and the preacher get blamed when in all reality it’s no one’s fault but our own. Unforgiveness is deadly. It will kill you! It affects every area of your life. Your mental, emotional and physical health, your walk with God, your whole life depends on forgiveness. Sometimes people will forgive for their own benefit, but the scriptures reveal that’s not good enough! Jesus wants us to forgive for theirbenefit. When you do that you are showing them the same Love that Christ has shown us! Because when you can’t forgive, He can’t forgive you. Verse 37 says: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  When you sow seeds of unforgiveness and hold grudges with your enemies, you are sowing a seed. 

Luke 6:43- 46 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?

In verse 46, Jesus emphasizes that He is still on the same subject. In other words, “don’t call me Lord if you aren’t going to forgive your enemies and do good to them. Because I’m telling you to do that.”  So, if you decide not to do His sayings, Jesus is saying in response to your disobedience, “That’s okay, but when your life is in a storm, don’t blame me. Blame yourself, because you bear the fruit that you sow.” Do you see the seriousness of this passage? What fruit is on your bush? This will affect the very outcome of your life. It will determine your everyday life! When the storm comes it’s easy to search for someone or something to place the blame on. But the reality is, you’re to blame. You WILL reap what is sown. This is not an easy truth to accept. But the good news is this: if you truly repent and admit your fault, you pray for forgiveness with a genuine remorse and God will wipe out the harvest, remove the seed, and the ground it was planted on!  That is the mercy and goodness of God. But, it all hinges on us. All He is asking us to do, is show others that same mercy! 

Atmosphere

June 14, 2020

Sun AM

 2 Kings 3:1-15

 God only works in atmospheres. God works in particular atmospheres.  The atmosphere that God works in is an atmosphere of peace, faith, praise, and joy. Positive atmospheres. As the church we are called to affect atmospheres. You’re not going to be effective in affecting atmospheres if you don’t do it in your own private life. When you yield to hysterics and negativity you are creating atmosphere that attracts devils. When everything is going wrong, that’s when you need to stand up and start doing something right.  “I refuse to be a part of the confusion and chaos in my day! I will not enter into it, and I won’t let it get in me. “ Don’t sit and watch the news all day! It creates an atmosphere and you will carry that wherever you go! Just like you can carry a negative atmosphere, you can carry a positive atmosphere. God works in an atmosphere of praise! You don’t have to walk around all day saying, “praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord,” But, you CAN have that attitude about you! Develop an attitude of thanksgiving to increase your capacity to receive from God.  No one on earth deserves anything from God. He gives it to us though because He is a God of grace. He doesn’t have to give it to us, he WANTS to give it to us.  We must recognize this and be thankful. He wants us to be blessed and our lives to be better. When you cultivate a life of thanksgiving, it affects atmosphere. You cannot be depressed and thankful at the same time. If you develop a habit of being negative, it will take time to break that habit! If you intentionally cultivate a life of thanksgiving, your attitude about life will change! You will see everything differently! Being thankful will affect your health in a positive way!

 Mark 11: 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.”

 You have the faith of God because you got your faith from God. It’s the same faith God has.

 Mark 11: 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 

 Constantly be aware that what you say comes to pass!  We walk by what we believe, not by what we feel! Feelings are nothing until acted upon! “Be ye angry, but sin not!”  You can have the emotion but don’t act upon it! 

 God has always worked through the remnant! He don’t need the majority! He needs a small group of people to work through. We have the authority to change the atmosphere in our region! God is raising up a remnant of people! He will use that handful of people to change regions!

Praise Ye The Lord Part 2

Sunday Night

June 7, 2020

Psalm 111:1-2 Praise the Lord!

I will praise the Lord with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

2 The works of the Lord are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.

These great and mighty works are only manifested when you begin to praise and honor His Word. It opens up an avenue for God to work on your life like He wants to. Without it you will live so far away from God’s best. You have to open your Bible and read of the great things God has done. They are greater than the works of man. The Bible calls them “terrible.”  

 Psalm 111:3-4 His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

Nobody has to talk God into being good. He is full of constant, eager yearnings to dispose favors on people. He yearns to do a favor for you! 

 Psalm 111: 5 He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will ever be mindful of His covenant.

 If you lack provision, up your worship.  Worship always defeats poverty. It will drive it out of you and your life.  When you begin to worship God, you’ll take on His characteristics and you’ll begin to see things through His eyes. God does not want you to struggle in your finances.  God has already provided for the need.  Nothing catches Him off guard. 

 Leviticus 26:1-2.  ‘You shall not make idols for yourselves;

neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;

nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;

for I am the Lord your God.

2 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:

I am the Lord.

God will not take second place. He is a jealous God! Not your spouse, family, or any object should take that place in your life. He takes it very seriously! He wants a relationship with you!  He has real feelings and real thoughts. We are made in His image.  When God isn’t in His proper place you will stray further and further from His best for your life! 

Leviticus 26:3-4  ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

 If you will keep my statues and commandments, THEN you reap the benefits listed in verse 4. What are his statutes and commandments? Verse 1-2 explains it! Things will work in your life and produce like they should if you give God his proper place in your life. God is a good God. He watches over His own! 

Leviticus 26:5b-7 you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;

I will rid the land of evil beasts,

and the sword will not go through your land.

7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

It doesn’t matter if you’re outnumbered! If you’ve got God on your side, you’ll always be victorious. This is the covenant He made with His people! God has already made the covenant, We have to enter into covenant with Him too and make Him our God. He’s waiting on us. He is big enough to take care of every single one of us! Every bit of this hinges on an “IF.” It’s up to us! Make the decision today to put Him first in your life.   Be faithful to YOUR God! 

Praise Ye The Lord!

Sunday AM, June 7, 2020

Psalm 111:4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
5 He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will ever be mindful of His covenant.

God hates human suffering. It grieves Him deeply.  God yearns to stop human suffering. 

God hates these things because they cause humans to suffer:

1-   Sin

2-   Sickness and Disease

3-   Poverty and Defeat

Sin separates you from God. The wages of sin is death. God don’t want you to be sick, nor does He want you to be suffering financially! God is a good God. You don’t have to convince Him to be good!  “…The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” 

 Psalm 111:1- Praise the Lord!

I will praise the Lord with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

God is looking for somebody who will praise Him unashamedly! Give it ALL to Him! If you can’t do it in public, it’s because you aren’t doing it in private. God is God every single second of every day. Not just Sunday mornings from 10-12! 

Psalm 111:2 The works of the Lord are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.

 The works of the Lord are great! They are manifested when you praise him. And they won’t be manifested if you don’t. God won’t take second place.

 Psalm 111:3-5  His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.

4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

5 He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will ever be mindful of His covenant.

The word food in verse 5 means “provision.”  Fear in this same verse means “worship, reverence, respect, honor.” If you’ll start worshipping, then poverty will be a thing of your past. God don’t want you scraping by, barely paying your bills. He wants you to have so much that you can be a blessing to anyone at any time! 

3 John 2  Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as yoursoul prospers.

Say this out loud to yourself. “I am wealthy beyond my wildest dreams. I am a millionaire.” If there’s a hesitancy in you when you say that, you have to get that out of your head, or you will never be there. If you’re going to go where God wants you to go in your life, it’s going to take lots of money. You have to start giving! Nevermiss an opportunity to give. If God tells you to do it, God will pay for it. There are things in your soul that are keeping money from coming to you. These hang-ups are taught to you from the world, people, and experiences.  We have all settled for less than God’s best. He wants more for us. 

Psalm 112:1-3 Praise the Lord!

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who delights greatly in His commandments.

2 His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.

This is how you overcome your hang-ups:

 1-    Praise

2-    Worship

3-    The Honor you show his word

 Praise Him publicly! Bow down to him in private and worship him! Honor and obey His Word with all respect. It gives him great pleasure! You do these three things, and you’ll stop living so far away from His best. His presence will start to change you! This is what all of us should be striving for. If you want your life to be different, start doing something different. 

Are You Prepared?

June 3 Wed PM

Mark 1:1-2  The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in theProphets:

“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.”

The beginning of this passage is explaining that Before you see the ministry of Jesus, you will see the ministry of John the Baptist. 2 different ministries, 2 different men. Jesus raised the dead and healed the sick. John didn’t do any miracles. But his ministry was a ministry of preparation. He had to get the people ready for the ministry of Jesus. Preparation means to make ready beforehand. Before you see the 

 Mark 1:3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”

 Return to the agenda of the Lord. Because the people had their own agenda and had been living out their own lives. John comes along and is preaching a message of repentance. Repentance in loose terms means, turn from doing your thing and do God’s thing.  You must be honest with yourself and ask, “Am I doing what God wants me to do?”   God has an agenda. There are things He wants to do, but He has to use us to do them. It’s going to be hard for God to use you if you don’t set your affection and thinking upon God and what He wants to do.  If you do what God wants, He will take care of you, even in an uncertain economy like were experiencing now. If you’ve got your heart in the right place you won’t have any worries when things are uncertain. God wants to bless people beyond their wildest imagination. He will but the motive has to be Him and His agenda!  

 God sent a prophetic ministry to prepare the people for the first coming of Jesus. It will be the same way again before the second coming. There will be another prophetic ministry that will rise up. Not just an individual, but a ministry focused on preparing the people. It will bring people face to face with how they’re really living. 

Mark 1:4-5   John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

 Confessing their sins = making adjustments

 Everyone on planet earth needs to make adjustments. What’s the biggest adjustment that every person needs to make? They need to humble themselves.  Be clothed with humility every day. To confess your sins, you must admit. Admission of wrong is not always easy.  The man that you see in the Old Covenant that God used to shake the world, was the most humble man on the planet. Moses. God used him more than anyone in the Old Testament because of his remarkable humility.

 John 15:5  “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Every day you must have the attitude: Apart from God I cannot accomplish or produce anything.  Without Him I’m not smart enough, I don’t have the talent or abilities. I am totally dependent upon God. That’s humility.  Pride says, “I’ve got this.”  To repent you have to humble yourself.  Wherever you are in your life, it’s because of choices you’ve made. Pride blames others for wrongdoing. Pride won’t pray. Pride says, “God, I don’t need you.” Every time you go into prayer, pride dies. 

 Mark 1:7 And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. “

 Mightier! If God’s people will prepare themselves, a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost is coming! It’s only coming to the prepared ones! It’s not too late! Don’t miss it! You must prepare! 

 Mark 1:35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

 How prepared am I? How much have you been praying? That’s your gauge. If you’re not at the place where you would drop everything to do what you know the Lord wants you to do, you aren’t ready.  There are things God needs you to do. But if you’re not at the place to obey, you’re simply not prepared. Don’t put your preparation and prayer off until tomorrow! Neglect brings regret! There’s nothing better you can do for you and your family than get prepared. Don’t be slothful about it!

“The biggest battle you will face in life, is your daily appointment with God. Keep it, or every other battle will become bigger and look more impossible.  “               - Zacharias Ravi

 “The men who have done the most for God in this world, have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity, and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God, will make poor headway seeking him the rest of the Day.”                         --E. M. Bounds