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Word for Today:  November 10

The Church is important.

The Church is vital.

The Church is the world’s only hope.

God will use the Church to change the world.  I know this is possible because ONE CHURCH did change the world.  Forever and forever the course of human history was changed and impacted because of the influence and ministry of this One Church.

What God has done in the past He is certainly able and capable of doing today.

• God is the same.
• The Holy Ghost is the same.
• Jesus is the same.
• The Word is the same.

What the Church did in the past is proof that the church can do it today.  The Church of the Living God is the most POWERFUL FORCE on this planet.  Nothing and nobody can equal its power and its authority.

The Church is people.  It is not buildings of brick and mortar… it is not denominations and doctrines…. it is not man-made nor man-managed… It is not great architecture and beautiful services… It is more than structures on street corners.  It is People.  People are individuals… Individuals like you and like me.  Us.  We who have been Born Again and Birthed into the Kingdom of the Most High God.  We are the Church.  You are the Church.   The Church is present here today.   And anything that has ever happened “in the church” or “to the church” at any time in the past can and could happen today.   Why should we expect the Church to be anything less than what it is in Acts?

How can we be satisfied with what it is today if it is not what it was during its birth and early history?

It should do what it did.

It can do what it did.

It must do what it did.

It WILL do what it did

Word for Today:  November 9

There is a real temptation to preach what people want to hear.

The trend is to be popular.  To be liked.  To be respected and accepted.  To fit into a certain “camp.”  To be known for relating to a specific group.  To be “balanced” and non-offensive.

Then we look at personalities such as John the Baptist.  Like Elijah.  Like Jeremiah.  Like Noah.  Like many of the men and women in the Bible who considered it more important to be friends with God than to be popular with men.

I really do want you to like me, but it is more important to speak the Truth than to be popular.

It would be so easy to slip into the painless, cheap, costless and convenient niche.  To fit into the mold of bland, tasteless and ambiguous preaching…  This might satisfy for the moment, but it would be disastrous in the future.

Preachers….we need to preach Truth.  No matter who it may offend, alienate or infuriate.

The approval of God matters more than the applause of men

Word for Today:  November 8

When Jesus came to earth, God stepped out of Eternity into the dimension of Time.

This was a Divine Convergence.  Today God is once again stepping out of Eternity into Time.  We must seize it.  We must embrace it.  We must take it.    God is Here.

There is a definite Work being done in our World.  There is a definite work being done in the Church.  We are  in transition.  We are not what we were and we are not yet what we are going to be.  We are in transformation.  Things are changing.  God is doing stuff.   And it is good.  Sometimes it may be painful, but it is good and it is necessary.

There is a Purification taking place.  Conviction is falling and God is peeling off the layers and exposing the innermost secrets of the heart.  We are discovering that what we call “church” may not really be Church.  What we have established in the past and practiced over the years may be miles away from what God expects and what God wants.

God is coming to the Church before He comes for the Church.  His coming to the Church is quite upsetting.  He does not always allow  what we allow.  His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts…   (Isa 55:9)

He wants to bring us Up to Him.  We have attempted to bring Him down to us.  We must be willing to change.  To adjust.  To be tuned up.  To be refined.  To be tempered.

A Spiritual Renaissance is at hand

Word for Today:  November 7

God’s heart has never changed.

His heart has always been inclined toward man.  It is now and it always has been.  Man was originally created in order that God might have a family.  God wanted companionship.  God wanted fellowship.  God wanted relationship.  God wants to love and He wants to be loved.    God wanted to have a family to love and to bless and to keep unto Himself.

This is the Heart of God.

God wants to have children that will reciprocate His love.  God is Love, God loves and God wants to be loved.  Do you realize that God made the heavens solely for the benefit of earth? Do you know that God made the earth solely for the benefit of man?  Can you believe that God created all animal life and plant life solely for the benefit of man?  All the measurless natural resources on earth, under the earth and around the earth were specifically planned and created by God for you and me.  Everything and all things that God created by His power, were and are created for the benefit of man.

And God made man for Himself.

All of creation is designed to sustain human life.  Scientists are now beginning to recognize that the entire universe has been created and calibrated to support and sustain human life right here on earth.   The original Plan God had is still the same.   Even though satan entered and Adam sinned and death was brought into the earth, God has Eternally Purposed for Man to be His Own.

You belong

Word for Today:  November 6

And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.  Mk 11:18

They did not like Him.

• They did not like what He did. He messed up their Theology.
• He cleansed the Temple. He reestablished its purpose.
• He drove out the hypocrites and the game players in church.
• They did not like what He said. He told them to do stuff they did not want to do.  He pointed out their sin and their hypocrisy.
• They did not like the way He talked and what He called them. (Thieves, Hypocrites, Serpents, Vipers, Dead Men’s Bones, Whited Sepulchers, Unclean, Full of Iniquity.)
• They were afraid of Him because He was drawing bigger crowds than they were. (Because when Jesus spoke, things happened.)  Their message was dead, dry and useless.
• They had form but no fire.
• They had the Letter but no Life.
• When they preached, nothing happened.

The sick stayed sick.

The lost stayed lost.

The afflicted stayed afflicted.

The oppressed stayed oppressed.

The poor stayed poor.

The sad stayed sad.

My greatest concern is that nothing will happen in church on Sunday.  However, my greatest assurance is that the Gospel we preach is the Power of God unto Deliverance and that the Word we preach will not return void but will accomplish that which pleases God…  It will.

Just you wait and see

Word for Today:  November 5

Confrontation.

And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?  Mat. 21:10

And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. Mat. 21:11

Praise rang out.  Crowds gathered.  A parade took place.  Rejoicing was everywhere.  The King had come to town.  This was a divine convergence of time and eternity.

In time, God foreordained that Jesus would enter into the sphere of human existence.   In eternity, God planned for the redemption of the fallen human race.  And now, time and eternity came into a divine convergence…. they meet.  They intersect.  They collide.

I believe we are at a similar place.  Time, today, is converging with eternity.  Just as Jesus came “in the fullness of time” we are coming into another fullness of time and it will shortly blend in with eternity.

The temporal is about to become eternal.  This is why this moment is so crucial.  This is the reason the anointing is mounting and the glory of God is rising.  This is the reason behind Revival.  This is the reason behind our Praying.  Our Intercession.  We are at The Place.  We are in The Time.  There is once again a Divine Convergence of Time with Eternity.  We are There.

A Confrontation is approaching

Word for Today:  November 4

Jesus is not Who most people think He is.

I have tried to notice some characteristics in the Life of Jesus that probably would not be accepted in the life of any preacher in our society today.

• He was Radical.
• He was Outspoken. He pulled no punches.  He shot straight and true.  He did not “beat around the bush.”
• He was transparent. Who you saw was Who He was.  No pretense.  No hypocrisy.  No make-believe.  No disguise.
• He was non- religious. He did not run with the ministerial crowd.
• He was fearless.   He did not mince His words.  He did right with no fear of possible consequences.
• He was an iconoclast. A Non-conformist.  He kicked over sacred cows.  He violated traditions and He shattered customs.  To the religious world, He was a troublemaker.
• He was controversial. He took sides with the underdog and He challenged the respected.  He fellowshipped with the sinner and the profane.
• He embraced the simple and rejected the complicated.
• He spoke so little children could understand and confounded the wise with Wisdom and Truth.
• He was Uncompromising. Even when He could have won friends in high places and ultimately saved His own life, He refused to compromise.
• He was Anointed. And this is what drove Him to the Cross…  He was and is “The Anointed One.”  The Messiah.  The Christ.

He is the Christ.  The Son of the Most High God.  The King of kings and the Lord of lords.  The Alpha and the Omega.  The First and the Last.  The Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.  He is the Bright and Morning Star.  He is the I AM.

And He is Lord of all

Word for Today:  November 3

The Seed of God produces the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is in the Seed of God.  Just as the oak tree is in the acorn, the Kingdom is in the Seed of God.  Just as the apple tree is in the apple seed, the Kingdom is in the Seed of God.   Just as the corn stalk is in the grain of corn, the Kingdom is in the Seed of God.  Just as the mustard tree is in the mustard seed, the Kingdom is in the Seed of God.   The Seed of God is the Word of God.  Therefore, the Kingdom is in the (Seed) Word.

 Fear not little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Luke 12:32.

God pleases to give us the Kingdom and He gives it to us in Seed form which is the Word.  What is the Kingdom?   (Basileia) The Kingdom of God is the Rule of God, the Realm of God and the Will of God.

Jesus said when the Gospel of the Kingdom is preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, then shall the end come.  (Mat 24:14)  We have the Seed.   We have the Seed of the Kingdom of God.  Now, where is the Seed located?

It is where we choose to put it.  If we choose Jesus as Lord, God supernaturally places the Seed of the Kingdom in us.  If we have not chosen Jesus as Lord, the Seed of the Kingdom remains outside.

And ye have not His Word (Seed) abiding in you: for whom He hath sent, Him ye believe not… (John 5:38).

But if we are saved, it is IN US.

 …because ye are strong, and the Word of God   (Seed of God) ABIDETH IN YOU, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”  I John 2:14.

If the Seed of God is in us then the Kingdom of God is in us.

Neither shall they say Lo, here!  or lo, there!  For behold, the Kingdom of God is WITHIN you.  Luke 17:21

Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us… Eph 3:20

Anything, everything and all things that God has is in the Seed.  If you are Born Again the Incorruptible Seed is in you.  I Pet 1:23   Therefore, Anything, everything and all things that God has is inside you in seed form.

Remember… the tree is in the seed.  The seed will grow and produce IF the ground is right and if the environment is right.  The devil and all the powers of darkness cannot prevent the Seed from growing because the Life of God and the Power of God is in the Seed.

And that Seed is in you

Word for Today:  November 2

I have discovered that there are three main problem areas in the lives of Believers.

These problem areas, if left alone and not controlled, will prevent any Christian from living and walking in victory.   The problem areas are:

• The Flesh… which needs to be crucified and kept crucified.
• The Mind… which needs to be renewed and kept renewed.
• The Tongue… which needs to be controlled all the time.

The flesh is constantly warring against the spirit.  I do not need to tell you this.  You experience it every day.  It rebels against the spirit.   It is at odds with God.  It hates the Word.  It resists the Holy Ghost.  It likes to run loose.  It demands attention.  Uncontrolled, it causes misery, guilt, condemnation, and failure.  The Bible tells us how to have victory over the flesh.

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal. 5:16

The way to overcome flesh is to walk in the Spirit.  It is our flesh that is constantly giving us trouble.  It is my flesh that causes me the most grief.  Flesh is not sinful in itself.  It was created by God.  It is when we allow flesh to be controlled by a carnal mind and an uncontrolled will that we are tempted to sin… and most often yield to it.

To walk in the Spirit is a choice we make and it means to have our total life (spirit, soul and body) controlled by the Holy Ghost.  Focus today on Walking, Talking and Living in the Spirit…

And your flesh will be no problem

Word for Today: November 1

Agape is the God-kind of love.

It is characteristic of God and it is totally self-less.  It is a deliberate assent of the will… it is released by choice.  This kind of love is the underlying characteristic of God and it is this kind of love that is imputed to every believer at the time of Regeneration.  Paul said (in 1 Corinthians 13) that Love (Agape) is more important than:

• Speaking in Tongues
• the Gift of Prophecy
• Understanding (revelation)
• Mountain-moving Faith
• Giving to the poor
• Dying a Martyr

Love is an affection and not an emotion.  Love is a choice.  Love is a decision you make.  Love is deliberate.  Love is active.  Love moves from Word to deed.

• Love is not impatient but, instead, longsuffering.
• Love is not envious of others.
• Love is not self-centered, proud, haughty or puffed up.
• Love is not conceited.
• Love is not rude or crude.
• Love is not touchy or fretful or resentful.
• Love takes no account of the evil done to it.
• Love does not rejoice at the failures of others.
• Love believes the best of every person.
• Love bears up under anything that comes.
• Love endures every hardship without weakening. (1Cor 13 Amp)

The opposite of love is not hate… it is selfishness.  The most important product of the Christian faith is Love.  It has more significance and substance than anything that anyone can do, say or profess.  It is the primary characteristic of our faith and our salvation.  The incredible thing is we can all do this.  We can all choose to love.   It is not restricted to some high level of Christian achievement or some special gift from God.  The God-Kind of love is imputed into every believer and every believer has the privilege of giving it away.  And this One Thing will change everything.

Love never fails