dickbraswell

We are the only limitation God has.   It’s up to us.  Many are sitting around waiting for God to do something and God is waiting for us to do something.  God does not have to do anything else…. He has already done it.  The only limitation in the life of any believer is the believer himself.  Just think about that.  Some are praying and believing and praying and fasting and seeking and worrying and weeping and repenting and trying to get what God has already given them.  He has made everything we need available.  He has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.    

3 ¶  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

 We are going to consider one of the most familiar verses to every evangelical believer in the New Testament.    It is Romans chapter ten and verse ten.  This is the verse that most every soul winner memorizes and quotes in his quest to win souls.  This is a great verse.  It is good because it was by this verse and by the work of the Holy Spirit in our life that got us into Resurrection living.  It got us Born Again. 

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Notice in particular the word “salvation.”  For years and years I thought this meant simply missing hell and making it into heaven.  However there is much, much more in this verse than just missing hell and going to heaven.  Now that’s good but God has much more in store. 

The word “salvation” is soteria and it is the all-inclusive word of God’s Grace.  And it means not only to be saved from sin and to go to heaven, but also it means to have our sick body healed, it means to have our confused mind made sound, it means to have our poverty turned into prosperity, it means to be protected and delivered from every enemy, it means to be preserved and kept through every trial.  It means to have everything we need in this life necessary for us to prosper spirit, soul and body.   All these provisions have already been made available to you and me.   And we enter into that abundance by believing with our heart and confessing with our mouth.  We and are able to receive everything God has provided for us through the redemptive work of Jesus on the Cross simply by Believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth.  Awesome.  Almost too good to be true.  But this is what God has promised us in His Word.  And this is how to change things. 

Few people I know are really satisfied with things the way they are.  The good news is that we can change those things we don’t like.  Most people who are in undesirable situations are saying “I can’t help it.”  But the “I can’t help it” excuse is really a cop out.  Where does the “I can’t help it” excuse comes from?  It comes from the devil.  The Truth is we can help it.  God says we can.  The main reason we cannot change things is because we may not know how to.  If we do not know how to, then we are one of those people the Bible talks about when it says “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge…”   

Ho 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:

When someone is lacking knowledge they are, in fact, ignorant.   “Ye have not because we know not how to get it…”  Pardon my paraphrase.  But that’s really the truth.  The world has told us all our life that there were things that we just had to bear.  We could not help it.  It was unavoidable.  Nothing could change it.  It was just “meant to be.”  Meant to be by whom?   Certainly not by God if what is happening to us is bad and destructive.  We have listened to what the reasoning world has told us.  We have counted as fact what our natural eyes have seen.  We have believed what our emotions have dictated to us and we have been moved by our five senses.

 No wonder situations seem unchangeable.  This kind of information processing results in the “I can’t help it” mind set.  And it is really a MIND SET it is NOT a WORD SET.  We can change things.  The Word says we can.  The right way to change things does not come out of selfish or carnal thinking.  When we find ourselves in situations and circumstances that do not glorify God and enhance His Kingdom, we can change them.  When we are in a place that is not in the Will of God and we know it, then we can change it.  Some have relatives that are lost.  Others have pressing financial problems.  Many are struggling with sickness and disease.  Some are working through marriage and family issues… and the devil would have us believe that nothing is going to get better, that they will always be bad and that there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it.  However, we can change things IF we know how to do it.

 God wants us to have His Best.  Jesus died so that we could have Life and have it more abundantly.  God does not want us lacking in any good thing.  God wants us to have His best in everything and in every way.  Do we want His best?  Can we come into agreement with another believer for God’s best to be ours?   Listen to this: 

Mt 18:19 Again I say unto us, That if two of us shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

Let’s just agree with God and get this promise working.  It is a lot easier to talk about how bad it is and how hard it is and how impossible it is than it is to confess with our mouth what God says regardless of what we see or feel.  God says things can be changed.  God says that things can get better.  God says that our circumstances can be overcome.  God says that our situations can be brought in line with His Word and in agreement with His Will.  God wants us to rearrange our vocabulary and change our thinking.  He wants us to get rid of all the negative stuff and begin to accentuate the positives.  God is a YES God.  The Word declares:

2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Let’s take a look in the Gospel of John Chapter 8…

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free.

What does “free” mean?  It means free.  Free.  Free.  It means to be set loose.  It means to be released from bondage.  It means to be unshackled.  Jesus said the truth would make us free.  If we are free, it is the truth that made us free.  If we are bound it is the Lie that has put us in bondage.  Now what is the lie?  The Lie is anything that contradicts the Word of God.  It is anything that comes from the devil because the Bible says that he is the father of lies. 

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

“We shall know the Truth of God’s Word and the Truth of God’s Word that us act on in faith will deliver us from all our bondage” to paraphrase what Jesus says in this verse.  Hallelujah.  That is exactly where God wants us to be.  He wants us to be free from all satanic and demonic bondage.  He wants us to be delivered from every habit and every burden and every demonic oppression the devil has put on us. 

Exposure to the Truth will change us.  And when we are exposed to the Truth and the Truth becomes revelation to us, we can change bad things into good things.  When we begin to take in the Truth, we automatically begin to get better.  Better in our body.  Better in our mind.  Better in our talking.  Better in our expectations.  Better in our relationships.  Better in our patience.  Better in our temperament. 

The Truth will get us out of worry into trust.  It will get us out of sickness into health.  It will get us out of anxiety into peace.  It will get us out of sadness into joy.  It will get us out of poverty into abundance.  God wants us to succeed and not fail.  God wants us to be well and not sick.  God wants us to happy and not sad.  God want us to be prosperous and not poor.  God want us to have His Best.  And He has made every provision for this, but some are still waiting and hoping for their situation to change. The real issue is that God is waiting for us to Change Things.  We can change things.  God has given us the authority and the power to change things…. There is no such thing to the Believer as “I can’t help it.”  How do we change things?  How do we do it? 

We need to understand that “with the mouth confession is made unto salvation…”  Therefore what we say with our mouth is very important.  If we “confess” anything, we must “say” it.  If we confess anything, we must formulate thoughts in our mind and then make them come out of our mouth as words. We can change things by and through the words that we say.  Words were “here” before facts were “here.”  Words were here before worlds were here.  Words were here before people were here.  Words were here before the devil was here.  Words have more power than facts.  Words have more authority and more power than natural law has.  Words were here before physical and natural laws were set in motion by Almighty God at the time of Creation.  Words are important.  Words are weighty.  Words are more powerful than facts.  God used Words to create.  He “spoke” and “it was.”  Words are creative.  Words have the power to bring things into existence.   

 Pr 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

God spoke Words that were Faith-filled Words and when those words came out of God’s mouth creation happened.  Substance came into being and was created by the Words God spoke with His mouth.  Words created.  Words have power.  Words have preeminent and predominant force.  

Jesus is vitally interested in how we talk.  We can talk for five minutes with most anybody and they will reveal their spiritual position by the words that come out of their mouth.  By the way they talk.  By the words they say.  By what comes out of their mouth. 

We are living under a New Covenant.  The Word we have is a legal document.  It is binding on two parties.  It is binding on the part of God and it is binding on the part of those who believe it.  God formulated and created this covenant and signed it with and by the Blood of His own Dear Son.  It is established forever and ever.  It faileth not.  It changeth not.  It will never pass away.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of God is established from everlasting to everlasting. 

Mt 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

The Word is a legal document and it binds God to whoever agrees with it.   I want to agree with it.  Do you?  Will you?  If our answer is “yes” then we are in a position to change things.  If we agree to and with this Legal Document, then God is legally bound to honor His Word in our behalf.  God does not lie. 

Nu 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

When we agree with this covenant that God has signed with the Blood of His Dear Son, we are positioned to receive everything that God has promised and provided for us.  God is bound to us.  We become God’s responsibility.  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  We belong to God and we are His responsibility.  Therefore, we don’t have to worry about Wall Street, the stock market, the banks, our job, the world situation, the economy, or anything else, because we are now God’s responsibility.  God is our Source.  God is our Supply.  God is our Security.  He has bound Himself to provide for us IF….we know how to get these Word Promises and Principles working in our life. 

We are literally in New Covenant Living.  God brought us out in order to bring us in.  God got us the Victory.  And then He provided everything we would ever need to maintain the victory.  There is irrevocable power and authority in Spiritual Laws.  We live in the New Covenant Realm and are governed by the Laws set forth in the Word of God.  These are Spiritual laws, spiritual precepts and spiritual principles.  The laws, precepts, and principles set forth in the Word of God supersede all physical and natural law… they have more authority, more influence and more power than any force or thing in the world or under the world.  

Ro 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

This means the Law of Life has more power than the Law of Sin and Death.  Those Spiritual principles and precepts in the Word of God have more power and authority than anything in the World System.   Circumstances and situations are occurrences in the World System and they can be frightening. They can depress us.  They can overwhelm us.  But every situation and circumstance has its origin and birth in the World System.  We who are Born Again live by the laws and precepts of a Spiritual Kingdom that is more powerful and that has more authority than the laws and precepts of the world system. 

Jesus wants us to change our situation.  He wants us to know the Truth.  He wants us to believe right.  He wants us to talk right.  He wants us to expect things to change.

 There is a story in Matthew 16 that shows us just how excited Jesus gets when we talk right.  He was talking to His disciples and He asked, “Who do men say that I am?”  They answered “well, some say that you are John the Baptist come back to life, some say that you are Elijah, some say that you are a prophet sent from God…”  Jesus asked, “who do you say that I am?”   In other words, Jesus was not interested in what other people said about Him; He wanted to know what His disciples said about Him. Peter, the impetuous one, stood up and declared “Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God…”  Jesus got excited at this response by Peter.  He said, “Flesh and blood (the world system)  has not revealed this to you… you did not get this through your intellect or your emotions or your natural reasoning, but My Father which is in heaven has revealed this to you.” (This is revelation knowledge)   Then Jesus really got worked up and said “I will build My Church on this Confession which you made by words that came out of your mouth and out of out of your heart, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…” 

What was this confession Peter made?  He confessed with his mouth that Jesus was and is Messiah.   Peter said with his mouth that Jesus is Messiah, the Anointed One, the One sent from God… The Promised One, The Savior, the Deliverer… he confessed this with his mouth and when he did, Jesus got excited and said, “you did not get this from the world system, Peter, you got that from God and I like what you said…” Then Jesus said, “I’m going to build My church on this Revelation and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…”

And that’s exactly what He’s doing…. He is building His church… not Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Catholic, Pentecostal, Black, White, Red or Yellow… but THE CHURCH.  HIS CHURCH.  And He is building it here and now.  Hallelujah.  And He is building His Church on a CONFESSION….   A confession of Who He Is.  His Person.  His Power.  His Position.  And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it… that means that no demon, no devil, no darkness, no sickness, no disease, no demonic depression or obsession, no authority on earth or under the earth shall defeat the Church because the Church has more power than the world has.  And then Jesus said, “I am going to give you the keys of the Kingdom…” 

That means we have the keys.  Keys open and keys close.  Keys unlock and keys lock.  Keys allow and keys prevent.  And we have the keys.  Having the keys means having the authority and the power to act in Jesus’ Name and being able to do exactly what Jesus would do if He were here in person.  How did these “Keys” come to pass?  They came to pass because of the confession Peter about Jesus with his mouth. 

Jesus is interested in what we say.  He wants us to talk right.  When we say what Jesus says and when we say it in faith, when we take the words that Jesus speak and when we make them our words… words that come out of our spirit man… when we speak the same words that Jesus speaks and we say them in faith, it is exactly the same thing as if Jesus were there saying them Himself.

Jesus wants us to talk to things.  Most folks are talking to and about things.  But Jesus wants us to talk to things.  He wants us to talk to things that don’t have ears.  Jesus talked to an earless fig tree.  He talked to the wind.  The wind doesn’t have any ears.  He spoke to the waves and the rain.  He spoke to the elements of nature. He spoke to dead people.  Just because something does not have ears or does not have the ability to hear, does not mean us are not supposed to talk to them.  Jesus wants us to talk to things that do not have ears so that we can change our situation.  We change our situations and our circumstances by talking to them. 

Mark 11:23  For verily I say unto us, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Do mountains have ears?  Of course not.  But Jesus commands us to talk to them anyway.  Do you mean we are supposed to talk to mountains?  If we have one or some YES.  It is important that we talk right.  It is important that we say the right things.  It is important that we get our tongue in line with the Word of God and that we make our tongue and our lips say what God says.   We are not to look at or consider our circumstances, or talk about our circumstances, or meditate on our circumstances, us are supposed to talk to them in Jesus Name and tell them where and when to go. 

Lots of people never get their situation or circumstances changed because they are always praying and begging God to change it for them.  When, the truth of the matter is, God has already told us to talk to it and change it ourselves.    Do we have a mouth?  Do we know how to use it?  Can we speak words?  Can we say things?  Death and life are in the power of our tongue.  When we begin confessing with our mouth and talking to our situation,  we will begin to change it by the power of our spoken word as we speak the Word in Faith. 

Several things I need to say here…

First, in order to change our situation, our mind needs to be renewed by the Word of God. 

Rom 12:2   And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of our mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We need to get God’s Word built into our mind.  We need to discipline and control our mind to think like the Word.  We can make up our mind.  We have control over our mind.  We can make it line up with the Word of God.  Most of us are more influenced by the situations going on around us than we are influenced by what the Word says.  This is the result of thinking with an unrenewed mind.  Paul tells us to renew our mind.  How do we renew our mind?  We renew our mind by filling it with the Word and emptying it of the world.  We renew our mind by becoming “spiritually minded” instead of being “carnally minded.”

Ro 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

The truth is most of us need a good brain washing.  The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus loves the Church and gave Himself for it that He might set it apart and cleanse it by the “washing of water by the Word…”

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word… 

It is the Word that is the washing and cleansing agent.  The Word is the way to get our minds renewed so that we can think right.  Wrong thinking always gets us in trouble.  Carnal thinking or natural thinking leads to death but when we have our mind renewed by the washing of water by the Word, we are enabled to think right.  And right thinking is Word Thinking.  When we are spiritually minded and think in line with the Word of God, the world and the world system think we are unbalanced.  Unlearned.  Out of touch with reality.  Living in fantasy.  Foolish. And in some cases crazy.  The Word is so far above the world in Truth that when we live our lives by the Word, the world just can’t understand us.    A renewed mind believes what the Word says in spite of what natural carnal reasoning says. 

The world will never understand a spiritually minded believer.  We simply believe what the Word says about who we are, what we have and what we can do.  The Word says we are kings and priests.  Therefore, we act like kings and priests.  The Word says we are healed and not sick.  Therefore, we act like we are healed.  The Word says we are the head and not the tail.  Therefore, we act like we are the head.  The Word says we are above and not beneath.  Therefore, we act like we are above our circumstances and situations. The Word says we are rich and not poor.  Therefore, we act like we are rich.  The Word says we are more than a conqueror.  Therefore, we act like  overcoming conquerors.  The Word says we can do all things through Christ and nothing shall be impossible to us.  Therefore, we act like nothing will ever be impossible for us.  We have the courage and the faith to attempt the impossible and the unreasonable. 

What God has given us is ours.  And the devil nor anybody else or anything else is going to take it away from us.  It is ours and we are going to keep it.  We are just saying what the Word says.  When we choose to believe what the Word says, we are exercising a renewed mind.  We are thinking  like the Bible tells us to think.  When we think like the Bible tells us to think, we acquire a renewed mind.  And a renewed mind leads us into life, peace, and success. 

Next, in order to change things, talk right. 

We need to make our mouth say what the Word says.  When we feel bad we don’t say “I feel bad…”  We say instead  “by His stripes we are healed….”  That’s what the Word says.  When we are fearful and confused and unsure about things, we don’t say “I’m afraid…. “  We say “God has not given us the spirit of fear but instead He has given us the spirit of love and power and a sound mind…”

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

When pressures build up and stress builds up and worry and anxiety come, don’t talk about them.  Instead talk to them.  Talk to them in Jesus ‘ Name and tell them when to go and where to go.  Talk right.  But some would say, “but that’s not true, I am sick or I am worried, or I am afraid or I am stressed out…”  If what is happening to us contradicts what the Bible says about us, then what is happening to us is a lie… it is not the truth.  The Lie holds us in bondage.  The Truth makes us free.  Therefore, we should believe the Truth (what the Bible says) instead of what our carnal, reasoning, physical emotions are saying. 

I am amazed at how negative folks talk.  They are giving power to the forces that plague them by talking about them, complaining about them, and telling others how bad their situation is.  The world system is a negative system.  It is death driven and death doomed.  It is a kingdom of darkness and there is no light in it.  It is fathered by the devil and propagated by demons.  It is harsh.  It operates in fear.  It has no hope and no future.  It is opposite from everything in the Bible. It will overtake us and hold us captive.  It will depress us, keep us in despair and make us miserable.  It is the primary purpose of the devil and hell to keep us away from the Truth, ignorant of the Truth, and disobedient to the Truth.  How we talk will determine how much of a hold the world system has on us and  our family and our possessions. 

We can talk the Word and the words us say become carriers.  When our words agree with God’s Word they will carry God’s Power with them.  When our words agree with the negative world system, they will carry the power of the world system with them.  I really believe if we could ever learn to talk right and speak the Word and the Word only, and what the Word says instead of what we see, feel, and think, we could experience a radical transformation in our situations and circumstances. 

The Devil and his demons must submit to the Word of God that we speak.  When we come to see that all the death stuff that is happening to us is caused by the devil and his demons and then get a real revelation of the Power of the Word of God we will be on the road to recovery.  We will be positioned to change things in us and around us.  But as long as we set our tongue in agreement with death, we will have what we say. 

We can Search out and find those God Words that contradict our particular problem.  They are in the Bible…. Find them!   If we are sick , look up scriptures about healing.  If we are afraid and depressed, look up scriptures that promise peace and assurance.    If we are struggling financially, look up scriptures that promise God’s provision for us.  If we are held captive by habit or addiction, look up scriptures that promise us deliverance and freedom.  Then we make those scriptures a vital and strategic part of our language.  We begin to articulate out loud with our mouth what God has already said about us in His Word.  When we do this, we will begin to see immediate changes.  God honors His Word above His Name.  God sends His Word to accomplish His purposes.  

Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

When our Words become His Word then His purposes will be accomplished in us and through us. 

We have named things and called things that “were not” as though they “were” and we have seen them miraculously come to pass.  We have marched around property that we knew God wanted us to have.  We spoke to it and called it ours and now we have it.  We have called into existence buildings, and lands, and mission enterprises, and endeavors that were spoken to us by the Holy Spirit and now they are ours… for His glory.  We have learned to Speak the Word and then to sit back and watch God perform His Word just as He promised.  And God is no respecter of persons.  What He has done for us He will do for you IF you can bring yourself to believe right, think right and talk right. 

Thirdly, to change our situation, Act out our faith.

 Our faith is no faith if we are not acting it out.  We can testify about our “great faith” but if us are not acting it out in our daily living, our faith is not great… it is just not.  The Bible says that faith without corresponding action is dead. 

Jas 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Jas 2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Acting out faith is moving out of the realm of hoping, praying, thinking, and reasoning.  Acting out faith is doing what the Word says we can do.  Acting out faith is taking what the Bible says is ours.   Acting out faith is refusing to do what our flesh tells us to do when it contradicts the Word.  Acting out faith is acting like we have what we are believing for before we actually get it. 

I flew my Chevrolet Malibu for two years before it became an airplane.  I would increase the speed to lift off speed and pull back on the wheel and see and feel by faith what it would be like when that airplane manifested.  And it did.  A Cessna 206.  With all the bells and whistles.  Just like God said it would.  And it did.  Hallelujah. 

I walked in my “imaginary” house (2 story, 5 bedroom, 3 bath and double carport on acreage) before I walked in my “real” house that God manifested by His Word….    

I preached from a flatbed truck body on a piece of land we needed for a new auditorium.  I called it ours.  I named it, called it, spoke to it, and acted it out.  A year later I was preaching from a new pulpit in our new auditorium on the land we preached on in faith.  Acting out faith is called foolishness by the world.   But it is called obedience by God.  And when we prove to God and to the world that we really believe by acting out faith before the manifestation of the Fact…. We please our Heavenly Father and we receive that for which we believe. 

God told the prophet to dig ditches before the water came.  He acted out His faith.  And the waters came and filled every ditch in a time of drought.  God told the poor starving widow woman to borrow pots before she had any oil to put in them.  She acted out her faith went out and borrowed pots (not a few) and God filled every one of them with lifesaving oil and saved her life and the life of her son.  Jesus acted out His faith by becoming a suffering, dying servant and God brought Him forth as King of kings and Lord of lords.  If we only acted as if we really believed,  people could and would “see” our faith.  Faith with no action is invisible.  Unknown and unnoticed.  And unproductive. 

Mr 2:5  When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

We have a choice.  We can believe what we feel or we can believe what the Word says.  When we act out what the Word says instead of what we feel ,we become like the Word and unlike the world.  When we confess “I just don’t feel like it”  that is exactly what we get.  When we say “It’s just too hard for me I can’t do it”  guess what?   It is.  And we can’t.  When we say “It’ll never work out…It will always be bad” guess what?  It will.  When we say “I’m sick…”  Then we are.  When we say “I’m poor” then we are.  When we say “It’s impossible” then it is.  But when we begin to act like we “feel like it” we will.  But when we act like it’s not too hard, then it won’t be too hard.  When we act like it will get better and it will work out then it will.  When we begin to act like we are well and not sick then we will get well and stay well.  When we act like we are prosperous, then we will become prosperous.  When we act like it is possible then it will be possible.  Acting out faith produces visible results.  Remember Mark 11:23 and 24?

23  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

 24  That is why I tell you, as to whatever you pray and make request for, if you believe that you have received it, it shall be yours. (Weymouth NT  Trans)

Acting out faith is acting as if our answer has already come.  Most are still hoping and praying and wishing and seeking and weeping and repenting and begging and pleading… when the real need is to act as if what we are believing for has already become ours.  Our body may tell us it is not here.  Our circumstances may tell us it is not here.  Our friends and relatives may tell us it is not here.  But I had rather believe the Bible than believe what anybody or anything says if what they say is not what the Bible says.  Amen? 

The Word says what we believe for is already ours.  And we act out our faith.  We act as if it has already manifested.  Faith that acts out is great faith.  Faith that is action is alive and not dead.  Faith that Acts is Faith that Produces. 

Finally, in order to change things, live in an atmosphere of praise.

Praise God in all things.  Praise God at all times.  Praise God through every challenge.  Praise God in the morning.  Praise God at noon.  Praise God in the evening.  Praise God continually.  If we have breath, the Bible commands us to Praise God. 

Psa 150:6  Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

Praise God and thank God for the answer before the answer comes.  Praise God for the answer before we see it, feel it, or have it.  Our sight and our feelings are subordinate to the Word of God.  As far as God is concerned, we already have what we have believed for.  He has already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness…

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

I have a question.  What situation or circumstance would we like to see changed more than everything else?  What one thing have we been believing for over everything else?  What is the greatest desire of our heart at this very moment?  What one thing drives us and is the focus of our passion?  What is that one thing?  The One Thing that is presently the heart of our praying?   That One Thing that rises above all other situations and circumstances that we really would like to see manifest? 

What if God visibly walked right into our presence now… at this moment… and with loving grace and mercy actually presented us with that One Thing us have so longed for?   Here it is.  What we have prayed and believed for.  This is it.  It is ours.  We now have in fact what we have believed for in faith. 

Now… how would we act?  What would our response be?  Would we sort of glance off to the side and say “ho hum…”  “Well, so what?”  Could we walk off and be passive and unappreciative?   Would we be thankless and ungrateful?  Just what would we do?  How would we act?  What would our physical and mental reaction be if we got that One Thing that had been the focus of our believing for all these years?  Would we shout?  Would we praise God?  Would we leap for joy?  Would we run around the room?  Would we whoop and holler and dance and rejoice?  Is that what we would do?  Most of us would.  We would be uninhibited and unashamed to react in a noticeable physical manner. 

 Here’s a famous verse from the Gospel according to Bro. Dick… “Act like you got it and you will get it….”  Acting as if it is already here in the now is a fulfillment of Mark 11: 23 and 24.  And this is perfectly natural for any Spirit Filled, faith-filled, Word Believing individual.  The world cannot understand this nor can any carnal Christian.  

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 

This verse is not necessarily limited to mean only those awesome things awaiting the Believer in Heaven.  God has prepared unimaginable “things” in the present for those who love Him.  Do we love Him?  Then those “things” are for us and they are for us today.  Right now.  Hallelujah. 

Praise the Lord and act as if the answer has already come. Refuse to doubt.  Believe with all our heart.  Hold to our confession of faith.  Get our mind renewed by the Word of God.  Talk right.  Say the Word.  Confess the Word.  Talk the Word.  Act out our faith.  Act like us already have “it” and we will get “it.”  Live in an atmosphere of Praise.  Thank God.  Praise God.  Give God glory.  Worship God.  Praise and thank Him in all situations and circumstances. We will see our situation begin to change.     

This is how you change things.  You can change things.  You will change things.  And when you do,

God will get the glory. 

Word for Today:  February 28

Word principles

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.  Matt. 21:22

IF we will apply Word Principles to the affairs of our lives, there will be increase and abundance.  Guaranteed.  Not just materially, but emotionally, physically and spiritually as well.  There are some Strong Guarantees and some incredible promises given to us (who believe) in the Word.  When we exercise these promises and activate these provisions by our faith, increase comes.  Abundance comes.  Life happens.  Real Life.

We have looked at these promises, and wondered if they could really be true.  We have not seen the manifestation.  We have not experienced the answers we have believed for and discouragement has set in.  satan has seen to it that we rationalize and reason and move into a the place of doubt and unbelief.  This is his strategy.  This is his plan.  his only hope is that he can weaken, limit and ultimately destroy our faith.

Now, it’s time.  It’s time for you and me to move out of our complacency and comfort and begin to invade satan’s territory.  It is time for us to be aggressive.  To be on the offense.  Not the defense, but the offense.  If we are satisfied to remain in our comfort zone… in the place we now are, we are backslidden.  Backslidden.  Not keeping up with God and His divine purpose and plan for us.  Are you ready?  Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?  Are you willing to put it all on the line for God?  Are you ready to do whatever it takes?

God is looking… searching throughout the earth diligently seeking those to whom He can show Himself strong.

Will you volunteer?  Will you be one of the ones who will demonstrate the Power and the Glory of Letting God do in you whatever it takes?

I believe you are

 Ephesians 3:20  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…

God specializes in Workable Simplicity.  He is a Specialist in making things work and making them work efficiently and effectively… with no waste and with the least expenditure of energy.  He perfects creation.  He perfects creations operation. What He does perfectly He also does efficiently and economically… that is He gets the Very Most out of the Very Least. 

We are New Creation People… He has created us and equipped us so that we can accomplish the impossible without outside help.   He has imparted to every one of His Children the Power that taps into and connects with His Ability; His ability to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think…. This power is in us.  Now.  This minute.  The primary purpose God has imparted this Power to us is so that we might take Dominion over all things. 

Psalm 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalm 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psalm 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:               

What is this Powerthat is supposed to work in us?  Where is it?  Where does it come from?  What does it do?  How does it function and work?  Do I have it?  How can I get it and be sure I have it?  These are some of the questions we will be addressing in this study regarding the power and the authority possessed by those who are Born again and in Partnership with God. 

The purpose and plan of God is for His Children to Reign in Life.                 

Romans 5:17  For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

The word “reign” comes from a word that means:  to be the king, to exercise kingly power, to reign, to exercise the highest influence, to control.   This is a place I definitely want to be. Don’t you?  The Word also calls Believers “overcomers.”  Listen:

1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

1 John 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

To “overcome” is to conquer… to carry off the victory, come off victorious.  To win.   All the time and every time.  This is what the Bible says about you and me.  Us. Believers.  The Bible also says that we are “more than conquerors.”  We are not just winners, but MORE than winners.  The outcome is not even close… the Bible says we win by a wide margin. 

Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.     

The Bible declares that we can do all things through Christ and that nothing shall be impossible to us.  That if we ask, we will receive.  If we knock it will open.  If we seek we shall find and that with God, all things are possible.  We can live in the Supernatural.  We are who He says we are. We have what He says we have.  We can do what He says we can do.  These wonderful things He has promised us come out of Partnership.  They come out of His Word.  They come out of His Covenant with us.  These are His promises to everyone who will dare to believe.  This is absolutely awesome.  The Bible says that He always causes us to triumph in Christ… this means that we always win.  Every time.  God even says that we shall do even greater works than Jesus did because He has gone to the Father and sent the Holy Ghost.  God promises to supply all of our need according to HIS riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.  He even tells us that we can Choose Life and Refuse death.  And that by choosing Life both we and our seed shall live.  These are profound promises and awesome declarations… and they are to come to pass according to the Power that is working in us. 

How do we do this?  Where does the power and the ability to overcome, to win and to reign come from?  Most would say “from God.”  However, according to the Bible, it comes from what God has done inside the believer.   This power or ability to reign in life and overcome the world comes from inside the New Creation Man.  Then something must happen to a person to make this possible. 

The initial Transaction takes place at the time of the New Birth.  It happens when one gets Born Again.  At this particular instant, the moment of Regeneration, God Himself comes into the heart  (spirit) of the believing sinner.  When one believes with the heart and confesses with the mouth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Who came from heaven, was crucified for our sin, was miraculously raised from the dead and Who is now Alive and sitting at the Right Hand of God… that person is Born Again.  Saved.  Redeemed.  Regenerated.  Re-gened… his sins are forgiven and forgotten and he becomes a New Creation. 

2Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

The Nature and Character of God Himself takes up residence inside the heart of the believer.  The believer becomes, through his faith and through the Grace of God, Born Again.  He becomes A Child of God.  We actually, factually and literally become “partakers” of the divine nature of God, our Father.  We have His character and His nature imputed to us. 

2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The word for “partakers” in this context means:  a partner, associate, comrade, companion…   a sharer, in anything and everything. So, according to the Bible, at the time of Conversion, the believer becomes a sharer, a partner, or an associate with God.  This experience affects the recipient, spirit, soul, and body.  The spirit is quickened and brought to life, the soul (mind and emotions) is renewed by the Word and the body becomes the Temple of the Holy Ghost… the very dwelling place of God Himself.  The Believer is also made Righteous. 

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Righteousness and sin are totally incompatible.  Just as darkness is incompatible with light, sin is incompatible with righteousness.  If one is Just and Righteous, there is no possibility of sin, failure, weakness or death in his spirit.  (It is the Spirit of Man that is made Righteous… not necessarily his mind and or his body).  Where there is no sin, there is no possibility of weakness and failure.  There is no place for condemnation and guilt. 

What is the seat of God’s Power?  We know He is Omnipotent (all-powerful).  But just where in God does His power reside?  Our concept and understanding of the Nature of God is essential if we are to comprehend anything at all regarding His power.  He is Creator.   Out from Him (by His Power) everything that is made was made.  Out from Him (by His Power) everything that is made is sustained and upheld.  

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power…

What is it that makes God all powerful?    I believe it is His Righteous Nature.  His power comes out of His Righteousness.  Righteousness means Just and Right.  His power comes out of His Justice and His Rightness.  He is “Just Right.” 

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness (“Just-rightness”) for His name’s sake…”  Psalm 23:3.  Just what does this mean?  If God leads me… He takes me somewhere.  He is in front and He takes me by the hand and He goes somewhere with me.  We are together.  And we are going to the same place.  We go along the path of Righteousness.  The road of “Just Right.”  (Justice and Rightness).  As long as I walk with Him in this place… along this path, then I bring honor and glory to His Name.  (For “His Name’s sake”).  To bring Honor and Glory to His Name is to receive and walk in all that His Name provides.  This is walking in Covenant or Partnership with Him.  The power to do this is in and  by and through the Power of Righteousness; the Force of Righteousness.   Where is this Force and where is this Power?   Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20. 

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able (dunamai; Present Tense… a simple statement of FACT or REALITY viewed as happening in actual present time.) to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according (Kata: down from… through) to the power (Dunamis:  power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature) that worketh (Energeo:to be operative, be at work) in us…     

On close examination, this verse tells us some very important facts:

1. God is Able.
2. God is Able to do something.
3. The Something God is able to do is far beyond our ability to ask or think.
4. He is able to do this According to something that works kata… “down from”  “through” the Power.
5. Power that is Energized in us (energeo) “to be operative, to be at work…

2 Corinthians 5:21  For he hath made (caused) him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made (become) the righteousness of God in him.

The PRIMARY purpose of the Substitutionary Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is that those who believe might be made Righteous.   This verse declares that God, the Father, caused… was the Author of… Jesus becoming sin even though He never knew sin… IN ORDER THAT we (believers) might BECOME (be made) the Righteousness of God.    Paul speaks of the possibility of us becoming filled with all the fullness of God…

Ephesians 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

I believe the “fullness of God” has to do with the Righteousness of God.  The force and energy and power of being Just Right.  Justified and Righteous.

In order to understand the principles of Righteousness and the Power of Righteousness, we need to define some terms.

Righteousness:  Dikaiosune.  “The virtue or quality or state of one who is Righteous.”  Equity.  Equality.  Justified.  Justification.  Innocent.  Guiltless.  Faultless.  Free.  “The state of him who is such as he ought to be….”  The only condition that is fully acceptable to God.    

 2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Partakers.  Koinonos.  Partner.  Associate.  Comrade.  Companion.  Sharer.  “To be the partner of one doing something.”  

Divine.  Theos.  Deity.  Divine nature, power, providence.

Nature.  Phusis.  Natural lineal descent. 

God’s Nature is a Nature of Authority and Power,  a Nature of Abundance and a Nature of Righteousness.  As Believers we are partakers of this very Divine Nature or the very Essence of God.  This study will attempt to reveal the How and the Why of the believer’s Righteous Nature.  We will look at where we get this nature and how we get it.  We will discover what this nature is and what it will do for us.  We will learn how most religious teaching and religion teachers have failed to tell us the truth about Who we Are.  They have become experts at telling us what is wrong with us but few have received the Revelation concerning what is Right with us.          

This teaching will dispel all guilt and condemnation.  This truth will set us free from legalism and works-oriented salvation.  This message will magnify our appreciation for God and His Provision for all His children.  We will discover more about the Grace of God and the Mercy of God… we will see God and Know God in a new and deeper way.  We will feel His Heart and know His Mind.  We will enter into a Higher Dimension of Spiritual living and be better prepared for what God has in store or us in this hour.  Hallelujah.

“…and they who receive abundance of grace and the GIFT of RIGHTEOUSNESS shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ…”  (Rom. 5:17)

“But seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God and His RIGHTEOUSNESS; and all these things shall be added unto you…” (Mat 6:33)

“For He (God) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us (you and me), Who (Jesus) knew no sin; that we (you and I) might be made the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God in Him.”  (2 Cor 5:21)

Righteousness was lost.

 “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin... (Rom 5:12)  “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners…” (Rom 5:19)

When God created the first man, Adam, He created him in Righteousness and true holiness. He created him in His very own image, His very own likeness and with His very own nature. Adam was a created man with a righteous nature.  Adam was aware of his righteousness.  He was in right standing with God and he communed with God without restraint or hindrance.  He was “just and right” with God.  This Righteous Nature and the Power in it gave Adam dominion over his world and the inhabitants of his world.  Adam had power with the words of his mouth and he ruled over creation with the power of his words.  The power and authority that Adam had was given to him by God when God created him with a righteous nature. 

When Adam chose to sin against God, he lost everything God had given him.  Adam was literally born again in reverse… he was born out of his righteous nature into his sin nature.  (When we get saved we are born out of our sin nature into the righteous nature of God) He was no longer a creature of righteousness and light but instead he was a creature of sin and darkness.  He lost his authority.  He lost his power.  He lost his right standing with God.  He lost his ability to commune with God on God’s level.  He lost eternal life.  He lost Divine health.  He lost Divine prosperity and Divine protection.  Adam became a loser.  Adam became death-doomed and failure-doomed and destruction-doomed.  The result of Adam’s sin contaminated the entire human race.  “Wherefore as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men…”  Romans 5:12

Righteousness has been restored.  We have been “Reconciled” unto God By Jesus Christ.  “God was in Christ, reconciling (restoring) the world unto Himself…”  (II Cor 5:19)  “God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him…”  (II Cor 5:21)

When we receive Jesus by faith, we receive the Righteousness of God.  When we are Born Again, we are born OUT OF the sin nature and IN TO the Righteous nature of God.   Jesus has exchanged His righteous nature for our sin nature.  When we make Jesus Lord of our lives we are born out of our sin nature and into the righteous nature of God.  We are not a person with two natures, but we are NEW, having never existed before!  What was before… the sin nature, darkness, lack of power, sin, poverty and lack, failure and frustration… is dead.  Jesus has bought back what Adam lost… and MORE.  What God did in us is greater than what satan did in Adam.  Where sin abounded… Grace (Righteousness) did much more abound.  

Ro 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

There is no truth in the statement that Believers are “only human”… this has been a lie from hell for centuries.  We have become partakers of the very Divine Nature of God… God has taken up habitation inside of us and we are possessors of His Perfectness and Righteousness.  We are God’s dwelling place.  He has chosen to live in us.  He has chosen to reproduce Himself in us. 

John 1:12.  As many as receive Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God…

“Power” here is exousia which means “legal right.”  We have received Jesus and therefore we have the legal right to partake (share in) the Divine Nature (Righteousness) of God.  Therefore, every believer is a God-person.  We have the Supernatural Life of God in us.  God has not limited us.  There are no boundaries… no lids… no fences… no restraints.  What God has made us to be WE CAN BE.   We have limited ourselves by saying that we are only human and thereby excuse ourselves for all the weaknesses and temptations we yield to.  Satan has constantly fed us the lie that we are “only human” and we have believed it and thought it and said it until we can hardly conceive of the TRUTH that we are more, MUCH MORE than that.  We are more than human… we are sharers in the Life of God.  Hallelujah.

Righteousness is the Nature of God.  God is Righteous and from His Righteousness all His Power emanates… His POWER comes out of His Righteousness.  The ONE domain Satan cannot enter is the domain of righteousness.  Whatever realm of our life Righteousness is ruling over that is the realm that satan cannot touch.  Whatever realm of our life that Righteousness is not ruling over that is the realm that Satan can enter and set up strongholds.  Satan has no legal right to come into the Righteousness of God.  He cannot and he will not.  Satan has no legal right to come into any area of our life that is ruled over by Righteousness.  He cannot and he will not.  Righteousness is the Power by which and through which we can REIGN in LIFE.  Where Righteousness is recognized and accepted and accounted, we are enabled to live the God Life.  In the God Life there is no sin, so sickness, no failure, no poverty, no worry, no lack, no demon activity.

The Righteous Nature of God is Imputed as a Gift into the Believer by the GRACE of GOD at the time of Salvation.  This transaction is completed as the believer acts on the Power of the Gospel by faith.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

  2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2Co 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them… (Impute:  logizomai:  To put into one’s account). 

Impute means to “Put into one’s account.”  If I had a million dollars and I chose to freely put it into your back account  with no restrictions you would have the absolute right to spend it as you wished.  God has put His Righteousness into your Spiritual Account and you have the absolute right to use it to produce whatever Spiritual Victory you need.   God has “imputed” His Righteousness into your account as an act of His Grace in response to your Faith.  Remember… it is by His Grace in response to your Faith.  “By Grace are ye being save through Faith…”  Ephesians 2:8. 

Righteousness is not what you do or what you don’t do… RIGHTEOUSNESS is WHO YOU ARE.  Righteousness is what God has done in you.  Holiness is the outworking of the Believer’s RIGHTEOUS NATURE.  Righteousness has nothing to do with works.  Righteousness has nothing to do with how you live.  Most people are appraised for their righteousness by how good they are.  If they are good, they are considered righteous.  If they go to church regularly, they are considered righteous.  If they tithe and live a clean and holy life, they are considered righteous.  This is not what righteousness is.  Righteousness is not what you do or what you don’t do… Righteousness is not performance related.   Righteousness is WHO YOU ARE. 

Righteousness has to do with your inner man, not your outer man.  Righteousness is the characteristic of the New Creation Man.  Men are holy because holy living comes out of a Righteous Nature.  You are Made Righteous by your FAITH not by your WORKS.  Abraham BELIEVED (had faith) and because of his believing he was counted Righteous (Romans 4:3).  Righteousness is a FREE GIFT from God to every Believer.  Righteousness is IMPUTED at the time of the New Birth.  It is a Gift from God to the Believer. 

Romans 5:17  For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

The Gift of Righteousness is the Energizing Force that gives us the ABILITY to REIGN and RULE in LIFE.  Righteousness is the SEAT and SOURCE of the BELIEVER’S AUTHORITY and POWER.  Just what is reigning and ruling in life? Reigning and Ruling in LIFE is DOING the Word and RECEIVING WORD RESULTS… it is doing what Jesus did with the same FAITH, with the same AUTHORITY with the same POWER with the same CONSISTENCY and with the same RESULTS.

Reigning in Life is total living in total Covenant Confidence.

Righteousness is a Force.  Righteousness produces Good Works… Good Works do not product righteousness.

  “Awake to Righteousness and sin not…” (I Cor 15:34) 

We can be RIGHTEOUS and not AWAKE to it.  We can be RIGHTEOUS and still have a carnal mind and a flesh-ruled body. Our carnal mind and our flesh-ruled body will SUPPRESS our RIGHTEOUS NATURE and prevent it from producing the FRUITS of RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Phil 1:11  Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

The FRUITS of RIGHTEOUSNESS are the RESULTS of RIGHTEOUSNESS.  The FRUITS of Righteousness are the products of Righteousness.  They are what Righteousness produces.  (Deliverance from sin…Right standing with God…Health… prosperity… protection… peace of mind… forgiveness… Holy Spirit Power… Faith…) 

“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) 

What is the POWER that WORKETH IN US?  It is the POWER of RIGHTEOUSNESS!  Until a man is RIGHTEOUS and KNOWS IT, Satan reigns over him and sin and sickness are his masters.  The very MOMENT a BELIEVER KNOWS that he is RIGHTEOUS and what it means to BE RIGHTEOUS, Satan is defeated. 

If Believers were as conscious of their RIGHTEOUSNESS as they are conscious of their WEAKNESS and UNWORTHINESS they would never be sick or in bondage to poverty and lack.  Most preaching and teaching over the years has dealt with sin, described sin and denounced sin.  This kind of teaching and preaching has made those who heard it and believed it more conscious of sin than they are conscious of God.  It has produced an awareness of weakness and unworthiness instead of an awareness of boldness, confidence and faith.  If Believers were as conscious of their IDENTIFICATION with CHRIST and their ONENESS with HIM as they are conscious of their physical weakness and physical need they would never have pain and never mention need again.

Most have approached Christian Living from the SIN POSITION instead of the RIGHTEOUSNESS POSITION.  We were taught and told what we were instead of who we are.  We have been ignorant about righteousness.  The revelation of Righteousness  is what turned the Apostle Paul into the Revelator of Justification by Faith.  We were taught in the past that if we did good things we were righteous and if we did bad things we were unrighteous.  We were taught that God would “bless us” us we did good things and that God would punish us if we did bad things.  (Santa Clause Theology)  We do not please God by doing things we please God through our faith in what He says about who we are.  “Without faith it is impossible to please Him…”  See Romans Chapter 4. 

Righteousness comes out of unshakable Faith in the Finished Work of Christ.

Never forget that Satan’s first line attack is to attempt to make us doubt who we are.  He tried to make Jesus doubt about who He was.  One of the temptations he presented to Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 was   “If thou be the son of God…”     If we operate in doubt we will always be defeated.   Doubt slanders every promise in the Word of God and negates faith.  Doubt is faith in reverse. Doubt is the antithesis of believing.  When we doubt we move out of the supernatural into the natural.  Doubt purchases sickness, sadness, depression, defeat, demonic activity, and every other thing that is opposed to God and God’s Word.

Doubt makes us forget who we are and whose we are.

Jas1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

Jas1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

Hearing and not doing comes out of doubt and unbelief.  We can move in wonderful times of revelation and faith, but if we veer away from the revelation of who we are and What Jesus has done for us we will “forget” what we have known and fall into the realm of natural reasoning  and carnal thinking.

When we were Born Again the King of kings and the Lord of lords came into our human spirit and recreated it.  Our recreated human spirit was made a king who has the ability to rule and reign with Jesus through the power of His Righteous Nature that now abides within us. 

The NEW BIRTH EXPERIENCE is compared to the Old Testament law of circumcision.

(Rom 2:28-29)  For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit…

Just as there is a cutting away of the flesh in physical circumcision, there is a cutting away of the flesh in the Circumcision of the heart.  The Sword of the Word cuts away forever the sin nature in us and we are made righteous.  We do not have two spirits (a flesh spirit and a spiritual spirit)… we have one Spirit… and that Spirit is the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST.  “But he that is JOINED unto the LORD is ONE SPIRIT…”  (I Cor 6:17)

Just as our SPIRIT was dead to God before the New Birth so was our MIND darkened and blinded because of sin.  

It was bound and limited to operate by reason and emotion and sense knowledge.   As our Spirit was quickened  (made alive) and joined to the Lord, our soul (our mind, will and emotions) was also joined to Jesus.  As our Spirit took on the image of Jesus Christ our mind (soul) took on the Mind of Christ capable of thinking God thoughts and storing up Word Truth.

I Cor 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the LORD that He may instruct him?  But we have the MIND of CHRIST…  

When we consider just what kind of mind Jesus had, we come into an understanding of what kind of mind we are capable of having.  He Knew Who He was.  He knew what He could do.  He knew what God had provided for Him.  He knew the devil was defeated and that demonic forces were powerless.  He knew what was coming in the future.   He had knowledge of the Word that surpassed mere human capability.  He knew what He was born for and what His purpose in life was.  He had a mind that was constantly being renewed with and by the Word.  He had a fully functioning mind that worked without limitations imposed on it by emotions, feelings, reasonings or doubt.  He had a mind that was perfectly conformed to the will of God. 

 Our unsaved PHYSICAL BODY also functioned in slavery and darkness and bondage to sin.  Its appetites and desires were unchecked and undisciplined.  It was subject to Satan’s dominion and control and it was destined to die.  But now we are “members of His Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones…”  (Eph 5:30)  Our physical body has become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

I Cor 6:19-20 What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which (who) is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s…  “Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”  (I Cor 3:16)

And now, as a result of our inborn righteous nature, we are enabled to “bring our body under” or to suppress the ungodly and carnal appetites and desires of the flesh.  The Bible declares that we have overcome the world…

 1Jo 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

The Inborn Righteous Nature of the New Creation drives out the Old Nature and takes possession of all Redemptive Benefits  and Covenant Provisions just as Israel drove out the illegal inhabitants of the land that was promised to them and then took possession of it. The Righteous Nature that God imparted to every believer can drive out all the illegal inhabitants in the realm of human experience…. The Force of Righteousness released in the believer can and will retrieve and restore all that Satan has stolen and suppressed. 

Paul tells us to “put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to STAND…”  (Eph 6:11)  Part of this Armor is the Breastplate of Righteousness.  (Eph 6:14) This is one of the most important pieces of armor because it covers the vital part of the Christian’s identity… his right to the Authority provided by the Righteousness of Christ in him.  When you become conscious of your Righteous Position in Christ you have the boldness and courage to stand against the devil.

Conformity with God is a much higher form of living than merely being in submission to Him.  Jesus prayed for us in John 17 that we “all may be one;  as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee… ”  He goes on and prays “Father, show them that you love them as much as you love me.”  God loves us as much as He loves Jesus.  God sees us as equal with Jesus… there is no difference in His eyes.  This is because of our Righteous  Nature …. begin to see yourself as God sees you and then ACT ACCORDINGLY.

Some common causes of failure in the believer’s life:

1. Lack of Knowledge (epiginosko: full understanding) about the             Righteous Nature of the Believer.

Ho 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:

2. Failure to apply the Word to failing situations.

Heb 4:2  For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

3. Unwillingness to continue (abide) in the Word.  

Joh 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

4. Wavering in faith.

Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Jas 1:7  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

We are New Creation People… He has created us and equipped us so that we can accomplish the impossible without outside help.   He has imparted to every one of His Children the Power that taps into and connects with His Ability; His ability to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think…. This power is in us.  Now.  This minute.  The primary purpose God has imparted this Power to us is so that we might take Dominion over all things and bring His Will to pass on planet earth… 

Let’s do it.    

Word for Today:  February 24

Do it now.

Today is the day of salvation…Now is the accepted time…

Some reading this will continue to live and look and see only in the realm of the natural.  Some will put this down and fall right back into the same trap and same bondage and same defeat and same failure.

Some will stay sick and stay whipped and stay depressed and stay lost.  Some will continue to be harassed and vexed and tormented by the devil and demons.  Some will say “next time” or “later” or “not today.”

Some may slip away and never be as touched by the Holy Ghost as you are being touched right now.

Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near…

He is Here.  He can be found right where you are this minute.   He is near.  He is calling you and prompting you to DO IT TODAY.  You have intended to.  You have planned to.  You want to.  The best place to start is right where you are.   The best time to start is right now.

So DO IT.  You need healing.  You need forgiving.  You need peace.  You need assurance.  You need to know that you are loved.  You need power over the devil and addictions and weaknesses.   You may need to start over again.  You may need to undo some things and you may need to do some things.

It is time for a Spiritual Re-boot. Today is your day for a new beginning.

Don’t leave this page without it

 The message today is entitled “Many Infallible Proofs” and it is a message of encouragement.  I would like to prove, without any shadow of doubt, that Jesus Christ is risen and Alive Today.   He is Risen.  He is Alive.  He Lives.  And this One Fact is the foundation of our Christian Faith and the central theme of the Bible.  It is this Truth that gives hope and assurance to every believer.  Luke writes in the first chapter of the Book of Acts that Jesus, Who was tried, tortured and crucified, was seen alive in His Resurrection Body by a multitude of people following His burial.  Luke declares that this Miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is authenticated by many infallible proofs. 

1 ¶  The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

2  Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

3  To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:    

Luke declares here that the Crucified and Buried Christ was raised supernaturally from the dead and was seen by many in His Resurrected and Glorified Body.   And that this Miracle was authenticated by many infallible proofs.  This Day, the Day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, is without doubt, the most important and significant Day in the History of all Creation.  This Day marks the Day that Believers were (and are) delivered from the powers of darkness and the bondages of sin.  This is the Churches’ Fourth of July.  It is the Day of our Liberation.  It is the Day that guarantees our freedom and “independence” from the control and influence of our enemy, the devil.  Since this is the Day the Church should declare as its declaration of deliverance, don’t you think it natural and fitting that this day should be filled with joy and celebration?  And Praise?  And thanksgiving?  And Worship? 

All four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, record the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  The Apostle Paul writes of this in I Corinthians chapter 15:

3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

5  And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

6  After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

7  After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Of course, in this last verse Paul was speaking about the vision of Jesus he had while he was on the road to Damascus fulfilling a mission to arrest and  imprison those who were believers.  Jesus revealed Himself, supernaturally, to the Apostle and this encounter forever changed the course of history.

 Paul declares in this passage that Jesus was seen by more than five hundred people at one time.  Later on Jesus appeared to Peter and then James and Thomas… but Paul says, “I saw Him with my own eyes, as One born out of due season and I heard Him speak with my own ears.”  Paul would say to us today, “I saw Him, I heard Him… I am an eye witness to this Miracle and I have some Infallible Proofs that He is Alive.” 

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was and is authenticated by many infallible proofs.  Even scientists have declared from their research and studies that the Literal Resurrection of Jesus Christ is unquestionable.  Theologians and educators and philosophers all through the ages have embraced this awesome Truth.  Jesus is Alive.  Now, since this is an established fact, I want to cheer you up and encourage you and give you some hope of the great things that are yet to come. 

Have you ever been discouraged?  Down in the “dumps?”  Stressed out?  Filled with despair?  Hopeless?  Worried and afraid?  Tired of living and afraid of dying?  Do you remember the comic strip character who always had a dark cloud over his head; and that followed him and stayed there wherever he went?  The black cloud of despair and hopelessness.  Whenever it rained it rained only on him.  Whenever lightning struck it struck only him.  Whenever anything bad happened it always happened to him.  Do you remember?  He walked around with the little black cloud hanging over his head all the time.  Everywhere he went.  It’s amazing how many feel  just like that little character.  “That’s me.”   It is you?  I can identify with this little guy.  I have been there myself.   Seemed like every demon of hell was on my case.  But, saints, the FACT that Jesus Christ is Alive and Involved in human affairs is the ONE FACT that can and will deliver us from living under a “black” cloud.  Just to Know that the Lord of Glory is by me, with me and in me is enough to dissipate that black cloud.  To be assured that He Lives is the Great Assurance and Guarantee that we have been delivered from the bad stuff and brought into real life… abundant life… the God Kind of Life.  We do not have to stay “under the cloud. Hallelujah. 

This “same Jesus” the disciples witnessed ascending into the heavens (Acts 1) is now our Advocate, our Deliverer, our Protector and our Friend.  This is a Good Word.  In fact, it is called the Gospel.  And the Gospel is Good News.  We should be encouraged. 

“My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ Blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest thing

But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name

When darkness seems to hide His face

I rest on His unchanging grace

And in every high and stormy gale

My anchor holds within the vale

His oath, His covenant, His Blood

Support me in the whelming flood

When all around my soul gives way

He then, is all my Hope and Stay

When He shall come with trumpet sound

O may I in Him be found

Dressed in His righteousness alone

Faultless to stand before the Throne

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand”

If you are standing on Jesus Christ you are standing on Solid Ground.  When the heavens and the earth are shaken, when things happen that you do not understand, when it seems that the whole world is falling apart and you are coming apart…  If you are standing on Him you will not fall and you will not fail.

“Bro. Dick, I believe what the Bible says about Jesus, but can you give me some infallible proofs today that prove that Jesus is Alive?”  “I have read and I know what the Bible says about the Resurrection then, but what about now?  Today?”  “Do you  have any infallible proofs to present if we were in a court of law and if you were an attorney and if I were a jury, could you PROVE that Jesus is alive?”  Friend, I have my case all prepared.  Are you ready?  I can show you and prove to you, without doubt, and not by circumstantial evidence, but by Fact that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and He is Alive.

I know that Jesus is alive because He still answers Prayer

Let me ask a question. Have you ever in your entire life experienced an Answered Prayer?  Do you personally know of anyone in your acquaintance who has ever had a definite, tangible answer to Prayer?  The fact that you have witnessed answered prayer is an affirmation of the Fact that Jesus is Alive.  Do you think it is worthwhile to Pray?  Do you think it is important to pray?  Do you believe that God controls affairs in heaven and earth and that He responds to sincere Prayer when you pray in Jesus’ Name?  Do you really believe that?  IF you do, the very fact that you believe that God hears and responds to prayer is proof that Jesus is Alive. 

My life has been and continues to be a demonstration of God’s loving care and direction.  He has heard and answered prayer.  This ministry is proof of answered prayer.  The fact that we have not only survived but thrived in spite of lying attacks of the devil, in spite of financial challenges… in spite of being ostracized and criticized…  and being faced with imminent foreclosure… when we were taken advantage of by crooked contractors and lying lawyers and bankers… when we were misunderstood and cut off from our denomination…  God heard and answered.  The Fact that we are HERE is proof that Jesus is alive.  Hallelujah. 

The fact that God heard our cry and provided for us and protected us and prospered us in adverse and impossible situations is proof that Jesus is alive.  When there was no way He made a Way.  He heard the praying of our men in our Saturday Night prayer meetings.  From those times of intimate praying and worshipping, we witnessed the birth of new ministries and mission outreaches. 

He heard our cry when we did not know how to accomplish His Call and His Purpose.  He gave direction and specific instructions as to the manner and means of establishing Church Government that would steer us though troubled waters and pending disasters. 

He heard my prayer for a Place where men and women and young people and children could worship and praise God in freedom and liberty.  He heard my cry for the opportunity to preach a Full Gospel to a people who were hungry to know the Truth.  He answered my prayer and gave us a family of loving individuals who would join hands and show the world, the devil and hell how God can take a little and make a lot out of it. 

We asked for nations and God raised up and called missionaries right out of our small congregation and sent them to foreign soil and they established churches which established more churches which established Bible Schools and Medical Clinics and humanitarian aid organizations and which ordained pastors and teachers and evangelists and prophets and apostles.  Don’t tell me Jesus is not alive.  Don’t tell me God is not Real.  Don’t tell me the Holy Ghost is imaginary….  Don’t tell me The Resurrected Christ is not building His Church…. You are too late with too little.  There is PROOF that He is Alive because of what He does in answer to sincere heart -felt prayer.  I can personally attest to that. And you can see for yourself the concrete evidence of Answered Prayer when you come and see what God has done.  He is Alive. 

I know that Jesus is Alive because He is still doing what He came to do.

He is still healing sick people.

A lifeless Savior cannot do that.  You know of individuals, maybe in your own family, who have been miraculously healed from sickness and disease.  You have witnessed the Healing Power of a Living Lord. 

I remember the times in my family when for years we had no medical insurance.  I have watched in amazement as He, the Healer, cooled the fevered brows of my children at times when they were sick.  I have experienced miraculous healings in my body in times when no doctors were around or no medicines at hand.  When times of flu epidemics and virus invasions and infectious diseases were all around, I saw them stay away from my house.  Because Jesus is the Great Physician.  He heals.  Still.  Just like He did on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.  Instead of the “24hour virus” we opted for the 5 second virus.  And that’s about as long as they lasted.  I have seen tumors disappear.  I have witnessed deaf ears opening.  I have seen with my eyes the evidence of Miraculous Healings. 

This is another one of the Infallible Proofs that Jesus is alive.  I was there when Jesus healed in answer to prayer.  We laid hands on the sick and we watched God work in their behalf.  We anointed the sick with oil and called the Elders to pray and experienced the Presence of the Living Lord as He performed healings and deliverances.  How wonderful!   He still heals!  And He heals because He is Alive.

He is still delivering the oppressed. 

An uncaring, lifeless corpse cannot do that.  But a Risen Living Lord Can.  In His Life on earth, Jesus delivered the oppressed and cast out devils. 

I was in a meeting years ago in a Baptist church in Georgia.  We had just become aware of demonic oppression and demonic attacks that paralyze and immobilize individuals.  There was an individual in that community that had remained confined in his home, in a small darkened room, and who could not leave the house because of some kind of “phobia” the psychiatrist had diagnosed.  No treatment nor medicine nor counseling had been successful  in getting help for this case.  They just could not get out of that room.  They could not go to the grocery story.   The drug store.  The Mall.  They were bound.  And miserable.  They could not drive or leave the house.  The pastor of the church where I was preaching told me about this individual.  As a result of the recent Revelation God gave me regarding demonic activity, I simply told him this was the work of demons.  Demons. 

Boldly (and with some trepidation) I suggested that we go to that house and “cast out devils.”   I had never done this before.  I was not sure how to do it.  I only knew that the Bible said that Jesus did it and that we could do “even mightier works” if we would only believe.   We went to that house and confronted the demons head on.  We laid hands on the one possessed and oppressed.  We spoke to the demons.   We commanded the demons.  We resisted the demons.  We cast the demons out.  It was not a very pretty sight, but the poor oppressed individual experienced a transformation right before our eyes.  Light came in and Life was restored.  The demons left… reluctantly, but they left.  When they left so did the “phobia.”  And deliverance came.  That very evening, the person who was so bound and who had not been out of the house or off the property for years came to the evening preaching service and gave a powerful testimony of the delivering power of a LIVING LORD.  What Jesus did He still does.  And this is just another Infallible Proof that He is Alive.  Hallelujah. 

He is still making the Impossible Possible.  

Have you ever been faced with a hopeless and impossible situation?  A situation that absolutely could not be resolved by any human effort?  A place so hard that it would take a miracle for deliverance?    Jesus, the Resurrected Living Lord is Expert in making the impossible possible.  He did it then and He still does it today. 

I have been guilty of trying to fix things that could not be fixed.  I have been guilty of trying to figure a way out when there was no way out.  Jesus is Alive and is the Miracle Worker of all Miracle Workers.  When I read about the things He did in the New Testament that were impossible, it brings encouragement and hope to me.  He walked on the water.  He calmed the storm.  He stopped funeral processions and raised the dead who on the way to the graveyard.  He fed thousands and thousands with a few fish and a few loaves of bread.  He changed water in wine.  He opened blind eyes and unstopped deaf ears.  He forgave sinners.  He preached with power and brought Dead Organized Religion to its knees.  He is still making the impossible possible.  We have personally stepped out on nothing and watched as He turned Nothing into Something. 

In the times this ministry needed a miracle, the Miracle Worker was always there.  He caused an attorney to stand up and  prophesy a positive, delivering Word to me by the Holy Spirit   while I was in the presence of lawyers and bankers as they made arrangements to foreclose on our buildings and property.  It was a positive prophetic Word given in the mahogany paneled board room at a local bank and it came directly from Heaven from the Risen Living Lord personally to me.  Awesome.  Startling (especially to the CPAs, attorneys and bankers present) but so powerful that they could do nothing but give me another chance… and then God came through and delivered us from imminent foreclosure to the place where are  today.  Debt free.  From the burdens of millions and millions of dollars.  The fact that Jesus is still making the impossible possible is another infallible proof that He is Alive. 

Many, many times when challenges greater than our resources were set before us, God came through and met every need. 

He turned an apparent tragedy into a triumph when a dog my little boys loved got hit by a speeding automobile.    A beautiful German Shepherd named “Prince,” was a loving companion to my small boys but one day, in the presence of the boys, he was crushed under the wheels of a passing car.  They cried and called for me to come and get him off the road where he lay.  When I arrived, the sight was not pretty.  He was bloody, his legs were askew and he was lifeless.  As the boys stood by me I told them I would have to take Prince to the back yard and bury him.  Then one of the kids said “Daddy, why don’t you pray for him?”  An impossible situation.  How can I do this?  What will I tell them when I have to put Prince in the ground?  But I did.  I prayed.  But they had much more faith than I did.  I took the lifeless body and put it on the porch right by the front door and told the boys to go inside and get ready for bed (this happened late in the day).  I planned on burying Prince when the kids were asleep.  When they were all tucked in for the night I reluctantly went back to the porch where Prince lay.  Do you know, when I opened the door that dead dog jumped straight up and walked over to me and began licking my hand.  I was startled.  Dumbfounded.  And overwhelmed at the power of prayers prayed by little boys.  I ran inside, got them to come and see the Miracle of Prince.  And the ONE who makes the Impossible Possible proved once again with another Infallible Proof that HE is ALIVE.  

He is still repairing broken homes. 

He is putting marriages back together again.  He is making homes that were hell into homes that are heaven.  This is another infallible proof that Jesus is alive.  Remember the story of the Woman Jesus met at the well in Samaria?  Do you remember the things He told her about her personal life and her family situation?  Do you recall that He offered this distraught, broken and abused woman Living Water?  Water that would continue springing up inside that would forever quench a thirsting soul?  Water that would produce everlasting life?  And she asked to drink from this well of living water.  Jesus healed a broken and abused woman suffering from shattered and shallow relationships.  He still is in the Home Repair Business. 

Over the wonderful years I have been privileged to preach and teach and pastor, I have personally witnessed, time and time again, as Jesus came into hearts and homes and turned hopeless family problems into little heavens.  Where husband and wife really love each other and children respect and honor their parents. 

I was sitting at my desk one day  years ago and was speaking with a pouting, hate-filled husband and wife as they gave their marriage one last chance by agreeing to come into my office for counseling.  I listened to their accusations against each other.  I heard their complaints and criticisms.  I really wondered if this marriage could really be fixed.  God came into the room with us.  The atmosphere changed from North Pole frigid to tropical warm and cozy.  The icy remarks they were making trailed off.  Their smirks turned into soft smiles.  Their eyes locked on to each other and the tears began to pour.  Hallelujah.  The Home Repair Service was at work in front of my eyes.  Jesus moved in their hearts.  They renewed their commitment to Christ and then pledged themselves again and renewed their vows right there in my office.  They embraced.  Kissed.  Smooched.  I was almost embarrassed.  They hurried away to be alone and Once Again enjoy the remarkable remaking of their marriage and home.   Don’t tell me He’s not Alive… Only a Living Savior can perform such a miracle as this and this is another Infallible Proof that Jesus is Alive. 

I remember a  man who was unfaithful to his wife and not too ashamed about it.  And I remember a man who’s little girl crawled into his lap and asked; “Daddy does Jesus live in your heart?”   I remember the brokenness that resulted and the powerful conversion that followed.  I saw a shattered relationship totally healed by the question of a loving little girl and the work of a Savior Who loved even more.  A home emerged.  A strong home.  A home and marriage that today glorifies God was restored by a Risen and Living Lord.  Just another proof. 

An older man came one day to our Sunday morning service.  He wept through it all.  At the conclusion of the message he came and knelt on the floor in front of me and  with a broken and contrite heart asked Jesus to forgive him and come into his life.  He was gloriously saved by the power of God.  He became one of our most faithful members.   He was so broken and humble.  One day he told me that he had left His wife and they had been separated for many years.  His children had grown up and he was sort of an outcast.  He longed for his family to be together again, but, he said, it will take a miracle.  He got involved in the church.  He visited the lost.  His witnessing technique was unorthodox, but very effective.  Many Saturdays I would see him walking down the street from where he parked his car and knocking on the door of each house on the block.  When the man or woman of the house answered his knock, he would take off his hat, hold it in his hand and say “Maim, could I tell please you what Jesus did for me?“ Then he would share his testimony.  I don’t know how many people were saved as a result of his compassion.  But many did. 

He became the driver of our bus and brought loads of children to church each Sunday.  He would visit their homes on Saturday and line them up for the ride to church the next day.  One  home had a drinking father who was careless and abusive.  But this did not deter Bro. John from giving his testimony and inviting him and his children to come to church.   That man was Born Again one Sunday because of Bro. John.  And the once drunken daddy later became a fired up Pentecostal preacher and pastor. 

Then one special  Lord’s Day, Bro. John experienced another miracle.  His wife of years past looked him up, got together with him and they came to church together.  A few days later, they stood in front of me and renewed their marriage vows.  John’s Miracle had come to pass. And then… his children came back and began attending church with mother and daddy.   

Jesus, the Living Lord and healed another broken home and home had become heaven.  I preached John’s funeral a few years back and was able to tell his story to those present.  His witness still lives and this happens to be just another Infallible Proof that Jesus is Alive.

He is still giving purpose and direction to confused lives.

 It is just amazing to see how this Living Jesus is invading the lives of those who have no purpose or direction and transforming them into great testimonies of His Power.  I know of individuals whose lives were misdirected and wasted who are now living productive lives that are a testimony of God’s Power.  Remember how He saw a little man in a tree whose life was hated because he collected tax money?  The little man nobody had anything to do with spent the evening with Jesus and was changed forever. 

This is not to mention the fishermen brothers who came under the electrifying influence of this Man and who forever changed the course of history because they left their nets and followed Him.  And what about the countless others who were contemporary with Him, who loved Him and followed Him?  They stepped out of lives with no lasting purpose, no real direction and connected with Real Life and were foundational in the establishment of the Kingdom of God on planet earth.  That was then but look what is happening in the now. 

 Our very first missionaries were the most unlikely candidates for mission work anyone could imagine.  One was a former bar tender and beer hall partner plying her trade on the lower streets of our city.  She got Born Again.  And then began to preach on the very street she formerly sold booze on.  She paired up with an educated lady from New Jersey (with a master’s in social work) whose life was a wreck.   She often testified that she felt emotionally and spiritually as if she had been hit by a Mack Truck.  Her husband abandoned her.  Her relatives turned against her.  Her children were taken from her.  She was a basket case.  But she was Called.  And God put her back together again and what she became was much better than what she was.  (Doesn’t God always make things better than they were before they were broken?)

These two African American Women from a predominately White church with a White pastor obeyed the call of God and went to West Africa as missionaries.  Their pioneer work has exploded into multiple churches in four African Countries, many Bible Schools and thousands of converts.  Just another proof.  This Living Lord is giving direction and purpose to lives and producing awesome results for the Kingdom of God.  Another infallible proof.  Jesus is Alive. 

People everywhere need to have a purpose for living.  They need to have a reason for their existence.  They need divine direction for their lives.  Otherwise it becomes an aimless meandering and struggle through life and that kind of living is filled with misery and failure and disappointment and despair.  God has a plan for you.  God has a Purpose for you.  God has Direction for your life.  And you will never have lasting peace until and unless you turn loose of yourself and take hold of Him.  This is the only way you will ever fit into God’s Plan for your life.   

I knew a fine young couple many years ago who had everything most people would want to insure their happiness.  They both had college degrees.  The  wife held a Master’s in counseling.  He was in a management position and climbing the corporate ladder in a local international chemical corporation.  They were prompted by the Holy Spirit to seek something Higher and Nobler.  After many months of faithfully attending the church and serving in many leadership positions and loving the Word, they came to me and said, “Preacher, we are tired of just burping on all this good Word Food we need to really get on with the Call God has placed on our lives…we need to begin giving out what God has put in….” 

And they did.  They sold a beautiful contemporary home in an affluent neighborhood, they resigned their professional positions and sold all their goods.  They came to me and said “we are ready to go.”  They sailed to Australia and began supporting local ministries there… (living primarily off their savings since we had no mission funds to support them at that time) and from there they began laboring in mission endeavors in the Pacific.  Their influence has been (and still is) awesome in the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people, both young and old.  They connected with Youth With a Mission and taught and worked in the University of Nations in Kona, Hawaii.  God blessed them in abundance, both materially and spiritually.  And they got lasting relief from their spiritual Indigestion by losing their lives and finding Real Life.  Just another Infallible Proof that Jesus is Alive. 

He is still saving souls. 

He is today saving those who are lost.  He did in the past and He is doing it today.  The Day of Grace is NOW.  It has never passed.  We are blessed to be living in the Age of Grace.  When you go fishing you go fishing to catch fish.  When you go hunting, you go hunting to get game.  When I stand up to preach I preach to reach those who are lost.   That is the main purpose of the Gospel of Christ.  That is the main purpose of the Body of Christ.  That is the One Thing dearest to the Heart of God.  He loves.  He loves with a love that we as mortal beings cannot fully fathom.  He loves you.  He loves me.  He loves the world.  He died in order to save us from the penalty and curse of sin….

I remember one service in particular when there was a strong move of the Holy Spirit.  There was a Presence that permeated the atmosphere and we all “felt” it.  After preaching, I gave an invitation for salvation.  A young lady came forward and indicated to me that she wanted to change her life.  She told me that she had never been in any of our services in the past but that she came on this day to get her life in line with the Will and Purpose of God.  I began to ask her some questions (as I usually do) “’are you a Christian?”  “No, sir, I am not…”  So I just led her in a very simple prayer that all of us who are Born Again have prayed at one time or another.. .  “Dear Lord, I am a sinner and I am sorry for my sins… I ask you, Lord, to come into my heart and save me today… I really believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God , the Messiah, and that He died on the cross to cleanse me from my sin… I give you my heart right now….thank you Jesus for saving me today…”  

Just as she was praying this simple prayer, those of us who were ministering to her, saw a visible and literal change come over her face.  Her entire countenance began to light up… in the middle of her tears a sigh of relief came and then a look of total and complete peace.  I really thought she was going to go straight up from where she was standing!   We actually SAW the peace of God come into her heart as she received Jesus into heart.  Right in front of me and the entire congregation.  What a miracle.

 A few days later she phoned me and explained to me that she had found her Messiah.  I did not know at the time she was praying that she was Jewish.  An Israelite.  That ONE race so near and dear to the heart of God.  Can you believe this?  Here we are just a small country church way out here in the boonies, no bill board advertising, no TV commercials, no ads in the paper… just out here.   And then a wandering, seeking, hungry Jewish girl finds us and finds Him.    No wonder she was radiant… Jesus is still saving souls.  Another infallible Proof that He is Alive. 

Because the Gospel is a “whosoever” Gospel, we are driven to seek the lost, whoever they are and wherever they may be.

It was a great privilege of ours to go into Russia shortly following the collapse of Communism.  I have never seen so many hungry souls in my life.  Hundreds.  Thousands.  We held evangelistic meetings in large Cultural Halls that would seat two or three thousand.  I saw those Gospel Hungry and God Hungry persecuted poor people line up two and three hours before we opened the doors.  Our teams would distribute New Testaments printed in the Russian Language and there would almost be a spiritual riot as they rushed to receive their free Bible.   The buildings would be filled to standing room only.  They would patiently listen to us as we struggled to preach the simple Gospel through an interpreter… and then we would watch every single individual in the entire building come to the altar at Invitation Time to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.   As we witnessed this notable work of the Holy Spirit, we were reminded once again.  Jesus is Alive… and Well.  He still saves the lost.  Another infallible proof that He is Alive. 

His Word is still Powerful.    

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Are you aware that everything that you see on earth and in the heavens is literally “held together” by His Word?  His Word “upholds” all things.  That term “upholds” means that the Word of God keeps things from falling apart.  It is the Cohesive Element of all Creation.  And it is by the Power of the Word of God that everything consists.

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The Word has power to get you right.  The Word has power to keep you right.  The Word has power to solve every problem and meet every need.  God’s Word is alive and full of power.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick (alive), and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Some years ago I chaperoned (along with some other parents) a bus load of fourth graders from our school as we traveled to Montgomery, Alabama to tour, among other educational sites, a planetarium. Inside the huge blacked out dome a strange projector was stationed in the center of the auditorium.  We sat in seats that allowed us to get a panoramic view of the ceiling…. Sort of like lounge chairs.  The place was darkened and the projector was turned on and on the domed ceiling we saw a representation of the starry sky.  You could make out the big dipper and the little dipper and many other constellations I had never seen nor been aware of. 

The guide explained about the position of the stars and the seasons and times.  I had never seen so many little dots of light in my life.  When I saw such a display of mass and distance and such an array of stars and galaxies and milky ways…. Chills began to run up my spine.  Do you mean to tell me that God made all these stars and planets and galaxies?  Did He actually do all this?  And then did He give man the intelligence and expertise to design and build a place like this that can duplicate in detail the creative Genius and creative Power of Almighty God?  And then the guide began to change the display and simulated us traveling on a speeding rocket ship as it traveled at warp speed through the mass of stars… and then there were more stars and more stars and more galaxies and more galaxies and more milky ways…. The further we went the more we saw.  Tears came.  Awesome.  Almost unbelievable.  And then I came to realize that all of THIS was created… came into being… by and through the Spoken Word of God…. “Let there be….”  And it was.

The Word has more power than death.  Than disease.  Than disaster.  Than the devil.  Than demons.  Than facts.  The Word is a First Order Force.  All things are subordinate to the Word of God… because the Word of God is Alive and Full of Power.

We took our boys to the creek one day for a special time to picnic and wade in the clear cold water.  We took a large watermelon and dropped it in a small eddy of swirling cold creek water.   Pat had put together some sandwiches and snacks… we were planning on a great family time together.  Once there, all unloaded, with everything in place, we heard a distant rumble.  On the horizon a very dark and intimidating cloud began to build and then flashes of lightning could be seen in the distance.  My little boys were so disappointed.  We had looked forward to this special time together.  As I prepared to pack things up and head back to the car, my smallest (about 4 years old) stood up pointed his little hand toward the ominous storm and said “storm I tell you go away.  Do not come here.  I tell you to leave.  In Jesus’ Name…”  I only wished I had demonstrated that level of faith… but I didn’t.  Probably good that I let him do it instead of me… because he had the faith and I did not.  And it left.  Because of the Word of God out of the mouth of a 4 year old.  Just another infallible proof.  Jesus is Alive. 

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus Lives today

He walks with me and talks with me

Along life’s narrow way

He lives, He lives, Salvation to impart

You ask me how I know He lives,

(and this is the most powerful proof)     

He lives within my heart…..

I present my case to you in the matter of Jesus being Alive Today.  This has been my closing argument.  I have concluded beyond any shadow of  doubt (as should you the jury) that Jesus is Alive.  The tomb is empty.  Death is defeated.  The grave has lost its victory.  Satan has been overcome. 

Let us rejoice for our Savior who was dead is now alive.   And forever more shall He Live.   And those of us who place our faith and trust in Him shall also live and never die. 

The Maker of the Universe

As Man for men became a curse

And the claims of the law that He had made

Unto the uttermost He paid

His Holy Fingers made the bough

That grew the thorns

That crowned His brow

And the nails that pierced His hands

Were mined in secret places He designed

He made the forest from whence there sprung

The tree from which His Body hung

He died upon a Cross of wood

Yet He made the hill on which it stood

The sky that darkened over His head

By Him above the earth was spread

And the sun from Him that hid its face

By His decree was poised in space

Jesus loves you.  Jesus died for you.  Jesus wants you in His Family. 

And He is Alive…. Proven by many infallible proofs.

Word for Today:  February 23

Here is my bold confession for today:

“I am a member of the body of Christ

My decision has been made.

The die has been cast.

I have stepped over the line.

I will not slow down, back down, be complacent or stuck.

My past is redeemed and my future is secure.

I am done with low living, sight walking, small planning, unbent knees, wimpy dreams, weak visions, mundane talking,  greedy penny-pinching giving and dwarfed goals.

I no longer have to have my way, be first, number one, recognized, regarded or rewarded.

I will live by faith and work with God by the Power of the Holy Ghost.

My pace is set, may step is fast, my goal is pleasing God, my road is narrow, my way may be rough, my companions may be few, but my Guide is reliable and my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the place of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, let up, back up, or shut up. I will stay preached up, prayed up, paid up, and stored up, for the cause of Jesus Christ

I am a committed disciple of Jesus Christ.

I will go until He returns, give until I drop, preach until all hear and remain faithful until He comes.  And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.

My identity is clear and my flag is flying.

I am not ashamed.

I will never be ashamed.

I will speak up.

This is the time I boldly, fearlessly and courageously Stand for God… no matter when.  No matter what. No matter where.

The only Thing that matters to me is Jesus Christ.”

I am His

Unless we have an adequate understanding of the Incarnation we will never begin to comprehend the magnitude of our Redemption.  The Incarnation is the work of God in Christ in which the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.  This is mentioned in the first chapter of the Gospel of John.  The Word (Christ) became flesh and dwelt among us.  The Word is Jesus.   Here in John’s Gospel the “Word” is translated from the Greek “Logos” and John uses this term to describe Jesus Christ.  Let’s look at the first chapter of the Gospel of John beginning with verse 1:

 1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, (notice that “Word” is spelled with a capital W) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life (“Zoe” or the God-Kind of life. This is not “natural” life, but Supernatural Life; it is a Quality of Life.   God never fails.  If we live in the God Kind of life neither will we.  God has power and wisdom and love and all of His God Attributes.  If we live in the God Kind of life, so will we share in these attributes); and the life was the light of men.

5 ¶ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (Did not recognize Him).

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power (authority) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (If you have “received” Jesus He has given you authority to become sons of God with all the privileges that pertain to being a literal son of the Most High God.)

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (If you are “saved” you are Born Again of the Spirit.  You are not “after” the flesh nor “after” the will of man but you are Born of God according to His Will.)

14 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The Incarnation is the Fact that God condescended;  He left His place in Heaven, lowered Himself, and put on the clothing of humanity.  The Word became flesh and dwelt on earth among the human race and revealed to us the Nature of God and the Glory of God.  This is a foundational principle of our Redemption and we need to come into a full understanding about it.  Paul has something to say about this remarkable work of God in Philippians chapter 2: 

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form (nature) of God, thought it not robbery (something to be grasped at) to be equal with God:

(When Jesus was in heaven with the Father He had the “form” or all the attributes of God… He possessed the Nature of God because He is God)

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form (nature) of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

(When Jesus condescended to earth He “took upon Himself” the form [nature] of a bond slave or servant and was made [created] in the likeness of human flesh)

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

(Where “form” refers to the “nature” of Jesus, “fashioned” refers to the outward appearance of Jesus.)

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  (three realms… heaven, earth and demonic)

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 ¶  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure

We will attempt to present some of the benefits that have been made possible for every believer as a result of the Incarnation.   

When Jesus condescended to earth He “laid down” or left behind the nature or attributes of God that He had when He was in heaven with the Father.  The language in verse 7 says that Jesus “emptied” (made Himself of no reputation) Himself of His God nature and assumed the nature (form) of a slave made in the likeness of man.  He left His God Nature in heaven and took on the form or nature of a human being and that not just a “normal’ human being but the nature of a slave.  He became a “person” of the lowest caste… the most oppressed and humble of any human condition. 

Notice verse 8 where it is stated that Jesus was found “in fashion” as a man… in this case, “fashion” refers to the outward appearance where “form” refers to the nature or character of Jesus. 

Do you understand that what you see on the “outside” of a person does not reveal what is really on the “inside” of a person?  This is perhaps why the natural world missed seeing and knowing Who Jesus really was.  He did not “appear” to be God in the flesh but He was.  Jesus had the “fashion” of a man but He was actually God on the inside.   It is “natural” for us to believe what things “look like” but in reality, the real truth may be invisible to the natural eye… it is what is “inside” that is Truth.  This is one reason why natural man has difficulty understanding Truth…. Because natural man is programmed to govern his life by what He sees rather than what the Word says. 

Man was originally created so nearly like God (the Creator) until it was possible for God and man to be united in One Individual… Christ Jesus.  God created man in the beginning so nearly like Himself until it was literally possible for God and man to come together and be united in One Individual… the Man, Christ Jesus.  In Psalm 8 it is said that God made man a “littler lower than Elohim …”

4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels (Elohim), and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

At the Incarnation, God “took on” human flesh.  Every person alive on earth right now is “wearing” human flesh.  This means that you and I were created so much like God until it is possible for God to come and abide inside of us. 

This “Incarnate One” was prophesied many times in the Old Testament.  Notice:

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee (the devil) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (Jesus, the Incarnate One) shall bruise thy head, (His victory over the devil) and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Satan’s attempt to destroy Jesus on the Cross)

Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (“God with us”)

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end…

These Old Testament Prophets, anointed by the Holy Spirit, looked through the eyes of Divine Revelation and saw Jesus coming into this earth as the Son of God, the Messiah.  They received the revelation that there would be a Man somewhere in the future, Who would come to earth and make it possible for alienated humanity, separated by sin, governed by the devil, destined to hell, and held captive by the enemy, to be reconciled or brought back to God.  The Messiah would be the Means for God and Man to be put back together again.  These Old Testament men saw this through the eyes of prophecy, but they never saw it in reality.  They saw it prophetically.  But you and I have the awesome privilege of living in an age that has revealed this profound Fact to us in reality.  They lived in hope.  We have the actual Record (the Bible) of His coming and we see Who He is through the eyes of Faith.  We do not have to Hope for His appearance, we can look back in History and know that Jesus Christ is the One Who made it possible for man to be reunited with God… He is the God Man… the Promised One… the Messiah. 

Man is the only living creature who was created in the same “class” with God.  He (man) was made or created to fellowship with God.  If man is to fellowship with God and if God is to fellowship with man, man and God must be in the same “class” otherwise, fellowship is impossible.  Man cannot “fellowship with an animal or a plant or any other created being other than another man or with God.  This is because only man and God happen to be in the same “class.”  The only beings capable of “fellowship” are creatures who are in the same class.  Man is in the same class with God;   he was created in the “image” of God. 

It was in Christ that God condescended into human flesh, and through His condescension (Incarnation) made it possible for man and God to be reunited.  In time and in eternity.  Not temporarily, but eternally.  This means that every man who is Born Again is in reality, human flesh with God living on the inside.  This is not damaging the deity of God, but we can see that, in fact, every person who is Born Again is an incarnation…. Because “incarnation” (with a small “I”) means “God in flesh” or “flesh with God inside.”   If you are saved, God lives inside of your flesh.  You are flesh with God inside.  He is “in you.” 

 Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you…

If God is living in you, that means the power of God, the Nature of God the ability of God, the Person of God, all of God’s Attributes are latent inside of you and inside of every Born Again child of God.  This is why believers do not have to live a life of struggle and failure and fear and defeat….  God is inside along with His Power and His Ability.   We are able to overcome.  His Power is working in us. 

Eph 3:20  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,

The idea is for us to walk in faith and “let God out” of us when we are in hard situations.  We just walk around letting God out.  This is how we “work out” our salvation.  We “work out” what God has “worked in.”   Many have no knowledge of what (or Who) is “in them” and this lack of knowledge brings about their destruction.  

Ho 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:

 They live in a state of struggle and stress and failure… they “try” so hard and their “religion” and church and spiritual lives become such a burden until they are continually depressed and overwhelmed.  They are continually striving and working and laboring and attempting to maintain their salvation by and through their performance instead of by Faith.   A revelation of the Incarnation is life changing.  It will revolutionize your Christian Walk and give you assurances you never had. 

When we speak about “letting God out” we need to know how to “let Him out.”  It is a faith thing that is activated by our knowledge.  When we “know” the Truth the Truth we know, when acted on,  will make us free (deliver us from all demonic forces and powers.)   As we “acknowledge” every good thing (Jesus) that is in us our faith becomes “effectual” or energized.

Phm 1:6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

Faith works by and through Agape or the God Kind of love.   The major means of releasing the God inside of us is through love.  Love never fails.  Love is the One Thing that always works and never fails. 

When we begin to release God out of us, Love is going to flow like rivers of water.  It will get deeper and broader and swifter.  Nothing we do or say or believe will affect the world as much the rivers of love that gush out of us as we release the God Who is in us.   If God is love and this is His Nature, and if He is inside of us then we are enabled to love others with the God Kind of love.  When we let God out Love begins to flow.  When love flows out of us the Nature of God is released into the earth. 

As we begin to release God out of us, Faith is also going to flow.  Faith is the Nature of God.  Faith is the result of what your spirit eats.  When your spirit eats the Word and gets healthy on a Word diet then “faith cometh…” for Faith is developed by hearing the Word.   

Ro 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith is a “natural happening” of a healthy spirit.  A healthy spirit hungers for more of the Word.   The Word in us produces the God kind of faith.  Faith working in us produces revelation.   Word revelation in us develops spiritual knowledge.  And when we act on that knowledge we are kept in victory. It is this Truth that makes us free.  Hallelujah.    

The human spirit has ears.  It has a mouth.  It has a mind.  It has emotion.  It needs attention.  When you continually and constantly feed your spirit the Word you become more and more conformed to the Image of Christ. 

The Incarnation is an established fact.  It is more than theory or theology or philosophy.    It is an historical fact.  Because the Incarnation is the fundamental principle of the Christian faith, the Christian Faith is Supernatural… not natural, but Supernatural.  It is supernatural because we have a Supernatural Redeemer.  His Incarnation is Supernatural.  He was born of a Virgin (Isa 7:14).  He is fathered by the Holy Ghost.  He is the “last Adam” Who completed and perfected the Eternal Purpose and Will of God that was thwarted in the Garden of Eden by the devil and disobedience. 

When God created Adam, God told him that He would create an “help meet” for him.  While Adam slept in a deep sleep, God took one of Adam’s ribs and from that rib made a help meet for Adam and called her a Woman… because she came “out of” Adam.  Then God commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” and replenish the earth.  All of their offspring were reproduced naturally.  Not supernaturally, but by and though the means of natural conception and childbirth. 

Adam was created by a Sovereign Supernatural creative act of God.  But you and I are created or produced by natural means.  We have a natural father and a natural mother and we were born through natural conception and childbirth.    Jesus was not born by natural means.  He was born of a virgin who was impregnated by an immaculate conception. His Father was not Joseph but God Himself.  Jesus was born of the Seed of Woman (Genesis 3:15) but a woman has no seed… she provides the egg, not the seed.  It is the Male that implants the seed.   The Seed of Mary, therefore, was the Seed of God Himself.  She brought forth a child that had in Him the blood and nature of God.  From the time of Adam until the birth of Jesus there was never a birth outside the natural means of conception and childbearing.  Every birth was by and through natural means.  But when Jesus came, He was born Supernaturally because He was conceived by the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost “overshadowed” Mary, the young virgin, and she was found to be with child.  I cannot explain this.  Nor can you. Nor can anybody else.  This is a supernatural divine and sovereign act of God Himself.  We do not have to explain this… we simply are compelled to believe it.  This divine fiat took place at precisely the right time. 

Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law…

God operates on a schedule.  He is always on time. He is never a day late or a day early.  Everything about creation (and our lives) is intricately and delicately planned.  God has a plan for everything and for everybody.  You are where you are and what you are because God has a plan and design for you.  When you follow God’s Plan and Purpose everything is good.  It may not appear good or feel good or look good, but it is good.  Because all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose… (Rom 8:28) 

What was the “fullness of time” Paul writes about in Galatians chapter 4?  It was God’s time for His Redemptive Plan to be completed.  God causes the rise and the fall of nations.  He institutes and positions certain individuals in places of leadership and authority.  God is the Divine Creator and Orchestrator of all of Creation.  He exercises authority and power over all creation. 

When Jesus was born approximately 2000 years ago, the social, geographical and political conditions were ideal.   Not until this specific time had ideal conditions existed for the revelation and manifestation of the Promised Messiah.  The Greek empire had risen to significance and gave to the world the most unique and descriptive and comprehensive language ever mastered by man.  It is exacting.  It is flexible.  It is descriptive. It is the most beautiful and expressive language the world has ever known.  God knew He was going to have a challenge putting all the awesome things He had in store for you and me into a language that we could understand.  The Greek language is the most beautiful and descriptive language on earth.  God needed such a language in order to describe the greatness of His Grand Plan for man.  For example, in the English language there is only one word for “love.”  In the Greek language there are multiple words for “love” and each one describes a different kind of love.  In the English language there is only one word for “life.”  In the Greek language there are multiple words for “life” and each one describes a particular kind of life.  In the “fullness of time” or when God deemed that a language was available which could closely articulate His Will and Plan, the Incarnation took place… Jesus came to earth. 

Not only was the social condition right, but at this particular time in history, the political situation was right as well.   The Roman Empire had risen to power and had conquered the nations surrounding the   Mediterranean Sea.  All these nations had been brought under one government.  For their time, the Romans were far more advanced than many other empires.  They built a massive and intricate road system that provided transportation and communication for all the nations under the control of the Romans.  These roads were open and gave access to all the nations in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.  Not only did the Romans develop a system for land travel, but they also open sea lanes and began to develop commerce with all the nations they had conquered and brought under the control of the Roman government. 

In the “fullness of time” God saw to it that roads existed for travel, sea lanes were open for commerce and a language was in place for communication…. All of these are necessary to communicate and “export” the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Good News.  The disciples traveled overland.  The Apostle Paul sailed the sea.  And the Gospel Writers had a medium to record the awesome Works of God.  “In the fullness of time.”  Now in this setting, God sent His Son “made of a woman.”  It is more than obvious that the Incarnation was not an accident or afterthought… but It was orchestrated and carefully planned to take place at this particular time by our Loving Heavenly Father… in order that we might be redeemed. 

The Incarnation makes a statement to the world.  If God was in Christ it is therefore possible for God to be in us. 

What benefits are available to every believer as a result of the Incarnation of Christ?  In Philippians chapter 2, our main reference regarding the Incarnation, notice:

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

There is a particular word in this verse that is translated “made Himself.”  This word describes what happened at the Incarnation.  That word is “kenosis” which means “self-emptying” or “the emptying of self.”  There is no word comparable to this word in the English language.  Jesus “emptied Himself.”  This was an act of self will.  Jesus chose to “empty” Himself of His “God Form” He had in Heaven with the Father.  Jesus lived in this “God Form” with all the attributes and powers accompanying it throughout all eternity past.  At the Incarnation, Jesus “laid down” or “emptied” Himself of this “God Form” and took upon Himself the Form of Human flesh.   He did not do this temporarily.  He did not do this just for the 33 years He lived on earth.  When He laid down His God Form, He did it forever and forever.  Eternally.  He never “picked it up” and assumed His original God Form again.  He ascended into Heaven following His death on the cross, in a Glorified Human Body.  And He will be in that body when we see Him in heaven.  It’s amazing but He will have the only “imperfect” body in all of heavens’ population.  His body will be the only one with scars.  He arose and assumed His rightful place at the right hand of God… the focal point of all power in heaven and earth… and He rules there with a scarred body.  Pierced hands and feet and side and brow. 

At the Incarnation, when Jesus “emptied” Himself, it was His choice to eternally vacate His God Form and take on the Form of Human Flesh.  This Act of unimaginable sacrifice guarantees that every Born Again Believer will also live in a glorified human body throughout eternity in Heaven with Him.  Hallelujah.  This “heavenly body” will be resurrected, glorified, sanctified, full of the Holy Ghost, never sick, never sad, never tired, never worried, never aging, never flawed in any way… the mind will be open and unlimited, we will be able to Know even as God knows…can you possibly imagine living forever in a body like this? 

Look beginning at verse 9….

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

There is power and authority in the Name of Jesus.  The disciples were commanded to go out and cast out devils in the Name of Jesus.  They were commanded to heal the sick and raise the dead in the Name of Jesus.  In His Name and under His Authority every knee shall bow of all things in heaven, in earth and under the earth.  That is Angels in heaven.  That is all creatures on earth.  That is all the demon spirits and forces under the earth.  They all recognize the Authority and the Power in that Name.  The Name of Jesus.  When we speak that Name, all these forces and entities must submit.   Do you know we are at the mercy of the devil if we do not know and apply the Word of God?  Do you know that we are at the mercy of the devil if we do not exercise the privilege we have of using the Name of Jesus to force demonic powers to bow at our command? 

12 ¶  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

This verse has been quoted many times and, through misunderstanding, used as an excuse for doubt and unbelief.  What does it really mean to “work out your own salvation?”  What does an athlete do when he or she “works out?”  A work out is an exercise.  If we are going to work out our salvation it will be a process of exercise.  To work out our salvation is to be exercising (doing) what Jesus has told us to do.   This “work out” means that we will be doing what God has given us the Authority and Power to do.  The Works of Jesus.  Preaching.  Teaching. Healing.  Delivering.  Ministering.   Loving.  Giving.  Jesus Himself told us that we would be doing even “greater works” than He did while He was on earth (John 14:12). 

We live in and enjoy victory when we work out what God has put in us.  We become a blessing to the Kingdom.  However, in order to accomplish this level of victory, we must exercise what God has given us.  In every place of failure in the Believer’s life, the cause is not exercising (through ignorance, or disobedience or laziness) what God has put in. 

“Fear” in verse 12 is better translated as “dread “and does not mean horror or terror.  The term used here describes a “wholesome dread of displeasing God.”  When we have a “wholesome dread” of displeasing God… when we had rather do anything other than displease  God;  when we want our life to be so perfectly patterned after His will that He will be “well pleased” with us just as He was with Jesus.  Remember what God said concerning Jesus?  He said, “this is My Beloved Son in Whom I a well pleased…” (Mt 3:17).  We can prevent “displeasing” God through “exercise.”  By working out what God has worked in.   Resist saying wrong things, believing wrong things… resist depression, worry, frustration, stress… just exercise and work out what God has worked in.

“Salvation” here is the all-inclusive word of God’s Grace… soteria and it means deliverance from all oppression and bondage, healing of sickness and disease; it means having a sound mind and it means preservation through all satanic attacks.  It also means having the ability and power of God  and possessing all benefits provided by the Grace of God. 

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

What is God’s good pleasure?  We find out what God’s good pleasure is in Luke 12:32.

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

The Kingdom is God’s Perfect Will being done on earth.  God wants to give you and me the Kingdom.  He wants to give us His Perfect Will. 

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Here we see three levels of the Will of God:  good, acceptable and perfect.  The Perfect Will of God is the Word of God.  God’s Perfect Will is His Word.  God’s perfect will for you and for me is that we line up our lives with the Word of God.  When we do this, we find ourselves in the Perfect Will of God.  Anything less that this will get us in trouble.  We can examine our lives and discover the area in which we are having trouble.  Then we can search the Scriptures and discover what God says about it.  If we are having difficulty and problems with our health, we can search the Word and see what God has to say about healing.  Then, we can take authority over our body and force it to line up with the Word of God.  Our body must obey our spirit.  We can actually constrain our body to conform to the Word and refuse to take anything less than what God says we can have. 

The Bible says that the “thief comes to kill to steal and to destroy….” (John 10:10).  Do you know the main thing the devil is stealing from the church?  He is stealing the Word.  When we do not have the Word working is us, we are subject to all the attacks of the devil.  Whatever area of our life that does not agree with the Word of God is the area we will have trouble with.  It may be in the mental realm, or the physical realm, or the material realm… it may be in our relationships with others… whatever it is, we need to make our situation or circumstance line up with exactly what the Word of God says.  If we will “exercise” our authority over our body, our mind, our finances, our relationships, and our circumstances and make them submit to the Power that is in us… we will discover the “perfect will of God.” 

The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is the Foundation Principle of our Christian Faith and the core Truth of the Gospel. The concept is profound and often overlooked or misunderstood.  However, if we are to ever come into a fuller knowledge and understanding of the Nature and Character of God, we must have some measure of Revelation concerning this great Truth. 

This One Fact has proven to be the most assuring, confidence building and liberating principle that God has ever revealed to me.  It is a real challenge for me to mentally grasp the awesome details of the Incarnation and even more difficult for me to articulate it in a way others can fully appreciate it and accept it.  I pray that this study will open the door to a deeper and more passionate understanding of the Greatness of God and a fuller appreciation of the Measureless Love Jesus has for each of us.

What will it take?

What will it take to bring Real Revival to the Church?

Do we have to bottom out before we look up?

• We have built nice buildings, but this didn’t work.
• We have up-graded our facilities and padded our pews, but this didn’t work.
• We have paved our parking lots and landscaped our buildings, but this didn’t work.
• We have established great programs, but this didn’t work.
• We have brought in outstanding “world-class” preachers and evangelists and teachers, but this didn’t work.
• We have hired staff members and started Small Groups, but this didn’t work.
• We have promoted, organized, educated and funded but this didn’t work.
• We have established educational programs and Bible Institutes and recreational projects and we have preached on TV and Radio,  we have live-streamed our services, we have published books and pamphlets, but none of these have really produced New Testament Results.

What will it take?

•  Hungering for God
• Thirsting for more
• Longing for Jesus
• Seeking until we find
• Searching and believing
• Rearranging priorities
• Repentance
• Humility
• Sincere praying
• Full surrender
• Forgiving and forgeting
• Loving like Jesus loved
• A Divine visitation
• A Holy Ghost baptism
• A Pentecostal renewal

Only God can do what must be done to awaken the Body of Christ.  And when we make our Move, God will make His Move.

Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord…  Zech 4:6

The fifth chapter of Revelation gives us an exalted view of Jesus Christ.  At the time John wrote this he was exiled on the little island of Patmos which was located a few miles off the coast of Asia Minor. He was left there to die because he would not keep his mouth shut about Jesus.  Thank God for blabber mouths like John.  John was an old man at this time, probably in his 80’s, maybe even a little older, when the Romans left him there to die.   They did not know that he was going to have the time of his life when they left him.    The boat had not gotten out of sight good before he was on his face worshipping and talking to Jesus.  He had a vision.  An awesome vision.  A spectacular vision.  The Bible says he was “in the spirit on the Lord’s Day” and while he was ”in the Spirit” he was literally caught up and he saw some remarkable things that were “out of this world.”

The Book of Revelation is a description of the vision of John while he was on the Isle of Patmos.  This Vision takes us right into the gates of heaven.  And we get a full view of Jesus as the One in heaven Who is worthy.  The vision tells about a scroll held in the right hand of God that contained some wonderful writings on it.  The Bible says that it was written on the inside and on the outside but it was sealed with seven seals.  Every creature in heaven wanted to know what was written on the inside and the outside of that scroll.  But they could find no one who was worthy enough to open the scroll.  They searched all over heaven.  They looked everywhere.  But no one in all of heaven could do it.    John really wanted to see what was written on the scroll.  He was  disappointed  and desperate because it could not be opened.  So he began to weep.   Then  in the midst of this awesome scene in heaven, the Lamb of God appeared and took the scroll out of the right hand of God.    And all of heaven began to declare “Worthy is the Lamb.”  They sang a New Song.  It was entitled:  “Thou Art Worthy.”  (Verse 9)    Let’s read about this now in Revelation chapter 5:

1 ¶ And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

3 And no man in heaven, or in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

6 ¶  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

13  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

Have you ever in your life seen or heard of a scene like this?   One day we are going to be able to hear that heavenly choir and the combined talents of the ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands proclaiming with one voice…. Worthy is the Lamb!  Worthy is the Lamb!  Wow!  What a concert that’s going to be!  

 I want to tell you something… listen to me… we are here at this place at this time on this earth to proclaim that Jesus Is Lord.  We are not here to build a church or to hear a preacher or to articulate a doctrine or to lift up a denomination…  we are here to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is Worthy.  Do you agree with me?       

Let’s go back into the New Testament and observe Jesus as He walked on the earth in His physical and visible body.  There were two things that amazed people about Jesus…   They were amazed at His Power and they were amazed at His Authority.   When He spoke in the in the synagogue one of the first things those in charge asked Him was “by whose authority or by whose power do you speak…?”   The very tenor of His voice as He spoke and the very nature of the words He uttered conveyed the power and the authority of a living God.   People recognized that this was not an ordinary Man…. they recognized that this was not just another rabbi or just another teacher;  there was something supernatural and extraordinary about Jesus. 

There really was something extraordinary about Him, wasn’t it?  I remember a time recorded in the bible when He was in a small boat with His disciples headed for the distant shore, and they were caught in a vicious storm.    He just spoke the word in the back of the boat and the storm stopped   Do you remember?  He stood up and said “peace, be still” and all the wind stopped blowing and all the rain stopped falling and all the waves stopped their crashing.   Instantly, in the middle of a storm, Jesus spoke and there was peace.  There was calm  The storm stopped.   There was never before  a man like this Man. 

I remember a time in the Bible when He was walking down a dusty road and saw a blind man.  And Jesus had compassion on him.   The man had been blind from his birth.    Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud out of his spit (pardon the crudeness).   He took it and put it on the man’s eyes and sent him to the pool to wash.  The man went.  The man washed.  The man received his sight. Just like Jesus said.   The blind man was touched by this unusual Man and his unusual method and his eyesight was restored. 

Do you know that Jesus is Worthy?  I read about Him and I saw Him confronting demon powers… I mean the powers of the devil and hell… I saw these demonic forces tremble in fear at His presence because they recognized that He was very God.  I saw Jesus, this unusual, extraordinary Man, as He sought out the sick and the afflicted… the crippled, the diseased, the wounded and the hurt… those who were held captive by the power of sin… and I saw Him, with His gentle touch heal them and deliver them from death and distress.      Worthy is the Lamb. 

I saw Jesus as he forgave guilty sinners caught in the very act of the vilest of sins. In compassion He reached out and said: “go and sin no more… thy sins be forgiven thee…”  He raised the dead.  He cleansed the lepers.  He resisted the devil, He opened graves and He interrupted funeral processions.  What a Man is this Man I am telling you about!  He is no ordinary Man.  He is not a man like the world had ever seen before… This is a Man that all of heaven paid homage to.  John tells us that every knee in heaven bowed and every voice cried out; “Worthy is the Lamb.” 

What Jesus did then did He does today.  What Jesus was then He is today.   What Jesus said then He says today.    The writer of Hebrews says “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever…”   Jesus is changeless… what He did then He does today.  Who He was then He is today.  What He said then He says today.  Hopeless and helpless humanity teetering on the verge of moral suicide can reach out to this Lamb of God and be saved, delivered, and set free.  Amen. 

Someone right now is on the verge of collapse and defeat.  Someone is on the verge of failure… someone hearing this or reading this is about to break up and give up and quit… I’ve got good news for you… if you are in this condition God directed you to hear this message…  Jesus Christ is able to reach down into the darkest and deepest need of your life right now and remedy your situation… whatever it may be.  Nothing is ever too “broke” for God to fix.  Don’t you even think about giving up because Jesus Christ,   the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world… is Worthy and He is able right now to meet your need. 

John looked into heaven he saw all of heaven crying out “Worthy is the Lamb!”  Let me tell you about the Lamb of God.  Let me tell you about Jesus.  First, I want to tell you Who He is, and then I want to tell you What He does, and then I want to tell you Why He does it. 

Who Is This Lamb of God? 

Who is this man that all of heaven bowed down before and declared to be Worthy?  Who is He?  Why has He made such an impact on the human race?  How has He shifted the entire course of history? Just what kind of a Man is this Man they called the Carpenters’ Son? What kind of man is this who spoke and all of creation’s ears heard and heeded His voice? 

One day the disciples were at Ceserea Phillipi and Jesus asked, “Who is that men say that I am?”  The disciples said that “some say that you are Elijah and some say that you are John the Baptist and some that you are teacher or a prophet raised from the dead…” then Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”  Remember what Peter replied?  Do you?  He spoke up and said “Thou and the Christ the Son of the Living God…”  And Jesus got excited when Peter said that… He said “Simon Barjona flesh and blood hath not revealed that unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven…”   “God has told you that I am the Messiah, the Anointed One, The Messiah promised in the Old Testament, the Prophet, the Priest and the King.”    That’s Who He is. That’s Who Jesus is.   John, the Gospel writer received a revelation of Who He is when He wrote in Chapter 1 and verse one:

 “and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth…” (John 1:14) 

Who is this Lamb of God?  Who is this Lion of the Tribe of Judah?  Who is this Root of David?   Who is this Person that all the inhabitants in heaven bow down to and cry out in voices filled with praise; “Worthy is the Lamb… Worthy is the Lamb…Worthy is the Lamb…?”

Do you believe what Jesus says?  Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.”  Do you know what bread does?  Bread fills us up.  Bread satisfies our hunger.   Bread keeps us alive.  Bread nourishes our physical body.  Jesus is Heaven’s Bread sent from God to nourish our spiritual bodies and keep us alive.  Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.”

Then in John chapter 8 Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” Now, what does light do?  Light reveals and illuminates… what does Jesus do?  He reveals the character and nature of God to us.   He illuminates our way by the anointed spoken Word of God. He guides us by His Presence. He shows us the pitfalls of life. He protects us from the snare of the enemy.  I say to you… Worthy is the Lamb!  Worthy is the Lamb!

Who did Jesus say He was?  In John 10 He said, “I am the Door.”  What is a door good for?  A door is good to go in and to get out that’s what a door is good for.  And do you know what Jesus meant when He said I am the door?   He meant that “ by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”  Jesus Christ is the Door. He is our access into the very presence of God.  He is our High Priest.  He is our representative in Heaven.  Worthy is the Lamb. 

In John chapter 10 He said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” What does a good shepherd do?  A good shepherd takes care of his flock.  He makes certain that they are in the fold and out of harm’s way at night;  He is certain of their number.   He is certain of their safety.  He knows where they are  and  He takes care of their every need.  He never leaves them.  He never forsakes them.  He cares for them and keeps them secure and safe. 

In John chapter 11 He said,   “I am the Resurrection and the Life” and John chapter 15 He said, “I am the True Vine, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” 

He gives us Resurrection Life.  Not just ordinary life, but supernatural life.  Resurrection life is the God Kind of life.  It is not psuche but it is Zoe.  It is the same kind or quality of life that God has.

As we “abide in Him” or take up our residence in Him and live in His Word, then He says we can ask what we will and it shall be done unto us.  Abiding in Him assures us of asking the for the right things.  And we ask for the right things the right way, we have what we ask for. 

Let me tell you how the world saw Him.  The world saw Him as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a dirty smelly barn.  But I see Him as King of Kings and Lord of lords.  The world saw Him as a carpenter’s Son Who would never amount to anything.  But I see Him as the Living Son of the Living God. The world saw Him as a defeated Dreamer hanging lifeless on a cruel criminal cross. But I see Him as Victor over death hell and the grave. 

Worthy is the Lamb!   The heart of Old Testament Scripture is Messianic in purpose.  You can hardly find a chapter anywhere from Genesis to Malachi but what there is some glimpse of Jesus. The very heart of revealed scripture is Messianic in nature.  Jesus  is like a scarlet thread woven into the fabric of every page of the Old Testament.  And that tapestry comes to a full and complete revelation when we get to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

He was foreshadowed in the Garden of Eden shortly Adam’s miserable fall when God spoke to the serpent and said;

 “I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise His heel.”  

This is a direct Messianic Promise declaring that there would be One coming Whose heel would crush the serpents’ head.  In turn the heel of that Coming One would be wounded and bruised by the serpent.     He was clearly seen by the prophets in the Old Testament.  They did not know Him in the flesh but they knew Him by the miracle of divine revelation.  Every prophet of God in the Old Testament had a glimpse of the coming Messiah.  In Isaiah chapter 7, the prophet wrote;

 “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call His name Immanuel”  

That Name means “God with us.”  In Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 the same prophet by divine revelation foresaw Jesus and said;

 “His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.” 

In Isaiah Chapter 53, which was written nearly 800 years before Jesus was born, is the wonderful chapter portraying Jesus as the suffering Servant. 

“He was wounded for our transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed….”   

All through the Old Testament there are glimpses and foreshadows of the coming Messiah.  David, Israel’s great singer, sung in Paslms about Him before He was born.

 “The Lord is shepherd I shall not want He maketh me to lie down in green pastures He leads beside the still waters He restoreth my soul…”  

We find Jesus in every book on every page in practically every verse and every word;  the Old Testament is an arrow pointing unerringly to the coming time when all the world would recognize…

 Worthy is the Lamb of God!  Hallelujah. 

I see Him typified in many ways it the Old Testament.   I see Him in Noah’s ark because Noah’s ark was God’s provision to keep safe a faithful few who believed in the word of God.  The Ark was God’s miraculous provision for safety and deliverance for the believing family of Noah, the builder of the ark.  When the rains came and the judgement of God fell, those huddled in the safety of the ark were spared.  They inherited a New World.  A Fresh World.  A Purged World.  This typifies the Redemptive Work of Jesus Christ in the Grand Plan of Father God.  The Ark of Safety is a type of the One Who is Worthy.  

 I see Him as the Passover Lamb.   When the Hebrews were held in the grip of Egyptian bondage, they prayed for God to look upon their affliction and deliver them.   And God heard their prayer.   One by one the plagues were sent and finally Pharaoh let the people go… but not before the Passover was perfected.  I see the father in the Hebrew household as he goes out and slays that little sinless paschal lamb.   I see him as he takes the blood and catches it in a basin and take a branch of hyssop and dips it in the blood and then goes to his house and strikes the blood across the top of the door and on each door post.   I see him as he goes in his dwelling knowing that God said;

“when I see the blood I will pass over you… When I see the blood I will pass over you.”   

This Passover Lamb is a type of Jesus Christ. 

I see Jesus personified and typified in the Old Testament tabernacle.    I see Jesus pictured as the promised Son and Seed of one hundred year old Abraham and ninety year old Sarah.  I see Jesus typified in the House of Israel and the intricate sacrificial system of the Jews.   Don’t you see that God has moved heaven and earth since Creation in order that we can  know…

 Worthy is the Lamb!  Worthy is the Lamb!

Where is your heart today?  What is your attention set upon?  Where is your life headed?  Is it to know and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord of All? Is it to know that He and He alone is Worthy?   All other things in this life are secondary to the central fact that Jesus Christ is Lord of All… Lord of all!   

Who is He?  Who is this Jesus?  I’ll tell you Who He is… He is God in the Flesh.  He is  Very God  Who condescended  and took on human form and human flesh. He is God clothed in humanity.  He is God wearing a human suit.    Philippians 2:7 declares that He made Himself of no reputation… that is, He laid down (took off) His deity and put on humanity.  He vacated His God Form and God Power and God authority and then left heaven that he might walk on and in this earth and redeem us from the curse of Adam’s disobedience.   He became Man in order to redeem mankind from spiritual and eternal death.  Deity put on humanity so that we could walk in forgiveness and divine healing and health and be delivered from every power of the devil.   

Where are you today?  Do you know that Jesus is Worthy?    This is the day when all humanity needs to bow at the feet of a Risen Ascended and Glorified Lord.   This is the hour when we ought to recognize that we are the visible, tangible body of Christ on  earth and we are to carry out the commission that He gave us by going throughout the earth and preaching and teaching and baptizing in His Name… by telling the world that Jesus is Worthy.      

 What does He do? 

Everybody who has ever had a personal confrontation with Jesus Christ knows that Jesus Does Something.    The Savior I serve is not a god placed on a shelf who never does anything, never breathes, never feels ,never sees, never knows;  but the Jesus I’m preaching about is Worthy and He is a Savior Who does things.

 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me… “

Jesus quoted this one day in Nazareth as He read in the synagogue.  They gave Him the Scroll and told Him to read.  He read from the prophet Isaiah and quoted this very passage which is found in  Isaiah 61:11.     This is what He said to those religious leaders:

 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath… (number one) anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; (number two) He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted; (number three) He has sent me to comfort all that mourn; (number four) He sent me to give beauty for ashes; (number five) the oil of joy for the mourning; (number six) the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.  (parentheses mine)

 Isaiah 61 tells us what Jesus does. 

He is the Anointed One Who preaches Good Tidings to the meek.

He has been sent to bind up the broken hearted.

He is here to comfort all who mourn.

He restores beauty to the disgraced and defamed.

He gives us joy in the place of mourning and

The Garment of praise in place of the spirit of heaviness.

I Jn 3:8 declares that Jesus has destroyed the works of the devil.

“For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil…”

What does He do?  He reconciles man to God. 

Three things happened when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden.

Number one, spiritual death came on the entire human race.  

Number two, man was alienated from his Creator and

Number three,  a Curse came on this world. 

That’s what the devil did.  That’s what happened when Adam sinned.  But  Jesus undid what Adam did.  Jesus undid the mess that Adam made.  Where man died spiritually through Adam’s disobedience, we are made spiritually alive by our faith in Jesus.  When sin drove a wedge of division between the Creator and the creation, Jesus came and reconciled man to God… He reestablished our fellowship with the Father.  

I’ll tell you what else Jesus does…  Jesus delivers us from the Curse.  Hallelujah. 

Gal 3:13 We are redeemed from the curse of the law…

This is what He does. He reconciles man to God, He reestablishes our fellowship with God  and then He justifies us and makes us righteous.  Wow!  Would you like to be Righteous?  Faith in Jesus Christ makes us Righteous.  According to the Word, our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ produces the righteousness of God in us. Jesus takes up residence in our heart and trades our sin for His Righteousness.  

Being Righteous means you have a right standing with the Father.  It means you are justified.  (Made Just-as-if-I’d never sinned) He sanctifies us.  He sets us apart as His own creation and soon He will glorify us by causing us to put off the garment of this human flesh and put on the garment of our resurrection body.  Then, we will live in perfection.   We will think in perfection and we will be everything God ever created us to be. Hallelujah.   

 What does He do? He’s at the right hand of the Father in Heaven interceding for you and me.     He is personally praying for the unity of His body.   He is on His throne at the Father’s Right Hand.  He is the Head of the Church and He is directing its affairs.    He is supervising angels and spiritual authorities and powers.       

What does He do?  The  Gospel of John shows us  that He saves lost people.  Lost people just like Nicodemus.  He restores broken homes just like the woman at the well who had five husbands and who was living with a man who was not her husband.   He heals the sick and afflicted just like the man who was lame for 38 years and who patiently waited by the Pool of Bethesda for his healing.

What does he do?   He feeds the hungry and fills the empty just as He fed the 5000 with a few fishes and a few loaves of bread.  He satisfies the longing heart with spiritual food that can and will sustain through times of great distress and disappointment. 

What does He do?  He forgives sinners.  Check out the adulterous woman who was caught in the very act of sin in John chapter 8.  So you think you are guilty?  We all are.  And Jesus is the Great Forgiver.  Not only does He forgive, but He removes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west.  In other words, to a place of infinity.   To a place where they do not even exist anymore.

What does He do?  He gives life to the dead just like He gave life to four-day-long dead Lazarus.  At his tomb when they rolled the stone He said “Lazarus… come forth”  and life came into that four day old corpse… a corpse that was already decomposing.   The power of God exploded in it, gave that dead body life, and brought it out of the grave.  Jesus is our Guarantee, our Warranty that we too shall overcome death and the grave.  At His voice, the dead shall be raised and those of us who remain at His Coming will be changed instantly… at the blink of an eye… and we shall be like Him.  Hallelujah.

What does He do?  He comforts the distressed… In John chapter 14 He gathered His disciples together and He said “let not your heart be troubled… you believe in God believe also in me…”   What a profound Word!  We have the capacity to “let not… ” to stop our heart from worrying and being stressed out; to prevent our heart from being afraid and from being filled with anxiety.   When times are tough and impossible situations loom we can “let not” and prevent worry from overcoming us and rendering us helpless and hopeless. 

I tell you what… this Son of the Most High God became poor… He was Heaven’s Prince… He was at the right hand of God… He was administrating all of heaven’s affairs …. He was in Ivory Palaces…. He was in charge of all creation…. But the Lamb of God became poor that we might become rich.

 2Co 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

He chose poverty to give us prosperity.  He chose to “have not” in order that we might “have.”  He was the richest and wealthiest individual in all of creation, yet He willingly laid down His wealth and took on our poverty.  “For our sakes” he became poor that we might, through His poverty, become rich.

He came down that we might go up.  He became sin that we might become righteous. He was sent into the jaws of hell that we might ascend into the glorious boundaries of heaven.   He had no home… no place to lay His head.  He had no garment to call His own except those that were given to Him as gifts.  He said the birds of the air have nests and the animals of the field have homes to go to but the Son of Man hath not a place to lay His head… a “homeless”  Son of God is today, right now, at the Father’s side building extravagant and unimaginable mansions for us.  Hallelujah.

  Col 1:15 “for by Him were all things created that are in heave and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by Him and for Him He is before all things and by Him all things consist…He is the Head of the Body the Church He is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things He might have the preeminence…”

The Word of God says that Jesus holds all things together.  There is only One Element that keeps all creation in perfect balance and harmony…  and that is the influence and the Power and the Authority of the Lamb of God.  Listen to me church… The planets are kept in orbit; the stars are set on fire and kept on fire, the suns continue to give forth their light, all the galaxies hang in perfect balance;  and everything in creation consists and holds together because of Jesus. The Lamb of God.  “Worthy is the Lamb.”    Worthy is the Lamb.   Since we Know Who He is  and we Know what He does… the third question I told you I would try to answer is this:

 Why does He do it? 

There is no explanation, none whatsoever, for the reason He does it apart from His matchless, boundless, measureless, eternal love.  There is absolutely no physical, visible, scientific, way or reason that He should do What He does other than the fact that  He just loves us.  Just like we  are.   With all the human limitations and imperfections and shortcomings,  He just loves us.  He just loves us.  He just loves us.  He is Love personified.  He is Love demonstrated.  He is Love manifested.  He is Love illustrated.  He is Love embodied.  He is Love epitomized.  He is LOVE.  Worthy is the Lamb.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life…

Why does He do it?  That’s why He does it.  Because He “so loved the world….”

For God comendeth His love toward us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us…

The mystery is… He loves us.  The fact is we as human beings will never be able to comprehend the “why” so there is no logical or reasonable explanation left for us to understand this demonstration of God’s compassion and care for us.  Limited as we are in our darkened understanding… we cannot comprehend the measure of God’s love.  If I stood here until Jesus came and until angels blew their trumpets and until the skies were rent in two and until every grave was opened and every saint in ages past were raised by the power of the Omnipotent God… if I preached constantly till that day I could not tell you nor explain to you the measure of God’s love. 

Could we with ink the ocean fill

And were the skies of parchment made

Were every stalk on earth a quill

And every man a scribe by trade

To write the Love of God above

Would drain the oceans dry

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Tho stretched from sky to sky

I’ve always been amazed at what happened to people when they saw Jesus.  They were never the same again.  Never.  They were changed.  They were different.  They were taken into a new place in the human experience.  Not only were they changed, but the world as they previously saw it was also changed.  God “became” evident everywhere.  In all of creation.  The grass was greener.  The flowers were more spectacular.  The birds sang better and the whole world became a demonstration of the Glory of God.   Worthy is the Lamb. 

The Prophet Isaiah saw Him high and lifted up and then he beat upon his breast and buried his face in his hands and he cried “Woe is me for I am man of unclean lips.”  

Moses saw Him and he was told to take off his shoes because  he was standing on holy ground.  

John saw Him on the Isle of Patmos and fell at His feet as dead.

Thomas saw Him when He walked through the wall and appeared there in the midst of the disciples,  and old doubting Thomas put his finger in the print of the nails in His hands and His feet and His side and he said  “My Lord and my God…” 

Paul saw him on the dusty Damascus road when a light as blinding as twelve sunshines shone in the middle of the day, and he fell on his face and cried out  “Who art Thou, LORD?”

I saw Him one day when I was a 12 year old boy sitting about half-way back in a little country church… and after of years of fear, dread, and frustration, anxiety, nervousness… I saw Him.   I did not know a fraction of what Jesus had for me, the only thing I knew was that I was afraid and I needed some help.  And I came in my own childlike way that night to the altar of a Baptist church and prayed a simple prayer… and I saw Jesus. 

Jesus has been gracious to me through all these years.  He called me to preach.  He has protected me from all kinds of satanic oppressions. He lovingly gave me this ministry to share with you the Good News.   I’ve never been more fulfilled in my life than I am right now.  I am grateful to God.  When you leave here today, I want you to leave with just one theme on your lips and that is…

WORTHY IS THE LAMB.  WORTHY IS THE LAMB.

Word for Today:  February 21

Seems that everyone is interested in the harvest.

The masses are ready for the crops to come in.  They are hungry and weary.  The time for the increase is anxiously waited for.  Believers want the blessings of harvest.  They want crops.  They want fruit.  They want increase.  Unfortunately few are interested in Seed Time.

There will be no harvest if there has been no planting.  What we do with the seed determines what kind of harvest we will reap.  The seed amount determines the harvest amount.  The more seed the more harvest.  The less seed the smaller the harvest.  The seed we plant determines the harvest we reap.

There is a Bible Principle that is very important when we consider the harvest we want.  Since most are interested in reaping an abundant harvest, it is important to understand that the harvest we reap will be according to the seed we plant.

Like begets like.  This is a principle that is built in and basic in all of Creation.  Like begets like.  Cows have cows.  Pigs have pigs.  Horses have horses.  Corn begets corn.  Peas beget peas.  Beans beget beans.  Like begets (produces) like.  Birds have birds.  Fish have fish.  Every kind of life begets the same kind of life.  The kind of seed you plant determines the kind of harvest you get.  When a farmer wants cotton, he plants cotton seed.  When a farmer wants beans he plants beans.  When a farmer wants potatoes, he plants potatoes.

Like begets like.

What crop do you want?

Then, what are you planting?