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Word for Today:  November 14

It is more than knowledge.

It is acting on the Truth that sets you free… It is more than inspiration.  It is more than feeling.  It is more than emotion.

God expects you to act on what you know and when you do, you sow seeds that begin to grow.  What you sow and what you grow is what you harvest and what you receive.  (Mark 4)

• You cannot draw out of the bank what you have not put in the bank.
• You cannot grow in your garden what you have not planted in your garden.
• You cannot harvest what you have not sown.

When you sow Word Seed in good ground, you are guaranteed a bountiful harvest. You literally begin to “pull out” what God has “put in.” The principle of Sowing is one of the most profound revelations that I ever received from God.

If you know this Truth and then DO this Truth, God promises to make you free.    John 8:32

What you sow is what you grow…

and what you grow is what you get

Word for Today:  November 13

The Church is the Will of God on earth.

Jesus taught us to pray for God’s will to be done in earth just as it is done in heaven.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Mt 6:10

How is the Will of God to be done in earth?  It is to be done by and through the Church.The Church is the way God’s Will is done on earth.

What is the Will of God?  The Will of God is the Word of God.  The Church is the means of bringing the Word of God into the earth.   The Kingdom of God will come in the earth by the Word of God… the Word of God which is declared and proclaimed by the Church.

• The Church has a mission.
• The Church has a mandate.
• The Church has a commission.
• The Church has an obligation.

We are to preach the Gospel (the Word, and ALL of it) to all nations and teach them about God, Jesus, the Holy Ghost, Heaven, hell and the Church.

We are to Baptize them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The Will of God is the Church functioning and operating in the fullest power of the Holy Ghost.  And as it does, the Will of God will be done in the earth….

Just as it is in Heaven.

Word for Today:  November 12

Jesus started the Church.

It originated with Him and it was born by Him.  He is the Author and the Completer of the Church.   He said He would Build His Church and the gates of hell could not and would not prevail against it (Mat 16).

Jesus never told a lie and He never began anything that failed.  He began the Church, He builds the Church and it is His Church.   It is not my church.  It is not your church.  It is HIS CHURCH.    He is the Head.  He is the Foundation.  He is the Reason and Rationale behind the Church.

• The Church is as Powerful as Jesus is Powerful.
• The Church is as eternal as Jesus is eternal.
• The Church has the same Authority that Jesus has.
• The Church has the same Power that God has.
• The Church can do anything that Jesus can do. And even “greater.”
• The Church can bind and loose just like Jesus can bind and loose.
• The Church is Supernatural just like Jesus is Supernatural.
• The Church was birthed to Rule and Reign just like Jesus was manifested to Rule and Reign.

And you and I are the Church.

The Church is Now.  The Church is Today.  The Church is Here.

It is Alive, Well and Filled with Power

Word for Today:  November 11

Regeneration.

Regeneration is the God-ward side of Salvation.  In Regeneration, the dead human spirit is Quickened and brought to life by the Spirit of God and man is restored and made righteous.

The genetic signature of your spirit is “re-gened” with the identical genetic structure of God Himself.

Notice:

• The New Creation is redeemed from the curse and penalty of sin.
• The New Creation is made Righteous. The New Creation is restored to favor with God (Reconciled).
• The New Creation becomes an Heir of God and Joint Heir with Christ.
• The New Creation is provided Power to live in victory.
• The New Creation has access to all God’s Provisions:
• The New Creation Overcomes the World. I John 5:4

And as a result, the New Creation man will love:

• The Brethren: And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 1 John 4:21
• God: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 1 John 5:2
• God’s Word: O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.119:97
• The Church: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  5:25
• His enemies: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;   5:44
• The Lost: For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:   5:14

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

Word for Today:  November 10

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

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

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

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

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

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

The approval of God matters more than the applause of men

Word for Today:  November 9

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Spiritual Renaissance is at hand

Word for Today:  November 8

Jesus breaks the shackles of dead religion.

In spite of the horror of a world without God, Religion flourished.  Religion does not need God to flourish.  Most religion is without God anyway.  It is true today and it was true 2000 years ago.

In the Inter-biblical Period, (the time between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament) the Judiastic system continued on its path of rule and regulation and legalism.

Jesus makes us free.

• Free from dead religion and man’s traditions and denominational customs.
• Free from laws and rules and regulations.
• Free from bondage to carnal deacons, elders, ungodly church leaders and unscriptural church government.

Jesus said that we would and could know the Truth (the Gospel) and the Truth would make us free.   John 8:32

The Jews in Jesus’ day lived in total subjection to:

• The Law of Moses
• The sayings of the Prophets and
• The Writings that had been handed down from generation to generation.

There were 613 separate laws, commandments, rules and regulations that every Jew was required to obey and keep.   Every day.   That is why Jesus said of the Scribes and Pharisees:

“They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men’s shoulders: but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers…”  Matt. 23:4

Jesus came from heaven to earth to break the shackles of dead religion.

• Religion builds walls. Jesus builds bridges.
• Religion separates. Jesus joins together.
• Religion kills.

Jesus gives Life

Word for Today:  November 3

Jesus is not Who most people think He is.

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

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

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

And He is Lord of all

Word for Today:  November 1

Agape is the God-kind of love.

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

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

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

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

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

Love never fails

Word for Today:  October 29

Jesus’ self-emptying.

(Jesus) Who existing in the Form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation (Kenoo) and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross…  Phil. 2:6-8

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call His name Immanuel…  Isa. 7:13

The Kenosis of Jesus is a Foundation Truth that many have failed to grasp.  Kenosis or “self-emptying” simply declares that Jesus willingly “emptied” Himself of His God Characteristics and condescended to the stature and state of a man… a human being… born of a woman… and came to earth to live and die as part of God’s Plan to Redeem Man from Adam’s failure.

Jesus laid down and left in heaven certain characteristics and privileges He exercised as God.  He willingly emptied Himself of His God Form… His God Power… His God Knowledge… His Eternal Life.  He became subject to sickness, disease, death, failure, sin and any and all human liabilities and limitations imposed by Adam’s sin and failure.  The Scripture tells us that:

He was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin… (Heb. 4:15)

Jesus willingly and obediently subjected Himself to the possibility of sin and the possibility of failure when He put off His God Characteristics and took on Himself the form and limitations of humanity.

But He was Victor over temptation.  He was Victor over sin.  He was Victor over every human weakness.  He was Victor over all…

Even death and the grave