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Word for Today:  December  9

There is something better on the way.

A woman diagnosed with a terminal illness called on her pastor to plan her funeral.  She had some ideas about what she hoped would happen, but she was insistent about one thing:  “I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.”

Her incredulous pastor demanded an explanation.  “Oh, it’s quite simple,” the woman said.  “In all my years of attending church socials and potlucks, I always remember that, when they clear the dishes, someone will say, ‘keep your fork.’  It’s my favorite part, because I know something better is coming.  So I want people to see me there in that coffin with a fork in my hand and know her best is yet to come.”

Present suffering, pain, heartache, rejection is NOTHING compared with the “glory which shall be revealed in us…”

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18

Keep your fork

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”  James 1:2-4

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.”  II Cor. 9:8

“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 will you do?… when you find yourself in an impossible situation and everything begins to get worse?  James speaks of “falling” into different and varied tests and hardships.  We can understand that hardships will come to God’s people, but what do we do when they come?  How do we handle them?  How do they affect us?  When we are “cast down” and “buffeted” by the enemy, how do we overcome?  That is what we will address today:  How to Handle Hardships.

1.  Hardships are common to Believers.  If you are not facing hardships, then you are no threat to the devil.  The kingdom of darkness will pay no attention to you if you are doing nothing.  It is only when you determine to do something that satan jumps in and tries to stop you.   That is why James tells us to “count it all joy” when hardships come our way.  It is important that satan know who you are.  You should be famous in the halls of hell… every demon should know who you are and where you live and what you believe.  If you are a “nobody” in hell you are a failure in the Kingdom.

2.  Hardships are no indication that God is against you.  Remember, Jesus said that the Way into the Kingdom is narrow and few will find it.  It is the way into destruction that is broad and many who are following it.  The Kingdom Life is not EASY.  It is demanding and it is costly.  It requires discipline and dedication.  Often, it carries reproach with it.  Know that God is for you and that every hardship you face is an opportunity for you to put Word Principles into practice.

3.  Hardships develop your confidence in Covenant Promises.  They are food for your patience to grow on.  Assurance is birthed in Confidence and Patience.  When you enter into “REST” you are established in the Faith.  Every hardship, when properly faced, will bring you into a higher level of Spiritual Maturity. 

4.  Hardships make you pray and intercede.  They will drive you into the Word.  They will cause you to be Spiritually Aggressive.  Often they will jolt you out of lethargy and complacency.  Hardships can backfire on the devil by bringing out the best in the believer.

UNDERSTAND that the Seed of God is INSIDE OF YOU if you are Born Again. 

“Being Born Again, not of corruptible seed, but by the Word of God, which liveth and abided for ever…”  I Peter 1:23

That means that anything and everything and all things that God has is ALREADY INSIDE OF YOU if you are Born of the Spirit.  The Potential is in the SEED.  Life is in the Seed.  The Seed will grow and produce if the ground is right and if the environment is right.  You cannot prevent the Seed from growing because the Life of God is in it and the Integrity of God is behind it.

Right NOW you are drawing the quality of life you are living either from the NATURAL or from the SUPERNATURAL.  You are dealing with your hardship either with natural strength or with supernatural strength.  How you live is determined by the realm from which you draw.  The natural realm is governed by the Law of Sin and Death and the Supernatural Realm is governed by the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.  The Law of Death will make you fail and the Law of Life will make you Succeed.  For you to successfully deal with and handle your hardship, you must DO SOMETHING…  You will not simply “float” into victory… There are things you will need to do.  

It is not KNOWLEDGE only.  It is not INSPIRATION only.  It is not FEELING only.  It is not EMOTION only.   It is not GOOSE BUMPS and BRIGHT LIGHTS.  You cannot draw out of the Bank what you have not put into the bank.  God does not abundantly bless LAZY PEOPLE or IGNORANT PEOPLE or STINGY PEOPLE.   The VICTORY over your problem depends on WHAT YOU DO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW.

1.  REMOVE ALL DOUBT AND UNBELIEF

            Paul said: “I believe God.”  Believing God is removing all doubt and unbelief.  Most are believing their hardship.  They are talking about it and praying about it and complaining about it.  Some are carrying it like a “good soldier” of the Cross.  Some are resigned to having it forever.  Many have just decided to put up with it and to tolerate it. 

How you think about your hardship will tell you if you are in doubt and unbelief.  What do you think about your situation?  What are you saying about your hardship?  How are you praying about your problem?  “If it be Thy will…”  “Just show me a sign…”  “I’ll put out a fleece…”  “May be God wants me to carry this hardship…”   You need to agree with what the Word says about your hardship.  It does not matter what you think about it but it does matter what the Word says about it.  If you are not in agreement with the Word then your hardship will consume you.

            What are you being taught?  Where and from whom are you receiving information?  It is important where you go to church.  It is important to whom you listen.  It is important that you expose yourself to FAITH and BELIEVING BELIEVERS and WORD TEACHERS and PREACHERS.  Doubt and unbelief opens the door to satan and prevents God from working miracles in your behalf.  Be sure that you stay away from all DOUBT AND UNBELIEF.

2.  FIND SOME SCRIPTURES AND STAND ON THEM AND DO NOT BUDGE

            Your answer is in the Word.  The Bible has the answer to all your problems and hardships.  No matter what you face, you can find somewhere in the Word, the very promise that will solve your hardship.  Every problem area of human experience is addressed in the Word.  Nothing can ever happen to you that you cannot overcome by applying the Word of God to the hardship.  The Word is INVINCIBLE.  Situations and Hardships are temporary and vulnerable.  The Word is your Sword and that Sword can and will cut down every trial and hardship.  Your situation is SUBJECT to the WORD.  The Word is never subject to your situation.  Because the Word is in you, then you are never subject to your situation or hardship.

            List the Scriptures you are standing on.  Write them down.  Carry them with you wherever you go.  Keep them before your eyes continually.  Hide them in your heart.  Put them on index cards or in a notebook.  Remind God of His Word… “decree a thing” and watch it come to pass.  You are not a beggar or a pauper.  Standing on the Word is enough… you do not need anything else.  Your determination to wait and operate in Patience is important.  How long do I wait?  Until the answer comes.  God has said it and that settles it.  It matters not how it looks or what men say… For me, I have found my answer in the Word and God will bring it to pass in due season. 

3.  SEE YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU AND THEN ACT THAT WAY.

            God sees you like He made you.  He does not see you like you see yourself.  Your opinion of yourself is more than likely a sin.  Because you have been so afraid of being guilty of pride and because you have taught that you are just an “old sinner saved by grace…”.  The secret of the Church operating in the Resurrection Power of Jesus is for us to see ourselves as God sees us and then to act accordingly.

            God sees you RIGHTEOUS.  God sees you SINLESS.  God sees you WELL.  God sees you PROSPEROUS.  God sees you CONQUERING.  God sees you ABOVE and not BENEITH.  God sees you OVERCOMING.  God sees you SUCCESSFUL.  God sees you FULL OF THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE.  God sees you WARRING in the SPIRIT REALM and WINNING against the devil.  See yourself as God sees you… and then ACT THAT WAY.

            You will never handle your hardships acting like the world sees you or like your carnal mind projects you.  Find out WHO you are and WHAT you can do…  Discover the AWESOME POWER and AUTHORITY God has given to you.  DARE to release what God has put in you.  ACT out what GOD has BUILT IN..  HALLELUJAH.

4.  REFUSE TO GET INTO STRIFE OVER ANYTHING OR ANYBODY

“Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work…”  James 3:16

Determine to live a PEACEABLE LIFE with a PEACEABLE SPIRIT… be sweet and kind and understanding and tolerant.  Some of us are WIERD.  Others have odd and peculiar characteristics.  Some are not lovable and some are hateful and unkind.  Some are immature and selfish.  Many will act like little babies and spoiled children.  Some of God’s kids are flaky and hard to understand. 

DO NOT GET IN STRIFE over ANYTHING or ANYBODY.  Be a LOVER.  Drown your enemies with LOVE.  Respond to every attack and criticism with LOVE.  Dwell in PEACE and be a PEACEMAKER and Jesus says you will be blessed and be called the CHILDREN OF GOD.  Nothing is worth losing your peace over.  No demon spirit acting in another person is worth losing your peace over.  Strife and turmoil and bitterness will kill you and make you miserable before it does.  Be forgiving and be willing to be SECOND and consider others before you consider yourself.  REFUSE to get into STRIFE..  With your wife or husband or boss or neighbor or children or relatives or ANYBODY.

5.  FORCE YOUR SOUL AND BODY TO MAGNIFY THE LORD

            Make your flesh praise God.  Rule over your soulish man and make him REJOICE in the LORD and PRAISE GOD.  Every ounce of your flesh will resist praising God… it will make excuse and bawl and squall and beg not to praise God.  The measure of Spiritual Maturity is the ability to PRAISE and WORSHIP God in the midst of hardships and trials.  It will not come easy and it will not come naturally.  YOU will have to MAKE YOUR FLESH and your MIND WORSHIP and PRAISE the LORD.  When you do this… your mountains will become molehills and your hardships will become opportunities.  You can begin RIGHT NOW.  It will be in ORDER and in TASTE to do it right HERE.  Do you really want to successfully handle your hardships? Then:

1.  REMOVE ALL DOUBT AND UNBELIEF.

2.  FIND SOME SCRIPTURES AND STAND ON THEM AND DO NOT

     BUDGE.

3.  SEE YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU AND THEN ACT THAT WAY.

4.  REFUSE TO GET INTO STRIFE OVER ANYTHING OR ANYBODY.

5.  FORCE YOUR SOUL AND BODY TO MAGNIFY THE LORD.

Now…

Rejoice in your VICTORY!

Word for Today:  December 8

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.

He is more than a HELPLESS BABY wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

He is more than a once-a-year Christmas celebration.

He is more than a mere Carpenter’s Son.

He is more than an itinerant wandering Preacher.

The world saw Him (and still does) as a religious radical.  A revolutionary fanatic.  A miss-guided dreamer.  A disillusioned Jew and a false messiah.

Religion sees Him as a handy Crutch to lean on.  A “last minute” and last resort for panic and pain.  A “security blanket” to embrace when times are tough.

He is greater than Adam.  He is greater than Abraham.  He is greater than Moses.  He is greater than the angels.  He is greater than the prophets.  He is greater than the apostles. He is the Epitome of Perfection.  He is GOD.

• He is the BREAD of LIFE
• He is the LIGHT of the WORLD
• He is the DOOR into the FOLD
• He is the GOOD SHEPHERD
• He is the PRINCE of PEACE
• He is the MIGHTY GOD
• He is the EVERLASTING FATHER
• He is the ROSE of SHARON
• He is the BRIGHT  and MORNING STAR
• He is the LILY of the VALLEY
• He is the RESURRECTION and the LIFE
• He is the TRUE VINE
• He is the INTERCESSOR and ADVOCATE
• He is the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE
• He is the ALPHA and the OMEGA
• He is the GREAT I AM
• He is KING of kings and LORD of lords

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.   Isa 9:6

THANK GOD for JESUS

Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Now in that same chapter we read in verse 29…

29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Saints, if we are born into God’s Kingdom, according to these verses, we are the seed of Abraham.  And if we are the seed of Abraham, we are the recipients of all the promises God gave to this Old Testament patriarch.  We have received all of the blessings that God promised Abraham. 

God gave the Law through Moses and because that Law was broken a curse came on mankind.  That curse came upon you and it came upon me.  But the Bible tells us in Galatians that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the broken law.  This means that Christ has literally bought us back (that is what “redeemed” means) and has given back to us the blessings that were lost as a result of the broken law.  The blessings of Abraham were lost to us as a result of sin… because the Law was broken.  Mankind fell short of God’s expectations and God’s glory.  But Christ has redeemed us, bought us back and reinstated the blessings of Abraham for every believer.  That’s really awesome!

If Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, (and He certainly has) you might ask then, “What is the curse of the Law?”  Let’s look at.  The major portion of Deuteronomy Chapter 28 deals with and describes what the curse of the broken law is and what it does.  I want us to look over some of these verses and just see what Jesus has redeemed us from.  The following verses tell us about the results of the broken law…

15 ¶  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

20  The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

22  The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

23  And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.

When the scriptures declare that the Lord does these horrible things, it says in the original language that the Lord “allows” them.  We know that the Word tells us that God can do no evil,   He is not the author of sickness and disease and calamity and death… He is not the author of poverty and distress… He is not the author or the cause of these things, but He allows them as a means of manifesting the results of the broken law… God does not cause these calamities, He allows them. 

24  The LORD shall make (allow) the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

25  The LORD shall cause (allow) thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 

And on down through the end of this chapter, the Bible is very explicit regarding the results of the broken law and the terrible things that God will allow to happen to those who break the Law of Moses.  He doesn’t cause them… He allows them.  

The good news I bring to you is that Jesus has redeemed us from all of these curses.  He literally became The Curse in order that we might be delivered from the curse.  Jesus has redeemed us … bought us back… from the curse having been made a curse for us and He did it by and through His Redemptive Work on the Cross. 

Ga 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Jesus literally invaded satan’s dominion and stripped him of all the power and authority he exercised over you and over me and over the earth.  Paul writes in Colossians that Jesus spoiled (to strip of or disarm) the devil and took away from him all his offensive weapons and made a show or display of him openly so that all those powers in heaven in earth and in hell would know that the devil was (and still is) totally and completely defeated.  So the devil is a defeated foe right now.  And he always will be.

Col 2:15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

One of the blessings of our redemption is the revelation that the devil is presently defeated.  He has no power.  He has no authority.  He has no right and no legal place in our life in this present world… because Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the Law.  This revelation has just begun to operate in my life. 

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the broken law and the curse has no power over us… not anymore.  Do you know what the curse of the broken law is?  It is sickness, and poverty and spiritual death.  These three things are the results of the broken law and Jesus has redeemed me and my family from these three things.  He has redeemed me from sickness.  He has redeemed me from poverty. He has redeemed me from spiritual death. 

I am Born Again.  I am well and not sick.  I am rich and not poor.  I am alive and not dead.  I am just passing through this world, I am not a citizen of this place, my home is in heaven and one day not too far off, I will rule and reign with Jesus right here on planet earth because I am a son of the Living God and I have been redeemed from the curse of the law.  Hallelujah.    

If Jesus delivered me from sin when I got saved He also delivered me from sickness and from poverty because sickness and poverty, just like sin, is a curse of the broken law.  Have you considered the life of Abraham in the Old Testament?   Have you read about him and what God promised him and what God did for him and what God gave him?  If we are studying about the blessings of Abraham which are legally ours because Jesus has redeemed us from the curse, we need to look at this man.  Just how was he blessed?  And what did these blessings include?

Did you know he was one of the wealthiest men who ever lived on this planet?  He was blessed with material things.  Not only did he have wealth, he also had good health.  He was so strong and viral that he fathered a child when he was 100 years old.  He walked and lived in divine health.  He was not sick.  He was not overcome by disease.  He was not weakened by old age.  He was the recipient of tremendous spiritual and natural blessings because God blessed Abraham and Abraham’s seed.  One time God commanded him to look in the heavens and attempt to number the stars because that was just how many offspring he was going to have…he was and is the father of many nations and his offspring is still increasing, just like God said it would.     

The Bible says in Romans chapter 10 and verse 10,

 “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation…”  

More than likely, we have all heard this verse because it is one of the verses we use when we are witnessing to someone who needs to be saved.  However there is something in this verse that I did not see until recently.  The word “salvation” in this verse is the Greek word for “deliverance.”    “Salvation” means “deliverance.”  But deliverance from what?  It means I am delivered from sin, I am delivered from sickness, I am delivered from disease, I am delivered from poverty and I am delivered from instability and I am delivered from an unsound mind.  I am delivered from depression, oppression, despair, fear, anxiety and thousands and thousands of other negative and death dealing things the devil tries to hang on me.  

This word “salvation” is an all-inclusive word of God’s matchless grace and love.  It means tons more than just getting saved and going to heaven and missing hell.  It means that if we confess with our mouth because we believe in our heart we will receive the blessings (all of them) of Abraham and we will nave them now in this life on this earth before we die and go to heaven.  And this is because Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law.  Our Faith Confession brings possession.  What we say we begin to have.  What we decree and speak by faith begins to come to pass.  It is a scriptural principle that we will have what we say.  Remember Mark 11:23? 

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.

Let me tell you something… in this verse God says one time that we are to believe.  But in the same verse He says three times we are to say with our mouth.  So you see, confession is the key to possession.  Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law but if you don’t believe it and never confess it and never say it but just walk around and keep your mouth shut (or if you do open it you say things that are contrary to the Word)…  you are going to have a very difficult time realizing and experiencing the results of your redemption. 

If you don’t say what God says and you don’t claim what God has already given you to claim, you’ll be sick and you’ll  be broke and you’ll be distressed and sad and fearful and defeated…but IF you get hold of this revelation and begin to confess these things with your mouth and begin to say them and believe them, you will see them begin to come to pass. 

Let me share for moment about the kinds of confession.  There are three kinds of confession.  One type of confession is good only for those who are lost.  The sinner can only confess Jesus as his Lord.  That is the first confession a lost person can make.  Until he makes that confession, no other confession he makes regarding spiritual things will do any good.  We must believe and confess that Jesus is Lord and when we do, that brings about salvation. 

The second type of confession is made when a believer gets out of fellowship with God and recognizes his backslidden condition… he is miserable and  unhappy and he has no joy.  He can confess his sins that are responsible for his separation from God… and according to 1 John…

 1Jo 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And when he makes this confession to God the scripture says that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

The third type of confession is the confession that is made by believers like you and me…when that revelation begins to rise up in our spirit and convince us… really convince us… that when we confess what  the Word says,  we can have what the Word says we can have.  You can have faith, but until you are willing to confess with your mouth what you REALLY BELIEVE in your HEART, you will never see what you say. Unless you are operating with a spiritual mind these things will be hard for you to understand.  But I am telling you what God’s Word says. 

God says we have what we say.  If you go around talking about how bad you feel all the time, you will have what you say and you will feel bad all the time.  You talk about the devil being after you then guess what will happen…. The devil will continue to be after you.  You talk about being sick… guess what will happen?  You’ll be sick because what you say is what you get.  You talk about being broke and poor and needy…. Then that’s exactly what you will be.  What you say is what you get. 

But if you will begin to confess some good things…. Some things that God has provided for you in your complete redemption… begin to confess and say “Praise God, I’m redeemed from the curse….. I’m feeling good and I am well and not sick, I am happy and not sad, I am rich and not poor, I am strong and not weak, I have good health I have a great marriage, I have wonderful children, I am free and delivered from unwholesome habits… “  Confess with your mouth and you will begin to possess what you confess.  Confess that you will succeed and not fail confess that the devil is defeated in your life, confess that he has no power and no authority and no right to mess with you or with anything you have…

Confess and say these good things (they are things that God has already said about you) and they will begin to come alive within you and you will start to see them manifest in your life.  Praise God. This is a Word principle that will change your life.     

Now, what are we supposed to confess?  Let me just give you some ideas. 

You need to begin by confessing what God has provided for you in His Plan of Redemption. 

That could take you three or four weeks right there if you just confess that.    What has God provided for us in His Grand Plan of Redemption?  At one time, my little religious head and heart could only believe that my redemption would keep me out of hell.  That was it.  Get to heaven and miss hell.  Now that’s not bad but it is only the beginning.  It barely scratches the surface.  Thank God for that.  That’s good but when I got the revelation that my redemption provided heaven on earth  for me before I died and that I could receive and enjoy heaven’s benefits right here while I was alive… it nearly blew me away!  It was awesome.  It IS awesome! 

God provided health for me here, He provided prosperity for me here, He provided deliverance for me here, He provided joy and peace and happiness and RIGHTEOUSNESS for me here…  I don’t have to wait until I die and go to heaven to receive these great benefits. What did David the shepherd boy write?  Remember he said,

“bless the Lord O my soul and FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS…”

 Look in Isaiah chapter 61. This is one of the greatest and grandest prophecies in the whole Bible concerning Jesus the Messiah.  And it was written nearly 800 years before Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem.

1 ¶  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

What do we have through God’s Great Redemptive Plan?  More than we can list or say… we have Joy unspeakable and full of glory, we have a song in our soul and the sound of victory ringing in our ears…  We have peace and power and soundness of mind. We have freedom from worry and fear and all those things that so easily beset us and draw us away from Jesus.  We have Hope.  We have Faith.  We have Expectancy.  We have Strength.  We have the thrill of fellowship with the Savior and an intimate relationship with Father God.  We have the excitement of Fresh Revelation coming to us through the Word. 

We have the awesome baptism in the Holy Ghost and all the wonderful Gifts of the Spirit.  We have the awesome New Testament Church clothed in the power of the Holy Ghost that is continuing to do what Jesus Did while He walked on this earth.  We have Signs and Wonders and Miracles.  Hallelujah.  Confess these things  and say these things  because they are  REDEMPTIVE FACTS and a RESENT DAY REALITIES.    

Next, we need to confess what God has done IN US

What has God done in us?  I can tell you some of what God has done in me.  He has made me a NEW CREATION in Christ Jesus.  Old things are now passed away, they are history, and all things have become new.  I am a New Creation in Jesus.     I am getting better and not just older.  My youth is being renewed in me like the eagle’s…  I am wiser, more intelligent, I have greater experience and I am continually receiving greater revelation from the Word.  My mind is being renewed.  My physical body is under the influence of the Holy Ghost and what He does for me and in me is timeless.  It is not affected by the passing of years.  Hallelujah. 

I am living by the principles and promises of the Word of God.  Therefore, I am not moved by what I see or what appears to be or what men may say or what the world may dictate… I am moved only by the Word of God and the Word of God is changeless and eternal.  What God promises He performs.  Christ has redeemed me from the curse. 

Confess what God is doing for us RIGHT NOW

Do you know what Jesus is doing for us right now?  He is Interceding for you and for me at the Right Hand of God’s Throne in Heaven.  As we go about our daily living… working, playing, ministering, serving… Jesus is praying for us.  Jesus is praying for me.  Jesus is praying for you.  Jesus is praying for Lott Road Church.  Jesus is ministering to God in our behalf… for us… for our benefit.  Right now.   He is our Advocate.. . our Special Attorney who represents us before God in the presence of the Accuser… He pleads our case and declares us innocent of all charges.  He dispatches Ministering Spirits (Angels) to specifically come and help us in our times of need… when we are hurting and enduring temptations and trials…. He Knows who we are, where we are and what we need… and He is presently occupied in getting the supply to our need.  He is active and aggressive and diligent in caring for and protecting each of us…. He is Christ the Lord and He has redeemed us from the curse. 

Confess what God CAN DO through us. 

This is one of the main reasons I am teaching you about Jesus redeeming us from the curse of the law.    What can God do through us?  He has already told us in Mark chapter 11 that if we believe and speak to mountains, they will be removed and cast into the sea.  God tells us that we can do mighty and miraculous things when we speak God’s Word out of our mouth because we believe it in our heart. 

He tells us that if we will resist the devil he will flee from us.  The Bible tells us that we can do ALL THINGS though Christ Who is our strength.  He tells us that NOTHING shall be impossible to us.  He tells us that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.  He tells us that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ASK or THINK according to the POWER that worketh (is energized) in us.  He tells us that we are the Church of the Living God and that the gates of hell cannot prevail against us. 

He tells me and you that He has placed an open door before us and that no man (demon or devil) can close it.  He tells us that if we can believe ALL THINGS are possible to him that believeth.  Jesus tells us that we can even do GREATER THINGS on earth than He did.  What did He do?  He cast out devils, He raised the dead, He healed the sick, He gave sight to the blind, He opened the ears of the deaf, and caused the dumb to speak.  He spoke to storms and they stopped.  He fed the multitudes with a few fish and a few of loaves of bread.  He walked on water.  He turned water into wine.  He caused the crippled to walk and the lame to leap.  This is what GOD can DO THROUGH us.  We need to believe this and confess these things.  We need to talk about what we can do instead of what we can’t do. 

Don’t go around feeling sorry for yourself.  Get up and get away from your little pity parties.  Forget about feeling like you are some special blessing from God because you go around sick all the time.  Confess that you are well and not sick.  Confess that you are not poor.  The Bible says that Jesus, though He was rich,  became poor that we, through His poverty might be made 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.

So, according to the Bible we are rich.  Right now.  At this moment.  Heaven’s Prince became poor that we might become rich. 

Jesus became sin that we might become His Righteousness.

 2Co 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.

Now say that.  Confess that.  He became sin, and disease, and corruption, and hate, and violence, and every vile and wretched thing the devil has ever hatched up…Jesus BECAME that LITERALLY.  That’s why He was all but unrecognizable in His outward appearance as He hung on the Cross.  He became THAT so that you might have heaven on earth.

 He HATH redeemed us from the CURSE. 

Begin to confess these things that we have in Jesus and begin to say these positive and powerful things GOD says about us… and we will see these things come to pass. The devil is terrified of any believer who will put into practice what I am teaching in this message.  God is holding us responsible for what we hear and what we know.  He tells us that “to whom much is given much shall be required…” (Lk 12:48) 

We will all answer to God at the Judgment Seat of Christ regarding the things we KNOW.  Folks, the devil is whipped.  The only power he has is the power we give him.  That is the only power he has.  He is defeated once and for all.  Jesus dealt with him on the Cross.    He has been overcome by the Captain of our Salvation and it is time that we begin to live like we have been redeemed from the curse.

Now, believe right.  

Believe down in your spirit… receive the Revelation… that the devil is whipped.  Really believe this.  Believe this because the Bible says it. Jesus defeated the devil and if the Bible says it then it is so.  It is a fact as well as a truth.  Jesus stripped him of all his power and all his authority and he is still stripped.  He is naked. He has nothing.  He is nothing.  He is a nobody.  He is only as powerful as you let him be. 

Do you remember the cartoon called the Road Runner?  The cartoon character in that series that really pictures the devil was old Wiley coyote.

Every time I see old “Wiley” with all his cockamamie schemes, I see the devil.  And the roadrunner reminds me of those believers who really believe the Bible.  They are constantly setting traps for the stupid one.  The coyote.  Ole “Wiley” the devil.  And he is always getting smeared and smashed and crushed and bashed.  There he stands with band aids everywhere and bandages and bruises and bumps… a classic example of a defeated enemy.  Nothing he tries ever works for the smart and quick and nimble road runner. 

The Bible says the devil walks about “like” a roaring lion… it does not say that the devil “is” a lion but he is “like” a lion.  And the Bible says he is constantly seeking  (looking for) those whom he might devour.  Do you know why he has to look for those he might consume?  He has to search and seek out those who do not know what I am teaching  you in this message.  Those who are ignorant of these things I am teaching are open prey for the roaring lion. 

The Bible says,

 my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge… (Hos 4:6).

I am telling you some things that will keep the devil away from you.  Now, believe in your heart…. Deep down inside… in your Spirit that Jesus HAS REDEEMED you from the Curse of the Law.  Quit dragging about like a bunch of senile old worn out people and get some fire and anger and rage toward the devil down inside your spirit.  Then get aggressive and offensive in your war against him and his demon hoards. 

Next, Talk Right. 

Talk like you are the victor and not the victim.  Talk about your victories.  Don’t talk about your problems.  Don’t talk about your circumstances.  Don’t talk about your sickness.  Don’t talk about your failures… talk about your conquests and your victories.  Talk about what you have in Jesus.  You are the Sons and daughters of the Living God.  You have overcome the enemy by the Precious Blood of the Lord Jesus.  You are ruling and reigning as kings and priests unto the Lord.  You can do what God says you can do.  You have what God says you have.  And you are who God says you are. 

Let’s begin to talk the Word.  Let’s begin to say what God says about us.  Do you know how the devil finds out stuff about us?  He is not omniscient.  He does not know everything.  He has to LEARN about you.  And he does this by LISTENING to what you say.  He cannot “read your mind.”  But he has open ears to hear what you say and demon messengers to run to the devil’s office and tell on you.   When you begin to talk right he has to go find somebody else who is not as smart as you are. 

Next,  Act Right.  

Some tell me I’m crazy.  Some say I’ve gone off “into the deep” whatever that means.  Some say I’ve lost my mind and gone insane.  Bro. John Osteen used to say that if this is “insanity” just think about what a beautiful insane asylum we are going to.   Act like that thing I’ve been telling you is real.  Act like it is an established fact.  Act like it works.  Act like you really believe it. Act like Jesus has redeemed you from the curse.   Let what you do be an outworking of what God has put  in you.  The scripture says that we are to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling…” 

Php 2:12  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.

Now just what does this mean?  It means we are to Work out what God has worked in.  We are to act out what God has put in.  We are to act like what is an established fact…  and that is Christ has Redeemed us from the Curse… and we need to ACT LIKE IT.  We are redeemed.  We are delivered.  We are liberated.  We are set free.  We are more than conquerors.  Then we are to act like it.  Amen? 

When the world see us as redeemed, they should be able to tell that Something has Happened to Us.  We are not acting like those who are in the world we are acting like we are citizens of another country.  We are pilgrims just passing through.  We are people of another world.  We are literally aliens on this planet.  Now let’s act like it. 

Next, we are to Rejoice Like IT. 

When the devil tries to slip up on you, just turn around and look him straight in the eyes and shout PRAISE GOD!  YOU ARE A WHIPPED AND DEFEATED DEVIL!  He’ll run off like a scared dog.  Then Sing.  Rejoice.  Shout.  Dance.  Run.  Do whatever you can do to let the world (and the devil) know that you are REDEEMED  and Delivered and Free. 

Now , PLAN like you have been redeemed from the curse….

 Because you have been!   Plan your life like you constantly have the victory.  Plan your future like you are redeemed from the curse.  I know folks that have planned their funeral for years.  Some have already picked out their casket. They have chosen and selected the clothes they are to be laid out in and given their loved one the order of service.   Some have called me and given me specific instructions about their funeral service.  What songs to sing.  What scriptures to read.  What mortuary to use.   That may be all right for some, but I’m just not planning on dying.

I have found out how to live and I am planning on living  in all the benefits of my redemption.  Some folks are planning on going to the hospital.  They have gone out and bought a brand new pair of pajamas and a new robe and all the stuff they need for a hospital stay.  I want to plan on staying well.  I want to plan on never being sick.  Never needing a hospital.  Let’s make up our minds to plan like we are redeemed from the curse. 

Next, VISUALIZE  it in your spirit. 

See it in your spirit with your faith eyes.  Someone in our church came up to me the other and I said “Have you seen our new auditorium? “  And they sort of looked a little stunned.  I wonder how many of you have seen our new auditorium.  I have a great picture of our new auditorium in my spirit.  And I look at it all the time with my faith eyes.  Have you seen our new gymnasium that goes with our new auditorium?   I have.  I have seen the auditorium full of folks worshipping and praising God.  I have watched our Faith Academy students and our church young people play basketball in our new gymnasium.  I have visualized these new buildings and I am constantly looking at them with my faith eyes.  Have you seen our new classroom building and our new cafeteria yet?  Where have you been?  What have you been seeing here…. Nothing?  Well, I have been seeing SOMETHING and that SOMETHING is an answer from God to our Faith.  And I can see it.  And just where is all this money coming from?  From heaven.  It is coming from God.  He has it.  And He is going to get it to us in answer to our Faith.  

As I confess these things with my mouth and as I really believe that what I confess and what I say will be what I see, I need to act like it has already happened and  begin to rejoice like it has manifested.  I am  planning like it is real and I am seeing it constantly in my spirit with my faith eyes….

Guess what?  I am going to drive up in this parking lot one day soon and SEE a new auditorium and a new gymnasium and a new classroom building and a new cafeteria…  I will preach in the new auditorium and see many saved and brought to God and filled with the Holy Spirit… I will minister to hundreds and hundreds of young people and children who are students at Faith Academy… I will see them as they enjoy the benefits of our faith in a new gym and a new cafeteria, I will live to SEE what God has promised because I have been REDEEMED from the curse.  Hallelujah. 

Remember now, the Bible declares that the blessings of Abraham are ours.

13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

14  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The same book that lists all the curses of the broken law also lists all the blessings that are ours because we are the Seed of Abraham.  Read Deuteronomy chapter 28….

1 ¶  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

2  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

3  Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4  Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5  Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

6  Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

7  The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.

10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

13  And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. 

Note:

This message was preached in December of 1975.  In the next 5 years all the buildings we spoke of were constructed and in use: a new auditorium along with a new High School classroom building, a new gymnasium, and a new cafeteria.  And a growing Faith Academy enrollment from grades 1 through 12.

God is Faithful.

Word for Today:  December 7

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

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:  December 6

The Heart of Scripture.

The heart of revealed Scripture is prophetic and messianic in nature.  God promised our deliverance from sin’s control and dominion in the first Book of the Bible.

And 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. Gen. 3:15

The moment Adam sinned, God immediately set in motion a Plan to redeem His Dream.  Here God promises to do Something to bruise the head of satan.

The “It” that will bruise satan’s head is the seed of a woman.  That Seed is Jesus.  The bruise that satan renders to the Seed of woman is the Crucifixion of Jesus.

Here in the very beginning of the written Word, God accurately prophecies that Jesus will come to earth and do something about the devil.

It will take God’s immeasurable Grace and the Obedience of His Immaculate Son…

It will take a Calvary and a Cross

This is the season that the whole world recognizes and celebrates the Miracle of the Ages.  Nothing in time or eternity can match the significance of what happened on a Judean hillside nearly two thousand years ago.  All of time has been divided into “before” and “after” because of this Divine Visitation.  Jesus came.  Jesus came from heaven.  Jesus was sent by God into the earth.  He came in the form of flesh and was born of a virgin.  This had never happened before and it will never happen again.  This is the Miracle of the Ages.  God became Flesh.

John 1:14   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 most significant and awesome and overwhelming work of God since the Creation of all things.  It (the Incarnation) is the crowning achievement of the Work of God and is the most complete expression and revelation of His Nature and Character.  God became flesh.  And He dwelt among us. 

            He came to earth because of sin.  Sin had separated God from His Children and God wanted them back.  Jesus came to redeem the human race from the fall of Adam.

Rom. 5:19   For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Jesus came to earth from heaven for your benefit and for mine.  He came in obedience to His Father.  As we begin this message, let’s notice at least six reasons why Jesus came to earth:

1. Jesus came because God said He would .

Num. 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?

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.

The heart of revealed Scripture is prophetic and Messianic in nature.  God promised our deliverance from sin’s control and dominion in the first Book of the Bible.

Gen. 3:15   And 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.

The moment Adam sinned, God set in motion a Plan to redeem His Dream.  Here God promises to do Something to bruise the head of satan.  The “It” that will bruise satan’s head is the seed of a woman.  That Seed is Jesus.  The bruise that satan renders to the Seed of woman is the Crucifixion of Jesus.  Here in the very beginning of the written Word, God accurately prophesies that Jesus will come to earth and do something about the devil. 

2.  Jesus came to heal hurting hearts.

            For five hundred years there had been no Voice from God.  No prophet.  No Divine visitation.  No miracle.  Human hearts were stricken with barrenness.  The whole earth was held in the bondage of a Spiritual drought.  Men were desperate.  The world was waiting in great need for something to happen.

            Godly people were kept in slavery by a fierce anti-God government.  Rome.  This Empire was governed Caesar’s who considered themselves gods.  Humanistic philosophers deceived the masses through reason and rhetoric.  The armies were cruel, sadistic, savage, and merciless.  Injustice prevailed.  Slavery was enforced.  Oppression was unbearable. 

In this harsh setting, there was a cry for God.  No visitation.  No miracle.  No voice from heaven.  No prophet.  No touch from God.  The sick remained sick until they died.

The lame could not be healed.

The blind, deaf, and dumb had no hope of a cure.

The oppressed had no escape.

Men were burdened.  Bruised.  Broken.  There was no answer.

The world was in great need for a Spiritual Awakening.

Jesus came from heaven to answer the cry of a needy world.

3.  Jesus came to break the bondage 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 two thousand years ago.

In the Interbiblical Period, the Judiastic System continued its path of rule, regulation, and legalism.

            Jesus sets men free.  Free from dead religion and man’s traditions and denominational customs.  Free from laws, rules, and regulations.  Free for bondage to carnal deacons and 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.

            The Jews in Jesus’ day lived in total subjection to (1) The Law of Moses  (2) the sayings of the Prophets and (3) the Writings that had been handed down from generation to generation.  There were 613 separate laws and commandments and rules and regulations that every Jew was required to obey and keep.  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 tears them down.  Religion separates.  Jesus joins together.  Religion kills.  Jesus gives Life. 

            The Jews kept God shut up in the Holy of Holies, behind thick curtains and unreachable by man.  But when Jesus was Crucified the veil of the Temple was “rent”….

Matt. 27:51   And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

And God got out!  Jesus sets the captive free.  Just like He did for you and for me.

4.  Jesus came to Reveal the Nature of God.  To show us what God is like.

            Jesus came from heaven to earth to answer the question:  “What is God like?”  Jesus is the Perfect Revelation of God.  Jesus “condescended” and “made Himself of no reputation…” to reveal to you and me and all creation what God is really like.  The Incarnation of Christ is the greatest miracle of all time.  This is the season of that celebration.  All the world can now know what God is like. 

Phil. 2:5   Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Phil. 2:6   Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Phil. 2:7   But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Phil. 2:8   And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Phil. 2:9   Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Phil. 2:10   That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Jesus reveals the Nature of our Father God.  He said:  “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father…”  Jesus “condescended” to this earth and “made Himself of no reputation”   (He laid down (1) His equality with God  (2) The Glory He shared with the Father in Heaven  (3) His Authority in Heaven  (4) His Divine attributes and outward powers)  in order to reveal the Nature and Character of God.  Jesus is the Perfect Revelation of God.   Jesus “put a Face on God.”

            Jesus came from Heaven to earth to Reveal the Nature of God.

5.  Jesus came from Heaven to earth to put away sin and destroy the works of the devil.  To deliver us from sin’s control and dominion.

Hebr. 9:26   For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

 athetesis {ath-et’-ay-sis}    1) abolition, disannulling, put away, rejection

1John 3:8    …..For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus came from heaven to earth to undo the works of the devil.  He came from heaven to earth to put away sin… once and for all.  Under the OT system, the blood of bulls and goats, sheep, and lambs was only a temporary solution to the sin problem.  Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the Mercy Seat with the blood of an unblemished lamb.  This act of sacrifice took care of the sins of Israel for one year.  Then the procedure had to be repeated.  But Jesus came “Once for all…” and “put away sin”… Jesus’ sacrifice did not postpone sin’s judgment, Jesus’ sacrifice did away with sin… once and for all forever!

6.  Jesus came from Heaven to earth to Birth a Powerful, Overcoming, Victorious Church.  To build a Church.

Matt. 16:18   And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;  and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matt. 16:19   And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Acts 1:8   But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Luke 10:19   Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Mark 16:17   And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

Mark 16:18   They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

The Miracle of the Incarnation:

            Jesus is more than a Babe in a Manger.  Jesus did not come into being at His birth.  He is and has been co-existent with God and is without beginning and without end.  He is Eternal.  He was with God in the Beginning. 

John 1:1   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:2   The same was in the beginning with God.

            He was and is the Agent of God in Creation. 

John 1:3   All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

            He is the Power of God that holds all Creation together.

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

            He is the Living Word. 

            He is the Light that John the Baptist bore witness of.

            He is Lamb of God.

            He is the Suffering Servant.

            He is the Living Water.

            He is the Bread of Life.

            He is Son of Man and the Son of God.

            He is the Alpha and Omega.

            He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

            He is Messiah.

Rev. 1:13   And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

Rev. 1:14   His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

Rev. 1:15   And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Rev. 1:16   And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Rev. 1:17   And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Rev. 1:18   I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.  Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

The Reason for the Season….

Do You Know HIM?

Jesus made SEVEN STATEMENTS as He hung on the Cross.  Through these SEVEN STATEMENTS we can catch a glimpse of the KIND OF MAN JESUS REALLY WAS.  We can see how He responded to adversity and suffering and injustice.  We can learn how we are to react to situations that satan throws in our face and to trials and tests that come in our lives.

STATEMENT ONE:  “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do…”  (Luke 23:34)

Then…. after He was REJECTED and FORSAKEN by His friends and BETRAYED by His disciples… his closest followers and students and fellow ministers. 

How do YOU deal with REJECTION?  With BETRAYAL?  With UN_FAITHFULNESS?  What is your reaction to injustice and unfairness and false accusations?  How do you feel toward those who LIE about you and GOSSIP about you and PLOT for your DOWNFALL?  What would you do in similar circumstances? 

Then… after He was taken to six illegal trials and hearings throughout the entire night?  The legal and religious structure was bent in favor of His Enemies and lies and false accusations were cast in His Face.

Then… after He had been scourged (beaten and whipped mercilessly) with whips and rods.  (12 thongs on the whip and each thong was tipped with bone, metal and glass fragments)  Isaiah said His Visage (appearance) was so marred (disfigured) more than any man and His form more than the sons of men that many were astonished (shocked at the way He looked) at Him  (Isaiah 52:14)  His flesh had the texture of ground meat and yet He prayed:  “Father, forgive them… they don’t really understand what they are doing…”

CAN YOU FORGIVE?  HAVE YOU FORGIVEN?  Do you have a grudge or grudges?  Do you have bad feelings toward others?  Are you not speaking and refusing to communicate?  What right do you have to stay in strife and bitterness and unforgiveness?  Has anyone done to you WHAT THESE DID TO JESUS?

Jesus looks beyond the OUTWARD ACT into the INTENTS of the HEART.  “They do not know what they are doing…”  In essence, Jesus is saying “They are not responsible for what they are doing… they are being driven by a force they do not understand… it is the nature of the devil in them… Father, be merciful to them… they do not realize what they are doing…”  “O Father, see their POTENTIAL FOR GOOD not the visible actions of evil!!”

Lack of forgiveness hinders prayers and causes strife.  It is the foundation of backsliding and the cause of bitterness.  It wrecks homes and families and businesses.  It keeps Divine Forgiveness from coming your way.  Only as you FORGIVE can you be FORGIVEN.  It breeds sickness and disease and hinders ministers and ministries.  JESUS TAUGHT us HOW TO FORGIVE.  Forgive those who despitefully use you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely.  Pray for them and Love them and Forgive them.  FORGIVNESS is a CALVARY ATTITUDE and it is learned at the CROSS. 

STATEMENT 2:  “Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise…”  (Luke 23:43) 

A guilty, tried and convicted common criminal simply asks for Mercy.  “Remember me when you come into your kingdom…”  REMEMBER ME.  REMEMBER ME!!  He was not a church member and had never been.  He was not a disciple or a follower of Jesus.  He had no character and no reputation and no good intention.  He had run with the wrong crowd and justice had caught up with him.  NOW… this common, uneducated, unwanted and guilty criminal RECEIVED and UN_DERSTOOD what the Jewish Nation and Organized Religion was BLIND to COMPREHEND.  GOD is no RESPECTER of PERSONS!!  He loves the unlovable and the unlovely.  He cares for the criminals and the pimps and the prostitutes.  He is compassionate toward drunks and the homosexuals and the thieves and the robbers and the rapists and the murderers!!    JESUS is COLOR-BLIND!!  JESUS is not just a WHITE, BLACK, YELLOW, BROWN, RED or AMERICAN JESUS!!  HE IS GOD!!  He is LORD OF ALL!!  He is GOD of the UNIVERSE and all the INHABI_TANTS THEREOF!!  He is committed to saving all who will call upon His Name!!  “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be Saved…”  (Rom 10:13)  His Kingdom is OPEN to WHOSOEVER WILL!!  How strange that a CRIMINAL was the FIRST TROPHY of DI_VINE GRACE!!  Cleansed and Restored and Forgiven and Made Acceptable by the BLOOD!!!  The Cross is the PLACE OF MERCY and GRACE!! 

STATEMENT 3:  “Woman, behold thy son!  Then saith He to the disciple, Behold, thy mother!!   (John 19:26-27)

Even in the time of such great agony and suffering, JESUS was thinking of OTHERS.  OTHERS who were hurting and lonely and wounded and bruised and sad.  Jesus always CONSIDERS OTHERS!!  That is the essence of the CROSS.  OTHERS!!  The NATIONS and KINDREDS and TONGUES and PEOPLES of the earth.  The hurting and the wounded and the bruised and the broken.  The sad and the grief-stricken and the hopeless and the forsaken.  OTHERS.  That is MISSIONS.  That is the PURPOSE of the CHURCH.  We are commanded and mandated to “PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR…”  Jesus was thinking of OTHERS as he hung on the CROSS.  His mother.  Her hurt and disappointment.  Her shattered hopes and dreams.  Her broken heart.  He committed her into the care of the disciple standing at the foot of the Cross.  “From now on, she will be your mother… you must care for her and provide for her and comfort her.  She needs help.  She is now ‘your mother'”!!

Did you know that JESUS CONSIDERED YOU in His Death?  He was thinking about YOU in His agony and suffering.  His heartbeat was always for OTHERS.  That includes YOU and ME!!    “For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross…”  (Heb 12:2)

STATEMENT 4:  “I thirst…”  John 19:28

Thirst is one of the most agonizing demands of the human body.  It is compounded by the physical torture inflicted by Crucifixion.  The body fluids are depleted.  The fever rises and the tongue swells.  The lips are dry and parched.  Here we see the absolute Humanity of the Lord Jesus.  He limited himself to the confines of human flesh.  He was weak and vulnerable.  He was hurting and He was thirsty.  He Who was the LIVING WATER is now EMPTIED because of the sin of the human race.  He suffered that we might reign.  He was wounded that we might be healed.  He was thirsty that we might drink of Him and “never thirst.”  He is the Fountain but He allowed Himself to become dry so that we can be forever refreshed.  His cry for water was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Psalm 69: 20-21:  “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.  They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink…”  He became in totality what lost humanity was that we might become in totality what GOD MADE HIM TO BE.

Jesus is LIVING WATER.  Jesus is REFRESHMENT.  Jesus is LIFE.

STATEMENT 5:  “My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken me?   Mat 27:46

No sadder words are recorded in the Bible than these.  Here we are confronted with the real cause of the Death of Christ.  He died of a broken heart.  A heart that was broken because His Father could not “look on sin” and was therefore forced to “forsake” His Only Begotten Son.  God the Father turned His Back on Jesus because Jesus was made Sin for us.  “For He (God) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us…  (2 Cor 5:21).  The eternal Fellowship and Communion that they enjoyed was broken and breached because of my sin and yours.  Jesus died of a broken heart.  He was accustomed to being forsaken by friend and foe.  He was accustomed to being forsaken by His Country and His Religion.  He was accustomed to being forsaken by his own family.  He had never… not one time…. ever…. been out of fellowship with the Father.  And now that eternal relationship is severed by sin.  He cried in agony “Father, why have you left Me?  Why have you deserted Me?”  No one will ever know the loneliness and emptiness Jesus experienced in order that we might NEVER BE FORSAKEN or LEFT ALONE or DE_SERTED.  He became what we were (without God) in order that we can BE AS HE IS RIGHT NOW.   “Hallelujah!  What a Savior!!”

STATEMENT 6:  “Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit…”  Luke 23:46

Jesus had declared earlier that: “I lay down my life for the sheep… no man taketh it (My Life) away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself…”  John 10:15,18.

Jesus’ death was no accident.  Contrary to the Hollywood hype, Jesus was not a wimp, and He was not confused or disillusioned.  He came to die.  He was Born to Die.  Yet, He exercised total and complete authority over death by the Power of the Holy Ghost in Him.  Death could not come to Him unless He allowed it to.   No man could take His life from Him.  He had the power of life and death.  He willingly laid down His life… He voluntarily gave His Life, it was not taken from Him and satan did not kill Him.  He chose death in order to give us Life.  “I am come that you might have Life and have it more abundantly…”  John 10:10.  The Abundant, God-Kind of life comes out of His Death.  He died that we might Live.

STATEMENT 7:  “It is finished…”  John 19:30

Jesus declared that IT is completed.  IT is fulfilled.  IT is accomplished.  What is finished?

            1.   The fulfillment of Scriptures referring to His suffering and death

            2.   The defeat of satan and the powers of darkness

            3.   The breaking down of the “middle wall” of partition

            4.   Provision for personal access to God the Father

            5.   The cancellation of the reign of death

            6.   The cancellation of sin’s power and dominion

            7.   The demonstration of Love and Obedience of Jesus to the death

            8.   The Perfection of Jesus as the Sacrificial Lamb

            9.   Salvation and deliverance from all sin

            10. Restoring of Peace between Man and God

            11. The penalty of Death full paid

            12. Man released from the kingdom of darkness

            13. Satisfaction of the full justice of God in payment for sin

            14. Physical Healing for all through the Blood

            15. The way for the full anointing of the Holy Ghost

            16. The establishment of the New Covenant

“It is finished”  means that man has nothing to do but believe and accept.  It means that it is not of works, lest any man should boast.  It means that God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost have done all that is necessary for the full restoration of the Image of God in fallen humanity.  It means that Jesus is the Perfect and Final Sacrifice… “once for all” He has entered into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled His Blood on the Mercy Seat perfecting Salvation for “Whosoever shall call on the Name of Jesus…” 

Hallelujah!! 

Word for Today:  December 3

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.

He is more than a HELPLESS BABY wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

He is more than a once-a-year Christmas celebration.

He is more than a mere Carpenter’s Son.

He is more than an itinerant wandering Preacher.

The world saw Him (and still does) as a religious radical.  A revolutionary fanatic.  A miss-guided dreamer.  A disillusioned Jew and a false messiah.

Religion sees Him as a handy Crutch to lean on.  A “last minute” and last resort for panic and pain.  A “security blanket” to embrace when times are tough.

He is greater than Adam.  He is greater than Abraham.  He is greater than Moses.  He is greater than the angels.  He is greater than the prophets.  He is greater than the apostles. He is the Epitome of Perfection.  He is GOD.

• He is the BREAD of LIFE
• He is the LIGHT of the WORLD
• He is the DOOR into the FOLD
• He is the GOOD SHEPHERD
• He is the PRINCE of PEACE
• He is the MIGHTY GOD
• He is the EVERLASTING FATHER
• He is the ROSE of SHARON
• He is the BRIGHT  and MORNING STAR
• He is the LILY of the VALLEY
• He is the RESURRECTION and the LIFE
• He is the TRUE VINE
• He is the INTERCESSOR and ADVOCATE
• He is the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE
• He is the ALPHA and the OMEGA
• He is the GREAT I AM
• He is KING of kings and LORD of lords

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.   Isa 9:6

THANK GOD for JESUS