Stir It Up!

II Timothy 1:6 – “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

I want to start this word by stating this fact: The single most important experience that a person can have in their life is to meet Jesus, to have their sins forgiven, to become a child of God, to be redeemed by the blood of the lamb and have theirs name written down in the book of life and to know that Christ lives in their heart. That is the single most important thing that can happen to a human being.

It doesn’t matter whether you are “good” or how much of your time and money you give, you must be born again!  Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3 that unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Once you’ve been born again, the second most important thing that can happen in your life is to Baptized with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus believed the Baptism of the Holy Ghost to be so important that he commanded his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had received it. (Acts 1:8)

Acts 2:1 - When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Why is this Holy Ghost so important?  Because the Holy Ghost is the power of God, filling the human vessel, allowing us to live lives that reflect the image of His Son (Romans 8:29), so that we might become His witnesses and advance the Kingdom of God.  The Holy Ghost is God’s supernatural way of equipping us to fulfill the great commission and to carry on the ministry of Jesus.

What was the ministry of Jesus?  “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.  He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the captive free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’” (Luke 4:14-19) Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, to comfort the sick, to reach out to those in need, establish the Kingdom of God and to destroy the works of Satan.

I John 3:8 – “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Jesus ministry has never changed and we have been commissioned and anointed to continue his ministry in the earth.  If you read the book of Acts you will discover that is an account of the NT church in her infancy, it is the record of how the Holy Ghost operates through yielded vessels.  The book of Acts is the pattern for the church.

Mark 16:17-18 - And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost are the defining characteristics of the NT church. To put it more simply, the Church acted just like Jesus; they healed the sick, they cast out devils, and they performed signs and wonders. How?  Through the Power of the Holy Spirit!

There are a lot of things that are lacking in our lives today, but of all the things that we need, it is a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit.  We need an invasion of the Holy Ghost.  We need God to storm our services, we need a divine interruption to “our” agendas, and we need the Holy Ghost to show up like He did on the day of Pentecost and fill God’s people with power from above, power to be His witnesses!  We need a sudden, undeniable, supernatural stirring of the Holy Ghost! 

We need to pray like they did in acts 4:29-31, “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.  And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

Come on Lord, stir us up!  We need an invasion of your Holy Ghost today!  Something that originates from heaven, something that will shake us up, something that will wake us up, something that will stir us up, and set us on fire! 

We need a divine interruption of our speaking by His doing.  You can be saved right now, you can be set free right now, you can be healed right now, you can be delivered right now, and you can get your miracle, or your breakthrough right now!  Everything you need is breath of God away, but it can only come to you through the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost.

I started with Paul’s words to Timothy, but he might as well been speaking to us.  If there’s one thing we’re missing in many of our lives today, it is the vitality, the life, the fire, the power and the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

We can look at the world, we can try and blame the government, we can claim religious persecution or the atmosphere of our society, but the truth is that we have no one to blame but ourselves.  We are the keepers of our flame.  Every person is responsible to stir up the gift, the flame that is in them and it is our job to keep the fire burning.  We have to stir up the gift!

There is an anointing in you, a fire in you, it may be low, and it may seem like just a flicker, you may think it has gone out, but if you’ll begin to stir the embers a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit will begin to blow again and the fire will burn.

We can’t afford to let the fire go out, it’s too close to midnight, too close to the end and the bridegroom is drawing closer.  There are people who are falling asleep all around us, still singing the same songs, still saying amen and hallelujah, but the fire has gone out!  It’s time for us to stir up the gift that is in us, time to wake up our calling, time to wake up our destiny, to stir up that anointing and wake up that fire!

I’ve worked on some pretty high performance engines in my secular job, some that give you goose bumps just listening to the sound of them roar and you can tell that their power is intimidating to every other car on the road, but one thing is true about every one of them; if the battery is dead, you’re dead in the water.

It doesn’t matter how much destiny is in you, or how many gifts or callings are in you, unless they are activated by the Holy Spirit, they’re dead.

I doesn’t matter how many God given dreams you have, or how many prophecies you have been spoken over your life, they are not going to come to fruition without the stirring of the Holy Ghost.  When we allow the fire to be stirred in us, we can activate the flame in others and then we become a threat to hell.

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Dancing In The Fire

Dan 3:2-30

I woke up this morning and the Lord directed my attention to this passage of scripture in the book of Daniel.  I have to admit, it didn’t take much prodding on the Lord’s end since it has always been one of my favorite stories from the OT.  I’m going to confess to you that I have been going through something lately that I just can’t explain, nor will I share in detail about it, but I have been struggling to overcome it and feeling a bit defeated at times.  As I read this story the Lord kept whispering in my ear, “Hold on son, something good is coming out of this.  It may seem like you’re going through the greatest fire of your life right now, but what you ought to be doing is praising me that you made it to the fire.”

He reminded me that there are others who never even made it to the fire, many have simply died at the door of the furnace.  In this story three of the king’s mightiest warriors died at the door.  It is a miracle that I made it this far, by all rights I should have never made it this far.  I should have died of a drug overdose.  There have been times that I had enough drugs and alcohol in my body to kill and elephant, but God pulled me through it and brought me to the fire.

By all rights I should have been in prison for some of the things that I’ve done.  There are people who are there right now that are less guilty than me, but God still brought me to the fire.

I should have died that night on that road in Meridian Mississippi when I hit head on with a minivan on my motorcycle at 40 mph.  The police officers said no one should have survived that collision.   It’s a miracle that I made it this far, by all rights I shouldn’t be here, but God delivered me and brought me to this fire.  The Lord has been merciful to me time and time again. 

God was telling me this morning, and I want to share with someone who may be going through some similar struggles and feeling defeated, that you ought to be praising Him that you made it to the fire because some have died at the door of the furnace.

These three mighty warriors that dies throwing the Hebrews into the furnace may represent the three most popular kids in school, the three most likely to succeed, the three greatest athletes, or the three smartest in their class.  Of all the people around you, by all exterior appearances they should have made it, but they died at the door.

On the other hand no one ever expected you to make it, many had written you off as hopeless.  I was a disgraced pastor who even after standing in pulpits and preaching to others, decided to become familiar with the taste of my own vomit (Proverbs 26:11), but here I am alive, serving God again and filled with the Holy Ghost and yet complaining when I should be praising Him that I made it to the fire and didn’t die at the door.

I could have died at the door, I should have died in that wreck, I should have died of a drug overdose, by all right I should be in prison, and I could have lost my wife and family, but God had his hand on me and I made it to the fire.  I wasn’t serving him but he was keeping his hand on me. He sent his angels to deliver me.  I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t the strongest one, I wasn’t the smartest one, I wasn’t the most popular one, I wasn’t the one expected to make it, but I made it, and there’s no other explanation but God.

The fact that you are going through these current struggles shouldn’t concern you, if God brought you to the fire, He is going to bring you through the fire.  He didn’t bring you this far to leave you now.  The fact that you are in the furnace now is proof that you are coming out. Your miracle started at the door, if God wasn’t going to bring you out, you would have died at the door.  You would have never made it to the fire.  Tell the devil right now, “In the mighty name of Jesus, I’m coming out!

I know God gave me this word to share with you and some of you are going through the struggles of your life right now, you are going through the fire, you’re feeling the heat, the fire is real, and you’re pain is real, but God is bigger than your fire.

I know some of you are going through the greatest fire of your life.  It could be a financial fire, may be you’re struggling with sickness, maybe your marriage is in trouble, or perhaps you’re struggling with addiction.  God can bring you out of your fire!

I know right now that sounds like insanity, because there is no visible tangible physical evidence of anything good in this fire.  But I declare to you by the authority of God’s Word, and in the name of Jesus, something good is going to come out of this!   You are going to make it, and you are not going to burn up in the fire!

You’re not going to come out crawling on your hands and your knees, beat down, broken down, busted or disgusted with no clothes, no money, no peace, no joy, with your eye brows singed off, and smelling like smoke.  Listen to me!  Satan is a liar, when you come out of this fire you’re coming out blessed, you’re coming out healed, and you’re coming out delivered by the powerful hand of God, in the name and through the shed blood of Jesus!

The king chose his three best men, they were his “special forces.”  The strongest most powerful weapons he had at his disposal so as to guarantee God’s servants would perish in the fire. These three men of God had challenged his authority and he was going to show them who they were dealing with.

Right now it may feel to you as though you’re struggle is on a different level, it may feel like the enemy is stronger than ever before and you feel like you can’t hold on much longer, but Satan wouldn’t be bringing out his best if you weren’t a threat to him. The fact that he is bringing out his “special forces” to attack you and me, tells me that we must be a threat to him, and that we’re getting close to our destiny, close to walking in our purpose, and we’re getting ready to step into a greater anointing than we’ve ever had in our life, and so the enemy of our souls is trying to intimidate and back us down.

The thing that brings Satan the greatest grief is to see the children of God walking and living in their liberty, expressing themselves in joy and peace, and worshiping and praising God without constraint, without fear or reservation.  So he sends things our way to back us up, to quiet our praise, to get us all tangled up in fear, anxiety and worry. Because he knows the power of our praise.

I know we’re supposed to be people of faith I don’t want to be negative, but how many would just be honest enough to tell the truth and say, “I been knocked to the mat a time or two?”  Come on and just admit it, since you started your walk with Christ you have fallen down a time or maybe two. The fact is sometimes Satan hits us with sucker punch and it knocks the wind out of us and we find ourselves lying on the ground asking, “What happened?”

These three Hebrew men found themselves lying on the ground bound in the midst of the fire. But I’m so glad the story doesn’t end there, because it says that wicked king looked into the furnace and he was astonished.  What he expected to see was three men lying on the ground turning into crispy critters, but instead he saw them up on their feet, they were freed from what bound them and they were walking around in the fire praising God and the king saw a fourth man who it says, “looked like the Son of God.”  They were not alone, and neither are we.

Recently Satan may have thought he had me, he may have thought because he hurt me and made me cry it was over.  My enemy saw me go into the fire, and took pleasure in it and thought I’d never make it, that I’d be burnt up in the fire.  He may have believed that alcohol and drugs would kill me, but let me tell you something devil, I’m still here!  I am a born again, Holy Spirit filled child of the Most High God and your fire can’t touch me!

Yeah I may have taken a stroll through hell, but I’m still here!  Satan hit me hard, and I went down and it hurt and I cried for a while, but I’m still here!  And I have a news flash for the devil - I’m up again, I’m on my feet again, and I been set free from my chains.  I got my joy back, I got my peace back, I got my dance back, and I got my praise back.

While I been in this fire, I’ve been working on my praise, I’ve been working on my shout, I’ve been working on my dance, and I’m getting ready to praise like I’ve never praised before, to shout and dance like I’ve never danced before. Because now I know, that the God I serve keeps me from evil and from the traps that the devil sets for me.  Now I understand that my God can walk right into the middle of my fiery trial, right into the middle of the hell I’m going through, and he can lift me up and he can liberate me in the middle of my pain, in the middle of my grief and in the middle of the darkest hour of my life.  Praise God!

Don't Let His Presence Pass You By

 

Mark 10:46-52 (NKJV)

46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.  47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you? The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

I’m going to start by stating with authority that someone reading this word is about to be transformed.  You have the opportunity to receive your sight, your eyes are going to be opened to see the life that God has predestined for you, Satan has been deceiving you and you’ve been unable to picture what the unfettered power of the Holy Ghost can do in and through you, but if you receive it, God’s about to bless you with an incredible vision. 

It’s time for you to get angry, downright mad at Satan, to stand up in faith and to go after your inheritance in Christ. You do not have to be a victim of your circumstances, you don’t have to let your circumstances define you. You’ve have worn your circumstances like chains, you’ve let them hold you in bondage and keep you from the abundant life that Jesus came to give.  It’s time to break the chains!

Blind Bartimaeus represents those trapped in the darkness of sin.  Before we met Jesus we were foul, unclean, polluted by sin, and yet we were so important to God that he sent his only son to die for us.

You may be a millionaire, you may live in a mansion, but if you don’t know Jesus, you are no different than a homeless beggar, or someone who is a slave to alcohol and drugs. Without Jesus everyone is in the same condition: blind, lost and polluted by sin. There is only one cure for rich and poor alike, the blood of Jesus.

However, Bartimaeus also represents another group of people, not in the world but in the church. Those who are in the body of Christ, who love God, who I believe are saved, but they are living a limited life.  You are living like beggars, living with the mindset that you are not worthy, that if you could just get the crumbs from the masters table you would be satisfied, you are living in spiritual blindness. You are blind to your inheritance in Christ, unaware that being worthy has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Jesus. Our righteousness is in him, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” – II Corinthians 5:21

Jesus didn’t come to give us crumbs, He came to give us life and that more abundantly (John 10:10): many have gone to great lengths for eternal life, but fail to experience abundant life right here, right now.

The road represents the place where the business of life is going on.  And Jesus is coming toward you on the road and He carries with Him, the anointing that brings peace, joy, abundant life, and God’s favor.  Too many of God’s children are like Bartimaeus, stuck on the side of the road begging.  People who love God and yet they are willing to live a substandard life. 

Too many of Gods people are saved but they’re living on crumbs, just getting by, trying to hang on and hold out till Jesus comes, saved but living defeated lives.  You are discouraged, anxious, fearful, worried, and stressed out.  You have no peace, no joy, and your life is a life of want and not abundance.  Jesus didn’t come to bring us a “crumby” life, a life of just getting by, of just surviving, or of just holding on by a thread.  He came to give us abundant life, unlimited life, and a life of Joy unspeakable and full of glory.  He came to give us peace like a river and power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.

He came not only to heal your sicknesses, he said he put his power in you to lay your hands on the sick and they will recover.

One day Blind Bartimaeus the beggar heard Jesus was coming and he decided that day he wanted abundant life.  He decided he was tired of begging, tired of living on crumbs, tired of being in want, always in need, always in lack, always coming up short, and just barely surviving.

What happened to Bartimaeus that delivered him from the place of living the life of a beggar, with no vision, no dreams, no passion, no hope of better days, just getting by living on crumbs?

You say Jesus healed him: Yes, but before healing came, something else happened in him. First he recognized he had a need and acknowledged his deficiency.  Second, He became desperate for a change, desperate for abundant life, desperate for vision, and he wanted deliverance from a life of impotency, from a powerless life. Third, he recognized that Jesus was the only one who could deliver him, who could open his eyes and bring him into a life of vision, a life of power and abundance.  And finally he gave everything to get Jesus attention.

A lot of people want what Jesus has but they’re not willing to pay for it. No you can’t buy a miracle, you can’t buy Gods presence or power with money.  But it’s not free, it will cost you something: It will cost you your pride, it will cost you your preconceived religious ideas and traditions, it will cost you your old way of doing business, and you’ll have to do what the Holy Spirit tells you to do.  It will cost you time.  It will cost you your old associations, you’ll have to run with a different group of people.  It may even cost you your reputation among men, as you may be criticized and persecuted, you may be labeled fanatical.

That’s why there are still a lot of blind beggars in the church today, they would rather be blind than pay the price to be healed.  They would rather live on crumbs from someone else’s table than to pay the price to receive personal revelation and the abundant presence and power of Jesus in their lives.  I’m not in a position to criticize: I used to be one of those people.  I would blindly follow and be led around by someone else, living off crumbs because I wasn’t willing to pay the price for personal revelation and have the power of God in my life.  It’s not sin that is keeping most Christians from the abundant life, its self.

Bartimaeus robe represents his old life, the life of “self”.  As he came to Jesus he cast away his robe. He put off the “self” life to receive abundant life.  The only way for you and I to receive the abundant life that Christ came for us to have, is to let the cross deliver us from ourselves.

As Easter is upon us I want to speak to those still begging and remind you: The only way to resurrection power is through the cross.  The abundant life that God offers can only be manifested in us to the degree that the cross has exercised its power over “self” in our life.

Listen to what I am saying!  Your miracle, healing, deliverance, and your spiritual breakthrough are in his presence.  There is peace, joy, and restoration in his presence.  Just lift your hands right now and begin to call on his name.  Don’t watch it pass you by!  Cry out to Jesus and get His attention, don’t let His presence pass you by.

 

The River is Here

Text: John 7:1-38

Jesus often acted in a manner that was inconsistent with the traditions of men during His life on this earth.  He challenged the man-made traditions of His day.  Much of the Mosaic laws in the OT had been perverted and their traditions ruled instead of the Word.  Jesus, in this instance and many others, chose not to comply with the weak religious traditions and formalities of the Pharisees.  In the scripture passage above Jesus was attending the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles.  He used this opportunity to teach. 

The people there were amazed by His teachings because Jesus had no “formal” training from the scripture.  Jesus responded by pointing out that His teachings were not His own, they came from the one who had sent Him.  He pointed out to them that Moses had given them the Law, which Moses received from God, and that none of them were obeying it.  Over the centuries the traditions of the Pharisees had replaced the law and what they were left with amounted to a religion that was based in tradition, not the Law.  Now what they had was a dead religion that could not save anyone.  Paul warns believers against this in Colossians, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” – Colossians 2:8

Yet today in much of the body of Christ we see churches leaving the teachings of the Word and following after teachings that are based in the “spiritual forces of this world.”  Many today believe that they are serving God when they really serve traditions that are wholly satanic in nature. These teachings seem right to them, but they lack any power to help them resist sinful habits, “These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgences.”  - Colossians 2:22, 23

Jesus uses this opportunity to direct them to a source of power that can not only save them, but would overflow from them and also become a source of life for others, “Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

The church of Jesus Christ needs to stop following after “political correctness” and get back to following after the teachings of Christ.  Not everything that society approves of is beneficial, not everything man teaches is correct, in fact many of the things commonly accepted today are not “okay” with God.

While I was in Denver this past week I watched a video of Phil Robertson, from Duck Dynasty, speaking at a church in California.  One of the first things he told them was, “I love you.”  Then he went on to tell them that all of us have sinned and are in need of God’s help to cleanse us.  He didn’t say, “I’m okay, you’re okay.”  He told them, “I was a sinner who needed Jesus and so are all of you.” 

And for taking this stance the media and those who do not want to be reminded that they are drinking stagnant water, when a source of living, life giving water is available, jumped all over him to the point of what I would consider persecution.  But Phil’s in good company, they did the same thing to Jesus when He told them they were sinners, “at this they tried to seize Him…the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest Him.” – John 7:30, 32

Many have developed their own version of the church and their own form of religion.  A religion that cannot save them because it lacks the ability to rescue them from the very thing that is bringing about their own death.  Romans 3:23 makes it clear that all have sinned and have fallen short of the life that God has commanded us to live, and then in Romans 6:23 the Word tells us that because of this we have all earned death.  But the good news is that there is also a gift available to us if we believe and obey the teachings of Christ, eternal life.

In the OT Jeremiah the prophet warns of trying to imitate the living water, "For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”

A religion that does not address the true condition of man’s heart, cannot provide the life giving power of Christ, they are meager imitations.  Our source of hope, our source of power to resist sin, and our only true source of life can only be found in Christ.

Storms

Luke 8:22-25

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.  “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.  In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this?  He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

 In this passage is the promise of God’s presence, “Let us go,” Jesus said.  In another passage of scripture Jesus had told them He would never leave them or forsake them.  In fact He promised them that he would go with them to the very ends of the earth.  And so they hopped in the boat with eagerly, and willingly.  They pushed out from the shore with Jesus in the boat, their fellowship was sweet.  It was all good, the weather was calm, the skies were blue, and the fellowship would have been incredible (After all they were with Jesus).  Everything seemed to be perfect for a day of smooth sailing.  Then Jesus decided to take a nap.

This is just like it is with us when everything is going good in our lives.  The Holy Spirit never sleeps, but it is possible for His presence to become so unimportant to us, we all face the danger of treating the privilege of being sprit filled lightly, and if we are not careful the power of His presence can become dormant in our lives.  I know because it has happened to me.

Notice that it is when we forget the importance of having His presence with us and the storms come, fear replaces power and becomes the overwhelming influence on us.  One of the first lessons we need to learn is that storms are a part of life and we are not going to get through this life, without having to ride out some storms.  For those who do not have the privilege of His presence fear is the natural response, its human nature.  But to those who are filled with the Holy Ghost, should respond to storms with a supernatural manifestation of God's presence, and faith should replace fear.  This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith: But there is no faith without the Holy Ghost.

How do we keep His presence fresh in our lives?  We have got to be in the Word daily.  It is one thing to admire the Word of God, to appreciate the Word of God, and even mentally assent to its validity, but it is another thing entirely when the Word of God is the only thing that stands between you and destruction.

Isaiah 53:1 - Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

In every situation there are two reports, man’s report and God’s report.

For far too many so called "believers" the Word doesn’t become important until it’s a matter of life or death. When you’re faced with losing your home, or your marriage is on the rocks.  Storms come to everyone, no one is exempt from the storm.  The Word says that it rains on the just and the unjust alike.  The only question is how will you face them?  Everything depends on your attitude toward the Word of God.  Jesus said, “My mother and my brethren are they who hear the Word and do it.”

The lesson Jesus would have us all learn is, the Word works, but you have to work it.  The disciples had seen Jesus, the living Word, heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out devils.  But this day Jesus wanted them to learn how to work the Word for themselves.  To do the work the Word is to live beyond the dictates of circumstances, to work the Word is to act like you believe God’s report instead of man’s report.  To act like you believe that God told the truth even when it looks like He didn’t(God always tells the truth, but sometimes we doubt Him).  Working the word does not mean that we ignore the circumstances, it just means that we looks beyond them and see His promises.  Even if it looks like everything in the world is against us we simply claim the promises of His Word and live as though we have already received them (The substance of things hoped for).

Let us go over to the other side.  If they had been working the Word, when the storm came they would have just lifted their hands and their voices to praise God and claimed His promise that they were going to the other side.  Jesus said we’re going over and it’s settled, so the storm can either get out of the way, or we’ll just go through it, but one things settled: We’re going to the other side because He said so. 

Today we need to practice His presence, to stir up His Word in our hearts, we need to read the Word, to confess the Word, and to praise God in our storms according to His Word.

Jesus arose and rebuked the wind and raging water and they ceased and there was a great calm.  And then He asked them, “Where is your faith?”  What Jesus was saying was: I told you we were going over to the other side, you had everything you needed to deal with anything that got in your way.  You had the privilege of my presence and you had my Word. If you had really believed me you would have rebuked that storm yourself.

How about you, where is your faith?  Is it in the fair weather?  Is it in a man-made boat?  Is it in your own abilities to navigate the storm?  Is it in other people?  Or is it in God?

Those who believe the Word are peculiar to the world, while the world is crying about going under we are praising about going over. Our destination is determined, but we must be determined to reach our destination.  Let us go over to the other side.

Power

Acts 1:8

“...and you will receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you to be my witnesses…”

Contrary to popular belief God is not a distant God, He has made His presence known to man throughout history. Before the fall he actually walked in the garden and conversed with Adam face to face, in the book of Exodus to Moses in a burning bush, He manifested himself as a pillar of fire and a cloud, and He was in the flames with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Acts 2:17-19

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.” 

And now He has chosen to use us to manifest his power to the world.  You were created for the power of God.  We have been born of the Holy Spirit, we are filled with the Spirit, led by the spirit, taught by the spirit, kept by the spirit and empowered by the spirit.

There are only two powers in the earth, the Power of God and the Power of Satan.  There is nothing in between.  We are in a struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, love and hate.  The Word makes it very clear that a person cannot serve two masters.  You are either in God’s Kingdom or you are in Satan’s Kingdom, there is no middle ground.  You cannot claim you live in Gods kingdom and derive your pleasure and your enjoyment from Satan’s. (I Corinthians 10:21; I John 1:6; Ephesians 5:11)

As a child of God you have a divine call on your life: Matthew 5:14, “you are the salt of the earth.”

Salt has healing properties, it preserves, it seasons, and it creates a thirst.  The manifestation of Christ’s Holy Spirit in you causes your life to be a channel of healing and comfort, a seasoning and preserving influence, and it makes your life exciting and joyous.

“You are the Light of the world.” His Holy Spirit causes your life to be a beacon in the night. Your life, your words, your attitude, become a light to those who are in darkness. Now is not the time for indifference. Now is not the time to stand by and watch as the enemy of God destroys lives.

I heard a story once of a man who was found at the beach throwing star fish back into the ocean, the tide had washed them up onto the beach, and they were dying.  Some teenagers came by and saw what he was trying to accomplish and they shouted, “You’re wasting your time, you’ll never make a difference, there are too many here to save!”

As the man lifted another star fish and threw him back into the ocean he said with a smile, “it made a difference to that one.”

Satan’s best friend is the lukewarm Christian, they’re a false representation of Jesus, and they drive people away from Christ rather than draw them to him.

There is nothing that Satan fears more than to see God’s people on fire for Him.

There is nothing Satan desires more than to see the energy of God’s children perverted in the pursuit of natural earthly, carnal and selfish desires, or wasted wrapped up in an attitude of indifference.

God wants to set your life on fire, He wants to fill you with His power, He wants to release you in fields that are ripe for harvest, to give you power to be a witness, to set free those in bondage to addictions, and to lay your hands on the sick and see them healed.

2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

You were created for power

There is only one answer for the brokenness of this world, it cannot be found in anything other than the Power of God

We were created to live in the atmosphere of the supernatural Power of God.  As a fish living on land would be unnatural and abnormal, and it is unnatural and abnormal to be called a Christian and have no power in our lives, and no taste or desire for the presence of God.

 

Are You Desperate?

Mk 2:1-12
Mk 5:25-34

 Contained in these passages are the stories of two very desperate people. In the first passage is the story of a man that had been born paralyzed, and in the second passage is a story of a woman who had been dealing with a medical condition, for which the doctors had no cure, for many years. There is absolutely no doubt these people were desperate.

 People become desperate when they reach a point where all hope of resolving their situation on their own is gone, and they are forced to seek a solution outside of themselves. At this point they are willing to try just about anything. They no longer care what anyone thinks or says, they are willing to be ridiculed if it brings them peace. They will go where they never thought they would go, they won’t let anything get in their way, they’re desperate and they are ready to take desperate measures.
Desperation is the condition that exists when a recognized need is present and we have no way of meeting it on our own.

God’s people are needy, every last one of us, but many are stubborn, and few are willing to acknowledge their need. Desperation only comes when there is a recognized need that is beyond our own ability to meet.

 WEBSTER'S DEF. OF DESPERATE: feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad, as to be impossible to deal with:

Contrary to the way we view things, desperation is not a bad thing. The world has taught us that the last thing we want to be is desperate. It is looked upon as a sign of weakness to ask for help. But from God’s perspective, desperate people are those who are willing to acknowledge that there are some circumstances that only God can rescue us from, and so we need Him. There are many promises contained in the pages of His Word that only come to those who are desperate.

 I believe the will of God tonight is that every one of us should reach some measure of desperation. I believe His message to us all is that we have been examined by the great physician and diagnosed, “wanting.”

 
When I see in the pages of His Word the life that is available to us, and then I see in my own life, in other believer’s lives and in the church, the low level of spiritual life and the absence of spiritual power, it creates a sense of emptiness in me, a recognition that we are many times falling short of the glory that has been prepared for us. It stirs in me a sense of desperation.

 I am desperate tonight because I recognize the need for spiritual power to reach the lost, to heal the sick, and to help set free those in bondage - because I know that only God can give us what we’re lacking.

The desperate will receive their blessing from God because: they absolutely will not be kept from the presence of their healer by physical boundaries! They are willing to rip off a roof to obtain an audience with the Lord, they’ll push their way through the crowd, and they won’t be offended – (even the dogs eat the crumbs). Desperate people happily let go of their dignity for an opportunity to be touched by deity.