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Luke 12:39 – But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
There is no doubt that the family and the idea of family has been under attack from the enemy in our society.
One of the greatest responsibilities of a father and a mother, a husband and a wife is to protect their family.
Protecting the family is not just about defending those we love from a physical attack it is protecting one another from the assaults of the world. From the ideas and social norms that constantly are trying to find their way into our homes thru social media, television and radio and people that try to invade our space with their unbiblical ideas.
Protecting our families means understanding that Satan is a thief. Just as we fortify our homes so that the things we own are not stolen and the ones we love are not hurt or assaulted.
We must protect and fortify our homes so that Satan cannot steal the things that we have worked so hard to instill in one another in the ways of God and in the way of love.
Fortify means “to make strong; to secure; to protect or strengthen against attack.” We need strong families. We need to protect them against the attacks of the devil.
When I go to Denmark one of the things that just struck me as remarkable was the fact that you could be in a café and parents would leave their children outside parked by the window in their stroller sleeping. I was appalled, I was horrified, I was worried. This is normal in Nordic counties. People still value family to such an extent that no one would even think to hurt the children.
While this is ok in some places the truth is that Spiritually, Satan wants to destroy the idea of family in a nation, tear apart families and to hurt each of our family members personally.
Family is not just the Children it is the entirety of the people involved. We are going to look at ways to protect and fortify our families. To protect them spiritually and to cover them naturally.
Protecting the family starts at the top.
When I say at the top I don’t mean with the husband and wife as a couple. I mean with the man of the house.
While a husband and wife do become one. God places the headship and responsibility of the leadership of the home on the man.
1 Corinthians 11:3 - But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
There is always an order to the layers of responsibility. Christ is the head of the man; man is the head of the woman and God is the head of Christ.
Authority is always about responsibility not about dominance.
God has made the husband and the Father responsible for two things. PROTECTION and PROVISION.
It is the Fathers responsibility to set the tone and standards of the house. It is usually the wife who helps to set the atmosphere of a home. It is the Father who is to take the responsibility for the home.
Joshua said.
Joshua 24:15 - And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Notice Joshua said – as for me and my house.
Every man must take responsibility for THEIR house.
Matthew 19:4-5 - And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
A man leaves his father’s home and establishes his own home.
Not his father’s house – His own house. The husband and wife become one.
This is why the wife takes the husband’s name. While they are two individuals the two become one. There is no division.
This is why at most weddings the preacher introduces the couple as Mr. and Mrs. and uses the husbands first and last name.
Just as we are the bride of Christ and we are hidden in Christ, the wife is hidden or protected in the husband. Just as we take on the identity of Christ the wife takes on the identity of the man. The two become one.
Not two names, not hyphenated names. One name. – No division.
You cannot become a Christian without taking on the name of Jesus. If you won’t take the name of Jesus then you can’ t become His. That is a non- negotiable. The same is true of husband and wife.
I am going to say something that is going to rock social convention. If you are not willing to take your husband’s name then you are not ready to become a wife. And if you are not willing to give your name to a wife you are not ready to be a husband.
The responsibility of leading a family to Jesus starts with the husband and the unity with his wife so that there is no division from the top down. 1 divided by one is always one. Two divided by one is always two. Division stops when the two become one.
In our home it is my job as the husband and father to make sure that all of the doors and windows are locked and secure at night. No matter how tired I am it is a responsibly that is mine.
It is me who will get up at night to see what it was that went bump in the night.
It as Noah who built the ark. He had the help of his family, but it was ultimately his responsibility to provide the ark so that they were safe from the storms of the world.
Matthew 6:6 - But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Without a solid foundation, no matter how beautiful the house looks, it will fall when it is tested by the storms of life.
Husband, pray for your wife, children and grandchildren.
Wives pray for your husband, children and grandchildren.
Children pray for your parents and one another.
We pray for our children daily. We prayed for their safety, their walk with God. We prayed for them through battles and school. We prayed over their coming and their goings. We prayed for their future spouses and now that they are married, we pray for their husband and wives.
We prayed for the grandchildren that we wanted and now we pray for the grandchildren we have.
Jesus said that what you do in secret. Will be rewarded in the open.
We now see our family living the things that we prayed for behind closed doors.
Good foundations are not seen unless you invite people to see them. But you see the results in the long run of a house, a marriage and a family that is still standing and still serving God.
Matthew 7:24-27 - “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Storms come. Rain falls. Winds blow. – Every family faces adversity and attacks.
The foundations take time to build and establish. – If you ever watch a home being built a great deal of time is spent on the foundation. It doesn’t look like a lot is going on to the untrained eye. Then all of a sudden, a really nice house is built.
Once the walls are up and the doors and windows are on, then you can work on all the fine touches of making a house a home.
I want you to know that we are praying for you and your family. I often think of the verse - what Good is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul. I added a twist to it. Was does good is it if a man gains the whole world but loses his own family?
Remember that God is for you and your family! You are loved !
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Frank Winkler from Pixabay
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Mark 14:27-30 (NLT) - On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’28 But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” 29 Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.” 30 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
Luke 22:31-34 - “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. 32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So, when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” 33 Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you.” 34 But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
Mark 14:66-72 (NLT) – Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. 67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus of Nazareth.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are saying.” And he went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed.69 And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood by, “This is one of them.” 70 But he denied it again. And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, “Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.” 71 Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak!” And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.
Three of the four Gospels record this event in Peter’s life.
Jesus prophesied what would happen - and with all of his sincerity Peter told Jesus that it would never take place that he would never deny him and that if need be he would die for Jesus.
We know that at the end of his life Peter did indeed die for Jesus in Rome, crucified upside down on a cross. Peter did make good on his promise but before he did – there was this night.
~ Halford Luccock - a Methodist minister said: “in Christian experience, great living begins in tears. It is God’s starting point. When Peter broke down and wept, all pride, of which he had much, and all self-sufficiency and self-trust dropped away from him.
Peter began to weep because he remembered what Jesus said. – Sometimes we don’t take seriously the Word that God has given us until it finally comes to pass.
We would do well to remember long before we need to remember so that His Word to us is always on our mind.
The rooster was a wake-up call to Peter. The second crow of the rooster caused him to remember what Jesus said.
Right after the third denial the rooster crowed the second time. The question really is – Peter, what were you thinking when the rooster crowed the first time.
The first crowing didn’t slow him down at all. He never stopped to realize what was happening. This wasn’t just some shmo, some jabroni, this was Peter.
A disciple trained by Jesus himself.
All of us will face moments of crisis in our lives. Times where the heat is on and we are either going to confess our faith and trust in Jesus or it will reveal our lack of faith and trust in Jesus.
Satan desires to sift the best of us.
Luke 22:31 - And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
Satan wanted to sift Peter just as badly as Satan had sifted Job.
The name Satan is not a complimentary name. Satan means adversary. It means enemy.
Remember Jesus gave Simon a new name. He called Him Peter or Rock. This was a new identity. You are Peter – You are Rock solid.
Remember that Satan used to be called Lucifer. Or the shining one or the light bringer. He got a name change that means adversary and enemy. He is called a devil which means – slanderer, deceiver and accuser.
The roosters in our lives are the points of crisis that really test our faith in God.
These are the times when we will face persecution, ridicule. It is where the devil lies to us about God’s love for us.
These points of crisis in our lives are where we must learn what we really believe about Jesus and about ourselves.
It is where Satan causes us to find fault with ourselves and with God.
Remember Peter used to be called Simon – That name means – something that is unstable. Simon was someone that could be sifted. This is why Jesus looked at him and used his name twice. Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.
But Jesus had already called him Peter. He knew that Simon would come through the sifting. He said I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.
The value of the rooster is found in the sifting.
Think about this. Jesus granted Satan’s request to sift Peter. Why because the value of the sifting was greater than the value of Peters comfort.
Sifting helps us to discover all of the impurities, dirt and trash that are in our lives. You can’t remove all of that from wheat without sifting and the same is true for us.
Without sifting you can’t remove what needs to come out because it is hidden among all the good.
Peter was saved. He believed in Jesus. But the battle isn’t over.
For Simon to truly become Peter the unstable needed to be filtered out of Simon.
We can do to things with the dirt, impurities and junk that Satan sifts from our lives.
b) The Second thing that we can do is recognize those things that our sifted out of our lives and then allow God to remove them. This is called repentance. This only makes us stronger. Now all of the sin, all of the instability and all of the dirt is removed.
When this happens then Satan’s plan to weaken us actually works against him.
32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So, when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”
God removes the flaws and faults and our faith comes out stronger. Not only are we now a rock and stable in our walk with God we are able to help strengthen others.
That is one valuable rooster.
This Resurrection season I pray that you will learn to appreciate the Roosters in your life. My you be stronger for it.
I look forward to what God is going to do in us and through us as we all become Rock Solid in our Faith.
Remember that you are Loved<
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Andreas Neumann from Pixabay
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1 Peter 4:8 - And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
Forgiveness is at the very core of everything that is taught in the Bible.
Forgiveness is one of the very reasons that Jesus came. All of us are in need of forgiveness from God.
The Great news is that God desires to forgive and He made a way for us to be forgiven through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:7-9 - But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
All of us have sinned against God. Every one of us. Yet if we confess our sins. Admit them, own up to them and repent of them. We are told that God will Forgive us and Cleanse us.
This is a part of what God does that is so amazing. The Blood of Jesus cleanses us of all unrighteousness.
The power of the Blood is that it heals, disinfects and covers. When the blood covers what was there is now gone. It is swallowed up by the blood. It is as if the sin never existed.
As a Christian that ought to get you shouting. Thank God for the healing, covering power of the blood of Jesus.
All of us in life have experienced the hurt and pain that other people have caused us. Some of those pains are so deep that they have been altering life.
Some of the hurt that we have experienced has been the consistent on-going abuse or behaviors that people either know that they are doing or are so uncaring they don’t even notice the pain they cause.
Every time we forgive others for the hurt and pain that they have caused us we are being like Jesus. We are becoming part of the great cover-up.
For the Christian Forgiveness is not optional. Forgiveness is a mandate. When someone offends us and hurts us, we are to forgive.
Ephesians 4:32 - And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Forgiveness is the ultimate kindness.
We are to forgive just like Christ has forgiven us.
Forgiveness means – to set free; to let go; to release; to discharge or liberate completely.
We need to love enough to forgive.
If you and I are not willing to forgive someone that means that we really do not love them.
1 Peter 4:8 - And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
It is love that will cover a multitude of sins.
Remember Jesus calls us to love even our enemies. An enemy is someone who has set themselves against you and purposefully done wicked and unkind things to you.
It is love that led Jesus to go to the cross in order that we could be forgiven.
It will be that same kind of love that causes us to forgive those who have hurt us.
~ C.S. Lewis – Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.
Corrie Ten Boom whose family hid Jewish families during the Nazi occupation was taken to Ravensbrück where all of her family died in that concentration camp. One day when giving her testimony in a church a man came up afterwards and confessed that he had been a guard there. He said that since that time he had become a Christian and he offered her his hand and asked her to forgive him. – This man had been a monster. He had inflicted all kinds of pain that caused pain and misery. In that moment God gave her the strength to forgive him.
~ William Blake – The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
Peter tells us that it is fervent love that will cover over a multitude of sins.
Proverbs 19:11(AMP) - Good sense and discretion make a man slow to anger, And it is his honor and glory to overlook a transgression or an offense [without seeking revenge and harboring resentment].
It takes being the bigger person to overlook and to cover over hurt and offenses.
This is not glossing it over. It is not pretending that it never happened. It is purposefully allowing the mercy and blood of Jesus into our hurt and pain. It is allowing it to heal us and us loving someone enough to release them from what they owe us because they caused us pain.
Peter says that we are to have fervent love. For us the word fervent carries the idea of being hot. Of having a passion. We think of it in terms of intensity.
The word fervent actually means the willingness to be stretched out.
Fervent love stretches us beyond our normal capacity.
All of us who will choose to love and forgive, will at some point, be stretched beyond our capacity to forgive someone in our own strength. There are people that are easy to forgive and to release and then there are people that have caused us or someone we love such pain that it is not in our desire or strength to want to.
Covering an offense is not based on the size of the offense but on the size of our heart.
Proverbs 10:12 (AMP) - Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers and overwhelms all transgressions [forgiving and overlooking another’s faults].
Many of us fear that if we forgive that we will get hurt again. The truth is that you and I are going to get hurt again by others regardless of what we do.
Our choice is to continue to live in unforgiveness or to choose the greater way of love.
To become a part of the Great Cover-Up we must become vulnerable enough to forgive.
When Jesus forgave us on the cross, He hung there naked for all to see.
Nothing feels quite as vulnerable as forgiving those who have hurt us.
~ C.S. Lewis – To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
To love is to be vulnerable. When you love someone, you trust them enough to allow them close enough to hurt you or to reject you. Anyone who has been married knows the vulnerability of asking the other one to marry you.
When you forgive you are trusting God to protect you and to heal you from what others have done to you.
Many people who walk and live in unforgiveness do so because they do not want to be hurt again.
Unforgiveness is the result of a great deal of the inner turmoil that many of us struggle with.
I have also found that unforgiveness is the reason that many people who desire healing are not healed. It may be actual physical sickness or the emotional pain that afflicts so many.
James 5:16 - Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
There is that word fervent again. That willingness to be stretched in prayer. That stretching of God that deals with forgiveness.
~ Someone needs to hear this- you have been hurt. You have been through a great deal of pain and suffering. You need to know that unforgiveness is sin. You have been sinned against but your unforgiveness is a sin against God not just the other person.
We need people that will pray with us, fervently love us and stretch us until we are able to forgive those who have sinned against us. Remember sin means to fall short. People who have missed the mark in our loves and not measure up.
We need people in our lives who will pray with us and stretch us and stretch themselves in prayer until we are forgiven and until we forgive until we can come to the place where we can be healed.
My friend God desires that for you today. Sometimes the stretching of forgiveness hurts but it will promote healing.
Love understands enough to forgive.
Forgiveness means that we are understanding even when the people we are forgiving have no understanding.
I have found that people who hurt others have no understanding of the damage that they have done to us.
When Jesus was on the cross, He uttered words of forgiveness that are to me, utterly incredible.
Luke 23:34 - Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.
The people that we forgive are completely lacking in self-awareness.
As He is on the cross in intense suffering. The life literally draining out of his body, He forgives us and those who have physically tortured Him and nailed Him to the cross.
We are all familiar with the first part of this verse… Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do. - But we leave out the rest of the verse. And they divided His garments and cast lots.
These soldiers had absolutely no self-awareness whatsoever. Jesus was forgiving them and they are gambling for His clothes blissfully unaware that Jesus was dying for their sins.
These soldiers had no understanding but Jesus know exactly what He was doing.
When we forgive so will we. Even if the people we are forgiving are unaware of the significance of what we are doing.
This issue of forgiveness is vital for all people but especially for those of us who are Christians.
I want to be a part of the great cover up that Jesus started.
May God bless you, stretch you and give you freedom.
Rember that you are loved,
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by SAIYED IRFAN A from Pixabay
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Revelation 1:4-6 - John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
We have been made Kings and Priests to God.
As I was getting ready to write this message I was wrestling between this one and one on encouragement.
This was what God had originally laid on my heart.
When I come to speak to you on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s it is important to understand how I approach our times together. I see you as Kings and Priests. People who rule and reign with Jesus in the Kingdom of God.
A King is responsible before God for their life and for the People that God has placed in their life to serve. They understand that what they do is bigger than themselves.
A priest lives their life as service to God. They are set apart for a holy work. A priest stands before God for the people and they before the people for God.
As Kings and Priests, we are representatives of the Holy; That which is pure. We represent that which pleases God and point people in the ways of God. We speak healing, salvation and call for repentance and return when needed.
The book of First Samuel tells us that an unnamed prophet came to Eli with an awful message. This unknown man delivered an amazing prophecy — one that has everything to do with what we see going on in the church today. It is a word that reveals much about dead, dry, ungodly ministers and churches in operation right now!
This prophecy tells of two priesthoods that would develop and continue, from that day onward until the time that Jesus comes back.
Both of these priesthoods would be ministering in the church. One would be a cursed, abominable shame. But the other would be a ministry after God's own heart!
1 Samuel 2:12 - Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord.
Eli was the Chief priest of Israel. His sons worked with Him in the temple. The Bible says that they were wicked and that they did not know God.
1 Sameul 2:22-25 - Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. 24 No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress. 25 If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” Nevertheless, they did not heed the voice of their father, because the Lord desired to kill them.
1 Samuel 2:27-31 - Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? 28 Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 29 Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’ 30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
Because the sin of Eli and his sons was so great God was describing a curse upon the ministry of Eli.
This man of God goes on to prophecy something else.
1 Samuel 2:35 -Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.
This prophecy of two priesthoods is being fulfilled today — right before our eyes. Both ministries are operating simultaneously in nations all across the world!
First, the prophet speaks of the ongoing ministry of a self-centered, backslidden, compromising priesthood.
He describes those priests who are of the spirit of Eli, mentioning two things:
First, He describes these types of priests as people pleasers.
The Apostle Paul speaks of a day when people will gather to themselves ministers who will tickle their itching ears.
Eli was soft on sin! He never made any decisions that would offend his two sons.
Only once, in over fifty years of ministry, did Eli correct them. They had been committing adultery, raping women, committing the most vile acts. Yet even then, all Eli could say to them was, "Why do you do this?"
This man had no righteous indignation! He never shared God's wrath and hatred toward sin. And he represents a priesthood of ministers who are afraid to reprove God's family, the congregation!
There are churches today that you can attend for up to a year, and yet never hear one word of reproof. A church could be totally corrupted — half of the congregation divorcing, adultery rampant, teenagers sleeping around, children unruly. The whole congregation can be given over to pleasure, and self but there is never a word of correction from the pulpit! Instead, the pastor caters to the people's weaknesses and cravings. He is afraid to offend anyone — afraid the offerings will go down and he'll lose his income.
This is the first characteristic of the evil ministry developing in Eli's soul. And it is the mark of every ongoing, compromising priesthood today!
The second thing -They cater to their own needs and comfort rather than give themselves toward the needs of the flock.
1 Samuel 2:29 - Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’
When the people brought the meat offering to the priest, it was supposed to go into the pot to be boiled. Afterward, the priest dipped a three-pronged hook into the pot, and whatever came out on the hook went onto his table.
But Eli's two sons didn't want the boiled, meat. They wanted the red, raw filet mignon! So, they brought their father the prime cuts. There was boiled flesh on his table. That's how Eli got fat, lazy, careless. If he would have dealt with his sons, he might have lost his filet mignon!
Eli was concerned with his own interests, his own table. And that is what is happening in many dying churches today: Preachers are interested only in their own comfort, in caring for themselves — instead of spending time on their knees for the sake of the people!
Self-absorbed priests produce self-absorbed disciples. Listen today I am not just speaking about those with the position as pastor of a church. But all of us as priests unto God.
The prophet is saying, "You are self-absorbed, Eli. To you, the ministry means nothing more than food on the table, security for you and your family. You don't really care about the flock.
You're more interested in what goes onto your table than in what goes into the people's hearts. Yet you never once think about how your compromise and selfishness bring reproach to God's name. You never consider the people who watch as your sons steal the prime meat. You are soft on sin, afraid to reprove — because you're consumed with things that make you comfortable!"
The Good news is that this prophet spoke of another kind of priesthood that God is raising up.
1 Samuel 2:35 - Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.
This holy ministry is the Zadok priesthood!
It is made up of faithful, holy ministers of God who walk and live according to His desire. And such a priesthood remains to this very day!
Everything that this unnamed prophet prophesied is fully illustrated in David's kingdom. David is a type of Christ, and Israel is a type of the church. And David had two priests who fulfilled these two prophetic priesthoods to the letter: Abiathar and Zadok.
2 Samuel 15:35 - And do you not have Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there?
Let’s take a look at Zadok –
Zadok's name means "one who's proved righteous".
1 Chronicles 12:1, 28 - "Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag... And Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father's house twenty and two captains"
Zadok was the first young priest to recognize God's anointing on David!
Men were fleeing to David, coming from all over to join his forces. Zadok recognized that the Spirit had left Saul; his ministry now was all hype, flesh, with no call or touch of heaven. Saul so feared the opinion of men that he was willing to be disobedient to God.
Zadok said, "I don't want any part of that kind of ministry. It's dead — God has gone from it. I'm going with David, who has the Spirit's anointing!"
So Zadok went to David at Ziklag — never to leave him for the rest of his life! Through every rebellion, Zadok stood with him, a man proved righteous. David had captured the priest's heart — and Zadok never looked back.
There are men of God like this in many churches today. These are people of prayer who are committed to Jesus, having walked away from all flesh, entertainment and worldliness. And you know it when you hear them preach or speak — because something registers in your soul!
These people are few and they are different.
God has called us to be different. To be a priesthood of believers that represent Him in this world.
It is a privilege. It is a high calling. It is a calling that few embrace but that God has called all of as believers to carry.
I look forward to sharing the full message with you. I know it will challenge, inspire and excite you to serve God well.
Know that you are loved.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
1 Samuel 6:7-14 - Now therefore, make a new cart, take two milk cows which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. 8 Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. 9 And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us—it happened to us by chance.” 10 Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors. 12 Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh. 13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced to see it.
~ Gene Roncone - We all have them. Defeats, failures, and painful consequences of being stuck on stupid.
1 Samuel chapters 4-6 summarizes a time when the nation of Israel strayed from God while clinging to religious symbolism. – The nation was in sin. Eli the priest had sons that were committing sin and he did nothing about it because he benefited from it. The Bible calls Eli’s son’s scoundrels.
After being defeated by the Philistines, Israel launched a counterattack with the Ark of the Covenant marching before them. They were confident the Ark would ensure their military success despite their spiritual failure. God was not impressed, and the Philistines defeated them again and took the sacred Ark as a spoil of war.
To the Philistines this was just the symbol of another God.
1 Samuel 4:10-11 (NLT) - So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents. 11 The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.
Isreal was defeated because they no longer valued the presence of God or revered God as Holy.
The Ark of the Covenant represented the Presence of God among His people.
Hophni, Phinehas and Eli were openly sinning and compromising even in the temple.
God purposed to destroy them and their family and to teach Israel a lesson.
Too often we value religion over presence.
We like what religion represents in theory.
The Israelites saw God as a means to an end instead of an end in Himself. He is God!
We are to cherish His presence. Remember when God gave us Jesus, He was to be called Emmanuel or “GOD WITH US”.
How many times do people pull out God only when they need a victory or when they need something.
This is what religion is. It is transactional. I will do this as long as God does this. It is only about rules and rewards.
The Bible tells us that God is a REWARDER of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Isreal no longer valued the presence of God, they only wanted God for what He could do for them.
Once you lose sight of who God is, once you stop valuing His presence you resort to religion. Israel wanted a formula over God’s presence. They saw God as someone they could manipulate.
Just bring the ark and there will be victory. It is kind of like people who will rub a rosery for answered prayer and will settle for several hail Mary’s and a few our Father’s and they are good to go.
When we no longer value the presence of God it leads to presumption and arrogance. The Israelites believed that as long as they had religion that they had the presence this is when they lost the presence of God.
1 Samuel 4:19-22 - Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she regard it. 21 Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
The Glory departed because the presence of God had departed.
I never want God to write Ichabod over my life or the life of our church. May we always cherish His presence.
Because they handled the presence of God as a thing to be used and not a person to be cherished it was taken away for a season.
Beth – Shemesh reminds us of the Sovereignty of God.
It teaches us that the goodness that shows up at our doorstep is not a matter of chance or coincidence.
That the lost things God brings back into our lives are not the product of our own genius, random acts or wandering cows.
They are the orders of a sovereign God who uses time, space and circumstances to achieve His will in our life. The rock of Beth Shemesh reminds us that our lives are not blown by the waves of meaningless chaos but directed by the Master of the seas.
“The cart came into the field of a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock...
The large rock at Beth-Shemesh, where they set the Ark of the Lord, still stands in the field of Joshua as a witness to what happened there.”
For both Israel and the Philistines, Beth-Shemesh symbolizes the times and places God restored what we lost because of our stupidity, arrogance or sin. All of us have a few Beth-Shemesh in our own lives.
When you stop cherishing the presence of God you lose sight of the fact that He is God.
Sovereignty is not a mysterious thing that no one can understand. Sovereignty deals with the fact that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is Sovereign.
Sovereignty deals with the will and desire of a King or in this case God.
The Philistines believed that things were up to chance. God’s will is not the result of randomness, chance or luck. Those cows did not just happen to wander into Israeli territory they went there led by God. Lowing as they went.
Someone needs to hear this – Our God makes order out of Chaos even when we make the chaos ourselves.
Proverbs 16:9 - A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
Beth – Shemesh reminds us of the grace of God.
It teaches us that no matter how much we lose or how bad we fail, God continues to invite us back into relationship with Him.
When we are willing to repent, no arrogance, no pride and no sin can separate us from a God of grace and forgiveness. His covenant finds us no matter where we are and invites us home.
It was at Beth-Shemesh that God restored His presence.
The people offered sacrifices to the Lord as worship to God.
1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Titus 2:11-14 - For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
I love that line – the grace of God teaches us.
When the prodigal son returned to his father, he didn’t come back empty handed, he came back with the lessons learned.
The Bible says that as that son sat in the pig pen that he came to his senses.
Beth- Shemesh was a place that taught both Israel and the Philistines some lessons.
Thank God for wandering cows directed by the hand of God.
In 2025 may we cherish the presence of Almighty God. May His presence never depart from us for His Glory.
You are loved
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Arnaud Liégeois from Pixabay
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
John 1:14 - And the Word became 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.
Titus 2:11-13 - For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Christmas is when we celebrate the Birth of Jesus.
Christmas is more than that - it is the celebration of God keeping His prophetic word to mankind.
Christmas is powerful because what was promised has both personal and worldwide implications.
Christmas reminds us in a very vivid way that our God is a promise keeper.
It is a reminder that God has plan and that only part of that plan is fulfilled.
Christmas reminds us that God has done what He said!
God promised that Jesus would come the first time as the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of all mankind.
God has also promised that Jesus would come a second time.
The first coming has a name it is called the – Incarnation. This is when Jesus came as God made flesh.
When Jesus comes again that second advent - that second coming also has a name and that is the rapture of the Church.
This is when Jesus comes back to take all those who have made Him savior and Lord from throughout History both the living in the dead and catches them up in the air to be with Him forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 - For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord.
The fact that Jesus came the first time is all the proof that we need that He will come the second time.
There are many prophetic scriptures that Jesus fulfilled during His first coming.
Here are just a few of the prophecies fulfilled by Jesus:
I want to say it again – Our God is a promise Keeper. If Jesus came the first time, then we can count on the fact that He is coming again.
Ephesians 5:25-27 - Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Jesus is coming, but not just for any church.
He’s not coming back for a broken church.
He’s not coming back for a whining church.
He’s not coming back for a depressed church.
He’s not coming back for a fearful church.
He’s not coming back for a politically correct church.
He’s not coming back for a comfortable church.
He’s not coming back for a silent church.
He’s not coming back for a dying church.
Jesus is coming back for a glorious church, a triumphant church,
A Holy Church, a victorious church, a thriving Church,
A Bride without spot or blemish.
This second coming is called our “Blessed Hope”.
Philippians 3:20 - For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
This Blessed Hope is the Rapture of the Church. It is the catching away of the people of God at the begging of the Tribulation or the last seven years of mankind as we know it.
The Tribulation is the Judgement of God on mankind with a redemptive purpose.
It is a time of shaking the world in order that all who have rejected God will know that there is a God. It will be a time of convincing people of the Righteous ways of God is such a specific manner that they will have to purposefully make a decision to reject God even when He has without question revealed Himself and His ways.
Jesus came the first time for the saving of the soul; He will come again the to save the body. He came the first time to redeem the individual; He will come the second time to redeem society.
There are over 8,300 verses in the Bible that contain predictive prophecy.
These verses reference 700 different prophecies.
These include Messianic prophecies – Those are prophecies fulfilled by Jesus.
Prophecies concerning the nation of Israel.
They include prophecies concerning the church age – the age we live in now.
They include prophecies concerning end-time events.
One-fifth of the entire Bible is prophetic.
There are 8 times more prophetic scriptures on the Second Coming of Jesus and the Rapture of the church than there are about His first.
I want you to think about that. – there is no doubt that the first coming was vital to man-kind. So why is there so much attention given to the Rapture of the Church?
More than 50 times in the New Testament we are informed to prepare for His return. Next to Faith, the Return of Christ is the most repetitive subject in the New Testament.
But why is there so much emphasis placed on the Rapture?
Today there is a real effort to erase the idea of the Rapture of the church from our discussion. There is even a real effort to convince people that the Bible does not even talk about the Second Coming of Jesus until after the tribulation.
It has always been church doctrine that Jesus is coming back for His church. There have always been those around who do not believe that a pre-tribulation rapture is biblical and that Jesus will only return at the end of time after the tribulation and judgment. There are those who scoff at the idea that Jesus is even coming back at all.
Understand that this is a satanic assault against hope. The promise Jesus gave IS A PROMISE of hope for both the Christian and the non-Christian.
The fact that Jesus is coming back gives great hope for the Christian of better things to come. The fact that Jesus has yet to return means that there is still hope for those who will come to Jesus. People have all kinds of ideas that they give as reasons for what seems to be Christ’s delay.
Jesus is not delaying His promise--- He is extending the season of hope.
2 Peter 3:1-10- Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 for this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Any delay we perceive in the slowness of Christ keeping His promise to catch us away is purely because He longs for people to be saved and not become partakers of His judgment and wrath.
I love the Christmas season. I love the lights, the gifts the decorated trees. But I love the Hope that Christmas renews in the hearts and minds of people.
May this season of hope remind you that just as Jesus came the first time, He is coming again. Look up, be encouraged, Live expectantly your redemption draws near.
Merry Christmas to you and your family. From All of us here at HCC know that you are loved.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
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HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Zachariah 10:1 – - Ask the Lord for rain In the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.
Colossians 3:17- And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT) - Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
We are blessed. We are blessed as Christians because of all that God has done for us.
We are blessed as Americans because we live with unprecedented abundance.
We are blessed because we have a God who loves us and who listens to and answers our prayers.
We live in a world that conditions us to be unhappy and unsatisfied.
We have a Savior and a Heavenly Father who has promised to supply all of our need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.
The truth is that we have so much abundance and blessing that we have become a people that take things for granted.
“To Take for Granted” is an expression that means to value something or someone too lightly, or to fail to appreciate something that should be valued.
~ Someone said - Negative pessimism is a hard monkey to get off your back, It colors everything dull and bland. It stifles creativity, ruins relationships, and makes everything hopeless. You lose sight of all that you “have and are” for what you “want and are not.”
There is a saying that tells us – “When the precious becomes common, it is soon to be lost”.
So much of what we once held precious has become so common that it has lost its value to us and instead of being thankful, we just expect it and stop appreciating what we have and have been given.
God’s will for us as His Children is that we are grateful and thankful for what He has done and for what others do for us and for all that we have.
What are things in your life that you consider precious? What are some things in your life that you are thankful for that would be easy for you to take for granted?
We have so much to be thankful for.
I don’t want to be the kind of person that takes things for granted.
The prophet Zachariah tells us that we need to ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain.
This seems quite odd when you think about it. Ask God for rain at the time that it is supposed to be raining.
The time of the latter rain is a normal repeating event that happens each time that this season comes around. The latter rain happens right before harvest time.
The prophet tells the people to give special attention to a thing that normally would receive no special attention.
Why? You see the farmer must plant the crop and tend to the crop and keep out the weeds and the pests. But only God can bring the rain. That is out of their control. They are trusting in the faithfulness and dependability of God to do what they can’t do for themselves.
The blessings of God are seasonal. They are poured out and then we get to enjoy them in all the other seasons because we have had a harvest because He sent the rain.
We love the excitement of the rain and the harvest but we can easily get discontented in the other seasons even though we are living in abundance because we have grown addicted to the new or the excitement of the rain.
Gratitude is the antidote to growing bored with the blessings of God.
God has promised that is we are obedient to His Word and to His ways that He will pour out so much blessing that we won’t have room to contain it.
Malachi 3:10 - Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
The NIV doesn’t say windows it says – “Floodgates”. God says that when we are obedient to His Word and Ways that we will go from not enough to Way more than enough.
We will now have the good problem of figuring out what to do with all of the blessings that He has given us.
The thing is if we are not careful, we will become so used to the more than enough that we don’t appreciate what we have.
The Prophet Zachariah is reminding us to never take anything for granted.
We are to pray about everything. Even the repeated reoccurring events in life.
Prayer is not just about the asking it is about the relationship we have with God. It is not taking Him or what He does for granted. It is taking the time to say thank you.
Do you view prayer as primarily asking or thanking God for things?
Prayer keeps us attuned, grateful for what we have, and it keeps us vigilant.
It is in the well-worn paths that the hunter lays a snare. It is in the commonly used trails where we become inattentive and unwatchful, making us vulnerable to attacks.
Prayer keeps us from being easily distracted or preoccupied.
Remember when you were first married, and your spouse had your full attention? Or you prayed for a car and house and now you have those things, and they seem like no big deal. Satan likes to trap us when we stop paying attention in areas of our life that have become familiar.
Prayer guards our heart from ungratefulness and selfishness.
It also helps us to stay in the peace of God. Have you ever noticed how sometimes we get anxious wondering if God will do for us again what He did in the past?”
Gratefulness drives the fear out of our lives. Satan always wants to steal our peace. That only happens when we stop thanking God for who He is.
Philippians 4:6-7 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
In our times of prayer, we are to thank God for who He is, for what He has done and for what He is going to do in response to prayer.
This Thanksgiving season is a great time to look at our lives and realize just how really good God has been to us. To recognize that we are living in abundance.
If you are going through a difficult season. It will be helpful to look back at all that God has already brought you through. My friend. He will do it again.
May the peace of God be yours in abundance. May your heart rest in the assurance that you matter to God and that He loves you.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your precious family.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
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HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
1 Corinthians 14:1-5 - Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.
The Bible is a prophetic book. It declares the mind, will, purposes and intent of God.
God calls us to be a prophetic people. We are called to be a people who declare the mind, will, purposes and intent of God.
God calls us to speak into the lives of others. To declare His ways to them.
The Bible says that God has given spiritual gifts to the church.
Out of all of those gifts the Apostle Paul said that he desires that we all would prophesy.
There are still prophets in our day. There are prophets that have national attention and there are prophets that like many of the minor prophets in the Bible minister in a more local context.
The gift of prophecy however is something that the Apostle Paul said he wished all Christians would seek to have.
I have watched this gift at work throughout my lifetime. I received my call to ministry through the gift of prophesy working through several people and evangelists.
Prophecy – Means simply to speak forth or to declare the mind, will, purposes, intent and word of God.
It is an inspired message from God is one’s own language. It is a divine disclosure on behalf of the Holy Spirit. It is a revelation of the Spirit of God for the moment. It could be for a church, a family or an individual.
It is a greater insight of the Spirit of God for several distinct purposes.
1 Corinthians 14:3 - But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
Edification, Exhortation and comfort.
Those three words are important because they involve some very important things.
A word of Prophecy will call people to repentance when they are in sin. It may be something that you know as a fact or something that God shows you.
A word of prophecy will bring encouragement or exhortation – this brings hope to those who are weak and struggling. The word encouragement means to strengthen. To lift up to elevate. Many times, those who speak to others prophetically help people to grow and mature. It affirms them and their calling.
A word of exhortation can also help bring clarity and direction to people. It helps to guide them.
A word of prophecy is also a word of edification. – This means to build people up. Many times, it is a word of teaching and enhancing. Edification can help people to improve. Many times, edification can involve a word of correction. This is different than a call to repentance, it is really a teachable moment of redirection in life. The way someone is looking at something compared to the way God sees things.
A Word of Prophecy can also be a word of Comfort. It helps to remind people that they are pleasing to God. It brings refreshing. It helps people know that God has good plans for them and they may even get specific.
You can see why Paul said I wish that you all would prophesy.
Prophecy is not fortunetelling. – As a matter of fact, fortunetelling is Satan’s counterfeit to this gift. The insight does not come from the Spirit of God but from familiar evil spirits. It is not predicting the future or predicting end-time events.
Today there are Christians that want to give a personal word to everyone that they meet. They will even call people to see them in a room or make a special appointment or come to the altar and “Get” a word. This is not God. Usually, these people are speaking out of their flesh or even worse they are being used by Satan. This is very dangerous and not of God.
The gift of prophecy is a grace gift given and available to all believers.
All can prophesy –
1 Corinthians 14:1- Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
1 Corinthians 14:31 - For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.
1 Corinthians 14:39 - Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.
Prophecy happens when we speak the impressions God places on our mind. It will well up within us and burn in our spirit and you will know that you must speak it. It will always line up with the word of God.
You will know it is from God in the same way that you know that you belong to God. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
It also involves honesty. Before we ever declare that something is a word from God, we must test the spirits … including our own. In order to know what we are going to speak is from God.
Remember that God speaks for specific reasons. – He brings comfort, direction, insight, correction, strength, encouragement and issues warnings.
Prophecy can provide confirmation. – As a matter of fact, much prophecy that is spoken confirms what God has already been speaking to someone.
~ Someone said – Prophecy rarely comes like a thunderstorm. It gently affirms what we are already hearing from God in our spirit.
Today people are skeptical of prophecy because at some point they have seen weird things from people and in church.
I have grown up in Pentecost and I have spent my entire adult life in pastoral ministry. I have seen some weird things.
I have a fairly low thresh hold for odd people who do things in the flesh claiming to speak for God.
Because of these weird things people have grown weary and leery of the prophetic.
Quite honestly many pastors would rather not have the prophetic around because it can get messy.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21- Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast to what is good.
(Amp) - Do not scorn or reject gifts of prophecy or prophecies [spoken revelations—words of instruction or exhortation or warning]. 21 But test all things carefully [so you can recognize what is good]. Hold firmly to that which is good.
I love the honesty of this. Test carefully recognize what is good and hold on to it.
Satan wants to discredit one of God’s most powerful ways of working with and speaking to people.
The truth is that we should not be preoccupied with the fear of missing it. We should be concerned with functioning in the gifts and hearing from God.
Everyone who lives in the prophetic can expect to have what they say and the way that they live examined.
1 John 4:1 - Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 Corinthians 14:29 - Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
(AMP) - Let two or three prophets speak [as inspired by the Holy Spirit], while the rest pay attention and weigh carefully what is said.
(NLT) - Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said.
Those who are used by God are people of accountability.
We should expect to have what we say examined and evaluated.
Every week when I preach, I expect you to examine what I have said.
What should be examined?
Does what is being said line up with God’s word?
How was it said? Was it in love and with a good attitude?
If it was a message of correction was it insistent enough or was it given to softly? Was it rude or angry or hateful?
Was what was said so vague that it could have just been a feeling instead of God?
Was what was said meant to make people like you or to love Jesus more?
I believe that Jesus is calling each of us to a deeper level of living for Him.
He is calling us and inviting us to live prophetically.
Remember that you are dearly loved,
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Jörg Peter from Pixabay
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
James 4:7 - Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Psalm 144:1 (NLT) - Praise the Lord, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.
John 10:10 (AMP) - The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].
We are in a war. Whether we want to be or not, we are.
We need to recognize that fact and face it head on.
The purposes of Jesus and Satan could not be more opposite of one another.
Jesus comes to bring us abundant life and the ability to enjoy life.
Satan comes for no other reasons except to kill, steal, and destroy.
One of the most sobering facts about life is that all of us have a supernatural enemy who’s aim it to use both pain and pleasure to make us blind, tear down, make us miserable and to cause us to lose our relationship with God Almighty.
Satan is evil. His wickedness knows no limitations. He is brutal and has absolutely no love, compassion or sympathy. He has no remorse for the pain and suffering he causes.
He will cause incredible damage, fear, terror, and destruction and miserably enjoy every part of it.
He leads us to sin causing issues between us and God. He causes immense personal anxiety, cheapens the life that God values so much. He destroys marriages, corrupts nations, accuses each person of things true and untrue until we can’t even stand ourselves. He condemns us to death until we agree with him.
Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world, although He is the only one who can as the righteous judge.
He came that the world though Him might be saved.
Satan attacks you and me and then tells us that we are crazy and that nothing is actually happening and even if there was, there is nothing that we can do about it, he is the original gas lighter.
I want to look at a few things to remember while we are fighting this good fight of the faith.
There are two main parts to spiritual warfare – Submitting and Resisting
James 4:7 - Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
When it comes to spiritual warfare many people only quote half of this verse. – Resist the devil.
I believe that this is a trick of the devil because it is an incomplete strategy and it is incomplete obedience to God’s word.
~ To Submit means to yield, obey and to follow. – One definition - accept or yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person. To Surrender.
The reason that so many people have a difficult time resisting the devil is because they have never fully surrendered their life to God.
Someone needs to hear this – resistance is all about not surrendering, it is about opposing. If you have already surrendered to one, the battle is already won because you cannot surrender to both sides.
For many the warfare is difficult because they have not chosen a side. Now as Believes we have obviously chosen a side. We are on the Lord’s side.
In order to fight effectively against our enemy, we must be fully committed to the will and ways of God.
~ To Resist - to exert force in opposition. to fight against or oppose something or someone: to refuse to accept or be changed by something: to withstand, strive against.
There is no such thing as passive resistance. Even being passive aggressive is still actively being aggressive with attitude and not actions.
Satan has come to kill, steal, and destroy. All of these actions must be actively resisted in every area of our lives. Our walk with God, our marriage, our health, our finances, our relationships with others.
Titus 2:11-12 (NIV) - For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
The grace of God teaches us to say yes to Jesus and No to the devil. The start of resisting the devil starts with us using our voice for a resounding NO. No more, No further, Not on my watch, Not in my family, Not in my Life.
Jesus came to give us abundant life – Choose life and choose to live. – It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.
Deuteronomy 30:19 - I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Choose – Someone needs to hear this – resistance is a choice. It is a choice to obey God and to choose life.
It is choosing to live and to thrive. Not just to survive. It is rejecting the devils attack and his lack and choosing the abundance of peace, provision and protection that God offers.
We have been conditioned to believe that resistance can be done with very little thought and very little effort. – That is a lie.
True warfare is resisting the lies the devil tells us and actively choosing to believe the Word of God and His truth.
I choose to believe the Word of God over the lies of the enemy. I want to remind you that we are not fighting for victory but from a position of victory. Jesus has already won!
Remember that you are loved. Have an amazing September!
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Gioele Fazzeri from Pixabay
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Ezekiel 22:30 - So, I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
A few years ago, two policemen were sent to issue a citation to a resident for not keeping their yard cut. It was a civic code in this town. They encountered a widow, who had recently lost her husband. She apologized, because she was physically unable to do the work. The two policemen came back after their shift and cut her lawn and trimmed the hedges. They didn’t ignore the requirements. They became part of the solution. They filled in the gaps.
I call people like this – Gap people.
Gap people see when there are things that are needed and they step in to fill the hole to make something complete.
Every day we encounter gaps. Some are small and some are large.
Gaps happen. Gaps in floors, gaps in bricks, gaps in windows. Teeth gaps, road gaps, roof gaps, and foundation gaps. They mark spots that are broken and in need of repair.
God has called us to fill in the gaps in people’s lives spiritually and in the natural.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been given the ministry of intercession.
God is looking for people who will stand in the gap for others. Those people who will close the gaps or the areas where the enemy can get in.
Most people, when they think of intercession, think of prayer. While there is intercessory prayer for people, the type of prayer that goes to God on behalf of others.
The idea of intercession is so much more.
Intercession is something that you choose to do. It is a gift in the sense that you are doing something for someone else but it is not a spiritual gift that you either have or do not have.
There is no need to over spiritualize something that is so powerful and also so practical.
Everyone is called to be and can be an intercessor in one way or another.
The word "intercede" comes from the Latin "inter" meaning "between" and "ced" meaning "go". To intercede literally means "go between".
Think of a brick wall, the mortar in the joints goes between the bricks. That mortar "goes between", or "intercedes", between the bricks to bind them together and strengthen them. Without the mortar "going between" the bricks, the wall would collapse.
If you want to break down a wall, the easiest way is to start where there are gaps in the mortar. You start chopping and chipping at those sections and soon the entire wall will lack the support it needs and will give way.
Satan looks for the gaps and begins to chip away at a person, a family, or a nation in their place of weakness to cause them to be destroyed.
Those who intercede fill in the gaps so that there is no place of weakness. It is the picture of a soldier stepping in to fill the gap in a defensive line so that the line is strengthened and there are no gaps that the enemy can infiltrate.
Nehemiah was a gap person and he inspired people to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem that had been destroyed.
Moses was a gap person. When the anger of God was kindled against Israel Moses pleaded on their behalf.
Exodus 32:11 - Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
This is what Jesus did for us. Jesus is the ultimate gap filler.
Jesus filled in the gaps on our behalf by going to the cross. He defeated and destroyed the works of the devil when we could not.
He overcame sin, death, and the grave when we could not.
He paid the debt that we owed to God on our behalf so that the wrath of God could be appeased by the blood of the spotless Lamb of God.
1 Peter 2:24 (NLT) - He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
(AMP) - He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you [who believe] have been healed.
When it comes to filling in the gaps God is simply looking for people who are willing to be available.
Ezekiel 22:30 - “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.
When God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel He said – “I am looking for someone to stand in the gap”.
Do not miss the simplicity of this. I just need someone who will stand.
Just stand right here in this space. Just stand.
Too often we overcomplicate things. Jesus didn’t say I am looking for a skilled stone mason.
He said if we are going to rebuild the wall of righteousness in society, I need someone to just stand right here next to the other people that are standing. Now we have a complete wall of righteousness.
People who will stand for the ways of God and refuse to move or budge.
When it comes to spiritual warfare Jesus said in Ephesians 6
Ephesians 6:13-14a - Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.14 Stand.
(AMP) - Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious]. 14 So stand firm and hold your ground,
Just stand and hold your ground.
Just stand.
God is looking for people who will make themselves available to fill in the gaps.
Isaiah 6:8 - Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
I believe that in our day God is looking for people with the Spirit of Isaiah. Here I am send me. Choose me.
Every time I read this verse; I see Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter with his had up in class to be called on. OHHH, Mr. Kotter!
In Ezekiel’s day there was no one willing to take a stand and fill in the gaps.
May that not be so in our day.
I am excited about unpacking this message for us as a church.
I believe that God is raising up a people who will stand in our society as people of righteousness in a wicked society. People who will stand as symbols of hope pointing to Jesus in a world that needs hope. People who will stand and protect those that need shielded from the evil that is in the world.
May the Lord Bless you and your family. Remember that you are loved.
Pastor Marvin and Dawn