HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
2 Timothy 3:1 - But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
(AMP) But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times [of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear].
(NIV) But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
While God promises us peace and safety; the Bible also warns us that in the last days dangerous, difficult, and even terrible times will come.
While there are many people that condemned the Apostle Paul from warning the early Christians that they were going to have hard and even dangerous times, he never shied away from preaching the truth.
Today the world is much the same way; people want to be told how beautiful and perfect everything will be. Instead of preparing believers for the difficult times that are ahead we are teaching them to live their best life. We have surrounded ourselves with peddlers of a painless Christianity instead of prophets and pastors who will warn of the consequences of sin and the difficulties in society and the world that will precede the coming of the Lord.
In many parts of Christianity, we are raising up soft believers who know nothing of living by faith and trusting God.
Understand - because of the sin that is in the world we are reaping a harvest of violence, selfishness, corruption, and wickedness. We have seen this before in the world. Remember there is nothing new under the sun.
The wickedness of Noah’s day and in the days of lot are very similar to our time. The danger and persecution that the early Christians faced under the Romans is very similar to what many believers are facing in China, Iran, North Korea, and India now.
The Bible warns us that in the last days Dangerous, terrible times will come.
The danger zone is a place that separates the men from the boys and the women of God from the little girls.
There are some different ways that people respond to the danger zone.
In the movie Top Gun, they talked about the danger zone, but they talk about the rush of combat the almost passing out from the G-forces at work as they fly in combat. There are those that love the adrenaline rush of all of it. They live for that moment, it’s all that they can think about. These types of people are adrenalin junkies that are a danger to themselves and to others in the times of danger because they are all about the thrill. As a matter of fact, they are destructive in their personal lives because they are bored without the speed, pace, danger and need for quick and immediate decisions.
Then there are those that thrive in the danger zone.
These are those who in the dangerous times are mature. They are able to deal with the rush, the emotions, the fear, and the thrill so that they are able to make good decisions that help others and preserve themselves. In the middle of the danger, they are able to discern God’s will and fight the enemy and win.
Hebrews 5:13-14 - For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
While it is true that difficult and terrible times are coming, I believe that God is raising up people who are skillful, equipped, and ready for those times.
To be ready for those times we must be fueled up by feeding our spirit.
2 Timothy 3:14-15 - But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
In times of trouble, we must keep the main thing. The main thing.
Our source of strength never changes. It is from the well of the Word of God that we will continue to derive our strength in difficult times.
Paul said to Timothy you have learned and studied the scriptures since Childhood. Your daily devotions, what you have been doing for years you must continue to do.
If we can’t do regular life on empty, we certainly can’t do difficult times on empty.
Listen in order to thrive in the danger zone we need to be filled.
Psalm 119:92 - Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.
When pilots are in the danger zone, they can get all messed up. They can start to believe that up is down and down is up. – This is when they must depend on their gages and understand certain laws that are pressing on their life and working either against them or for them.
This is why continually being in His Word is vital it helps us to know what’s going on and what to do next and what to do about it.
Those who thrive in the danger zone are skilled in the Word.
It seems like life right now is making massive withdrawals. It is asking more of us then we really have to give.
You and I were never designed to run on empty.
My Friend, I know you are looking at the world and can see it is a dangerous place. I want to remind you that the Bible says that in this world you will have trouble but TAKE heart I HAVE overcome the world. THERE is HOPE!
I am looking forward to sharing this important message with you.
Be encouraged and expectant. Remember, be thankful this November for all of the blessings and promises we have in the Lord.
May you and your Family have a very Happy Thanksgiving month.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Genesis 50:20 (AMP) - As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome, that many people would be kept alive [as they are this day].
Psalm 34:19 - Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
No one likes pain.
If you do there is something wrong with the way that you are wired.
As you mature you learn to embrace pain, and to make pain work for you.
When I was playing football one of the things our coaches would tell us constantly during practice and in the weight-room was – “NO Pain, No Gain”.
While this is true and motivating it still doesn’t feel good.
Pain is important because it is a signal designed to alert us when something is wrong. Our response to pain is important because we can pay attention to it and get to the root of the problem, or we can ignore it or numb it and allow it to persist until the cause of the pain damages us. We live in a time when people want to be comforted and told that everything will be alright. The truth is that somethings are not going to be alright unless change is made.
Now in a world where hurt, depression, disappointment, and difficulty are in great supply we need encouragement, help and a lift up.
When developing soldiers into Navy Seals all of them must go through “Hell Week” before they can earn the Seal Trident.
When my son was going through Ranger School it was an intensive time of training and testing that took them to the very limits of their physical, emotional and mental endurance before they could earn the privilege of being known as member of the “Special Forces” community.
Every believer will go through seasons of pain because God has a greater purpose for their life. We must also realize and deal with the fact that God has a greater purpose when He allows some pain to come into our lives. – Remember there is a purpose that is greater than the pain.
Joseph was about 17 years old when his brothers sold him into slavery, and he was 30 years old when the vision that God had given Him, that He would become a great leader, was finally fulfilled.
The years in between were filled with a lot of painful experiences: the betrayal of his brothers, being sold into slavery, being falsely accused of rape by his master’s wife, and then being thrown into prison, and seemingly forgotten. Even the people that he helped and promised to help him forgot about him as their life turned to the better.
It was the dreams and promises that God had given Joseph as a teenager back in his father’s house, that assured Joseph that he had a divinely ordained purpose and destiny, that he never forgot.
As Joseph trusted God, and responded to his suffering in faith and humility, God used his painful circumstances to mold and shape him for his destiny. God didn’t cause his suffering, but God used his pain to prepare him for something much greater.
God works the same way in all of our lives. Not through the same set of circumstances and pain but through our own unique trials that prepare us for a greater work of Glory.
We must refuse to allow the intensity and frequency of our pain to keep us from seeing the activity of God in our pain.
Wherever Joseph went, as a slave in Potiphar’s house, in prison, or before Pharoah, God was with him, and gave him extraordinary favor.
In spite of his pain, God’s hand was upon him, and he experienced promotion and doors of opportunity even in the midst of his painful experiences.
The intensity of his pain did not prevent him from seeing the activity of God. – for many of us the only thing we can focus on is pain. Joseph kept his focus on God’s purpose.
Just because you are in pain does not mean that you are not in God’s will. As a matter of fact, you are probably right in the middle of His plan.
The way we respond to our pain is more important than the weight of our pain.
Often when we experience pain it consumes us and attempts to control our response.
We need to make the choice, like Joseph, to see our pain from the perspective of faith and humble ourselves before God and allow Him to have His way in us.
When you look at those used mightily by God what sets them apart is their response and how they deal with difficult situations.
They were not grumblers and complainers.
They did not blame God or curse Him. -Sometimes they did question Him.
Even when wronged they stayed humble and had a good attitude.
Joseph in his deepest trials continued to walk by faith and to stay humble before God.
God always lifts up those who humble themselves before God even in their times of pain.
There are times that God allows us to feel the pain and weight of our own shame and conviction as we reap what we sow.
There are times that the pain we feel is the sorrow of our own poor choices that lead us to the natural consequences of sin, pride, selfishness, and plain stubbornness.
2 Corinthians 7:10 - For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Repentance is not only feeling sorry for what you have done and the results that you have gotten but to a real change of heart and mind.
Pain changes both our behavior and our way of thinking. – Once you touch a hot stove you are sorry you did it and adjust your life accordingly.
Someone said that this verse could be translated – The Pain you feel in response to God dealing with you has produces a real change and deliverance.
This is what happens at the time of Salvation. We see the depth of our sin and the pain it brought to Christ making His sacrifice necessary.
In the same way God allows us to feel Godly sorrow even after we
are saved to deal with our sinful ways and the effects it has on ourselves and others.
The impact of our pain will exceed the experience of our pain, when we allow God to use it for His glory.
Philippians 3:10 (AMP) - And this, so that I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did];
Paul was able to experience resurrection power because he knew what it was to die to himself. Throughout his ministry he suffered and endured the pain of many trials and tribulations sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Because of this many people came to Christ and Paul saw many incredible miracles.
There is not growth without suffering. We suffer with Christ, and we share HIS suffering and His results
Because Joseph understood that there was a purpose greater than his pain, God was able to use him to not only save Egypt from starvation but more importantly, his own family, they were the seed to the nation of Israel.
Even greater than that, it was through Joseph’s faithfulness in the pain that the Savior of the World would come just as God had promised through the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
This is why Joseph could look at his brothers and say.
Genesis 50:20 (AMP) - As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present outcome, that many people would be kept alive [as they are this day].
THE PURPOSE IS GREATER THAN YOUR PAIN!
May God bless you this month. Know that there are amazing things that God is doing in and through your life.
Thank you for joining us as we fast and pray through the month of September for our church during the remainder of the year. Also make our nation a matter of prayer as we head into another election season. Our hope is not in politicians but in Jesus. How we vote is a reflection of the moral direction of our nation.
May God’s richest blessings be on you and your family.
You are Loved.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Philippians 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!
~ Jim Cymballa - When you’re on a mountaintop, it’s not that hard to praise God. But when you’re going through a valley, to be able to say, “I will bless your name, Lord!”—that praise and worship is the most precious to God.
We live in a negative world, a fallen world where it seems that the ungodly are getting more and more prominent.
So much of what we hear is just negative, and we have to make a deliberate effort to be positive and counter the culture we live in. Praise is a great tool to help us achieve that.
We are conditioned to complain, grumble, and find the negative in everything.
Instead of finding reasons to complain and fuss we can find reasons to rejoice and praise.
I remember something we would encourage our children to do. Find something that someone is doing well and let them know it. Sing their praises.
I promise that if we will look for and pay attention, we will always have something to praise God for. I am convinced that we have the privilege to live a life of rejoicing instead of negative rehearsing or finding the negative.
Just as negativity, discouragement and complaining bring a heaviness to anywhere it is Praise brings the glory and goodness of God into the situation.
Just as there is power in prayer, there is power in praise.
When we praise, and when we exalt God, it prepares our heart to receive His Word.
Our praise and worship of God steers our attention away from our problems and difficulties and onto His greatness. Our praise to God readies our hearts to receive what He wants to do in our lives.
Praise is powerful because it elevates us into His presence and power.
There is a way to come into God’s presence.
Psalm 100:4 - Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him and bless His name.
Psalm 34:1 - I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
The Bible says that God inhabits in the praises of His people.
In other words, God “dwells” in the atmosphere of His praise. This means that praise is more than a reaction of coming into His presence... praise to God is a vehicle of faith which takes us into His presence and power!
Part of walking with God, Part of being a person of presence and power means that we are a person of praise.
Praise means “to commend, to applaud or magnify.”
For the Christian, praise to God is an expression of worship, lifting-up and glorifying the Lord. It is an expression of humbling ourselves and centering our attention upon the Lord with heart-felt expressions of love, adoration and thanksgiving.
No matter the situation we are in HE is WORTHY of our praise.
There are people that I know that I just can’t brag on enough. Their character, their work ethic, their integrity and love for God are outstanding. – It is easy to sing their praises.
If we need to make sure that we are not stingy in our praise to others, we need to make sure we are holding nothing back in our praise of God who is worthy of our Highest Praise.
Just like you love to be acknowledged for what you have done well. So does God.
When people sing your praises, it releases favor in their direction.
The same holds true with God. You want to walk with people who recognize your goodness and so does God.
Psalm 89:15 - Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.
Nothing lifts you out of despair, discouragement, hopelessness or depression like praise.
Paul and Silas are a perfect example. They were beaten, whipped and chained to a wall.
Paul and Silas demonstrate the supernatural power of authentic, passionate praise.
Facing unimaginable conditions while being wrongly imprisoned for their faith, they chose to stop focusing on their circumstances and instead, turn their attention fully onto the faithfulness of their God.
Acts 16:23-25 - And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Their faith-filled praise was so powerful in that dark, miserable prison, that their environment suddenly changed, and they were instantly set free.
The miraculous power of God was released— shaking everything around them and releasing them, and everyone around them, from their chains!
Acts 26:26 - Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Something supernatural happens in the natural when we sing the praises of God. Something happens in us, and something happens to the people around us and in the situations that surround us.
Because Paul and Silas had hope in the character of God it not only set them free it set all the people around them free. --- Let that sink in for a moment.
This is why we are to “Sing the praises of God” to each other and those around us.
Paul and Silas were true worshippers. Not situational worshipers.
They loved and worshiped God no matter what situation they were in.
True worshipers – worship in Spirit and in truth.
Praise and thankfulness go hand in hand, and there is always so much to be grateful for!
If we praised Him all day, every day, we would never finish thanking Him for all of the seen and unseen ways that He cares for us and blesses us.
He is a good Father, and we will never fully understand how He is constantly working behind the scenes in our lives to love, protect, nurture and favor us.
One of the things that I believe that will be a significant part of our year of “Overflow”; is that we will overflow with praise.
God has been good to us. The truth is He has been better than we deserve.
As we come to an end to our summer lets look back and just overflow with praise for all that God is and all that He has done for us individually, in our families and as a church.
Know that you are dearly Loved,
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay
Psalm 34:19 (AMP) - Many hardships and perplexing circumstances confront the righteous, But the Lord rescues him from them all.
A while back I ran across a sermon called – The Doctrine of Suffering. I began to sense God stirring something in my spirit. The truth is that many people are going through some pretty difficult times. The hardship and suffering are deep, painful, exhausting and you are looking forward to this season ending. I believe that God wants to do a Healing work in many of us that will be lasting and impactful.
Contrary to much of what is taught today, God never promised us a life free from trials hardship and suffering. As a matter of fact, He promised us just the opposite. John 16:33 (NIV) - “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (NLT) I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Hardship and suffering are a normal part of life, even for Christians.
Trials, hardship, and sorrow hit all of us. They are not something strange or unusual.
1 Peter 4:12-13 - Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
When we go through trials, suffering and hardship we need to realize that it is not something unusual.
~ Charles Spurgeon – The question of suffering is not a question of if we will face it, but when. Suffering is one of life’s certainties, as is the good which God produces through it.
Ecclesiastes 7:14 - In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after him.
I don’t want you to miss that – God has appointed the one as well as the other. Another translation reads - but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Now I realize that is going to mess with some people- good times and difficult times come from God. He allows them both.
~ Carter Conlon – Of Times Square Church – There are some people who have such an aversion to the idea of hardship that they immediately shut down at the mere mention of it. If they don’t hear a message that makes them happy and assures them that everything is going to be fine, they quickly leave in search of a place where they will only hear good news.
Listen this is all fine and good until the reality of hard times come and unspeakable things happen: now not only do you have problems you have no foundation of hope on which to stand.
At the core of hardship is the mercy and goodness of God. God is always faithful to strengthen us and to strategically prepare us for whatever we will have to face.
We need to realize that hard isn’t bad but that HARD IS HARD.
There is purpose in the pain. Someone needs to hear this – God will never allow your pain to be in vain. Regardless of where our pain comes from or what it is – God will never waste your pain.
James 1:2-4 (NLT) - Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
The Bible says that God blesses us with the opportunity to know the joy of growth and victory. The big key is to go through these times PAITENTLY. WE are to patiently ENDURE. Enduring means it’s not easy it is hard. Know that God is building His character in us. If you focus on the hurt, you will continue to suffer. If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow.
One of the reasons so many people are hurting is because they have decided to either ignore the pain or they just pretend that it is not really affecting their lives. On more than one occasion Jesus asked people if they wanted to be healed or what do you want me to do for you.
One of the things that we need to get settled in our spirit is that – We need to understand that it brings God joy to heal us, restore us and to set us free. You need to believe this. Healing in every aspect, Spiritual, Emotionally, Physically and Mentally is not just for others but is for you. If this is settled, you will know where to go and where to look when you need help. If not, you will find yourself constantly searching for both solutions and healing.
I believe that at HCC we are in a precious season of healing. We have seen three people in the last several years, literally come back from a death sentence health wise. We have seen many other remarkable healings. I believe we have yet to scratch the surface of what God has for our lives. In this year of OVERFLOW, I believe we are going to see not only the healing of bodies, but of depression, release from difficult situations, freedom from addiction and joy in place of tremendous sorrow.
It is the hard and difficult times. The times filled with sorrow and pain that God uses for His glory and for our benefit. Hear me – God will never waste your pain.
Thank you for your faithfulness to the Kingdom of God and to HCC.
You are precious to God and to us
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay