Brother Alex Figeroa Thursday Evening 7/16/15

Brother Alex Figeroa Thursday Evening 7/16/15

Exo 32:25  And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)

Exo 32:26  Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

Exo 32:27  And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.

Exo 32:28  And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

Exo 32:30  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.

Exo 32:31  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

Verse 28: The children of Levi did according to the word of Moses.

I want to talk to you tonight on seizing the opportunity.  The blessing of an opportunity!  Somebody said, “The opportunity of today is the dream of yesterday and the memory of tomorrow.”  Abraham Lincoln speaking of his youth:  “I will study and prepare myself so that when the opportunity arises I will be ready.”

God is a God of opportunities.  Opportunities are like arrows sometimes.  Once the arrow leaves the bow it does not come back to you.  I believe that if people would have been in a service that they could have been in and were not, that their lives are unchanged when they could have been changed.

When Cain killed Able, God dealt with him and asked him, “Why are you mad, what is your problem?”  Even after he killed Able, murdered his own brother, knowing the God that we serve and how He is unpredictable with how He deals with mankind, I believe that God came to Cain. 

God allowed some kings to reign for 45 or 50 years killing and being disobedient to God.  Then there were others that only ruled months because they did not do what God wanted them to do.  He is all sovereign.  He is unpredictable.

I believe that He would have accepted Cain and allowed him to repent even after he killed Able.

Felix brought Paul before him and Paul spoke to him about judgment and self-control.  He said, “I will deal with you at another time at my convenience.”  We don’t see that He had that opportunity again.

We need to seize the opportunity.  When God came and talked to you because he loved you, aren’t you glad that you seized the opportunity and got saved?

When Noah was in the ark there were seven days and seven nights that they were in the ark and they did not close the door.  It was an opportunity for souls.  When I think about a God that would take care of animals, wouldn’t He have had care for a soul that wanted to get on the ark?  Neighbors could have been saved, but they did not seize the opportunity.

This is a powerful story.  3000 people got killed.  Moses had gone to talk to God on Mount Sinai.  He did not tell the people how long he would be.  Days went by, weeks went by… the people started getting fidgety. 

The people influenced Aaron to have this horrible type of feast where they would worship this golden calf.  Aaron said, “These are the gods who delivered you and brought you out of Egypt.”

Moses came down from the mountain after 40 days with Joshua, a young man.  He said, “I hear the sound of a mighty army.”  Joshua did not hear the right sound.  This is the difference of heavy anointing and not much anointing.  Moses said, “No that is not what it is.”

When they were come down, they saw the people naked.  Aaron had made them naked.  There is always someone around you that know that you are saved and don’t like your new lifestyle of serving God and reading and praying.  What they would like to see you as is naked, stripped of all Christ’s righteousness.

They want to take away that funny smile that you have on your face when you talk about God.  They want to take you down and not see you rejoicing when you go through trials, it makes them feel bad.  It is prevalent in society. 

They should be happy that you are serving God.  Your teacher should be glad because you are a good student.  Your boss should be happy because you don’t take a 1.5 hour lunch break. 

Christianity is getting to be hated today.  Even in films Christians are portrayed as having a secret agenda and as haters.  They don’t like our lifestyle.  The issue of the battle is to strip you.  The scripture says to wash our clothes, there are spirits like frogs that want to strip our clothes.

They want to take our joy.  This is not about enduring salvation, it is about enjoying salvation.  There are those that talk about enjoying serving God but their face betrays them.  A little girl talking to a mule, “You look just like my grandmother that has religion, a long face.”

Your joy is not measured when you are having a good time. It is measured when you are going through something that breaks your heart.  Those things that cause you to get alone with God. 

We cannot fix the world on our own.  We may find ourselves struggling trying to fix every family member that we have.  We try to fix this and that and at the end we get hurt.  It eats our joy.  We are concentrating on our self.  It is not about you.  It is about God, your soul, and your connection to Him.

If you read something that speaks to you in the Word of God, then seize it.  If I am reading the Bible and there is a scripture that catches my attention then I stop and study it.  I don’t keep reading to be able to say, “I read two chapters.”  I might spend three days on that scripture. 

The devil wants to take your faith, your joy, the revelation of truth that you have.  I have met many that were supposedly standing in truth but today are messed up.  The enemy took from them something that they should have guarded.

When God speaks to you through His Word, through a testimony, seize it.  Don’t let it go.

Moses said, “Those of you that are on the Lord’s side, stand with me.”  The tribe of Levi was the only tribe that came and stood with Moses on his right side. 

I want to tell you by the help of God how Levi seized an opportunity. 

Levi had a past.  He had been cursed by His father Jacob for what he had done.  Dinah went with this prince willingly who took advantage of her.  She did not want to come home.  Simeon and Levi were her full brothers.  They said, “We cannot allow this to go unpunished.” 

The prince had come with his father to talk to Jacob and make peace.  They came to the agreement that they would submit to anything that Jacob asked.  Jacob asked that every male in their city be circumcised.  (Speaking on circumcision: There is nothing too intimate that God doesn’t want to have a part in.)

They agreed and all the males were circumcised.  When the pain was the worst, Levi and Simeon said, “Let’s go into the city and kill the men.  We are going to get some satisfaction from this.”  The men were crying.  (Men cry a lot.  When we are sick, we are hard to be around.)  They killed every male in the city.  It was a massacre.  When Jacob found out what they had done, Jacob called them and put a curse on them.

Through the rest of His life Jacob remained upset at Levi and Simeon.  Curses in the Word of God were serious.  God took very serious every curse that one of His children made.  The same with their blessings.  Anything that Jacob blessed, Isaac blessed, or Abraham blessed, God blessed.

They went to the Promised Land and Levi was cursed.  The first Levi was dead.  This was the tribe, the descendants, and the curse passed to the children and the children’s children. 

Moses was upset.  They went through this idol worship just as they had learned through their slavery in Egypt.  When Moses said, “those who are with me, come and stand with me.”  Even though Levi was cursed, he seized the opportunity. 

Verse 28: The children of Levi did according to the word of Moses. 

The opportunity:  this meeting could be another opportunity.  We don’t want it to just be another meeting.  We have an opportunity here tonight.  I can be preaching to you and God is preaching to you.  There is a message within the message. 

I could be preaching on any message in the Bible and God is speaking to you on the issue that you are dealing with.  Even though I may not be speaking to you about anxiety or fear, if that is what you are struggling with, God can speak to you on anxiety and fear in any message.

God might be talking to young people tonight.  You might have plans, I have seen young people die, sometimes an accident, sometimes a sickness that they did not know that they had.  God is sending you an opportunity tonight.

Those that are carrying a burden that you should not be carrying.  God is speaking to you: “Seize that opportunity.” 

God doesn’t holler, we holler.  God doesn’t have to.  All He has to do is whisper.  “This is what is keeping you from being joyful and free.”  I have seen saints of God that were rejoicing and now they are bound.  It is not because they have sinned.  It is because there are things that have come into their life and they are confused; they are burdened or battling. 

God says, “I will guide you with my eyes.”  He will guide you.  Quit looking at His hands and look at His eyes.  We have been so spoiled, “What are you giving me?”  And we look at his hands.

The scripture says that they will try to hide from His face.  Look into His eyes.  Your eyes tell a story.  You may look different ways but your eyes are the real you.

In this day that we are living in, God is giving the church an opportunity to do some rebuilding, some building up.  It doesn’t take most of the ministers in the United States to accomplish it. 

What does the scripture say?  One makes a thousand run, two make ten thousand run.  That is the power of unity.  If we come together right here in the congregation with only one purpose in mind, seeing only one thing, the young to the adult, there is such a power. 

It is God’s design:  How beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. 

Is your house your campsite?  It is where you stay and live.  How beautiful it is for brethren to dwell in unity.  Don’t change on me.  Next year, I want to see you the same.  Tell me the same truth again. 

When they dwell together, it is like the dew, the precious anointing that begins in the hair of Aaron and goes clear to the bottom.  His garment was made of linen, the anointing ran all the way down.  That is the whole body anointed. 

We can get rods of iron and tie them together; that is not unity.  How you make them one is to melt them together.  That is how marriage is to be.  One.  Wives can be free to talk to their husbands.  They can pray together.  They can communicate together. 

Sometimes men have a problem expressing themselves.  Men and women are different.  Women tend to vent by talking.  Men say, “I don’t want to talk, I want to be alone.”  That is how we process.  Yet they can come together and be one flesh and one spirit. 

That is what the Bible is trying to teach us.  That is what marriage is about.  It speaks of Jesus and His church.  In an intimate union something is broken in a woman’s body.  Hymn means when something breaks and your heart is opened to God.  Fully and completely.  The whole union ultimately consumed to the maximum level. 

If people would know about God and His intimate relationship with His creation, they would get saved.  The Christian life, is being in God’s kingdom. You are a part of His kingdom.  It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

God has given us an opportunity today.  He gave an opportunity to the Church in Ephesus, “You have left your first love.”  We can become church of God robots.  We function with no heart. 

We function because we have become professionals.  We know the songs, when to say amen, we are professionals because our heart is not in it.  People see it and say, “I find more thrill in watching a movie.”  They don’t see your excitement and thrill.  What they see is the battles that you are going through.

God has a plan for you.  If this is not reality then I might as well go back to Miami.  He has a wonderful plan.  Jesus did not go to the cross and go through all this pain for this not to function and for this to be just a philosophy among other philosophies.

This is not about a belief.  This is about a person.  He can come to you and talk to you.  Our lives are, in many cases, composed with, “This is what is going on…”  We pass it around like a cold pizza.  No one wants it. 

There is such a depth in God.  There is such a height.  There is such an impact in your life of the Holy Spirit if you seize the opportunity when it comes. 

Levi’s opportunity opens the door to have the curse lifted.  When the curse is lifted then God says, Levi will be the tribe that is closest to me.  They will be my priests.  They did not have to work.  They lived closest to God.  They entered into the tabernacle, they worshipped God.

This shows me that your past can be erased:  Even the cursed can live close to God.  You are an individual above all.  When you die you leave behind brothers, sisters, parents…  You will have to live without them one day, get used to it right now.  Lay them on the altar. 

You are better if they are in the order of God.  With victory in your soul, then God can open the doors.  He can speak to you about it.  Otherwise then the cloud hangs over you and you never see beyond the cloud.

It works.  I got to the place where I was going to get sick because I was carrying something for someone that I loved.  God reminded me “What am I here for?” 

I went before God and began to cry before God.  “I want this lifted.  I refuse to let this take over me.  If I get sick, I will be good for nobody.  I believe in your power.” 

I prayed until I prayed through.  I did not feel anything.  I felt the same as when I want to pray.  About 25 minutes later I felt it lift.

You don’t have to carry anything that God has not designed for you to take.  You are carrying it because you picked it up.  God says, “I can carry that.”

The situation continues but I changed.  It cannot touch me now.  It is there but it doesn’t touch me anymore.  I seized the opportunity.  If I had said, “I am going to pray tomorrow about it, I don’t think it would have worked.”

I see the mercy of God.  In the Old Testament we read of mercy.  Mercy is when God doesn’t give you what you deserve.  A judge sees you and says, “I am not going to condemn you.  I want to forgive your transgression.” 

In the New Testament we see grace.  Grace is when God gives you what you don’t deserve.  If the judge takes the one home and says, “What I have is yours.”  That is grace.  He is giving you what you don’t deserve.

I believe that God is talking to you tonight about seizing the opportunity.  “Don’t carry that anymore.”  God wants you to be as free as you possibly can.  If you have all these things in your mind then you are just surviving. 

If you are in survival mode, that is not enough.  God wants you to do some conquering.