Sister Teri Sunday School 6/21/15

Sister Teri Sunday School 6/21/15

To live our life Coram Deo is to have a real awareness toward God, to have our lives in order before God.  He has a divine plan and we want to be lined up according to that purpose.  His purpose is for His glory.  We want to live our lives that way actively and not just to say it.

God desires that we operate as a Body.  He blesses it when we operate that way:  Fitly framed together, in the bond of working together and into the bond of peace.   He desires that we come to the measure of the perfect man, Jesus.  What motivated Christ was love, for others and for the Father.  He did what the Father had Him do.

We want to be measured to this that all we do would be for the love of God and for the love of each other.  The enemy fights this love, God’s love, working through us by His Spirit.  If we are having trouble loving, we might be doing it through our own strength.

The lack of love divides: produces division, independence, and the increase in unbelief and wickedness.  We want to allow the love of God to work in us and not do anything that would cause division.  We want to encourage unity. 

It was a blessing to gather together and work together on VBS.  We don’t want to allow the enemy to work any little attitudes between us so that we cannot have that liberty and blessing as we work together.  The work of God is hindered if we don’t resist the enemy’s work to hinder love.

“What would love do?”  When we face situations that is the question to ask.  I remember situations that I went through with my dad, I asked myself, “What would love do?”  It was a difficult thing for mom and me to help him in the ways that we had to help him.  It was humbling for him and for myself. 

I was encouraged to know, “That is what love would do.”  It showed the love of God in a way that words cannot.  We can talk, but when we have the opportunity to do love, then that is powerful.

When my daughter had a child, I asked, “What would love do?”  God helped me to know and I was able to do love.  God worked, love is powerful.

Let us always dwell in the presence of God, letting His Spirit work love through us for it is powerful.

Mat 7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Again it is the question, what would love do?  What is the motivating factor and purpose of the Law and the prophets?  It has to be in love.  If it is just a bunch of rules and no love with it, it will not do what God intended it to do.

Luk 6:27  But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

Luk 6:28  Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

Luk 6:29  And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.

Luk 6:30  Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

Luk 6:31  And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

Luk 6:32  For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

Luk 6:33  And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

Luk 6:34  And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

Luk 6:35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Luk 6:36  Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Luk 6:37  Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

Luk 6:38  Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

We are not to live in self-protection and self-defense.  God might say, “Let it go.”  You might have every right to hold on but love would say, “Let it go.”

Can we be kind to the unthankful and the evil?  If the love of God is working in us then we can. 

We want to allow the love of God work in us however He would have us to.  And not have a self-protective attitude working in us and the thought, “It is our right.”  We want to sacrifice our rights if that is what the love of God would have us to do.

Joh 15:12  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

The measure is not by our love but by the love whereby He loved us.

Rom 12:9  Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

Rom 12:10  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

It is more than just giving an appearance of loving someone:  Putting on a front, pretentious, inwardly roiling and outwardly smiling. 

1Th 3:12  And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

1Th 3:13  To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

It is God that will make us to increase and abound in love toward one another.  God is not going to force us to increase and abound.  It is His Spirit and power that will give us that increase if we will seek it and humble ourselves before Him. 

Our love affects our holiness.  It contributes to our holiness and to our love to each other.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Our holiness affects our love.  They work together.  It is the Love of God working in us through the Spirit and not our human love.

Jas 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

Jas 2:9  But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

Our love has to be without partiality.  We cannot show ultimate love to this person but let another go and treat them indifferently.  Fulfil the royal Law impartially.  We need the mind and influence of God to recognize how. 

It is natural that there will be some that connect better than others.  To be partial means we are operating under human love.  That is not showing the love of God working in us.  We want God to reveal to us if we are showing the love of God in a partial way.  The bible teaches that to be a respecter of persons is sin. 

Human love will in partiality excuse wrong.  Someone can actually be doing wrong and in offence against another child of God and human love will excuse that.  We must hold the standard high against anything that will be against God.

If we love ourselves more than the plan of God we will protect ourselves and those that are close to us in a human light.  We need to let His love and purpose rule in our heart and life.

If we are partial it causes trouble.  It appears that Joseph’s father had partiality toward him.  It caused trouble in the household.  We see it again with Esau and Jacob: The father had his favorite and the mother had hers.  There were problems.

We want to have the mind of Christ in all that we think or do.

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

If we don’t have proper love for our brother this reveals that the love of God is not in us as it should be.  If the Love of God is in us then we will love our brother. 

We want to be laborers together with God.  Without the love of God, we will not be laborers together as God would have us to be.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

1Co 3:5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

1Co 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

Divisions and strife work when you are walking in human love.  There is partial love?  That is because there is carnal love working. 

We are laboring as one.  Together with God.  It is not one doing so much greater, “This person is so great we will line up behind him.”  No we are all laborers together, God’s husbandry and influence, according to the grace of God.

Exo 17:12  But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Have you ever had to hold your hands up for a length of time?  You don’t even have to have much in your hands, it gets weary.  They did not try to take over, they helped him to do his job.  We want to be this way: encourage and help each other in all the work of God.

Jdg 20:11  So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

There was a great wickedness that had happened in the tribe of Benjamin.  They wanted them to turn over the wicked men.  They wouldn’t do it.  There was that partial love. 

The others stood together against wickedness.  We want to stand together against wickedness.

1Sa 14:6  And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.

1Sa 14:7  And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.

“I am with thee according to thy heart.” (Jonathan and his armor bearer.)  God went with them and they won a great victory.

All the people working together in united purpose wrought a great work:  While fighting a spiritual warfare working together.  (Nehemiah.)  There was not a place on the wall that was not covered.  Everyone was in his place. 

They were not looking to the side at their neighbor and saying, “are you covering your spot?”  Neglecting their own responsibility while trying to check on another.

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Php 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Striving together for the faith of the Gospel:  What are we striving for?

1Pe 3:8  Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

1Pe 3:9  Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

Act 1:14  These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

In Acts 4 it tells that they lifted their voices with one accord, all with boldness were able to speak the Word of God.  They were operating under the Spirit of God with no striving or contention.  He blessed in a mighty way.  When they prayed the place was shaken. 

Not holding to their own but having all things in common.  Everything yielded to the work of God, and with great power He gave witness.

When Peter was in prison, the church united in prayer for him.  God worked a mighty deliverance.  When Peter came to the door, they couldn’t believe it was him for it was so miraculous.

Luk 24:15  And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.

As we unite and commune together, Jesus himself will draw near.  Under the presence, Spirit, and authority of God.

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 6/14/15

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 6/14/15

2Sa 7:1  And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;

2Sa 7:2  That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.

The king sat in his house of cedar: he was enjoying rest from his enemies and was in a very blessed season of his life.  He came to the reality, “I am dwelling in a very nice house, but God dwells in a tent made of animal skins.”

Nathan the encouraging prophet said:

2Sa 7:3  And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee.

Psalms 84, David’s testimony: 

Psa 84:1  To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!

How amiable or beautiful are thy tabernacles!  He was saying, “Every part of worship that God has ordained: I love, I appreciate, and I have great respect to it.”

“Oh Lord of hosts!”  David had experienced many challenges, battles, and difficult seasons of his life.  Now he had reached a season of his life where things were enjoyable.  Not only did he have rest from his enemies but he had great prosperity.

His mind didn’t go to, “How can I make things more comfortable for me.”  Instead he thought, “I dwell in a beautiful house, but the Ark of the Covenant is in a tent.”

Psa 84:2  My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

My soul longs for the courts of the Lord:  this king had an identity of how wonderful it was to enter into worship and enjoy the wonderful things: sin being forgiven, the laver, the door, the candlestick, the worship…

He said, “My heart and my flesh cry out for God.”  As I spoke to Madison and Connor very briefly this morning of having an excellent spirit, a passion for God, and the things of God.  This king had it. 

He said concerning the sparrows, “The sparrow has a nest where she may lay her young…” 

Psa 84:3  Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.

Psa 84:4  Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

If the enemy can ever quiet your praise, he has gained a real victory in the thought, “I may be able to destroy them.”  Praising God and remembering where God has brought us from, we never want to forget where God has brought us from.  We never want to forget how He brought us from the depths of sin to a changed life only through the sacrifice of His Son.  We want to praise and thank God forever.

They will be still praising thee: The heavy burdens and disappointments of life, the heartaches of life, the plans that fell through, there is something about going into worship and through tabernacle worship, thanking God that Jesus paid the price for our sin.  Thanking God that there is a place after you are saved and sanctified.  Thanking God that you can go back to that laver and say, “There is a place that I need to be washed.”  Pour out your heart to God, “More than anything else I want to be all you want me to be.”

Psa 84:5  Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

Jer 9:23  Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

If you try to draw your strength from each other whomever it will be that you are leaning on will run out of strength.  There is one that can give and give and give and His resources remain unchanged.  There will be times that you need physical strength, there will be times that you will be mentally sick. 

I experienced in my series of being afflicted being sick in my mind: In my mind I was never going to get well.  Cooper had been an army physician for many years.  He wrote in his book, “About anyone can regain their health except those that become sick in their mind.”  When they become sick in their mind they think, “I am never going to get well, I am defeated, and I am going to die.”

I reached that place and there was no place to go for help.  Medical people couldn’t help me, friends couldn’t help me, and the chiropractor couldn’t help me.  My family couldn’t help me.  I was sick in my mind.  I read that book and I said, “I am going to be healed in my mind.  It didn’t happen the first time I prayed.  I spent hours in the woods praying.  I spent hours on the riverbank praying. 

I took my dogs and in my worst moments they would run for two or three minutes and then they would be back at the truck trying to take care of me.  One day Jesus passed by. 

There will be times when we have exhausted our strength, when we come to that place and we realize, “I need God’s help more than anything else.”  God always comes through.  He may not come through the first time we pray.

Elias was a man of like passion as us: He was a man like you and I that had desires, feelings, and needs.  He prayed again.  He prayed again.  Dear church, young people, afflicted, mothers and fathers with unsaved children, dear wives and husbands with unsaved companions, may God challenge you to get ahold of God as you never have before.  There is strength to carry your burden.

You will fall apart if you never get to God.  That is how it is.  People are falling apart everywhere.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee.

When we have exhausted our resources.  There is one thing I know, everything of God is designed to give us strength, strength to serve Him. 

David was a man that could have chosen the ease of being a king.  He identified, “I want to do something for God.” 

May everyone in this audience be so challenged that wherever you are able to have a sphere of influence that there is strength of having the influence of having met with God.

Psa 84:6  Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

We will have nights of weeping.  That is how life will be.  May God help you to have laid a foundation that you know God in such a way that you are weeping not for self-pity or regret, but you have chosen to identify with, “I want to do something to please God; I want to have a positive influence on the children in my life by living past my personal condition.”

Psa 84:7  They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

There is a place of vision, of anointing, of where men and women come to the end of themselves.  You children and young people are blessed to be taught by example and the provision of God that there is a place in worshipping God where you are saved through the blood and you go through the door and begin eating the manna from heaven. 

We are blessed to have a bible that is full of the bread from heaven, fresh every Sabbath.  The Sabbath is every day in the New Testament in the thought, “This is a day of rest from sin, from carnality, and from the individuals that want to mold my life as they wish.”

We can go from strength to strength.  What the world will feed you with will leave your mind distorted, will leave your life scarred, marred, and wrecked.  I have a friend that I can say, “The road of success has led this man to a road of emptiness.”

Everyone in Zion appears before God:  I don’t want you to see me without God.  I don’t want to see you without God.  When we appear before God and worship God we are changed, our mind goes from self and cares to “I want to please God and do what is pleasing in His sight.”

2Sa 7:8  Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:

2Sa 7:9  And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.

The Lord spoke to David, “I took thee from the back side of nowhere.  From being an unknown boy.” 

These precious children that are making plans for their life, and for all the rest of us, “You are up there and just about done for,” is man’s talk.  God is still God.  It will be very beneficial for these children and young people if you will realize that God identified with David when he was just a boy taking care of the sheep.

I don’t know the plans that God has, but they will be revealed to you through you worshipping God. There are many voices in the world that want to mold my life and I am over 60.  There are voices in the world that want to mold your life. 

We have the best mold, the Word of God and the Lord.  We have the potter, we are to be the clay. 

God said, “David, don’t forget what I have done.”  Even the youngest person in this life has had a miracle from God in their life.  We are so blessed.  God says to everyone in this audience, “Don’t forget.”

I remember dear Sister Coleman that came with a love for God.  I remember her speaking to my daddy.  She said, “Let no man take thy crown.”  My dad never forgot it.

God is faithful but sometimes we take it so lightly.  He said, “I took thee from the sheep cote and made thee a king.”  God protected David.  Remember the spear that Saul planned to pierce through David?  God was there. 

I was with thee, I moved your enemies far away:  There are many enemies that we have today.  Unbelief is terrible.  Those that have a fighting spirit are to be pitied.  They have a click and clan and hold you at a distance.  What a terrible thing to have a fighting spirit. 

In Matthew it tells of those that don’t think God is coming today begin to beat on each other.  You need to get a hold of God and say, “I need someone to get the jumper cables on me so that I get the victory over that.” 

The spirit of lukewarmness:  People get excited about everything except the things of God.  We need to be excited about bible salvation, sanctification, and working for God.

We have wonderful songs, testimonies of the saints:  “I am a child of God” by Brother Warner.  “My Heavenly Father is Caring for me” by Clara Brookes.  We have a wonderful heritage.  The things in the bank will all perish.  The things of God are forever and ever.

God said to David, “David, my boy, I am dwelling a tent made of skins, you want to build me house and that is commendable.  I will build you a house.  I am going to set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.  I am going to build a church, a beautiful building.  It will be a superstructure in the thought that it will be established on earth but it will also go to heaven.” 

Jesus came along and said, “In my father’s house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you…”

2Sa 7:18  Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

Pray for me.  I would love to master this teaching of sitting before God.  “God you are everything.” 

Then David said, “Who am I Oh Lord God?  And what is my house?”

David said, “Who am I Oh Lord God?”  I am awestruck at God.  When I am sitting, kneeling, standing before God, I am a man of many emotions.  There are times that I feel small, insignificant, and I am nothing, I own that. 

There are times that He comes and says, you are small, but there is something that you need to know, you have not chosen me, I have chosen you and ordained you.

When we come before Him we humble before Him and He says, “I am going to give you the strength, the grace, the words, and everything that you need.”

David was setting in house of cedar and his thoughts went to God.  May our thoughts go to God this morning.  David was thinking about God dwelling in a tent and David desired the best for God. 

Who will give of their best for the Master?  God desired the best for David.  Isn’t it wonderful to look back over David’s life and though he had failures, God desired the best for His life.  David desired to build for God and Nathan encouraged him to build for God.

“Go do everything that you want to do for God.”

Worship influenced David to do these things.  He hungered for God, he left the example of praising God.  He pinned,

Psa 27:4  One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

This world will destroy you and make you cynical; it will take your best and give you back chaff over and over again.  The prophet encouraged him in the Lord, “Do all that is in thy heart to build the house of the Lord.”

I encourage you, “Do all that is in thy heart for the work of God.”

The building today that God is interested in is this earthen vessel, “God I am going to give this earthen vessel over to you.  I am not just going to give you this vessel, I am going to first go to the brazen altar and know that I am clear with God.  All my sins are forgiven by the blood of the Lamb.” 

“I am not going to stop there.  I am going to measure to all the truths of the Word of God.  I am not going to draw the line at anything.  I am going to be in there enjoying that fresh Sabbath bread every day.  I want the light of the candlestick shining on me.” 

Take no chances.  First we want everything right between us and God and then everything right between us and our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Then we are in shape to go to the lost and do our best as one that has met with God and desiring to do our best for souls.

Sister Teri Sunday School 6/14/15

Sister Teri Sunday School 6/14/15

Living our lives, Coram Deo, before God: in the presence of God, for the glory of God, and under the authority of God.

Because God works so much good in adversity we will face a lot of it.  We want to go through it right.  One way we do this is by the Body working together, carrying the burden one for another.  God designed we work as a Body.  It is good to recruit others to pray with us on the difficulties that we face. 

We have seen this work effectively in the past.  There have been very miraculous answers to prayer.  God desires that we operate in this way.

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

2Co 1:11  Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

When we go through something and one on one He answers prayer, then we better thank Him.  When we work together and He answers prayer then all of our thanks goes up, thanks from all of us.  We have a testimony together on how God answered our prayers.

One translation of this scripture is: “You are helping us by praying for us.  Then many people will give thanks because God has so graciously answered prayer.”

Mat 18:19  Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 18:20  For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

We see here that God desires that we operate in unity that way.  God honors group prayer with powerful intervention.  God desires that we operate in a collective and united way.

The enemy fights unity.  He knows the strength that unity produces.  He has been successful in sowing division everywhere.  Where people are not working together and are divided, the effectiveness of whatever they do is reduced.

We want to recognize the way the enemy works and resist him.  We need to stand against every mark of the enemy that we see.

Ecc 4:9  Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

Ecc 4:10  For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Ecc 4:11  Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

Ecc 4:12  And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

You can see all through this the benefits of two or more working together.  I have been trying to set my garden up with timers so we can be gone.  I have been trying to do it alone and it was hard.  We worked Saturday together and it went well and is now done. 

Spiritually when we get off in a way and don’t have understanding, the other can help us.  When the Spirit of God moves on one and there is a testimony given, it inspires and inflames us.  There is a heat produced.

A bundle of sticks, Aesop’s Fables:

A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks.

When they had done so, he placed the bundle into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it.

He next opened the bundle, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons' hands, upon which they broke them easily.

He then addressed them in these words: "My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this bundle, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks."

Union gives strength.

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

It is not enough that we be redeemed and forgiven.  He wants us gathered together, united.  It is not all about me and my forgiveness, He wants us to be working together.

http://www.spiritual-short-stories.com/spiritual-short-story-740-Rebellion+Against+The+Stomach.html#sthash.mgLAApee.dpuf

Once a man had a dream in which his hands and feet and mouth and brain all began to rebel against his stomach.

"You good-for-nothing sluggard!" the hands said. "We work all day long, sawing and hammering and lifting and carrying. By evening we're covered with blisters and scratches, and our joints ache, and we're covered with dirt. And meanwhile you just sit there, hogging all the food."

"We agree!" cried the feet. "Think how sore we get, walking back and forth all day long. And you just stuff yourself full, you greedy pig, so that you're that much heavier to carry about."

"That's right!" whined the mouth. "Where do you think all that food you love comes from? I'm the one who has to chew it all up, and as soon as I'm finished you suck it all down for yourself. Do you call that fair?"

"And what about me?" called the brain. "Do you think it's easy being up here, having to think about where your next meal is going to come from? And yet I get nothing at all for my pains."

And one by one the parts of the body joined the complaint against the stomach, which didn't say anything at all.

"I have an idea," the brain finally announced. "Let's all rebel against the lazy belly, and stop working for it." "Superb idea!" all the other members and organs agreed. "We'll teach you how important we are, you pig. Then maybe you'll do a little work of your own."

So they all stopped working. The hands refused to do lifting and carrying. The feet refused to walk. The mouth promised not to chew or swallow a single bite. And the brain swore it wouldn't come up with any more bright ideas.

At first the stomach growled a bit, as it always did when it was hungry. But after a while it was quiet. Then, to the dreaming man's surprise, he found he could not walk. He could not grasp anything in his hand. He could not even open his mouth. And he suddenly began to feel rather ill.

The dream seemed to go on for several days. As each day passed, the man felt worse and worse. "This rebellion had better not last much longer," he thought to himself, "or I'll starve."

Meanwhile, the hands and feet and mouth and brain just lay there, getting weaker and weaker. At first they roused themselves just enough to taunt the stomach every once in a while, but before long they didn't even have the energy for that.

Finally the man heart a faint voice coming from the direction of his feet. "It could be that we were wrong," they were saying. "We suppose the stomach might have been working in his own way all along."

"I was just thinking the same thing," murmured the brain. "It's true that he's been getting all the food. But it seems he's been sending most of it right back to us."

"We might as well admit our error," the mouth said. "The stomach has just as much work to do as the hands and feet and brain and teeth."

"Then let's get back to work," they cried together. And at that the man woke up. To his relief, he discovered his feet could walk again. His hands could grasp, his mouth could chew, and his brain could now think clearly.

He began to feel much better. "Well, there's a lesson for me," he thought as he filled his stomach at breakfast. "Either we all work together, or nothing works at all."  

1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many.

1Co 12:15  If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

1Co 12:16  And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

1Co 12:17  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

1Co 12:18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

1Co 12:19  And if they were all one member, where were the body?

1Co 12:20  But now are they many members, yet but one body.

1Co 12:21  And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

1Co 12:22  Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

1Co 12:23  And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

1Co 12:24  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:

1Co 12:25  That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

1Co 12:26  And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

1Co 12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

One would say, “I am not of as much importance as this other.”  That is not true.  We all need one another.  Sometimes those parts that we don’t see laboring are busy working in a way that we don’t see and they are a benefit.  The stomach was working in a way that was not seen by the other members.

Eph 4:1  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

Eph 4:2  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

Eph 4:3  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Eph 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

He gave these gifts, responsibilities, members for His purpose and for the good of the body as a whole.  The purpose is that we be more like Christ.  He wants us steady and stable.  That is the purpose of the Body working together.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

We see love mentioned all through this reading.  That is what unifies and holds us together.  It is a part of that bond of peace.  The enemy will fight our love.

The perfect man is Christ.  Love motivated Christ in all that He did.  That needs to be what motivates us.

Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Col 3:14  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

We are going to sometimes hurt each other, not premeditatedly, but inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts.  If we are going to maintain that unity we need to forgive and long suffer.  We need to communicate.  Communication on an issue will help things to not work and fester. 

We want to work to maintain that love and affection one for another.  Charity is the bond of perfectness.

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

This is not a natural love.  It is the love of God imparted to us by the Holy Ghost.  If we are having trouble loving, then we are probably trying to do it on our own with our own natural love.  We need God to give us His love by His Spirit toward that person.

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

Joh 17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

Joh 17:23  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

It is God in us that will help us to display the love of God.  This is how people will see that God loves them when they see the love of God working through us and in us.  God desires that we all be one.

http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

The United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans – roughly seven-in-ten – continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith.¹ But the major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.

Religious intermarriage also appears to be on the rise: Among Americans who have gotten married since 2010, nearly four-in-ten (39%) report that they are in religiously mixed marriages, compared with 19% among those who got married before 1960.³ The rise in intermarriage appears to be linked with the growth of the religiously unaffiliated population. Nearly one-in-five people surveyed who got married since 2010 are either religiously unaffiliated respondents who married a Christian spouse or Christians who married an unaffiliated spouse. By contrast, just 5% of people who got married before 1960 fit this profile.

While many U.S. religious groups are aging, the unaffiliated are comparatively young – and getting younger, on average, over time. As a rising cohort of highly unaffiliated Millennials reaches adulthood, the median age of unaffiliated adults has dropped to 36, down from 38 in 2007 and far lower than the general (adult) population’s median age of 46.

A divided home will cause confusion in the children.  We need to be united in our marriage.  To willingly go into a relationship of marriage in a divided situation will cause its issues.

Could it be that the problem is that people are selfish in our generation.  There is a lack of love.  They love themselves.  They don’t want to commit to work together and all the interactions that open themselves up to hurt.  It is a protective measure.  It is a love of self more than the purposes of God. 

They are unwilling to sacrifice themselves for others unless there is something in it for themselves.  We see this in all aspects of life.  Marriages don’t last.  Mothers and dads abandon their children.  It is love of self more than love of others. 

Social and cultural organizations are losing their influence.  It is everywhere and will work in us.  When something happens and the enemy causes us to pull back into that self-protective mode, we need to see it as a mark of the working of the enemy. 

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

The law of Christ is to love your neighbor as yourself.  We need to work together and carry the burden one for another and for the adversity that we go through.  We can only do this with the bond of love. 

I encourage you to study the book, “The Greatest Thing in the World: Walking in Love,” by Henry Drummond.  

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 6/10/15

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 6/10/15

When men begin to pray:

Gen 4:25  And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

Gen 4:26  And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

When men begin to pray, to call upon the name of the Lord, choose to worship the Lord and make the choice to not worship the gods of the heathens…  True worship is worshipping the God of heaven.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

It is wonderful to know that tonight as well as tomorrow morning, the Father is looking to see who is going to worship the true God in heaven. 

The effects of true worship was that Enos called upon the name of the Lord.  Praying to the Lord sets us apart from the gods of this world.

I was studying, concerning Jeremiah and how the children of Israel were turned to worshipping the queen of heaven and were actually mimicking the worship of the heathen around them.  We have all seen how people mimic and soon are following the actions of those around them.

I told my wife to help me to not let Sophie push off things from the deck.  You may wonder how Sophie learned how to push things off the deck.  Cade and Cole had toys that they pushed off the deck.  They taught her.  I don’t see the fun in it, but they do. 

I noticed that Cole learned this tumble.  He takes a tumble without tripping or anything.  He comes into a room and goes through this motion and all of the sudden he is on the floor.  It was not long until Cade was doing the same move but not as practiced.  Whatever Cole brings home, Cade tries.

It is the same with the adults.  People are bound by the world and soon, there are more people bound by the same thing.  So it was in the days of Enos.  There were those that were carried away with idol worship. 

Praying to the Lord sets us apart from the gods of this world.  It is a wonderful thing.  The world is an old story that goes around trying to find something new that you and I would be attracted to.  True prayer and worship sets us apart from idol worship.

There is such a privilege of being set apart from the world and from the religious world.  Whatever religious book that preachers get a hold of and preach from.  A woman said, “I go to my husband whenever I want to know anything.  My pastor told me to do that.”  She is in bad shape now, her husband died.

“Praise the Lord! My heart with His love is beaming, I am a child of God.” B.E. Warren.

When we get saved, God gives us a name.  The Kelly children have a first name, but that is not all.  They have a family name.  When men and women begin to call upon God and be changed, their name changes.  They begin to be a part of the family of God. 

This name of God is vital.  I am not a follower of John Wesley.  I am not a follower of the man that puts out the Faith and Victory magazine.  I am a child of God. 

The only way that stays real is for us to pray.  There is something in the minds of individuals that want to line up with whomever.  Line up with God and God alone.

This is an old message.  Brother Warner saw that we must get past people and be followers of God.  What makes us be a follower of God is praying and seeking after God and hearing from heaven. 

When we begin to call on the Lord, we have a heavenly Father.  Clara Brooke wrote about her heavenly Father, “My heavenly Father is caring for me.”  It is only when we begin to pray that we realize that.

We will have challenges in life and need to realize, “I am not going to be moved away from God, I am going to begin to pray.”  I don’t know what was going on in Clara Brooke’s life, “My bark He is guiding o’er life’s raging sea.”

We are saved and sanctified so that we can stand the storms.  The storms will come and they will be big ones.  God wants us to pray and get ahold of Him.

Remember Sister Clara Brooke, she wrote, “My bark He is guiding o’er life’s raging sea.”  There would be those in this audience that had really tough nights sleeping.  There are things, sadness, disappointment, heartache, the unknown, and precious children that are being abused or on their way to being abused.  Talk about upsetting! 

There will be tough times; we must have an attitude, “I am going through it.  I am going to pray and seek God.”  If pain and grief cause you to quit praying… pray, pray and pray again.

“Though storms overshadow and billows are wild.”  She was set to go through the storm.  “They cannot overwhelm me.”  I want to get there.  I was overwhelmed recently with sadness.  There was no place to give up.  I had to go back to God and say, “God it is unfair to my wife and the saints for me to be so sad that I cannot do anything except go over and over this. 

“They cannot overwhelm me for I am his child.”  When men begin to pray God comes on the scene.

Jas 4:8a  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

I am not going to let this keep me from praying.  I am not going to let this captivate my prayer.  God draws near when we begin to pray.  24/7/365 He draws near.

Enos was a worshipper of God.  He became a citizen of another country.  When we pray and touch heaven, we realize, “I am just a sojourner.  The things of this world will pass.  If I am going to be as the trees of Lebanon skipping around heaven,” as Brother Bill said of Sister Margaret, “I want to go through.” 

We will not be conquering through control issues or setting everything up so they fit us.  Enos prayed and realized, I am a citizen of another country and God delivered him from false idol worship.

We need to be prepared for whatever comes with that.  “I am marked, marked, marked.”  That is the right mark, we refuse to worship the gods of this world.

When we pray God draws us near to us.  It is wonderful when people come close and then they draw you near to them.  We have all felt the wall.  I don’t like it but there are people that since you are not what they think you ought to be there is a wall.

It is wonderful when people draw near to God and then God reaches out and draws them near.

Condemnation does nothing for us except emphasize, “You are wrong, you failed, you didn’t handle it right, or you should have done this or that.”  But conviction and godly sorrow works repentance not to be repented of.

2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.

The Law brings condemnation and puts a vail over us.  It is wonderful when condemnation turns to conviction.

2Co 3:16  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Prayer with conviction gains audience with God.  The Spirit of the Lord brings liberty. Isn’t it wonderful when you are drawn to Him and He is drawn to you?  You begin to pray and there is liberty, the liberty to let some things go.  “God I have to let you have this sadness.  I have to let this thing go.  I have to get in your presence.”

It is so awesome when you come into His presence.  When God comes to us, He always brings something.  He says, “You probably have some things you want to give me.”  We tend to tell Him all our troubles.  We also need to tell Him how thankful we are. 

We have someone to help us to hear our burdens.  We have someone to go to.  I was full of sadness recently.  I lived with it, ate with it, went to bed with it.  I felt like a failure.  Let me tell you, when you go to God, He takes that sadness and says, “It is my good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

The Spirit of God brings liberty for God to work and to change us.  If someone bugs you, get to God until you are changed.  There will always be people that have traits that are undesirable.  Get to God and say, “I don’t want to carry this, I am giving it to you.  I want you to change me.

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

God I am really needy, I am lifting up holy hands.  I see the glory of the Lord, His spotless life, I know there is victory.  We look into the Word of God and it always has the answers.  Before I could read, it had the answers, my mother helped me to find it.

We are changed into that same image, holy harmless, humble, bear one another’s burdens, forgiving.  We are changed into that same image from glory to glory.  In His presence, everything looks different.

My heart cry to God for Paradise Church of God is:

That the pastor would have the heart of a shepherd.

For the saints, that they would have a heart to shepherd a child.  Children know immediately if your heart goes to them.  Their parents will resist you until you feel you have been pushed back three steps.  The children will come up and put their arms around your leg.

That you would have a heart to shepherd a young person.  Young people need to know that someone loves them.

For the pastor and the saints that we would know our need to pray.  Don’t let anyone or any situation cheat you out of praying.  Don’t let anyone crowd God out of your life.  Have a value of how important prayer is.  God has to be first.  Take care of your body, take care of your soul. 

God help us to know our need to pray, seek God, and to be changed by His Spirit.  Only God can change us. 

We are in perilous times.  “You need to pray.”  The choir sings that song.