Month: January 2015

 

Sorry about all the links from the current series: “The Gospel Is?” The links didn’t work. However, they are now all working; thanks to the Wonderful Damian.

So, you can now catch up on all you’ve missed. The final installment of this series will be published in the next few days. However the message can be downloaded from the link under the resources menu.

The Gospel Is?  The Acceptable Year Of The Lord – Jubilee

Luke 4:17-20 Is our Foundation scripture for this series.

When Jesus read this passage from Isaiah the prophet Isa 61:1-2, he spoke with such authority; he spoke as someone who fully contemplated exactly what he was saying. Jesus, was everything that this passage of scripture; that this prophecy foretold he would be.

He spoke with such passion and conviction that the listeners were astounded in such a manner, that as he moved through them to take his seat, they couldn’t take their eyes off of him. They whispered among themselves. Yet, they effectively knew what he would say next. His conviction was confirmed that the fulfilment of all they had heard was there before them.

Until he made the comparison to Elijah and Elisha the two great prophets they held dear, he seemed to have won them over. But, this tipped them over and all they could think of doing was to kill him; in their eyes he had committed the ultimate blasphemy; he’d kicked over their ‘sacred cows’; so to speak.

It is certainly true that the ministry of Jesus records him actually bringing physical sight to blind eyes; even creating eyes from the very dust of the ground in one case. As well as delivering those oppressed by the devil such as the daughter of Abraham bowed low, for 18 years, in the synagogue, on the Sabbath.

But, I also think that this section of that passage can address the metaphorical blindness of the religious groups, the Pharisees and the Saducees of the day, who were more intent in keeping the status quo; maintaining their position in the eyes and minds of the people of God; the Children of Promise.

The very Children of Abraham who had a Covenant, a Blood Covenant, in place, that the religious leaders should have been administering and maintaining for the same people that Jesus was healing and delivering. The Covenant of Promise that included provisions and administrations that should have seen the people living free. Instead, they were in bondage; even without the Roman oppression.

The more recent idiom: “There’s none so blind as Will not see.” draws heavily upon the words of the prophet Jeremiah; Jer 5:21 – “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not” This would appear to outline the condition of the Sanhedrin that Jesus encountered.

They were more concerned with maintaining their control and their incomes to have this ‘Nazarene’ upset the applecart. But, not all were so. Nicodemus came to see Jesus privately, at night. But even he was unable to fully understand what Jesus had to say to him (John 3:1-21). The blindness had taken hold and even the godly walked in darkness.

Jesus was very prepared for all of this. He knew that without the Holy Spirit upon them, they would not be able to contemplate the light of the Gospel. This Good News that he had; that he was bringing; had to be spiritually discerned.

The advantage that the church has, in this day and age, is to be able to open up the bible and to be able to read all of these prophecy. To compare them. To trace the lines that connect the dots. Yet, even today, there are the children of God who walk in darkness; who have had the very light and its importance for their lives dimmed in their eyes.

Praise God, that the light is returning to its place of prominence in the life of the church. But, more importantly, in the very lives of believers everywhere. It is incumbent upon the body to pray for the opening of blind eyes and for freedom from religious oppression.

Maranatha! Even Now! Come Lord Jesus!

To download this important Spirit-Filled message click on the following link and save the linked file to a directory of your choice on your computer. Otherwise your browser will open up with a player to simply listen online. All of these messages are provided free of charge.

The Gospel Is? – Recovery of Sight to The Blind and Freedom From Oppression

The Good News to the Poor, that Jesus declared was a central tenet of his ministry and purpose, can really be summed up with seven words: “You don’t have to be poor anymore!” Poverty is diametrically opposite to the intention of God towards human kind.

True bible Prosperity is:

The ability to use the resources of God for the benefit of all humanity. This is in the realms of 1. Spirit 2. Soul (the mind the will and the emotions) 3. Body (including divine health) 4. Financially and 5. Socially.

True prosperity is obtained in that order. Anything else is worldly and subject, as Jesus said, to: ” Rust, theft and destruction.” Matthew 6:19. Yes he said to build up that wealth in Heaven. But, he didn’t say it had to stay there. He, on more than one occasion, referred to God’s ability to make it available both on request and where you have need, by Faith.

Throughout the Old and the New Testaments, that make up the Christian Bible, the principle of God causing, or enabling his people to prosper, in this life, as a result of the covenant they had with him, is a constant.

There are so many references. From Deuteronomy 8:18:

“And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” (NKJV)

Psalm 23:5:

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.” (NKJV)

Malachi 3:8-12:

Do Not Rob God
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,‘In what way have we robbed You? ’
In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts; “And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts.” (NKJV)

All of these promises, by God, to his people, are based upon the Old Blood Covenant with Abraham and are still passed on to his descendants.

We are informed by the writer of the Book of Hebrews, in Hebrews 8:6:

“But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.” (NIV)

Since under the Old Covenant the blessings could only be received by the descendants of Abraham and thereby the Children of Israel, also referred to as The Children of Promise. Under this new covenant it would appear that that promise has in fact been transferred to the Gentiles who will believe. In Galatians 3:13-14 Paul writes:

“But The Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of The Written Law, and he became a curse in our place, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree,That the blessing of Abraham would be with the nations by Yeshua The Messiah, and we would receive The Promise of The Spirit by faith.” (The Aramaic bible in Plain English)

And is expounded further:

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (AMP)

Since God is a God who never changes it would appear that the same God who prospered the Jews under the Old Covenant, desires that his children, restored to him through the spilt blood of Jesus, as the first-begotten (firstborn) from the dead (Col 1:18) desires that, under the New and Better Covenant those who accept the Lordship of Jesus should enjoy life to the full (John 10:10).

Prosperity is kicked around in religious circles as a popular football and used as a weapon to attack this, or that Minister of God, all because of a poverty mentality that came into play under the Emperor Constantine, when the church changed from “The Way” into the Institutional and  State Sanctioned religion.

The manipulation of the poverty doctrine was a way to manipulate the people, most of whom were not scholars, or educated, in a way that would ensure their compliance. However, its similarity to the actions of the Pharisees of the Jewish religion cannot be ignored.

One of the reasons they (the Pharisees) as a group, despised Jesus, was because he continually pointed out the deficit between the people’s rights, to expect, under the Abrahamic Covenant and the lived experience under their administration of that covenant. This was particularly evident when he healed the woman bowed low, and the number of times that lepers were cleansed under his ministry.

Poverty does NOT honour God.

I can’t say it any more plainly than that. If it did then every unemployed person, every homeless person, every dependent upon welfare would be a demonstration of the wonder of the almighty  ‘god’. That’s a LIE from the very Pit, of Hell, itself.

Tell me, do these images give glory to God?  These are some of the extremes, I know. But, this is truly the image of that Lie that has been sold to the church. This doesn’t create piety, holiness, a love for, or of God; instead it has people question why?

One of the redemptive names of God under the Old Covenant is El Shaddai; The God of Plenty. He is MORE than ENOUGH.

Jesus teaches that the Father, in Heaven, knows what you have need of and he will meet it. Matthew 6:33

In 3John :2 he writes:

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (AMP)

The preaching of the poverty gospel has been the downfall of the church; particularly in this day and age. People are more educated now than they have ever been and they don’t just take a person’s words without question.

As a result the preaching of poverty has come under attack from people who are able to see the hypocrisy of those teaching that it is better to be poor in this world and to build up riches in Heaven, for the future. While those preaching that line live in grand palaces, and accumulate great wealth, at the expense of the widowed and the homeless.

There are multi-million dollar edifices all over the world, often in some of the poorest neighbourhoods, where the poor are made to feel unwelcome and unworthy to enter, because they’re dirty, or they small bad, that are only used for a couple of hours a week; whilst, within those same towns and cities, children starve and go homeless; the custodians of that wealth using “The poor will be with you always.” (Mark 4:7) as their excuse to do nothing, yet still require the upkeep of the building to be paid for.

It is interesting to note that this is not the whole of that particular verse of scripture and that it is in fact Jesus’ response to Judas, the treasurer of his ministry, who would, only days later, betray him. Let’s look at the whole thing in context:

The Anointing at Bethany
“And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.
But Jesus said, “ Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” Mark 14:3-9 (AMP)

This is but one example of where the Word of God is manipulated to support  doctrine that has no concert with the truth of the Gospel. As a result the people are robbed and God is blamed for atrocities that are truly anathema.

Jesus taught in Luke 6:38:

“Give, and it will be given to you:good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” (AMP)

In this weeks teaching we look at the example of how the story of the Rich Young Ruler has been twisted and manipulated to say something completely different to the message and the blessings contained within it.

The Gospel is not a hard thing to grasp. But, you need to actually have the Good News of the Gospel preached for people to build Faith in it. The Gospel is Good News to the Poor.

To download this important Spirit-Filled message click on the following link and save the linked file to a directory of your choice on your computer. Otherwise your browser will open up with a player to simply listen online. All of these messages are provided free of charge.

The Gospel Is – Good News To The Poor Part 2

The Foundation Scripture for this series is Luke 4: 17-20 this is referring to the Prophecy of Isaiah from Isa 61:1-2 and speaks directly about the anointing which would be upon the much anticipated Messiah.

Contextually, this reading in Luke’s Gospel; this series of passages comes after Jesus was baptised in the Jordan by John, immediately anointed with the Holy Spirit who descended upon him as lightly as a dove would descend. Spent 40 days and nights in the desert; was tempted by Satan himself and then he makes his way back to the Synagogue in Nazareth, as was his regular practice, on the sabbath, to be handed this particular prophecy. There are no accidents here; this is the unfolding of the Father’s plan.

We have considered the effect of the Good News to the captives; the good news to those who are in need of Salvation. But, what would the Good News, the Gospel of Peace be for those who are poor?

Matthew chapter 6 is dedicated to what is referred to as “The Sermon on The Mount”  but the reference to the “Poor in Spirit”  and the comparable reference to the “the Poor” in the prophecy of the Messiah in both Isaiah and Luke’s Gospel are not the same. Yet, “The Establishment” – The Institutional church – has religiously tied these two verses together to make its point regarding what it refers to as “The Piety of Poverty.”

In my travels around this globe I have spent time in fancy Hotels. Been the guest of government officials, performed music for them in those same fancy locations with wonderful sound equipment and alternatively I have performed those same songs, with the same backing musicians, on the same backing tracks, on a tiny portable tape player, in dark shanty huts.

On those occasions, in both locations, I had less in my wallet, than the people I was sharing and ministering to. But, at all times, in that situation, I was very aware of the source of my provision; that God is my source and he can even use the birds of the air to bring food and supplies if humans won’t be obedient to do so.

In both locations I found that the Christians there were not covetous, or withholding in any way. Their generosity was amazing. I learned that what people measure as wealth is relative to where they are. The family I had the privilege of staying with in the town of Gachie, outside of Nairobi, Kenya, owned their home, the land they grew the small crops they maintained, kept chickens and goats.

They only had electricity for part of the day; until the town’s generators were shut down for the night. But, they were happy and in their eyes they were prosperous and willing and able to share what they had. Their generosity had no bounds even to the point of killing the goat for a luncheon when we first came to visit.

That happened without notice and in such a way that I looked around for the little kid that I had seen when we first arrived; only to find out it was on the platter in front of me.

I’ve met people, poor by western standards, who are generous to a fault. and rich people who almost fall over themselves to give. I’ve also found poor who can think of nothing more than holding tight to what little they have and their concentration is centred sole on where can they get what the other person has; to the point of theft.

Likewise I’ve met the rich who would never dream of parting with anything and will step on anyone they have to to gain more wealth; regardless of the consequences to themselves, or the people they have to step on to get there.

My own experiences with a certain ‘multi-level marketing’ company left nothing but a bitter taste in my mouth and a sadness for the perversion of the Gospel (yes, even the bible was misused to justify behaviours) for some dear, but seriously misguided, church people who were simply churned through “The System.”

The Good News for the Poor is simply that: “You Don’t Have To Be Poor Anymore!” Poverty comes in more than one guise though. But, sadly, the moment you mention poverty people’s focus goes directly to money. Similarly, when the word Prosperity is brought up, in ‘religious‘ church circles, the focus goes to wealth and riches. But, the fact is that in the case of Poverty and Prosperity they encompass so much more.

The human existence, on this planet, centres around 5 areas of experience, all at the same time:

Spirit – The Heart, The Core, or I/Me of the Person

Soul – The Mind, The Will and The Emotions

Body – Fondly referred to as Your Earth Suit

Financial – That Neutral ‘Mode of Transfer and Exchange’ required to operate within the society in which we live.

Social – The other human beings we interact with including Family, Friends, Acquaintances, Work Colleagues and Strangers.

If any one of these is out of balance it has an effect on the rest as they interact and impact one another. The Bible concept of Prosperity involves the growth and healthy development and balance of all five of these areas.

Previously, we have looked at the process by which things that make up our physical world, or affect and/or shape the world around us originate at the invisible, the spiritual and eventually psychological level.

Therefore, if we are poor, or lacking, spiritually, we are sure to have that affecting our other experiences. We may have all the money that we could ever dream of. But, if we are spiritually lacking, we may still be unfulfilled.

Prosperity begins with the human spirit born again, spiritually alive to God and fed by the living word of God, not by dead religiosity and ‘tradition.’

To download this important Spirit-Filled message click on the following link and save the linked file to a directory of your choice on your computer. Otherwise your browser will open up with a player to simply listen online. All of these messages are provided free of charge.

The Gospel Is – Good News To The Poor Part 1

The birth of Jesus, upon the Earth, is significant in so many ways. Beyond the mythology surrounding the financial status of the Holy family, as well as many of the other ‘religious‘ trappings that manoeuvre our thinking into feeling sorry for “Little Baby Jesus,” comes the majesty and splendour of the momentous importance that this entré, into this world bodes.

With the act of ‘High Treason’ committed by God’s man, Adam, in the Garden of Eden Satan was given the Authority to ‘Lord it’ over this planet; in Ephesians, Paul refers to him as: “The god of this world.”

The dominion of the whole world, up to and including the atmosphere, was usurped. This action placed God in the position that he could not intervene in the affairs of this planet, without first gaining access by the act of will of a human being. To do otherwise would have involved the destruction of his creation, humanity; whom he loved.

As a result the Covenants made between God and Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and on and on throughout the ages meant that God could establish and unfold the solution to the problem that he declared and prophesied over the serpent and his humans way back in the garden

Mary’s (Miriam’s) acceptance of the task, offered to her by the Angel Gabriel provided an avenue, a legitimate, legal and vital way for God himself to provide a way for the actions of that first Adam to be reversed. God would “provide himself, as a sacrifice” to restore that relationship and fellowship, personally.

As we view the nativity we cannot afford to see Jesus (He shall Save His People) in that state for long. We have to look beyond that manger, to Calvary and the fulfilment of the promise, as prophesied by Isaiah. That is the Gospel, the Good News, of the nativity.

To download this special, short, but important Spirit-Filled message, click on the following link and save the linked file to a directory of your choice on your computer. Otherwise your browser will open up with a player to simply listen online. All of these messages are provided free of charge.

Christmas Eve Service