Friday, March 21, 2025

THE POWER OF RESURRECTION

 KNOW ABOUT THE POWER OF RESURRECTION! – YEAR 2025

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS IS NOT JUST A HISTORICAL EVENT!

RESURRECTION IS A LIVING PERSON, JESUS HIMSELF - HE SAID, I AM THE RESURRECTION AND LIFE!  EASTER IS ABOUT RESURRECTION.

When the Resurrection is preached not just as a bible doctrine, not just as a historical fact but when the Resurrection is preached with apostolic revelation and the power of the Resurrection relates to daily living then you will see much gracious grace come upon the Church today and great power for signs and wonders, great power for miracles will be manifested within the Church.

RESURRECTION IS A DAILY LIVING REALITY - JESUS HIMSELF IS RESURRECTED IN US! 

WE WERE ALL BORN AGAIN BY HIS RESURRECTION POWER and SPIRIT TO LIVE IN THE REALM OF HIS RESURRECTION!

THE REALM OF RESURRECTION IS THE ORDAINED REALM FOR ELOHIM'S REDEEMED PEOPLE - IT IS IN THIS REALM WE LIVE, MOVE and HAVE OUR WONDERFUL BEING!

OUR TRUE IDENTITY, GLORY, ROYALTY, VICTORY, DESTINY, DIGNITY and PROSPERITY IS IN THE REALM OF RESURRECTION!

OUR TRUE AUTHORITY, ANOINTING, ABUNDANCE and ACHIEVEMENT IS IN THE REALM OF RESURRECTION!

OUR TRUE SUPERNATURAL SUPPLY and POWER TO MULTIPLY IS IN THE REALM OF RESURRECTION - ELIJAH, ELISHA and JESUS CHRIST OPERATED OUT OF THIS REALM - THEY ALL RAISED THE DEAD and MULTIPLIED FOOD RESOURCES!

OUR TRUE WISDOM and POWER TO CREATE EXCEEDINGLY GREAT WEALTH IS IN THE REALM OF RESURRECTION!

OUR TRUE ABILITY TO DO GREAT EXPLOITS and GREATER WORKS IS IN THE REALM OF RESURRECTION!

OUR TRUE SATISFACTION, CONTENTMENT and FULFILMENT ARE IN THE REALM OF RESURRECTION!

IN HIS RESURRECTION WE LIVE AND MOVE!  AMEN!

DECLARE ALOUD WITH ME.....

YAHUSHUA CHRIST IS MY RESURRECTION and LIFE!!!!!

YAHUSHUA CHRIST IS RESURRECTED IN MY LIFE and AS MY LIFE TODAY!!!!!

I WAS BORN AGAIN BY HIS RESURRECTION POWER and THE SPIRIT OF RESURRECTION NOW ABIDES IN ME!

I AM ONE WITH THE SPIRIT OF RESURRECTION THAT RAISED MASHIYAH FROM AMONG THE DEAD!!!!!

I AM QUICKENED BY THE SPIRIT OF RESURRECTION!

I ABIDE IN THE REALM OF RESURRECTION IN WHICH THERE IS NO DEATH, DARKNESS, DEFEAT, DISEASE, DEMONIC PROBLEM, DEBT, DEFICIENCY, DIVORCE, DISCOURAGEMENT, DECEPTION, DISAPPOINTMENT, DISTRESS, DELAY, DECAY OR DESTRUCTION!

I LIVE, MOVE and HAVE MY GLORIOUS and WONDERFUL BEING IN THE REALM OF RESURRECTION!

I AM RESURRECTION-CONSCIOUS!!!!!

I AM SOAKED and SATURATED WITH RESURRECTION LIFE, POWER and GLORY!!!!!

I THINK RESURRECTION!!!!!

I MEDITATE RESURRECTION!!!!!

I BREATHE RESURRECTION!!!!!

I SPEAK RESURRECTION - THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK ARE RESURRECTION LIFE and SPIRIT!!!!!

I LIVE PROPHETICALLY, POWERFULLY, PURPOSEFULLY, PRODUCTIVELY and PROSPEROUSLY BY THE TORAH OF THE SPIRIT OF RESURRECTION LIFE!!!!!

I PROPHESY RESURRECTION!!!!!

I REJOICE IN RESURRECTION!!!

I RELEASE RESURRECTION!!!!!

I MANIFEST and MINISTER RESURRECTION!

I BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF RESURRECTION!

 





Thursday, March 6, 2025

THE LAODICEANS CHURCH



THE LAODICEANS CHURCH

Introduction:  The church of Laodicea was located 100 miles east of coastal Ephesus.  Laodicea was situated along a well travelled trade route. The strategic position made the city an extremely prosperous venue for commercial, financial and medical trades of the day.  All those are good but of no spiritual values in Christ.

Laodicea was an extremely wealthy city, being renowned for its banking establishments, for its medical schools that specialized in an ointment to cure certain eye afflictions and for a luxurious clothing from the wool of its sheep flocks. A city and a church that was very self-confident and self-sufficient.

A)  The Lukewarm Church

Rev. 3:15-16 – “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.”  KJV

The Lord says the believers in Laodicean church is neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. The church was lukewarm. They lacked fervor and passion. There was no burning zeal for souls, nor a desire to press on in God for perfection. The Lord says that He is going to vomit them out of His mouth. He despises Christians that are halfhearted and non-committed and living on the perimeter. The Lord wants every believer to be fervent and totally committed to Him.

B)  The Spiritual Blind Church

 Rev. 3:17 – “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”

The church was very proud and self-confident. They were indeed rich and increased with goods, naturally and financially. However, they lacked the true riches of Jesus Christ as they were spiritually poor, blind and naked.

The church that is lukewarm needs gold, white garments and eye salves from God in Revelation 3:18

C)  The Lukewarm Church Need  Jesus – Rev. 3:17-18

17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

Revelation 3:19-22

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.’22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

D) The Lukewarm Church needs three things from God:

1. BUY GOLD REFINED IN THE FIRE

a) Our Working Faith is likened to Gold - 1 Peter 1:6-7 -  (NASB)

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

b) Build up Your Most Holy Faith - JUDE vs. 17-21

Maintain Your Life with God  20 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

c) Come, Buy and Drink!

Isaiah 55:1, 2 - “Come, all of you who thirst, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost!

2 Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.

2. BUY WHITE GARMENTS ITS FREE

The Lord Jesus told them the Laodecian believers that they were naked spiritually and recommended them to buy white garments from Him. What are these white garments? The Word of God answers in the book of Revelation when it tells us about the great crowd that the Apostle John saw in heaven:

King James Bible – Rev. 19:8
“And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. (Revelation 7:9-16) (NASB)

White garments are the ornaments of the saints and they are WHITE because they were washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb who is Jesus Christ. This is what the Lord Jesus required from the saints in Laodicea – to wash their garments in His blood and whiten them.

b) Believe in Christ  Righteousness Philippians 3:8-10  -  (NKJV)

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,”

3. ANOINT EYES WITH EYESALVE

a) How to anoint our eyes with eye salve that we may see? To see we need “eye salve” to “open our spiritual eyes”

Although Laodicea were producing the best eye salve in antiquity, the inhabitants of Laodicea, and especially those who considered themselves Christians, were blind when looking at their spiritual state. Therefore, the Lord Jesus tells them to buy eye salve from Him to see their spiritual state. The Word of God is this eye salve, as David wrote in the book of Psalms:

i)             Psalms 19:8 - “the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (NASB) 

ii)            EPHESIANS 1:18  New King James Version
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,”

     iii)    Proverbs 20:12   KJV
           “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made             even both of them.”

b) The Purpose of Jesus' Parables
…13 That  is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ 14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’…Berean Study Bible  -  MATT. 13:14

D) The Church Must Repent

Rev. 3:19 – “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

The Lord chasten those whom He loves. True love tells people when they are wrong, hoping that they will see the truth and change.

E) WHAT IS OUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION?

1) How much do you care about your living with God? How much time do you invest for each of them? Are you satisfied with your Christian faith? A man who is poor in spirit will never be satisfied with his spiritual condition and he wants more of God.

Cry for your faith to be perfected, your white garments be kept white and see with the “Seeing eye” and with the seven Spirit of God in Isaiah 11:2. 

2) The LORD is desiring to open our spiritual eyes MORE and MORE as He gives unto us the Spirit of Wisdom and the Spirit of Revelation  (Ephesians 1:17). He desires to give us the 7 Spirits of God in Isaiah 11:2.  Many will begin to SEE and have VISIONS like never before in the last days.

ALTAR CALL:

Let us repent of our lukewarm-ness and carelessness. Let us ask God for the fire of the Spirit to consume us so that we can be hot and vibrant for the Lord in serving Him.  Let Him cloth us with righteousness and anoint our eyes with eye salve that we may see. Let our faith be strong and faithful in these end times.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

THE DIVINE HELPER – Psalm 46:1


1. A Past Helper – “Thou hast been my help” – Psalms 63:7

2. A Present Helper – “a very present help in trouble” – Heb. 13:6

3. A Powerful Helper – “I have laid help upon One that is mighty”

                                    -  Psa. 89:19

4. A Protecting Helper – “The Lord God will help thee” – Isa. 50:7,9

5. A Precious Helper –“I will help thee” – Isa 41:10,13,14

6. A Providing Helper – “the Helper of the fatherless” – Psa. 10:14

7. A Perpetual Helper – “The God of Jeshurun  is thy help”

                                        – Deut. 33:26   

If we can say “the Lord is my Helper,” we can also declare, “I will not fear” – Heb. 13:6

1.   In perplexity, He is our Help to direct, as He did to Eliezer – (Gen. 24:12,42).

2.   In poverty, He is our Help to provide, as He did to Elijah         (1 Kings 27:5,6)

3.   In sickness, He is our Help to strengthen, as He did to Paul –    (2 Cor. 12:9)

4.   In bereavement, He is our Help to console, as He did to the sisters of Bethany  (John 11:25)

5.   In discouragement, He is our Help to stimulate, as He did to Joshua (Josh. 1:6-9)

6.   In disappointment, He is our help to remind us that all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28)

7.   In difficulty, He is our Help to say to us, “Fear not.. I will help thee   (Isa. 12:10)  (500 Bible Study Outline) FE Marsh


A Paraclete (Holy Spirit) Who Help us to Pray - Romans 8:26, 27.

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

The Holy Spirit help us as we do not know how to pray but He prays through us in intercession for the saints to the will of God.

We allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives in all things.  He is our Helper. The Holy Spirit's role is to seal believers' salvation, reveal God's thoughts, and teach and guide believers. He fills believers with strength and wisdom, intercedes for them, and gives spiritual gifts. As He dwells inside each believer, He fulfil various roles and functions. He gives life and makes us new.

May the power of God, Jesus love and the Holy Spirit give you an abundant grace daily to serve the Lord. Amen.




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Friday, October 4, 2024

SPIRITUAL INTIMACY WITH GOD

 

SPIRITUAL INTIMACY WITH GOD - Song of Solomon 4:12-16 

12 A garden enclosed Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed.

13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits, Fragrant henna with spikenard,

14 Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all the chief spices--

15 A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon.

16 The Shulamite Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits.

Introduction:

Ø  The book of Solomon is not only his romantic love life with his bride but it’s a spiritual book between Jesus – The Beloved and the Church – the Shulamite woman.

Ø  Jesus our lover wants to visit our garden if you want Him to.  In book of Songs of Solomon 4:12 – it mentioned of a garden enclosed .. Is my spouse and is a spring and a fountain sealed.

Ø  God wants to be involved in everything we do. He wants us to fellowship with Him, which means communicating with Him throughout our day just like we do with someone who’s our close friend or family member.

Ø  Knowing God loves us, loving Him, spending time with Him, and being grateful for what He’s done and is doing in our lives can help us have a real relationship with Him.  God want you to be still and know He is your Beloved lover.

1. The Garden Barred  - (Song of Sol. 4:12)

“You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed (shut up) fountain.” NIV.

a) A Barred Garden - Song of Sol. 4:12-16

A garden barred but not barren, blown upon but with nothing overblown, a Garden beautified and its Owner satisfied. The Garden Barred against the world’s influences against every kind of impurity against every wind of heresy.

We are living in this dark and evil world controlled by the enemies.  There are many temptations and evil trying to get into our garden. They would plant seeds of death, sickness and pain and hurts into our soil.  So as believers we need to locked against all the world evil influences   Against impurity and every wind of doctrine that is false.  We are a sealed fountain for the Lord only.  Our lives are totally for the Lord not polluted with the world things and thoughts. 

The bible says “Love not this world  - 1 John 2:15,16 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

2. The Garden Has Fresh Fruits

a. It has::

Ø  Perennial Freshness in itself – 4:12, 15           

Ø  Pleasant Fruits for the Owner - 4:13           

Ø  Perpetual Fragrance for all - 4:14

b. Psalms 92:14-15  (NKJV)

They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”    People of the world will come and be attracted to your spiritual garden of the Lord.  You can witness to them that the Lord is good and righteous. He is the Rock of my Salvation.  He is a Holy and Righteous God.

3. The Garden Under the Spirit’s Breath - (Song of Sol 4:16)

The Prayer is “BLOW” THE RESULT IS “FLOW”

“Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out”

a.    The prayer is ‘Blow” the result is “Flow” the fragrance of your life.  Let Him come and eat the pleasant fruits.

You are calling the winds of the Spirit to blow and cause the spice to flow.  Let My Beloved Jesus come and taste the fruits of my love.

Here “my garden” was changed to “His garden” In other words my garden is His garden. The whole garden of our inner lives was for Jesus and so were all its fruits.  The fruits of the Spirit of the believer and the whole garden was under the Spirit’s Breath.  Our gardens need the North wind and the South wind of the Spirit.

b.    This is called Revival in these last days. We cannot flow because there is no blow of the Spirit. So we need the Blow. Hello! Church.

So call on the Spirit of God to blow upon our Gardens (our lives, to our church, cities and nation) when there is a blow there will be a flowing out and there will be spices.  Spices attract people.  For me it’s the grace of God in our ministry.

Gill's Exposition

Spices denote the graces of believers, rare, precious, and odorous; and their "flowing out" the exercise of them, their evidence, increase, and the ripening of them; when they diffuse a sweet odour to Christ and others,

4. The Garden Bring Satisfaction to the Owner - (Song of Sol 5:1)

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk.”  (Song of Sol 5:1)

a) “I Come”

b) ”I Gather”

c)  “I Eat”

d)  “I Drink”

This was the Lord’s garden.  The Lord was not frequented but had come only in response to special invitation. He will come only when there are fruits and spice to satisfy.  The Lord was able to receive all He owns. Eight different times He mentioned here the possessive “MY’ – my sister, my spouse, my myrrh, my spice, my honeycomb, my honey, my wine, my milk!  Lord Jesus came and drink and eat all to His delight and satisfaction.  Just as Jesus found fruits or figs in the fig tree. - Song of Sol 5:1

Jesus here have come to your garden, He gather, He eats and drinks.  When someone eats and drinks with you called that what?  FELLOWSHIP!

Rev. 3:20 – “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” NIV.  Our spiritual life will bring satisfaction to our Lord the Owner of everything. God will be pleased with you in your work and life.

See how ready Christ is to accept the invitations of his people. After Jesus tasted your fruits He invites others – “Friends”

Friends : Jesus is called your friends of the world to eat and drink when he had eat and drink and fill it with love of fragrance.

“Eat, friends, and drink;  drink your fill of love.”  this is powerful Evangelism.  They come to see your fruits and taste it.  Your life and ministry that will fill them with the love of Christ.

5. The Garden Door Was Locked - Song of Sol 5:2-6

“I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking:

“Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one.

My head is drenched with dew,  my hair with the dampness of the night.”

3. I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet—

must I soil them again?”  4 My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him.”

My Beloved Had Left - Song of Sol 5:5-6  (Many believers have been sleeping)

5 I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.

I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone.

 My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him.

 I called him but he did not answer.

Immediate Obedience is the answer here:  God Jesus is knocking on every door of our heart and the key is prompt obedience.

Churches and believers, by carelessness and security, provoke Christ to withdraw. We ought to notice our spiritual slumbers and distempers. Christ knocks to awaken us, knocks by his word and Spirit, knocks by afflictions and by our consciences; thus, Revelation 3:20

 May the Lord be a blessings to us as you fellowship with Him daily!

 

 

Sunday, September 15, 2024

 


INTRODUCTION: The book of Micah declares the Ruler of Israel is eternal and will bring us into his light. The book of Micah declares that there is no one comparable to God because he pardons iniquity, delights in steadfast love, and is unchangeably faithful.

Micah means “who is like Jehovah” or His name means “who is like Yahweh?”

Micah came from the town of Moresheth, located in the foothills of Judah, approximately 25 miles SW of Jerusalem on the border of Judah and Philistia, near Gath.

The book of Micah is to encourage believers to remember that we have received great blessings from the Lord and in return we should live righteously and humbly before Him.

I)             Great Expectations – Micah 6:6-8

God Expects His People to Live Righteous Lives after receiving His blessing.

“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 (NASB)

1.  What is Good?

A. To be like Jehovah – Spiritual Character – Micah 1:1

 “The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.”

 “Hear, you peoples, all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the   Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.”

 B. To do what Jehovah requires of us – Scriptural Principles – Micah 6:8

Vs. 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  (NASB)

C. To do justly – Sincere Uprightness – Micah 6:8

God continues to speak to His people about what we are to do in the face of injustice, exploitation, racism and mistreatment of certain populations. The response of God to Micah is His response to us when we ask what is required of us.

Do justice. Justice is defined as the quality of being just. It is righteousness, equitableness, and moral rightness. To be just is a call to action—not to be silent or complacent when others, especially the most vulnerable, are abused, mistreated, in need, scorned or exploited.  In other words,  holding our community to God's standard.

The Hebrew word sometimes translated as “just” is tsedaqah, which expresses the idea of honesty, justness, and community loyalty. To be biblically righteous is to be biblically just and vice versa.

D. To love mercy – Sympathetic Manners – Micah 6:8

To love mercy is to show “hesed,” covenant faithfulness to one another. Micah 7:18 says God delights to show covenant faithfulness. It’s who He is. Only because He has shown us great mercy can we do the same for others.

As Saint Thomas Aquinas said, “Justice and mercy are so united that the one ought to be mingled with the other; justice without mercy is cruelty; mercy without justice is profusion.”

We should practice justice mercifully. We should practice mercy justly. When we see need, pain, loss, discrimination, bias, fear, or wrongdoing we should respond with mercy, as God has shown us mercy.

E. To walk humbly with our God – Saintly Communion – Micah 6:8

We humbly ask the Lord to help us, empower us, lead us, equip us. It will never be easy, especially on the road to reconciliation but it is the road God calls us to walk.

Therefore, Micah 6:8 is a call to listen to God, to do justice from hearts of mercy and compassion, marked by the humility of Christ.

It affirms graciousness, civility, respect, submission to biblical instructions among other traits—all of which are manifestations of lives shaped by walking with humility before God.

May God bless you greatly as you serve Him daily.

Friday, August 30, 2024

 

THE MINISTRY OF ELIJAH  -  James 5:17; 1 Kings 17

1)   ELIJAH’S EARLY LIFE AND UPBRINGING

He is described as Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, and as his name means “God is my strength”, this may indicate that he had godly parents. We can be sure, however, that God had been preparing him all through his early years. Elijah was the man God chose for those critical times.

2)   ELIJAH LIVED IN A DAY OF SPIRITUAL DECLENSION AND APOSTASY

A succession of seven wicked kings had reigned over Israel: (1) Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28-33); (2) Nadab (15:25-26); (3) Baasha (15:27-28); (4) Elah, a drunkard and a murderer (16:8-9); (5) Zimri, guilty of treason (16:20); (6) Omri (16:25-26); and (7) Ahab (16:28-33), with whom must be linked his notoriously wicked wife Jezebel.

Worship of the true God had all but ceased; Baal-worship had become the national religion. Only 7000 Israelites remained true in heart to the Lord, and these were fearful and had hidden their testimony (1 Kings 19:18). A floodtide of idolatry, superstition and evil had overwhelmed the nation; never had God’s favoured nation sunk so low spiritually and morally.

3)   ELIJAH WAS A MAN JUST LIKE OURSELVES

We tend to regard men like Elijah, Moses, Daniel and the other O.T. ‘heroes’ as men who walked on heights inaccessible to us. But who was Elijah? James 5:17 tells us: a man with a nature just like yours and mine. A man not an angel - a man who at one point failed badly. A great man but no different from ourselves. Elijah is just an ordinary man like us.

  1. A Man of Passion – James 5:17
  2. A Man of Prayer – 1 Kings 17:20; James 5:17
  3. A Man of Power – 2 Kings 2:14,15
  4. A Man of Patience – 1 Kings 17:5-7
  5. A Man Protected by God – 1 Kings 18:10

Friday, August 16, 2024

 

The Life and Ministry of Hosea 

Hosea is a prophet whom God uses to portray a message of repentance to God's people. Through Hosea's marriage to Gomer, God shows his great love for his great people, comparing himself to a husband whose wife has committed adultery, using this image as a metaphor for the covenant between God and Israel.

God has a future for us, a plan for us - a plan to bless us in his Son, represented by the prophet Hosea, whose very name means salvation. God’s plan is to bring us home and transform us from rebels and sinners to saints. That is why God sent his Son Jesus Christ and that is what the Christmas season is all about: God sent his Son to seek us and redeem us from the marketplace of slavery.

God has a plan to forgive all your sins. God has a plan to heal you and to love and bless you freely. That plan is found in this fourteenth chapter of the book of Hosea. It is God’s plan –his only plan to save humanity through his Gracious Love.

God loves you because He loves you, because He loves you (100 times).  His love for you is perfect 100%.  He loves you all the way all the time.  God never stops loving you.

A)   WORDS OF CONFESSION TO GOD

Take with you: -

1.   Words of Repentance – “Take away all iniquity” – Hosea14:2

2.   Words of Faith – “In Thee the fatherless find mercy” – Hosea 14:3

3.   Words of Entreaty – “Receive us graciously” – Hosea 14:2

4.   Words of Praise – “we will offer the sacrifices of our lips” – Hosea 14:2  

B)   GOD’S WORDS OF PROMISES – “I WILL” three times

1.   The Goodness of God’s Activity -  “I will heal their backsliding” – Hos. 14:4

2.   The Graciousness of God’s Attitude – “I will love them freely” – Hos. 14:4

3.   The Gentleness of God’s Approach – “I will be as the dew to Israel – Hos. 14:5 

1.   Here is a promise we can bank on, count on, depend on, trust in and believe on: “I will heal their waywardness.”

We find the same promise in Jeremiah 3:22: “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” God promises to forgive all our sins and cure our perversity, to make us lovers of God and seekers after righteousness.

2.   “I will love them freely.”” The second blessing is God’s promise to love us freely. In Hosea 11:8-9 we see mention of God’s great love for his people: ”

What is the measurement of this great love of God? It is like an ocean we only dip our feet into the water on the beach. We have not discover the depths of His Rivers of Gracious Love.

3.   “I will be like the dew to Israel.” What do we need in the desert of this world? Water. Here God promises, “I will be like the dew to Israel.” Without water we wither and perish, but when God nourishes us, we will flourish. We will be like watered gardens fresh and flourishing.

In Deuteronomy 32:1-2 we read, “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.”

May the Lord bless you and His Goodness and Mercy follows you all the days of your life and family. Amen.