Calvary Temple

Have you ever felt the need to present your evidence in God’s courtroom of prayer? King Hezekiah did in II Kings 18-19, when Sennacherib, the wicked king of Assyria and his even more wicked cup bearer, Rabshakeh, came against him to seize the throne in Judah. They brought railing taunts and blasphemies against the Lord God of Israel, so Hezekiah took it to prayer, calling out their crimes and presented all the evidence before God. God heard Hezekiah and confirmed with signs that He would indeed, deliver Judah from the enemy. God sent a death angel and in one night, when the death angel was finished there were 185,000 corpses in the streets and the king and cupbearer were dead. God knows where the enemy’s abode is, and where he comes in and goes out and He’s well able to judge the matter on our behalf. We mustn't hesitate to be specific about the “crime,” and spread the evidence before Him.

Genesis Chapter 6 paints a very bleak picture of how evil man had become in such a short time from creation. The Bible says that every thought was continually evil. Yet, in the midst of all that debauchery, there was a man who was pure in heart and walked with God. Noah was that man and that’s why God chose him to build the ark, to sustain the flood and repopulate the earth. Sometimes we might become overwhelmed with the conditions in which we live today. But. like Noah, if we remain pure in heart and walk with God we, too, will find the grace in the eyes of the Lord to sustain us through the evils of this present world and not only that, but also be equipped to live with Him in eternity. In addition, we address recent 'revelations' in congress and in the media regarding aliens and UFOs -- from a bible-based, Christian perspective.

Have you ever wondered why, and how you ended up here on earth? In Genesis 1:26 God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and He created male and female; and then God BLESSED them, charged them to be fruitful, and gave them dominion over every living thing that moved upon the earth. There’s how. Wise King Soloman said in Ecclesiastes 7:29 But this one thing I’ve found, God created man to be virtuous. In John 15:16, Jesus said, I appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain; and that you would love one another. There’s why. He created us to be virtuous, blessed us with all good things, and made us fruitful, both physically and spiritually. How and why.

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.  Acts 6:8.  Stephen was used powerfully by God in the demonstration of miracles and in preaching the Word of God.  But, yet, evil men took his life for his good deeds. So, where is the hope in this message? It is in this: that even as these evil-doers were stoning Stephen to death, he looked into Heaven and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, waiting to receive his spirit into everlasting life.  He kept his eyes locked upon Jesus, and even prayed for his tormentors.  We may face some impossible situations in life, but by faith, we must keep our eyes steadfastly upon Him.

Have you ever had an encounter with God?  Isaiah saw the Lord, high and lifted up in the Temple and he felt overwhelmed and unholy in the presence of a Holy God.  Moses had an encounter with God when God called him from the burning bush and charged him with leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and he felt incapable. Jacob physically wrestled with God for his blessing, and he was left with a permanent physical mark from the encounter.  God wants to have encounters with us but we must guard our minds from outside noise and influences, protect our time and keep our ears tuned and listening, if we want to encounter God.

In II Kings 20 we read of the plight of King Hezekiah. In the space of three verses, King Hezekiah was going to die; so then he prayed, and then God reversed his plan and gave King Hezekiah another 15 years of life, and he healed him using a poultice of figs. Life is truly fragile and our days are numbered by the Lord. Should we be fearful then? Bible tells us that men’s days are like grass; only a fleeting time on this earth. But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. God has given us understanding that we will live again—if we are in Him, meaning if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Men are as grass, but our lives are safely held in His hands.

In the book of Exodus 33 God told Moses to set up a tent of meeting outside the camp of the Children of Israel for them to meet together. All the people watched as Moses entered the tent, where the visible cloud of God was present over the entrance. Moses' protégé and successor, Joshua, also went to the tent of meeting with Moses, but verse 11 tells us that when Moses returned to the camp, Joshua stayed in the tent of meeting and wouldn’t leave. Later on, when God’s plan for Joshua was made clear, those extended times in the tent of meeting is what had prepared Joshua for the task God set before him. I want to cultivate a habit of staying in the tent of meeting with God, even when others have left.

A great book for married couples to read is The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. It helps us to understand what our spouse needs from us in order for them to feel loved. For some, it’s to receive small gifts and remembrances. For others, it’s acts of service that make them feel loved. God has put his love language in each of our hearts. With it, the Bible says we are sealed to him until the day of our redemption. We can always know that He loves us, by his Word, his abiding presence and his promises which are everlasting.

Although we don’t have a lot of insight from scripture about the relationship between Father God and Jesus the Son, before Jesus left his Father’s presence in heaven and came to earth as our Savior.  But we do know that their exclusive relationship was based on love and trust.  Everything Jesus said, did and taught was from the perspective of the Father, and everything Jesus had, including those souls who would believe in Him, were given Him by the Father.  Jesus teaches us in the Matthew 6 model of prayer to pray to OUR Father, Who Is in Heaven.  I’m so thankful that I have been given the identity of sonship and therefore, I can call him Father by virtue of believing in the Son.  Hebrews 11:6 teaches us that those who come to the Father must believe that He is, and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

In Matthew 16 Jesus told Peter and Andrew, to follow Him and they left their fishing nets full of fish and immediately followed after Jesus in his earthly ministry.  Jesus told the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, to sell his possessions, give to the poor and then come follow Him, but he was too attached to his money and couldn’t part with it. Have you considered where you are on the path to following Jesus?  Are you willing to forsake all and renounce all lesser loyalties to follow Him?  It’s what is required of true followers.

Psalm 42 describes the Psalmist’s strong thirst for the Lord. He had once known the safe place and refreshment from being in the presence of God, but now because his enemies were pursuing him and he couldn’t feel God and that caused him to question, where was his God? In Psalm 73, David saw the prosperity of the unrighteous, and he asked the same question…where was God? But, he found the answer when he went into the sanctuary of the Lord! And once again, in Psalm 77, He found that precious refreshing in the sanctuary of God. Whether our thirst comes from being pursued by ‘enemies,’ or from being separated from God by our own feelings, or seeing the prosperity of the wicked, we will find Him when we come into his sanctuary.

Sometimes, learning new things can be really confusing, especially when the beloved, familiar old ways are so different. That’s how the Jews felt about the New Covenant, Jesus Christ. And the Gentiles weren’t much better! Instead of turning away from their worship of idols, they tried to worship the messengers of the New Covenant. The Gospel of the New Covenant is not hard. Disciple James put it in easy to understand terms. Stay away from idols and all things related to them. Stay away from blood, and things which have been strangled; remain sexually pure and BELIEVE the message and you will do well. The same goes for us. Believe, stay away from sinful things and we will do well. See "The Biblical Covenants of God" referenced in this sermon here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvvey71pfy0

In Genesis 48, the Holy Spirit directed Joseph to take his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim with him to visit their grandfather, Jacob, one last time before his death. Although tradition would dictate that Manasseh, the elder son, would receive the blessing of Jacob and the greater portion of the inheritance, God had a different plan. Thank God, that we too, as believers in Christ, though we were also undeserving of the blessing of sonship and the inheritance of eternal life, God also had a better plan for us, see Hebrews 11:40. He adopted us into his family and gave us the blessing and birthright in Christ Jesus that we didn’t deserve!

Sometimes, promises fulfilled are a long time coming! This was true for Sarah and Abraham. Even though God had promised Abraham that his seed would number as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore, Sarah was 99 years old when she finally conceived their only son, Isaac. The same was true for Isaac's wife, Rebekah. Though Isaac loved Rebekah from the moment he saw her, and though she had received an incredible prophetic word that she would be the mother of thousands of millions, the fact is that she remained barren for their first 20 years of marriage. Maybe you’ve been in a long waiting pattern to see God's promises fulfilled, too. But, just like Sarah and Rebekah, you can also trust that God’s word is always faithful.

In II Corinthians 2, the Apostle Paul is discussing the necessity of forgiveness of a brother in Christ who had fallen into sin, so that the man can be restored back to fellowship with the church and thereby, not lose hope of eternal life with Christ and the saints. But, then Paul also points out that the body of Christ must be held to the responsibility of forgiving and restoring the man. So, forgiveness works both ways; to the benefit of the one being forgiven so they won't become despondent and lose hope, and to the ones doing the forgiving, in being obedient to Christ. And, if we succeed, Verse 14 tells us that our lives will be a Christ-like fragrance both to God and to those who are being forgiven. It's time for the church to do a smell-check.

In Numbers 11:10-17 Moses tells God that the job of caring for all those people was just too big for one man and that he needed help, and God agreed! So, God anointed 70 men with a measure of the same spirit of God which Moses had, to enable them to prophecy and take care of the people’s spiritual needs. This eased the burden for Moses, whom God called a friend, and allowed him to be the one with whom God would meet face-to-face. When Jesus was baptized with the Holy Spirit in the book of John, the Bible says that His baptism was “without measure.” And, praise God for his many blessings to us, because in Galations 3:14 we read that we have received the same blessing as Abraham was given, which is also immeasurable. Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, with rivers of living water pouring forth from our spirits, an unlimited measure for us!

As mature Christians, we must recognize that some Kingdom principles are paradoxical. On the one hand, the Psalmist David wrote in Psalm 103:3 that God heals all our diseases. But, in II Corinthians 12:9, when the Apostle Paul prayed three times for healing, the Lord's response was that His grace is sufficient and that His power works best in our weaknesses! It's certainly in accordance with scripture to continually ask in faith for all of our needs, but it's also scriptural to endure the meantime with patience, so that Christ’s strength and power can be shown through our weakness.

This message is very different from the norm and includes a prophetic dream.  The three things to take away from this message; 1) The written Word of God is alive and stands on its own meaning and merit, whether or not additional commentary is included! 2)  God will often give dreams as warnings, teachings, or some other insight. I believe this one is prophetic in that we must be ready and willing because we may be called upon to deal with evil spirits in church. 3). Even when we don’t want to comply with what God has set before us,  it’s definitely best to let Him have his way with us.

The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 5:7-8 that, just as God told the Israelites to purge their homes of leaven, which represents sin, and to put the blood of a lamb over their doorposts so the death angel would pass over them, the church must also purge herself of sin, and even remove members who practice sinful behavior, because there was no room for sin under the blood of Christ. At this time of year, we acknowledge and mourn the excruciating death of Jesus on the cross and we thank Him for shedding that redeeming blood for our salvation.  But the power of the resurrection is what gives us hope that we, too, will be resurrected in Christ.  In I Corinthians 15:20 Paul declared to those who didn’t believe the resurrection was real, “But in Fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.  V23, But, there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest—then all who belong to Christ will be raised when

The Bible records three people whom Jesus raised from the dead.  These were amazing miracles that caught the attention of many, many people and caused them to believe in Jesus. Jesus had the power over death because He was divine, fully God in the flesh.  But also, these miracles demonstrate Jesus’ humanity, in the love and compassion He had for the families who were grieving the loss of their loved ones. These miracles give us such hope and confidence in that day when a mass resurrection will take place, the rapture of believers.  The saints of God who’ve  died in Christ, will be raised in heavenly bodies, and those who are alive at the time, will be lifted from this earth and in a moment will be changed from mortal to immortal, to be forever with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the raiser of the dead.