The Housetop: Recent Episodes
Teryl & Diane Hebert
Welcome to The Housetop Podcast, the teaching arm of Oikos Ministries.
Jesus said, “Jesus said, “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.”
Join our host, Teryl Hebert, as he teaches God's Word.
For more information on Oikos Ministries, visit us on our website: www.HouseChurchesUSA.com
YouTube Link - https://youtu.be/lGEte_JYkpY
Rumble Link - https://rumble.com/v6zwziw-157-the-lost-sheep-of-the-church.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/cSdrFEZaqJ8
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6zl1n6-156-the-beginning-of-creation-9-reconciling-reprobates.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/-BWY3gBXdGQ
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6zdt0c-155-the-beginning-of-creation-8-maintaining-marriage-part-5.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/xbYlgA7CoHo
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6z3m56-154-the-beginning-of-creation-7-maintaining-marriage-part-4.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/jclooXbQrKw
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6ymymo-153-the-beginning-of-creation-6-maintaining-marriage-part-3.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/oNiQmH2PKKU?si=AFu9SlHf3SttCBJu
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6y8qia-151-the-beginning-of-creation-5-maintaining-marriage-part-2.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/LTJPcMDrbis?si=q5P9CK12bRNbXQ_3
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6y8q3y-150-the-beginning-of-creation-4-maintaining-marriage-part-1.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/jvtwO922Xd8
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6xrudi-149-seven-letters-part-13-the-beginning-of-the-creation-of-god-christ-the-c.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/VMjniBlhocQ
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6xj10s-148-seven-letters-part-12-the-beginning-of-the-creation-of-god-creation-of-.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/x_cgl_08fn4
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6x59sk-147-seven-letters-part-11-the-beginning-of-the-creation-of-god-christ-the-c.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/RI5ZQTlAadM
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6wi6rg-146-seven-letters-part-10-jesus-letters-to-the-churches.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/MjTItB9B1bo
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6w3gfw-145-seven-letters-part-9-jesus-letters-to-the-churches-philadelphia.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/sqJSHdvyEG4
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6w0fo4-144-seven-letters-part-8-jesus-letters-to-the-churches-sardis.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/cQYeMFkholM
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6vlkdz-143-seven-letters-part-7-jesus-letters-to-the-churches-thyatira-part-2.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/9w6VBHQAodw
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6v9qk3-141-seven-letters-part-5-jesus-letters-to-the-churches-pergamum.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/FBQTGxuxwSc
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6uvtoh-141-seven-letters-part-5-jesus-letters-to-the-churches-pergamos.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/nMu4TtUcyIs
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6uvsvz-140-seven-letters-part-4-jesus-letters-to-the-churches-smyrna.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/3mc-7zlET7Y
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6tvgkp-139-seven-letters-part-3-jesus-letters-to-the-churches.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/p1P9nNnoME0
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6tlwl9-138-seven-letters-part-2-jesus-letters-to-the-churches.html
YouTube Link: hhttps://youtu.be/q86muc6PGs4?si=QJRrxelsWZu2bgDl
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6tlwdv-137-seven-letters-part-1-jesus-letters-to-the-churches.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/0V8Xy792mfQ
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6s0rwh-doctrines-40.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/iCQrOC7eAkQ
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6s0qlx-doctrines-39.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/1pO49fIGIz0
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6s0pqt-doctrines-38.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/kLzgy5nEBws
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6s0p1b-doctrines-37-youtube.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/9XE707RKZaA
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6s0rwh-doctrines-40.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/VnVRiM4ViNQ
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6qjvva-doctrines-35.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/k5DXbPKwIAc
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6iw3jd-doctrines-32.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/EM7opIzIM98
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v6ehapy-doctrines-31.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/23lFEoopYEk
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v69vr7g-doctrines-30.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/_vKPtx4bRtY
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v5xexhn-123-the-doctrines-of-christ-part-27.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/q0djYjG2o3w
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v5zo1wn-doctrines-part-28.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/VjLAF6mz3vI
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v5xexhn-123-the-doctrines-of-christ-part-27.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/2zZbbxXUEF4
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v5rqru5-121-the-doctrines-of-christ-part-25-laying-on-of-hands-part-3.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/D6X8lve-Q5U
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v5ko9bx-doctrines-24.html
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/qQwtvDpP1CU
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v5ko41h-doctrines-23.html
118 - The Doctrines of Christ, Part 22, "Baptism into Christ's Suffering: Baptism of Fire"
114 - The Doctrines of Christ, Part 18, "Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The Power of the Spirit"
112 - The Doctrines of Christ, Part 17, "Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The Produce of the Spirit"
111 - The Doctrines of Christ, Part 16, "Baptism in Christ's Spirit: Proof of the Spirit"
110 - The Doctrines of Christ, Part 15, "Baptism in Christ's Spirit: The Person of the Holy Spirit, Part 2"
109 - The Doctrines of Christ, Part 14, "Baptism in Christ's Spirit: The Person of the Holy Spirit, Part 1"
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/lq2JrtNC6IQ
Rumble Link: #106 - The Doctrines of Christ, Part 11, "Baptism: Into Christ's Name (Identity)" (rumble.com)
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/7A1J-BDKkTQ
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v56ckuu-105-the-doctrines-of-christ-part-10-baptism-into-christs-mind.html
98 - The Doctrines of Christ, Part 3, "The Foundation of Repentance from Dead Works - Part 2"
It was once the common understanding that once a person was discipled, they would be able to take what they had received and give it to another. This is how the church functioned. Faithful men would teach faithful men.
But today there is a difficulty bringing people to maturity. Many are in perpetual spiritual infancy and never grow up or bear fruit. Those who have been in the Lord for years seem to never advance in their spiritual growth.
If we have received, then why can't we give? Or the real question might be why won't we give? We need to be a good steward to what God reveals.
In this series, we will make sure our foundation is proper as we learn the principles of the doctrines of Christ. It's time to dig deep.
We have to awaken to the idea that we are in a spiritual war. We are not wrestling against flesh and blood. We are fighting demonic entities that have usurped godly creations, and we cannot fight in the spiritual arena with carnal means.
It's time to open our eyes to the spiritual forces around us. We are in a spiritual conquest and there’s a battle raging for our souls. It’s time to get full of the Holy Ghost and fight like you're going to win.
We are victors when we are fully dressed in the whole armor of God.
The devil is a real adversary and foe who is after your soul. He's doing everything to mess you up, thwart your efforts, ruin your witness, and make you blaspheme. Our human strength is no match for the demonic. This is a reality of the Christian walk.
When we face the enemy, we are to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Our strength will fail but God will never fail.
As a Christian, you will experience spiritual warfare. God is readying and preparing us, but we have some duty in putting on His armor. We must make sure we do our diligence to sink into the armor of God so that we have the divine protection we need for battle.
God is greater than any adversary that we will ever meet. In Christ, we are well able to stand. We need to let our inner man agree with that, rise up, and stand in victory.
Christ has called us to servanthood. We should serve others like we are serving the Lord. Our jobs can be seen as the mission field as we aim to reflect His glory well wherever we go. Even in the workplace, we can make a difference and be witness and a real testimony for Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ was known as a servant. He served everyone He came in contact with. The Spirit of God will not rest on our pride and spirit of independence. It is vital we keep a right spirit.
When we become servants of the Lord, we must walk in a certain humility, knowing who and what we are. We are people under mercy. We were granted mercy and given a new opportunity. We need to treat others the same way.
As a Christian worker, we must ask ourselves whether we work with sincerity of heart or grumble and complain. It is the will of God we serve with gladness.
Christians should make peace and be the ones who up the morale and the atmosphere of the work environment with our good attitude. God has called us to a good work, and the first part of that good work is to shine His character.
The family is under unprecedented attack. We must look at the warfare going on in the family, and in particular in regard to our children. We must train our children and help them navigate through these perilous times that we live in right now. It takes hard work.
It’s time for Christians to really take to heart the stewardship God has given us in our children. We have responsibilities and duties to our children as their parents to raise them, instill Christian value, and do everything we know how to bring our children to Christ.
We've lost all Christian conviction about covenant because blood covenant is not appropriately taught from the pulpit. We need to understand, in the Christian home, that we are first submitted to Jesus Christ through a blood covenant. Then also, through a blood covenant, we are connected to our spouse.
Both of these relationships are nurtured through communication. When we keep our hearts soft before the Lord, we can keep our relationships intact. Marriage vows should not be taken flippantly.
Why doesn't our Christianity translate into good relationships? If there's any place the love of Christ should show up it's in our home.
God wants to bring peace into our home through divine order once we are first mutually submitted to Jesus Christ. When we have a true spiritual covenant with God, we have forsaken all others. We belong to Christ - us in Him and Him in us. This is the unity of faith, and we should see the same devotion in the covenant of marriage.
Come to Christ, come through the cross, die to who you were, get a new life, be born again, and then the Spirit of Christ will reside in your heart and the Spirit of grace will lift you up in a higher law than sin and death. It’s called the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
We are under a higher law. He didn’t lower it. He raised it above human reach. He put it out of the capacity of human ability and in divine ability. The Spirit of grace is there to empower us to live out what Christ wants us to do.
Grace is not a crutch to live subpar to where Christ calls us to be.
We are in a new covenant made in the blood of Jesus Christ. We are the temple of the living God and the Spirit of God moves in us. There’s a light shining in us and it’s the character that comes from the new birth as we become partakers of divine nature. We become the light of the world.
Some of you need to hear this, awake, and rise from the dead and God will give you light.
The book of Ephesians is filled with the word walk. Our walk is our manner of life. It is the way we live.
We are to walk worthy of the calling. There should be a lifestyle change that aligns to what God has called us to. It is not that we walk in a rigidity of commandment or a lifestyle cleanup, but we are to walk in the love of God.
The gospel should affect the way we live our lives. This is the new birth as God the Creator makes us new. The divine power of God comes into us; and as the old man comes off, the new man comes in.
In the salvation of God, He has foreordained that we would be recreated in Christ Jesus for a good work. The good work is for us to walk in this physical body in this present age in a way that manifests the Spirit of Christ. It's the greatest work that can be done. We are to walk in the full transfiguration of Christ Jesus and affect everyone around because of the power of God that is upon us.
Every one of us in Christ has been given a measure of Christ’s gifts. Jesus Christ Himself gifted men to be gifts to men. These ministry gifts are to equip the ministry; however, they are the biggest things tradition stole from everyone.
This demonic thief of tradition steals the priesthood of every believer. It is a grief that we have taken these gifts and squeezed them down to one thing: Pastor. It is a detriment to the gospel that all the church be in the hands of pastors.
The paradigm is shifting back to an apostolic model with relational ministry led by the Holy Ghost. We need a fresh wave of powerful apostles and prophets who will set the foundations properly of Spirit and truth. Spirit and truth must come together in the very foundation of Jesus Christ in these New Testament churches.
The measure God wants us to walk in is fullness. It is the absolute goal and aim in the Christian walk to be filled with Christ. Let’s be a vessel who says, “Empty me out so I can be filled with You.” We are to ask, seek, knock, and persistently pursue a fuller life with the Holy Ghost in us.
There’s been a huge paradigm shift where God no longer dwells in temples made by men. He now dwells in men.
He's building Himself a house, and it’s those He has brought into the new birth and are being intertwined relationally in love. When we come together in that assembled love by the Spirit of God, we become a dwelling place for God. It is there God promises to manifest His presence.
God wants to do a mighty work in this new paradigm. He wants you to come to the mountain alone with Him where He can transfigure you. You are invited to meet with God until He strengthens you with might in your inner man according to the working of His power and He fills you with His glory.
God wants to come into you to save, heal, deliver, and transform you so Christ can live in you. It's all done through faith in His word. Faith pulls this out of heaven into your heart.
Instead of trying to find God in a temple, let Him find you in His temple and change you from the inside out. Hear Him and become the tabernacle of God, a holy sanctuary, where He is pleased to dwell in you.
Rumble Link: https://rumble.com/v4ea3ml-ephesians-12-part-2.html
All throughout the history of the church, every revival has resulted from the Holy Spirit blasting through existing orthodoxy and disrupting the standards and norms that were in control.
We are in this sort of paradigm shift now.
The Holy Spirit is not looking to occupy a physical building. He is wanting to live in the hearts of men. God wants to live inside redeemed vessels. Immanuel in the heart of every soul. That’s the fullness of the gospel.
Currently there‘s a lack of experiential Christianity. We need to encounter the presence of God in a powerful way where we don’t remain the same. We are the tabernacle of God only when He transfigures us through a divine encounter with Him. Where faith comes alive, the Word begins to change you, and your mind is renewed. It’s called repentance.
We must take care to build according to the New Testament pattern. The building blocks of the New Testament are ransomed vessels who have received Christ in such a divine encounter they are transformed, and the Word of God continues to transfigure them throughout their life, so they are conformed to the image of Christ in all of His fullness. And then we are joined together relationally, one to another, and build a community of faith and friendship that the world looks at and knows we are His disciples.
The building of God is not an organization of brick and mortar. It is a living organism, filled with people who are filled with God’s praises, with Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. However, the builders have rejected God’s design and the Chief Cornerstone.
God wanted the New Testament church to be structured relationally, not bureaucratically. Instead of the relational church God intended, many worship in an old paradigm, trying to mimic the Old Testament temple. We must start anew in the true new paradigm, where we are the temple of God.
We are to build carefully according to the pattern that Jesus gave His disciples. God wants to live in the hearts and minds of men, not in physical buildings. We are meant to worship in a relational church, where we are built together in relationships to be a habitation for be Holy Spirit.
There are so many American believers who have gotten disenchanted and fallen out of church. There’s another way. You can have church right there in your homes in the relational structure God intended. If you are sitting out of church, it’s time to get the vision.
Grace is the divine influence upon the heart reflected in the life. It is powerful when God’s grace comes, and there’s a manifestion of it in the life. Many argue that it is either grace or works, but it is actually grace and works. We are not saved by good works, but we are kept by them.
Don’t pervert grace by saying you can live however you want to now and still be saved. It’s a false doctrine. We are predestined to reflect God’s glory on earth and do a good work. He is raising up a people who are zealous about good works and want to do the things that glorify Him.
The commandments have not been done away with. If God’s grace doesn’t empower you to keep His commandments, then you are under a false grace. If you are trying to live in lawless deeds, calling your continued sin liberty and grace, then you are frustrating the true grace of God.
Christ didn’t die so we would keep sinning; He died so we could die with Him. But instead of being dead to sin, we sit in church dead in our sins.
There are many religious seekers of Christ who are still dying in their sins. We have all but eradicated the holiness of God, twisting His glory and truth. Misrepresenting God, we have exalted a humanistic view of His love and seared our conscience towards sin.
We must get our blinders off and look soberly at our sin before a holy God.
There are so many people who have had real encounters with God who have never known the fullness of Jesus Christ in their life. God wants to change you with His fullness inside of you. We are His Church, His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all things. Jesus Christ was filled with grace and truth, and He wants you as full as He is.
We need the fullness today. Why aren’t we pressing in to see the Church filled with the Holy Spirit? A spirit of slumber has rested on the churches. The gospel is way bigger than what we have made it today. It is a powerful gospel that wants to save you: spirit, soul, and body.
God wants to do a work in you and fill you with the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead; and when God fills you with Himself, you cannot be the same.
There is an abundance of God’s Spirit that He wants to fill you with. Some don’t even know to ask for His fullness or to pursue more of the Holy Ghost. We have left so much on the table.
When the eyes of the understanding become enlightened, it means we are able to look at things with our spiritual eyes wide opened. As the knowledge of God revolves in the head, it drops down into the spirit and becomes understanding. The heart sees something that is way deeper than the mind is able to.
In Ephesians, Paul prays for the spirit of understanding in three areas: The hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe.
Join us as Teryl Hebert explores the powerful truths in each area.
Paul prayed for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. The spirit of wisdom implies a continual unfolding of abiding, residing, and living wisdom. This is something we are missing in the church today.
We have overemphasized the knowledge of the cross without connecting with the brokenness that comes from the cross. We have heads full of cognitive transfer, but this knowledge has not dropped into the spirit or changed the hearts of men.
We are transferring cognitive knowledge instead of enlarging on revelation. Because of this, there’s no freedom, no healing, no deliverance, and no signs of the new birth.
Cognitive transfer does not stick. What we need today are minds enlightened and transfigured from divine encounters. We need the wisdom of God dwelling in the hearts and minds of men through revelation.
In this last age, there’s a revealing of the mystery that has been hidden throughout all the ages. The mystery is that Jews and Gentiles would worship Jesus at the same alter of the cross. God is gathering everything together into one through Christ Jesus and reconciling the world to Himself by the blood of Jesus Christ and making peace as the two become one, with no division in the heart or head.
We all come in through the blood of the cross and worship God in the Kingdom come. Regardless of your background, all the nations can come into the Kingdom by the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other access. Everything is coming under subjection of the Lordship of Jesus Christ for the purpose of eternal judgment.
It’s the duty of the Church in this generation to preach this gospel in such a way that principalities and powers in the heavenly places, some of the most powerful strongholds in the universe, would have to hear and quake that Jesus is the Son of God and God said, “Sit right here at My right hand until I make My enemies Your footstool.” We are now ministers of this reconciliation and commissioned to preach this gospel.
Redemption means to liberate someone and set them free at a purchase price. We were captive and bound to demonic forces that held us to sin. But Christ paid the ransom fully; and through His blood, we have redemption.
To understand what it cost God to forgive you, we must first understand the righteous requirements of the law and power of the blood.
There’s redemption through the blood of Christ according to the riches of God’s grace. But to get this grace, you must go through the blood. The redemption in His blood is what gives us the legal right to have our sins forgiven.
One of the greatest needs we have is acceptance. We all have experienced the pain of rejection; and if anyone understands the ramifications of rejection, it is Jesus.
Even when the whole world has rejected us, we have the ability to be accepted by God. This divine acceptance is the power of God working inside the life of a person, bringing joy unspeakable that is full of glory.
It is by grace we are accepted in the Beloved. Acceptance from God is based on what He has done for us through the blood of Jesus Christ to reconcile us back to Himself. Many people have the knowledge of this, but their spirit has not yet had the revelation. When this is revealed, a flood of life, joy, hope, and peace comes.
Seek and hear the voice of God speak to you and confirm in your spirit that He has made you accepted in the Beloved.
To be adopted as a child of God means our earthly life is dead with Christ on the cross. Now it is alive with God in Him.
I am in Him, and He is in me. Like marriage, the two have become one. A oneness has been established. Everything of mine belongs to God, and everything that God has belongs to me. That’s how covenant works.
To be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law. But a righteousness through faith. It's not what I have achieved, my religious performance, devotions, or appearance. It has everything to do with faith in what God has done.
When a seed is sown into good ground, the ground receives the seed, and it will bear fruit. God commands fruit from those He redeems. We are to bear fruit unto God worthy of repentance.
Can you imagine the revival that would happen overnight if every believer were bearing fruit 30, 60, or 90-fold?
We must ask ourselves: Do I have a fruitful life, bearing fruit for God? Is there anything my life is producing with eternal value? Where is the fruit of souls?
In the Parable of the Sower, everyone was receiving the Word, but only one bore fruit. There are all types of relationships to the Word of God, but not all will bear fruit or have eternal life with Jesus.
The seed that fell along the wayside represents those who lack anointing. Their relationship is so loose with God the devil has free reign and access to their hearts, even while the Word is being preached. Immediately the enemy takes the seed away. The wayside is near the Way, running parallel to the Way, but it is not the Way.
The seed that fell on the rocks represents hardened hearts, so full of rocks it’s not conducive to growth. Because roots reach impenetrable areas, their growth is shallow. Immediately they receive and immediately they crumble. The first time a little heat is applied - persecution, affliction, pressure – they immediately go.
We must continually check the soil of our hearts to see if its conducive to receiving seed. Rocks must be removed and fallow ground broken up.
The first steps to understanding the mysteries of the Kingdom of God is to get alone with Jesus. We need revelation. God wants to reveal Himself to us. When we begin to pursue Jesus on our own, and really see to understand, the eyes of our understanding will open. This is the key to the new birth.
James is a fitting end to this teaching on Wisdom’s Seven Pillars. Many principles of the paradoxes of Jesus are repeated, and there's a common thread running throughout the book that fits perfectly to this study.
The world thinks differently than the Kingdom of God. We need so much wisdom from the cross to navigate through all the trials that are hitting us because the adulterous woman is calling out to the people of God, “Come eat at my table.”
We need the wisdom of God to navigate through the trials of the earth. We don't want to succumb to the temptation to blend the world’s wisdom with the wisdom of God.
So many are unstable in their Christianity because they want to try to have a foot in both the world and God.
Jesus said, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
The exaltation of man is a contagious spirit. Exalt means to elevate yourself, rise up, and lift yourself up.
We either fall on Christ and become humbled, broken vessels, or we rise up in pride, live our lives full of arrogance, and we end up humiliated for eternity.
The flesh desires greatness. But Jesus says unless we humble ourselves, be converted by God’s Word, and become like a little child, we cannot see the kingdom of God.
We must come through the new birth, being born again by the Word of God, and continue in this dependency.
Do you have the testimony of going back to childhood? Learning how to walk, talk, think, act, and conduct yourself like Jesus. The greatest people in the kingdom of God are childlike, living in full dependency on God, where God is all in all.
The first of the seven pillars of wisdom is the paradoxical teaching of Jesus: If you love your life, you're going to lose it.
A seed must fall to the ground and die in order to bear fruit. We too must first descend to a lower place through humility and die to self. It's a co-crucifixion with Christ.
Many people, sincere in their religion and in their church attendance, are in danger of hell. Not because of an overtly evil lifestyle. But because they love their own life too much to lay it down. Loving your life will render it useless.
The false message of self-promotion in this hour has permeated our brains. This popular voice pampers narcissism, and even spiritual narcissism.
We must examine ourselves. We can't depend on our church life, religious status, niceness, or goodness. They are all paths to hell unless we take up the cross and follow Christ.
We must follow Jesus to death if we will follow Him in resurrection.
There's a wisdom from God and a wisdom from this world. Both are putting out a call, inviting you to sit at their table and learn.
We must distinguish between God's wisdom and the world's wisdom. God's wisdom is foolishness to the world, whereas the world's wisdom is foolishness to God.
The wisdom of God is the cross of Jesus Christ. God cut covenant with us at the cross of Christ; and we enter that covenant by faith.
The wisdom of the world is putting out a seductive invitation that allures to the flesh. There are many who call themselves Christian but are functioning on the wisdom of the world. If we allow our minds to be persuaded by the world's wisdom, we fall into spiritual adultery.
While God's wisdom has an eternal existence, this world's wisdom will perish, and all those who are governed and driven by it have a death sentence reigning inside of them.
We want to see a great reviving of the gifts of the Spirit in our generation.
The gifts are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, given to each member within the interconnected Body for the profit of all. These nine gifts can be broken into three separate groups: The Revelatory Gifts, The Power Gifts, and The Gifts of Utterance.
In this teaching, The Revelatory Gifts are discussed, which are: The Word of Wisdom, The Word of Knowledge, and The Discerning of spirits.
Available to us is the full giftings of the Holy Spirit. Let us develop an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches and break the ignorance about the spirituals.
We are to let all things be done for edification. Edification is the building of the house of God. There are two purposes to edification: 1.) It is meant to build up and strengthen each member of the Body. 2.) It is meant to add to the Body of Christ by bringing new people in. Both call for the gifts of the Spirit to bein full operation.
God gave gifts to men to equip the saints for the work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ. There are diversities of gifts but it is God who works all in all. We absolutely need each other to manifest the fullness of Christ.
Very few know what Body building in the Spirit is like. It has nothing to do with the strength of your faith, keenness of your mind, or the sensitivity of your emotion. It has everything to do with all the carnal nature being put under the heart of the new birth. Everything in your being is subjected to the Spirit of God. This is the real work of faith with power.
It’s time to see the work of God and the work of faith in power.
By one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body – the Body of Christ. To function as the Bible teaches the Body of Christ to function, we need a shift in our thinking. We are to be joined to one another and immersed into relationship. This requires a burial to self as we are interconnected and intertwined. We are dependent on one another to fitly frame together until the whole Body manifests Christ.
The giftings of the Sprit are all to accomplish one thing: The work of God. The work of God is the making of disciples. We are to spread the message of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
We are baptized by one Spirit into the Body of Christ with the duty of making disciples for Christ, and the gifts of the Spirit equip us to do exactly that. We need the gifts of the Spirit in full operation while we tell others about Jesus Christ.
The gifts of the Spirit empower us to accomplish the work of God.
We are faced with a flood of lies, even coming across the pulpit. In order to not be deceived, we must guard against receiving from the wrong people. Making it a habitual practice to vigorously exercise our discernment will develop our senses and help us grow in our ability to differentiate between what is true and false.
Without a relationship with the Word of God, we are set up for deception. Building a belief system around the authority of the Word of God will develop our skills of perception. The Word of God must be what we filter all we see and hear through so that we can become a good reader of people, able to discern the genuineness of others.
When we begin to apply the Word of God through our perceptions, we will be able to recognize when a voice is in contradiction to the Shepherd’s voice. Immersing our mind in the Word of God will help guard against doctrines of devils and spirits of error. It is not being critical, but rather wise to be a discerner of good and evil.
Just because you are a religious person does not mean you cannot be demonized.
We are in a great falling away. The devil has opened his mouth and released a flood of lies upon the earth. This deception is even within the church. An oversimplistic way to Christianity is being offered up that’s not biblical. People are attempting to enter through a door other than the cross.
Without signs of repentance, fruits unto holiness, a new birth, or a new creature, people are saying, “I'm saved, and I'm going to heaven in the end.” This is deception. We can deceive ourselves into thinking we are Christians when all we're doing is sitting there hearing things. It is a feast at the Tree of Knowledge, and it has permeated society.
The gospel is showing no restraining power because its presentation is false. There’s a foundational element that's wrong. This doctrine of demons is another gospel with another Jesus that has very little to do with biblical Christianity.
There's a way to preach that will not deliver people from sin. Because of this, sin is rampant in church, with the church sinner being no different from the street sinner. We are seeing the manifestation of the man of sin because man has been unbridled in his lusts.
Don’t brush this off as though it couldn’t be you.
Religious affiliation, water baptism, or church attendance is not going to cut it. You need holiness, repentance, and the true cross of Jesus Christ.
Strongmen are demon spirits that literally torment the people of God.
Jesus cast demons out with His word, and likewise, the Word of God will drive demons out of our lives. That’s why it is so important to have a strong relationship with the Word of God. The more we saturate our heart and mind in God's Word, the less room a demon has to occupy our life. The Word of God is how we break though strongholds and the torment these demons can bring.
There are 4 realms of demons: Physical, soulish (mental/emotional), moral, and religious. The objective of this teaching is to identify and shine light on the strongmen who seek to mar the image of God in our lives.
We have been given authority and power to cast out devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead. We need a spirit of faith and expectancy to rise up, so we don’t fall in a position of unbelief, unable to do the job Jesus wants us to do.
You are in a war. If you don’t realize that, you are beat already. Many Christians wrongly believe they are immune from the onslaughts of the devil. Because of this, we see so little of the casting out of devils that Jesus did and even told us was part of our ministry.There is an enemy of your soul who hates God and the image of Jesus Christ in your life. He wants to mar this image and make you blaspheme God by derailing your thinking and emotions. The devil gains victory in vulnerable areas he finds in your mind, emotions, or physical body. He finds a stronghold, roots himself in, and wages war against you by tormenting, oppressing, and doing everything he can make you live in defeat, unable to sustain victory.This is what the warfare is about.It’s time for Christians to start winning some victories through faith. We have to cast down imaginations, which are demonic arguments that exalt themselves in our thinking and emotions to create doubt and undermine what we know about God.Through the Word of God, we can begin to get a victory in our thinking. Sitting in His presence affects us deeply. The grace and goodness of God allows us to repent so we can put on the mind of Christ.The task at hand is to gain victory over the enemy by identifying our vulnerabilities, demolishing his strongholds, and building a healthy stronghold in its place that is occupied by the Holy Ghost.Jesus is a Deliverer and Saver. He wants to deliver your whole being, making your spirit, soul, and body free.1 Corinthians 10:4-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
Christian warfare is very real. God wants to restore the image of God in us; and once we begin to bear the image of Christ, everything in hell attacks.
We are told to put on the full armor of God to have victory. But the victory over the devil is not merely external. The real freedom starts inside and works outward. We need to get the living Word of God inside of us until it saturates our system and Christ begins to abide in us. There's liberty in Jesus. He is the truth, and the truth will set us free.
Many people live defeated lives because of strongholds. A stronghold is a fortified place where a strong man can dig in and do battle. It’s where the enemy gains ground in our life. We need a demolition of these strongholds, making them unusable by the wicked one. They need to be attacked with the cross of Christ.
We are called to mature in our Christian walk, but most of Christianity today is stuck in perpetual infancy by those who don't engage in battle or strengthen themselves with God's Word. If we’re not doing everything we can as little children to receive the milk of God's Word, then as young men to engage the wicked one and overcome, then we will be defeated. We will never make it to the old man stage, bear fruit, or reproduce.
In this spiritual war, everything from heaven will fight for us, but no one is able to overcome the battle of the devil over you other than you. The battle is raging. We need to engage in the battle and use the weapons of our warfare to overcome the wicked one.
When the First Adam sinned, his breath kept going but his spirit died. This created an expiration date on the house of the soul, his physical body.
The First Adam was a man of the earth, and we are all born into this realm. We bear the image of the earthly and want the things of the earth. Apart from Christ, we have spiritual death inside and await the eventual physical death, followed by the eternal judgment of the soul.
While the First Adam was a fallen creature doomed, the Second Adam, Jesus, was a quickening spirit. His affection was not for the earth, but for heaven.
The Second Adam was a picture of the recreation of man to live within the Kingdom of God. He was the divine seed of God and bypassed the fallen seed of man. He lived a separated life detached from the world.
As sons and daughters of God, we are invited into this same transformation by which we can start a new life through the Son of God. Jesus is calling us out of the earthly into the image of the heavenly. It’s called being born again.
So many today who claim to be Christians live like the First Adam and are stuck in the soulish realm with a dead spirit. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. We need the same quickening spirit as the Second Adam.
When the Spirit of God fills the heart of man, we begin to live as a Second Adam. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead quickens our mortal bodies, and now inside of these decaying vessels is an eternal spirit that is living. There’s a detachment from this world and a heart set on eternity when we become affiliated with the Second Adam.
The power of the resurrection is not futuristic. Jesus is calling sons and daughters to Himself to walk in the same power of the Holy Spirit that raised Him from the dead.
False prophets have infiltrated our churches. There are wolves in sheep's clothing of a lying gospel with a lying grace. Everything is about our prosperity, happiness, breakthrough, and destiny. We are a generation filled with lies. We have lost our collective minds in Christianity because we have lost the way. We are following God based on what He can do for us, instead of what we can do for Him.
The separated life God wants for us isn’t popular today. We have learned to incorporate worldliness into Christianity and feel good about it. But this is a deception. The spirit of Antichrist teaches us to love the world and everything in the world, and through much wantonness they allure us through the flesh. They promise us everything our flesh desires.
Instead of being on the narrow path, many people today are following Jesus in a broad way. Being deceived by doctrines of devils, seducing spirits of error, and damnable heresies has put them on a wide, destructive path.
How do we know we are some of the few who have found the way of the cross and the way of holiness?
Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”
When the teachings of God are taken to a person who is in the category of a dog or hog, they will turn around with your own words and rend you.
Dogs and hogs can refer to moral depravity to the upmost and those deemed unclean. They are those who are contentious, of an impure mind, with a disregard for others, lacking modesty and morality. Anyone who teaches another gospel, anyone who is a worker of iniquity, and anyone who is working to pull people away from the purity of the gospel of Christ fits into this category.
From 2 Peter 2:22 we learn that when Jesus referred to dogs or hogs, He was referring to those who walk with God and then go back to what Jesus had saved them from. Then, when a well-meaning saint ties to recover you, you start cutting them: “You’re judging me.” The popularity of that phrase is coming out of the mouth of a bunch of dogs and hogs who have returned to their vomit and mire and now hate anybody who reminds them of it.
We are a generation that insults the spirit of grace, claiming grace while sinning like a hog and a dog. Many have gone back to their vomit and live like animals - immodest, vulgar, drunkards, fornicators, but claiming grace.
Matthew 7: 1-5 is so misunderstood. If there has ever been a phrase hijacked by the world and the devil himself, it is “Judge not.” Two words have never been taken so out of context on a regular basis than these words right here. The world’s #1 rule is “Judge not,” but this is a twisting of Jesus’ words.
Jesus didn’t take judgement away. Rather, He clarified what it meant and how we should do it: 1.) We are not to judge based on our own opinions, 2.) we are not to judge others for a sin we are unrepentant of, 3.) and we are not to judge the world.
We have no authority to pass judgment based on our own opinions. When we deal with the idea of righteous judgement, we must get to a law and ask, “Who authorized this law, and through what authority does this law come?” This does away with human opinion based on what we think or feel. We must separate our judgments from God’s judgments because all judgement comes from God.
Hypocrisy must be taken out of judgment. We are inexcusable in judging others if we are still in the same unrepentant sin, even if we are using the righteous judgments of God. If we are not living out what our mouth is proclaiming, we are hypocrites bringing judgment down on ourselves.
It’s not our business to judge the world. God has specifically called out some behaviors of men and said they would be judged. Our job is to point out the judgments of God and hopefully someone will tremble and repent. We are to understand the judgments of God, how they apply to people in this life, and exercise them within the Church.
Judgements are not founded on our personal truth, our present reality, or the changing trends. As Christians we believe God is the final Judge over all the earth and every man will stand before the righteous judgments of God Himself. The judgments of God are according to truth, and truth is that which agrees with final reality.
As one of the biggest covetous and idolatrous societies, America is full of those who are always wanting more. However, the greatest frustration to the grace of God is when we try to have our heaven and our world too. We cannot intermingle the two. We must establish one or the other. There must be a significant paradigm shift in our thinking and allegiances to what we are truly loyal to, what truly is our Lord and Savior, and what truly is the treasure of our own heart.When we get cumbered with worrisome activity and busyness, we can forfeit our place in the Kingdom and the Lordship of Christ. We are told in Scripture to take no thought of our life because the anxiety associated with the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches will choke the Word of God in us. Yet, it seems when it comes down to the practical aspects of living (like food, drink, clothing, and shelter), we become faithless and hurry to desperately try to earn more money. We think money is going to be the answer.We have to come to the resolve in our own spirit that God is our God and Jesus is our King. We then can come to the place of faith where we are done with this world, declare our allegiance is with God, and then take no thought of our life.In Matthew 6:33 we are told to, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” This is a covenant in Christianity and prioritizes everything Jesus talked about.What are you seeking first?If anything is blocking you from seeking first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, maybe you have another god and it’s time to throw down your idol, take yourself off God’s throne, and surrender to the Lordship of Christ. If we find riches have come into our heart, it’s time to let them go so God can be God.
We are told to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven instead treasures on earth, but the problem is we love and seek after temporal earthly treasures. Have we missed true riches? Are we blinded by the gods of this world and lied to by the deceitfulness of earthly riches?
We will continue to pour everything we have into the gods of this world until we get a new heart and a new spirit.
When the kingdom of God is revealed to us, the Lord Jesus Christ sets us free and causes a shift in our value system. Everything our heart deemed valuable prior to the revelation of the cross goes away when we discover the kingdom of God. We begin to prize and store up for ourselves the wealth of eternal life and eternal inheritance.
We must ask ourselves these questions: Are we rich in God, or do we have a leanness of soul? How is our treasure in heaven? Did our new birth shift our value systems where we do not value the world any longer? Have we shifted into the kingdom of God, in kingdom bidding, and kingdom business?
It is about God’s economy and God’s kingdom. God doesn’t want your money. He wants you. He wants all of you.
Alms, Prayer, and Fasting are the 3 Secret Devotions of the Christian’s life. These devotions are a matter of Christian fact – not “if” we do them, but “when” we do them. In this episode, we are challenged to do these devotions humbly and privately, not sounding the trumpet in self-glorification. When done this way, we are storing up treasures in heaven and there will be a divine move of God in the open.
We are warned in Scripture that a Last Day’s false teacher will creep in unawares and pervert grace to lasciviousness. This perversion of grace has permeated our society and churches today. Grace has been turned into the justification for all manner of sin and evil one can think of.
It is believed by a multitude that salvation is a futuristic thing, where one can live like the world all their life and in the end go to heaven anyway. There are so many deceived minds who think they are on their way to heaven but live contrary to the teachings of Jesus. This empty confession of faith is a damnable heresy spued out of the mouth of Satan and has become the religious norm of our day.
Grace is not meant to be a word used for subpar performance. It is meant to be the power of God acting inside of us and enabling us to live the way God has said to. Grace is the divine influence on the heart reflected out in the life where we see the believer supernaturally live like God commands us to live. It is the manifestation of the cross doing its work inside of us and making us live above the law of sin and death to the higher law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ.
Jesus didn’t lower the standard in the New Testament. Instead, He pushed the standard so far up it is humanly impossible to reach without grace and the divine power of God. Grace allows us to perform what God said we could and takes us to places we cannot go in our own human capacity.
The Almighty, powerful God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, that through His blood a righteousness could be attained that would lift us up above the law of sin and death. As Christians, we should not live like regular folk. We should have a righteousness which exceeds the religious norm that permeates our society. It’s time we believe God for something greater than the substandard thing that’s being portrayed in the church of America today.
We must think as a person who has already been resurrected to life inside and is waiting for the physical resurrection from the dead. And while we wait, we shoot for the mark of the prize of the high calling, doing what Jesus does.
Presumptuous grace is believing the normal Christian life is one of defeat. But believing we have to continue in our sins is a lie that does not agree with what the power of God has done for us. There are many sincere, devout people who have been lied to and do not realize there is liberty available in Christ to free us from the bondage of sin. To flippantly continue in sin is a perversion of the grace of God.
Sin doesn’t have to have dominion over you. God did not send His Son for you to live a defeated life. He sent His Son so you could die, be buried with Him, raise up a new creature in Him, and walk in the victory that’s in Christ Jesus. You do not have to yield your physical bodies as members of unrighteousness.
We should walk in the newness of life and be in the likeness of His resurrection. Get up, take off your grave clothes, and start walking in the victory that is in Christ Jesus. Start acting like a child of God.
The doctrine of Jesus Christ is one of overcoming and victory. If you are still bound in your sin, then you are still in guilt, and you have not had the remedy of God. Christ enables us to live how He told us to live. We are talking about the power of God to salvation.
Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins. The power of God wants to manifest in your life through the grace of Jesus Christ as you become a victor and not a victim.
Matthew 5-7 is the teaching of our King, Jesus Christ, beginning a whole new covenant with mankind.
The 9 blessings, often called the beatitudes, taught by Jesus in Matthew 5-7 are the characteristics of the sons and daughters of God. These beatitudes are the DNA of the new birth as we become partakers of the divine nature of God.
God, our Father, puts His seed in us and births something very holy. In the new birth, we begin to see the character of God build inside, and instead of walking in the pride and lusts of our own heart, we take on the nature of God.
These 9 blessings are an evidence of something divine as we enter into the new covenant. They are the witness God wants the world to see and should be part of the entire Christian walk.
In this episode, we begin to see why these 9 blessings are humanly impossible to accomplish by ourselves. Instead, they are the work of the eternal Spirit of God and His Word in us and are only by operation of God.
The 23rd Psalm is a wonderful Psalm about the restoration of our soul available in our good shepherd, Jesus Christ, so we don’t fall into a worldly grief.
There are going to be some days that aren't so pleasant in the Christian journey. When you've suffered loss, there’s a void. But there’s also the real power of God to bring your mind back to the fact that the Lord is your shepherd. He restores as He causes your soul to return to the origin of health, of wellness, and of wellbeing. The restoration of your soul, mind, emotion, reasoning, and will is vital. It literally means returning to the Lord. As you reconnect and let God heal your broken heart, He can restore you; then the times of refreshing can come from His presence.
As you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you can be secured, protected, steadied, and upheld by the good shepherd. He will uphold you through time of loss and grief and hardship. He is leading you into paths of righteousness for His glory and for His name’s sake.
When death has claimed something and we see the temporal fall apart, we don’t have to let death take two. There is life after death. Psalm 91 says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” His shadow is bigger than anything death could throw at us. The shadow of the Almighty can overwhelm the shadow of death. Even though there will be times we walk through the shadow of death, what's behind the saint of God is goodness and mercy. God is our rear reward.
When you've suffered great loss, it's a great honor and privilege that God gave us to weep and grieve. The process is a healer. There's no greater place to experience the glory of God than when we pour our heart out and weep. God dwells near those who have a broken and a contrite spirit. We can bring God into our grief by saying, “God, I hurt. God, I am sorrowing beyond thought. I can't even comprehend it. I don't know what to do here. Meet me here, God. Have mercy on me. Just let me have Your presence.” He'll meet us there. When we humble ourselves and draw near to God, He'll draw near to us.
We can offer up the sacrifice of praise, thank Him in all things, and worship Him even in a time of suffering. We can call on Him and He will heal our broken heart. Jesus came to do it.
If a worldly sorrow has set in and is working death in you, repentance from that worldly sorrow could transition your mind to the mind of Christ. Your spirit, your mind, and your emotions could be healed, and you could be made well.
In this session, we look at the sequence of events following Prophet Nathan’s confrontation of King David’s sin and prophesy of his son’s death. What follows is a beautiful picture of how to think correctly and handle grief well.
King David had a tremendous time of remorse and grief as he was riddled with guilt, knowing the judgment for what he had done would land on another person. He sought the Lord in his grief. After the death of his son, David got up, washed himself, changed his clothing, anointed himself with oil, went to God’s house to worship God with all his heart, giving Him thanks and praise, and then had a nice meal. He had an eternal worldview and didn’t vex himself unfruitfully. This is a picture of godly sorrow.
A picture of worldly sorrow is when people vex themselves and choose a painful reminder of their grief in order to prolong their mourning, similar to the wearing of sackcloth. They refuse to continue to live.
However, there are healthy ways out of grief. The healing of Jesus is available. When you begin to seek the Lord, you will find Him. As you humble yourself and draw near to God, He will draw near to you.
Our God is a living God. He wants you to live. God doesn't want you to die. So, instead of making a covenant with death, choose life and worship Him. Then the love of God will pour back into you. You can find healing, love, and life.
Repentance just means to transition your thinking back into alignment with the Word of God and with life.
Throughout our entire Christian walk, it is pertinent we continue to put on the mind of Christ, be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and change our thought patterns. This is repentance. It is the understanding that our minds need to change in order to have faith.
If not dealt with properly, the trauma that comes with the grief can disrupt the natural patterns of our brain. Prolonged distress that has no end is problematic. The side effects of prolonged stress can create every kind of malady in your body that you can imagine. But the blood of Jesus Christ is not just for the forgiveness of sins. It is also for healing. With repentance, we can see the power of God begin to heal the brokenhearted.
During grief, there comes a point where you must either choose or refuse comfort. In this teaching, we go through 3 passages that give examples of those who either chose or refused comfort.
The cure and the basis of all hope for the Christian is the resurrection from the dead. This hope takes our worldview way past the temporal. With this hope, we can stabilize and encourage ourselves.
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is working in the Christian life. And you may be in sorrows wild, uncontrollable sorrow that you don’t think you could ever recover from. But at some point, you remember the miracle of your new birth and worship your way out of the heaviness of grief.
God is the God of life; He’s not the God of the dead. God wants you to live, not mourn yourself right into death.
There’s some of you right now with a void so big in your mind, heart, and emotions. The void is the place where that cherished person or thing that is now gone used to occupy. God wants to bring His presence into your void. We can let the Holy Spirit occupy the void and be comforted.
This is the picture of really solidifying our covenant in Christ right in the middle of hurt. Jesus Christ is our healer.
Isaiah 40:1-8
Grief, whether it’s godly or worldly, has some uncontrollable moments because of a great loss. The bottom line is that somewhere in there we can regain faculty. We can begin to turn this around, to change it, to repent, to change our thinking. Godly sorrow works repentance to salvation.
There are many people who suffered loss and never found their way into a godly sorrow. The worldly sorrow moves God out of your grief. You stay sad, angry, depressed, hurt, and finally death has its way in you.
But when we are wild with sorrow and grief, in an uncontrollable, emotional state and spiritual condition, and say, “I have suffered loss, and I don’t know what to do with myself. My soul was bound up in what was lost and now I'm lost.” And we bring God into that. “God, I need you more now than ever. God, I need you right now. I may want you all the time, but I have never needed you like this. Come and heal my broken spirit. Come and heal my fractured mind. My emotions have been damaged. I have been traumatized.” This is godly sorrow that bears fruit and will cause you to come back to life after major traumas.
Every valley shall be exalted, or filled: When I think of valleys, I think of depression. We have been laid low. So many are in depression. The Bible says anxiety in the heart of man causes depression. There is a cure. There is healing in the name of Jesus for depression. A good word will lift you out. He sent His Word and healed them.
Every mountain and hill shall be made low: Pride will be brought low. Every proud, arrogant posture humbled. Sometimes when you’ve been hit hard enough, you have to lay low, call on God, and be healed.
The crooked shall be made straight: There are many people who have twisted the path of God, and twisted their thinking in the middle of grief, rage, hurt, and pain.
The rough places shall be made smooth/plain: Sometimes we have so hardened our thinking, hearts, and emotions that it’s impassable. Our thoughts can't pass the same way they used to until they are rerouted by the mercies of God.
When we get in our grief and we allow God to begin to bring the depression up, the pride down, the crooked straight and the rough smooth, then the glory to the Lord can be revealed in us.
Everything you have access to on this planet is temporary except for the Word of God, the blood of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Those are the three accesses we have into eternity. When we consider that access to eternity, these endure forever.
So many today are so wrapped up in the relationships in the temporal that we cannot rejoice in the hope of the eternal. We have wrapped our lives, bound our lives together with such temporal things, that when we lose the temporal thing, we can't recover because it took some of our soul. We have a soul tie to it. Now we are bound to death.
Bring God into your grief. Let the glory of the Lord be revealed and watch the hope come back alive that’s in Christ Jesus. The Sprit of God will literally fill the void that’s left in your heart.
When we strengthen ourselves in the covenant with God, we can be healed, and move on, and live, and love.
If you are in a place that needs healing, you need the godly sorrow to bring repentance unto salvation. Let is work a healing in you. He still heals the brokenhearted.
Continuing Spiritual Loss, we discuss the belief that one cannot lose their soul. This belief has permeated our society and the religious cultures today.
In Matthew 10:5-7 we see God sent Jesus onto the scene specifically to talk to His covenant people who were lost.
“Lost,” means to destroy fully, to perish, to die, and to render useless. There are people very religious who are lost. This is something the modern thinker cannot wrap their brain around because of the false prophets and the false doctrines we will call once-saved-always-saved and eternal security. Many people believe you just have to say a sinner’s prayer and then there’s nothing you could ever do that would endanger your soul of hellfire. This is a terrible theology and doctrine. It’s not consistent with Scripture.
All life originates from God. In the day we begin to go our own way, we separate ourselves from God. This separation leaves the man in a two-dimension situation. He has a soul and a body, but he has departed from God. That soul is always trying to affix itself to something that looks alive. When you are in that condition, you are lost, utterly perishing, and fit for destruction. There are so many people right now who are perishing. Your minds are literally being destroyed. Your emotions are a wreck. This is lost.
How’s your soul? Are you alive? Or are you trying to affix yourself to something that seems to have life in it?
What does it profit a man if he were to gain the whole world but lose his soul? Is this possible? Do you realize how much time, effort, energy, airways, and pulpit time is spent on your gaining the world?
What will you give in exchange for your soul? Think this through. How cheap are we? Over a drink of whisky, over a glance at pornography, over a sexual tryst, money, lies? What are you exchanging? When you step into the eternals, you’re going to want them all back because you’re going to say there’s nothing more valuable than your soul.
Begin to search it out. Has your quest to gain the world cost you your soul? Is this the reason you are miserable within? Is this the reason for the problems in your head and your feelings. Is this the reason you can never find peace?
Our society is permeated with the idea that God loves everybody so much that nobody is going to go to hell. There is only one remedy for the lost condition inside a man. That is literally faith in the blood of Jesus appropriated into one’s life that sets you aright with God. It justifies you and sets you at peace with God.
Spiritual loss is the greatest loss there is because you lose you. And some of you don’t even know to mourn your own death until you find life. Seek Jesus with everything you’ve got.
The key verse for this study is 2 Corinthians 7:8-11
Most people have never properly settled the major traumas of their lives and the biggest traumatic episodes have never been healed.
Scripture can heal anything out there. The Word of God has provided healing through the blood of Christ.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - God has given us a great gift that after trauma, we have stress. When we are hit with a trauma, our bodies begin to produce huge amounts of adrenal and other hormones and chemicals to help us cope and deal with stress. What makes PTSD a disorder is when we stay stuck in the adrenal affect. We are so traumatized that we never come down from the release of the hormone. We have never properly dealt with the trauma we have been hit with.
With much of what we see in PTSD, we are not dealing with a mental illness; we are dealing with a brain injury. There are so many people who never properly learn to go around a mental injury and get stuck in a disorder. It may have started with a brain injury, but it’s turning into a mental and emotional illness. We are in epidemic proportions of mental illness.
Through suffering loss, the number one thing we want to deal with is spiritual loss, but too often the case, spiritual loss is an ignored topic. We go right to phycological, physical, or some other sort of temporal loss; and we deal with those issues from a phycological standpoint. We are missing the foundational issue.
Most believers today have a false security that takes away the fear of the Lord. There is no reason to fear the Lord anymore.
We have two distinct types of grief – godly or worldly. We have a human nature that can be disrupted by loss and trauma. When life throws us one of those blows that disrupt our faculties of thinking and emotion, we come to a valuable state. At these times, we are very vulnerable to an attack from the wicked one.
There’s a big distinction between godly and worldly sorrow. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. There is a converting work that will happen in a godly sorrow. Godly sorrow works repentance. There’s something about godly sorrow when you invite God into your grief. You are grieving but your relationship with God is still there. King David was the master of this. He would bleed his heart out and bring God the middle of his grief, then all of a sudden he would be shouting the victory.
We are all going to suffer loss. In this world, God has promised us we will have tribulation. When our faculties get disrupted by the loss but the communion with God continues, it is a very open, honest dialog and you talk your faith through with God.
When you suffer spiritual loss, where is the weeping and the bitter brokenness that works its way back to God? Do we bring God into our grief?
We don’t know how to weep anymore. We need to learn to weep again and grieve the loss.
John came preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin and demanded there would be fruit of repentance. There is a visible change in the person who has repented.
John’s baptism makes people ready to receive the Lord, but we have omitted the baptism of John in these days. We have taken this out of most theological discourse in this generation. We bypass it and in error lead people to pray a prayer for salvation.
John’s baptism leads us to repentance from dead works. Many religious people go to church but have never repented of their sin. There has never been the conversion or change of life. Most people in the church have never had the experience of true repentance for the remission of sin. Most people don’t view salvation as a salvation from sin, but a salvation from hell. The foundation is crooked.
We are talking about suffering spiritual loss. Some have invested a lifetime in religion but are still lost. Proper preaching says, “Repent.” Going to church is not fruit to repentance.
Don’t let religion be your shield. Yo
Marriage is a powerful proclamation. We pledge before God and witnesses, “Unto death do us part.” We promise on our very life to do all that’s in the covenant vows; and it’s not to be taken lightly.
We have failed in traditional churches and in relationships because we have had flimsy foundations and flimsy vows.
If our marriage doesn’t revolve around Christ Himself, how can we be called Christian? We need to make sure we are not just participating in religious practices. The first thing we have to be able to do as a Christian is walk this out with our spouses. Our marriage is the first test of our witness. If we can’t do this at home, we are just playing a religious game. It’s easy to make a quick statement but living for somebody is a big deal.
We can only love because we have first been loved. When we receive the love of God, we become a conduit and the love of God can flow through us. It starts with your spouse who is the first beneficiary of true, agape love in the home.
Marriage is designed with a permanency in mind. When the New Covenant tells us about marriage, it starts with our relationship with Jesus Christ. What is emphasized is the Lordship of Christ in each one of our lives and the blood covenant we have with Him.
Home is a church. The two become one. Christ is in us and we in Christ. The three-fold cord is not easily broken. The two can have powerful prayer agreement. There’s power in the ability to reach God when we are walking in agreement in the right way with God. We have to keep it right with one another because when we get it right with God and one another, God is powerful to work through that.
We need to seek the new birth with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and with persistence say “I won’t let You go until I find this and You bless me.” You pursue until you come into the new birth. If this happens to one person, God will set your home in divine order. The whole place can be saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost. The Kingdom can come, and everyone can get healed.
We are not in a bondage of fear again. There’s no fear in love because perfect love casts out all fear. The new covenant is based on love. God laid down His own life in our place to save us. That should so impress us that we are not driven by fear but by love. If we are not walking in love, we are walking in rigid disciplines. Enjoy it. We are not in bondage to death but in a covenant of life and love. We are in a higher law, the spirit of life and grace; the life of God enjoyed by each other.
Your love could be the Garden of Eden if you do this right. It can be a beautiful thing as you walk in the covenant of grace and peace with one another, your home full of love to the glory of God.
In marriage, you become one with the person you enter the marriage covenant with. The two become one. It’s miraculous and supernatural. God built you to have one partner in your lifetime; but we must begin with a right understanding of the gravity of blood covenant. “Till death do you part,” is you promising on your own life that you will not leave this person. You are vowing before God and witnesses in a very spiritual way that you will never break it off with this person. The spiritual intimacy of the marriage covenant is very sacred and holy, and it should be treated as such. Even though it is an institution belonging to God, today it is shunned, looked down upon, and perverted. This is a terrible assault on the Kingdom of God. When a man and woman become joined to the Lord through covenant, and then they join together to become one flesh, you have a powerful union. This is blood covenant. It should be protected, and you should do everything it cost to keep that marriage sacred, holy, and healthy. Every passage you look at with marriage is really directing you back to a true relationship and covenant with Jesus Christ. When your marriage is failing, it’s an indication you have missed it with Jesus Christ. If you’re not one with Jesus Christ, you’re going to hold onto something that’s of value to you and you will have difficulty becoming one. That’s where the fighting starts. It won’t get fixed until somebody humbles themselves and draws near to God so God can draw near to them. As we receive the love of God, we can give the love of God; and then our families will be filled with an Agape from God.
We were made for productivity, and God has redeemed us for good work. Part of this good work is when the character of God comes out of us because of the New Birth. Reflecting His glory and shining the light of Jesus is a good work.
God has put you in a place, set boundaries, and given you something to do. If you understand that, you will be productive all your life with fun, life-giving productivity.
Whatever your occupation may be, you need to let your life be surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. As a Christian, we work out of the Lordship of Christ. We are not working to get saved or to get right with God. We are working because we are saved, and God has made us right. Out of that, we are to produce for God.
As a Christian, everything about us is about Jesus. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we are working for Him. It changes every perspective.
There is an economy God has, and it is different than man’s economy. Proper stewardship is right on the top of that. We need to get foundationally right here and deal with our household economy in a good way. There is a lot of marital strife because of poor financial stewardship. Most of the failure in your home economy is setting up outside of God’s parameters. We squander money and do foolish things. This leads to conflict in marriage, and many marriages derail here. It’s financial adultery against God and your spouse.
True riches are not found in money. True riches are found in contentment. It’s when God fills your heart and you’re so full of Jesus that you have peace. There’s peace with your spouse and your children, and there’s joy in your home. We need to settle this in the foundation of our marriage.
Can we vow to our spouse that we will keep ourselves free from all vice and addictive behavior? It is such a negligence if we take marriage vows today and leave this out.
Made in the image of God, man is a triune being: spirt, soul, and body. There is an issue when people stop taking care their whole person. It is crucial within marriage that we maintain what God has given us and not neglect to take care of our spirit, soul, and body.
We need to understand that in Christianity people are God’s dwelling place. God bought your physical body through the price of His Son.
There are many who are married yet are destroying the temple of God. In marriage, we are two enmeshed into one. People are destroying their homes because they are destroying themselves through feeding their vice.
There is so much healing for the mind and emotions afforded to us in Jesus Christ. It is not just forgiveness of sin; but it is healing. God wants to heal your spirit, soul, and body. There’s freedom to be found in deliverance and discipline.
We must get to the point where our mind, will, and emotion are subjected to God’s Word.
Christ, our Righteousness, has fulfilled all the righteousness of the law so we can cease from our labor to bea right with God and live in total rest. As we can discipline ourselves to still our minds, be still with God, we then allow God to use the quietness to speak into your soul.
It is so vital in our marriages for us to be able to walk together, free of vice and sin, eat good food that we use for fuel to do good works for the glory of God. Where we can look at the end of the week and say, “It was good,” take off our labors, let the soul heal and refresh, and rest.
God wanted man to be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth with His glory. Unless we bring our children into the new birth, we are failing to fill the earth with God’s image.
We must see that our duty in the Christian home is not to birth flesh and blood but to birth the spirit of God into our children. If we don’t do that, we fail. We must do everything we can to see our children brought to the new birth.
We need to get our homes and families in divine order. When parents get their marriages into divine order, it creates the kind of environment conducive to bringing up godly children.
We need to get hands-on with our children to establish a right relationship and develop our children spiritually through the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Children must be taught to obey and honor their parents. If we outsource this and don’t train them, we fail them. You cannot make your child a Christian, but you can make them subjected to your authority in your home.
Children are not to have authority in the home within the God-ordained structure, but children-centered homes where children are leading the home is a problem today. This wreaks havoc on the child and puts them in an awkward position to determine boundaries, set identity, and set direction.
The first expression of church is in our home, when parents become the pastors of their home. Don’t outsource this pastoral duty. It takes work. It takes time. It takes effort. We will have to give an account as to how we spend our time, especially with our children. And not just time with them, but time teaching them the truths of God.
A lot are raised in church who are not raised in Christ. We are not talking about going to church but about being Christian. If your children are going to reflect God’s glory, they must see you doing it at home. True spiritual authority is when they can see God is your God and you worship Him. This isn’t just some put on, some Sunday deal. Don’t drag them to church when your house is something different. Your children need to see daddy and mama bow down to God. They need to see it at home. They need to see you humble yourself before God. If you are a Christian, you must be one at home.
2 Timothy 3:4-5 describes a perilous time that we have been in for some time. We are currently in an obsession of self-love. Men are lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasures, and not lovers of God. We have narcissistic parents raising narcissistic children. There’s such a self-love that self-love and self-loath live in the same vessel. They cannot be pleased. They are miserable and expect the whole world to give them something. Really what they want is worship.
We are commanded not to provoke our children. This could be mean-spirited provocation, or it could be the exact opposite, a passive dereliction of duty. Most people do a good job of meeting a child’s natural physical needs. But what about the real serious needs of a child? What about their spirituality? What about dealing with the true spirt of a child and in their innocence developing the very heart of that child? What about instilling in that child identity? What about boundaries?
We need to bless and speak the life of God into our children. We need to share our testimony with our children and with boldness and honesty testify how God appeared to us and changed our course. When we speak that into our children, our God becomes their God. Without glorifying the sin, tell them how you were a sinner and God had mercy on you.
Tell your child you want to see their life filled with the life of God. That it’s your whole duty to see that they bear His image in the earth.
Tell them about the spirit of adoption. Let them know God wants to make them His own, they must listen carefully to His voice, and there will come a day when God adopts them into His family.
Our command is to be fruitful and multiply, but what good is it to multiply flesh? Flesh is
The subject of male a female is a hot topic right now in the press. A biblical perspective of this topic is fitting for such a time as this. God invented marriage because He wanted one man and one woman to live together in one lifetime with Him right in their midst reflecting His glory through them.
God created us male and female, both in His image. The same, yet also different spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. We have fallen from this ideal, but the problem is not with God’s design. The problem is in the deception of the heart and mind of so many. There are a lot of marriages that are not extracting the joy of what God designed for them. To do this and have fulfilment in marriages, it requires getting back to our created purpose.
The distortion of male and female has been going on for some time. There’s a current celebration of the same perversion that brought the destruction of Noah’s world and Sodom and Gomorrah. This physical perversion started with spiritual perversion. In this study, Teryl Hebert discusses the progression of perversion found in Romans 1:18-32 that has darkened many hearts and caused them to be given over to their sinful desires and shameful lusts.
Teryl also discusses the route to true spiritual intimacy available to husband and wife as their hearts are completely exposed to one another. There’s a healthy communication to be found as we exchange hearts, study each other, enjoy an undefiled marriage bed, and experience the power of unhindered prayer.
For marriages that need repair, repair can start so easily. We need to lay our heart out to God, repent, go to the cross, weep our way to humility, begin talking to our spouse, submit to God and to one another. We need to pray the Lord will recreate us in Christ Jesus and then recreate our marriages to God’s original intent. God will meet us there.
Mankind’s place in God’s creation is for us to have dominion over the works of His hands. Dominion means to tread down, prevail, and rule over. Male and female both have a God-given dominion nature. If you apply this in life, it serves you well in work. This is what makes us have drive and strength.
But we are not to direct this dominion towards one another. The downfall of many homes is when people try to get another to do what they want by manipulation, force, or fear.
Keeping the dominion nature of mankind pointed in the right direction is useful, but we need to not use it to control each other.
We never hear God say to have dominion over one another. This is a major issue in the home. God does not want you to control another human being. It is a perversion of our created order. God is in control; Jesus is our Lord. When dominion is properly directed, it is a blessing; but when we turn the dominion nature towards one another, it is a curse.
What is the cure? Divine order.
God has created a divine order for the home. God is a God of order. Everything is an orderly arrangement. If we would arrange ourselves under God, we would enjoy the order of His created purpose. It’s only when we get out of order that we have problems.
Husband and wife are in blood covenant with one another. You’re not going to get in a proper covenant with one another unless you are in a proper covenant with Jesus Christ. To have strength in the blood covenant of marriage, you need to first enter into a blood covenant with Jesus Christ.
Submission is part of us being partakers of the divine nature. Marriages need spouses who are first mutually submitted to Christ and then to one another. Submitting yourselves to one another through mutual submission is the key to a great marriage. We need to try to out-love one another.
Once we are restored to God’s image in the earth, then we can be restored to His divine order.
Man was created in God’s image as the pinnacle of God’s creation. We were made to stand before God, mirror Him, and reflect His image and glory. We were designed to worship and for everything from God to reflect out of us.
The devil loathes the image of God and will do anything he can to mar it. Because we stand in the image of God, the devil’s wrath is turned towards us. He will do anything he can to stop us from reflecting the image and glory of God.
In the early days of creation, man was innocent, had no sin, and walked with God. It was just man fellowshipping with the Creator. But something happened.
The tempter came, and they ate. Death and darkness came over the spirit of man. He became a 2-deminsional being, left with only his soul and physical body. Dead inside. Living outside – a living body on a ticking clock waiting for a physical death and eternal judgement. Banished from the presence of God. The devil had marred the image of God.
Once the heart and mind were darkened through sin, man lost the image we were meant to reflect. Since we are no longer reflecting the glory of God, all we can do is try to project our own glory. We now exalt the creature above the Creator and begin to live like we are gods. Men are lovers of pleasure instead of lovers of God. It’s perverted self-love; and it has bred a whole generation of narcissist. We worship ourselves, our opinions, and our pleasure. It’s idolatry.
Once created in the image of God to reflect the glory of God, but now that our spirit has died through sin and the life of God is no longer inside, our soul is looking for something to attach to that looks alive. We live in soulish realms and become chasers of alcohol, drugs, sexual perversion, sports, entertainment, and pleasure. However, we find those things aren’t life and their end is death.
God is offering eternal life back to you. In Jesus there is life - the same Word that spoke the world into existence and upholds it by the Word of His power.
When you have the light of Christ’s life inside, you will once again reflect the glory of God. You will begin to live. Your heart will begin to beat again with a spiritual beating. Eternal life will enter inside of you. The hope of the promises of God will come alive. There will be nothing between you and God. As the block is taken away, you can see the light of His glory rushing in. This is the new birth. Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the glory of God.
It is not about religion. There’s only one door. Church and baptism are not the door. The cross of Christ is the door. When we come to Christ, we see the error of our way, humble ourselves, and go through the cross. We pass from death to life. We die to the person we were and come alive in Christ Jesus.
Go to the cross till there’s nothing left of you. Weep your way through. Let Him restore His image in you so you can once again reflect the glory of God.
The predestined plan of God is to adopt you as sons and daughters and to conform you to His image. Where we will be like Jesus; walk, talk, look, think, live, heal, and pray like Him.
Marriage won’t give you life if you don’t bring the life of Christ in. There are so many who are dead in their sin; God wants to make you alive. If we will ever see marriage restored to where God wants it to be, we’ve got to get the life back inside of us.
God set an eternal soul inside a temporal house. Nothing can satisfy it except God Himself. We must touch the eternals, and the only access we have to eternity is: the eternal blood of Jesus, the eternal Word of God, and the eternal Holy Ghost.
Marriage is a created entity of God. If we are going to talk about the creation of marriage, we need to start at creation. We have to build our case for creation so we can see the power of God in the marriage covenant.
By faith we believe that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things we see were made by things that do not appear. The things we see were spoken into existence by the Word of God.
The sun, moon, and stars were created on Day 4 of creation, so on Day 1 when God said, “Let there be light,” what was the light God created? The light was the life of Christ revealed.
At the very beginning of creation, God revealed to the host of heaven that in the fullness of time He would slay His Son. This is the light of the world. It has nothing to do with the sun, moon, or stars. It has everything to do with the spiritual revelation of Christ crucified.
Marriage belongs to God. For one man and one woman for one lifetime. When hard times come, it is a stabilizing factor to remember we are created beings under a Creator.
If you can’t have faith in a Creator, you will have a struggle in your home and marriage. You have to see life and marriage as way bigger than yourselves.
We get so caught up in the makeup of the earth that we lose sight of the foundational principles that made it, set it in order, and uphold that order - all by the Word of God’s power. He wants to uphold your life and marriage by the same Word of His power. He wants to fix your marriage. He wants to fix you and your spouse first, put you two together, and get you where your home brings glory to God.
If you will begin to seek God diligently for your home, He can fix whatever condition your home is in. He can repair it. It will require divine change.
If we are going to have a marriage that fulfills God’s intended purpose, God’s created purpose for marriage, it’s going to have to start with two people who are in the spiritual new birth.
When something goes wrong in marriage, start here. What’s wrong with your spiritual life? Have you let things slip? How’s your prayer life? How’s your time in the Word of God? How’s your fellowship?
The recreation of man is so important. As fallen men, we need to be recreated in Christ Jesus. The revealing of Jesus Christ is the light we should walk in. It’s the only light that can bring us new life. This is how we save and heal marriage. It starts with two redeemed individuals.
If we settle this issue, we will see marriages heal. If we settle this issue, we’ll see those who are living together repent and get married. If we settle this issue, we will see many who are in perversion repent and get back to their created purpose of male and female.
1 John 1:7 - “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” God’s light allows us to have relationship with one another. Transparency. Openness. Clarity. No darkness. No secrets. If we can’t communicate, something is very wrong.
Do you have communion with your spouse? Do you have fellowship with your spouse? Or do you just coexist? Do you just talk soulish? Is there spiritual communion? Is there joy in your home?
If He can fix this whole world and create it with the Word of His power, what can He do with your world? He can change your life!
Consider the power of light. The speed of light. The life in light. Everything in this earth is dependent on light shining on it. Especially your relationships.
God invented marriage. It was created by God and for God. Marriage belongs to God; and the Word of God defines it. It is the only place sexual intimacy is made holy.
There is a sexual perversion and breakdown of God-ordained marriage; and Christians are expected to accept it. As a culture, we have stepped far outside the perimeters God set for intimacy. What we are now seeing is the judgment of God.
We have no understanding of “covenant” in our generation. There needs to be a sobriety around marriage, and it shouldn’t be entered into lightly.
In marriage, two become one as the souls knit together. Divorce wreaks absolute havoc in hearts and minds. There’s a fragmentation of the soul. The damage done emotionally and mentally with divorce is huge.
Jesus gave one root cause for why marriages fall apart and divorce happens. That reason is a hardness of heart. It’s when we are past feeling and lose the sensitivity of heart. And the bible gives several causes for a hardness of heart: Lack of fear for the Lord, Religion, Unbelief, and Sin.
The one cure for a hard heart is repentance. Repent. Change your thinking, then change your actions.
We need to let the fear of the Lord govern of our soul and marriage by putting restraints and building perimeters. In Jesus Christ, all marriages can be fixed, healed, and raised from the dead.
If we are not engaging in prayer, there will be a fainting in the heart of man. Many have fainted and are spiritless in this hour. It’s time to return to the Lord and get back in the battle.
Very few people engage in the true spirit of intercession, led by the Holy Spirit of God, reaching the heart of Christ.
People today are totally given to sight and human reason. Our logic is not coming from the Word of God. We are so caught up in what is seen we do not see the things which are unseen. And what is unseen is more powerful than what is seen. We put all our emphasis on what we see and not on Him who has spoken it into being. We have to put our faith in the Word of God that made the heavens and the earth.
When Jesus returns, will He find faith on the earth? Many know about God and claim to be Christian, but how many have faith in God? We will see the Word of God bearing fruit when men and women pray the prayer of faith through God’s Word.
God is seeking the Christian intercession in the earth today. The spirit-filled man is groaning according to the will of God.
There’s a forcefulness that needs to rise up in us in prayer. We need to engage in the battle. The spirit of man needs to pray with violence against principalities and powers. We are commanded to withstand, resist, pushback, and restrain the antichrist and forcefully advance the Kingdom of God. This is our prayer duty.
Lord, teach us to pray.
“We need to pray and not faint.” (Luke 18:1) The word faint means to be utterly spiritless, wearied out, and exhausted.
Speaking mainly to the men right now, we are on-the-go constantly. The most vocal people in the churches today are women. Men are in silence. It is a travesty. It is a demonic attack on the speech of men. It’s time for men to step up. It’s time for men to find their voice. Many are spiritless, wearied, and exhausted. How can we watch and pray if we are weary and exhausted?
When the Son of man comes, will He find faith? The exact opposite of spiritless, wearied, and exhausted is faith. There’s an association between prayer and faith. Faith is the substance of hope. Faith reaches up into the heavenlies and pulls the things of God right down into the present. As in heaven, so on earth; will of God be done.
Have faith in God. He lives in us. He quickens us. Men ought to pray and not to faint. Where is the praying man today? Where’s the man of faith? Where is the man who can hold on long in prayer? Where’s the believing heart that won’t back up?
Where’s the man who can stay in prayer and believe God until the thing comes through? Where is the spirit inside of the man? Where is the Holy Ghost communing with the spirit of the man? Where is the man being quickened by the Word of God? Where are our men?
Abraham was fierce in prayer. He said, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25) What a bold statement to make to God. This is intercession. This is the picture of true faith. This is one guy interceding.
We have to pray for a massive awakening of repentance where people’s hearts turn back to God, they change, and He heals the backsliding. This has to be the first move of our prayers – “God, move the hearts of Your people back to You.” We need to awaken the praying people. We have to give God a reason to turn the judgements back. We are lethargic. We are asleep at the wheel. We have no oil. Our lamps are dim. We can’t watch. This has to turn. Shake yourself awake now. Set your alarm clock an hour earlier. Shake yourself until your strength returns to you and you cry out for your first love. Men ought to pray, but we are asleep. We’ve fainted and have become spiritless.
We serve the just God who will avenge His people who cry day and night. It’s time to awaken and cry out to God.
We have been discussing how to build a spirit of prayer and have such a prayer agreement among us that God hears our prayer and we start to see great things. We need to have such a communion with God that the Spirt of God shows us the heart of God.
If we are willing to hear, He wants to show us the very throne room of God. If we are willing to enter His presence and stay there, He will show us what is going on in heaven and we can pray for it to come down to earth.
As Christians, we can expect to see a manifestation of the power of God that is different than the world experiences. Christians should expect to see that we serve a powerful God and His power is for today.
The answer to all prayer is the presence of God manifested in such a way that the Holy Spirit is among us. Let’s find the will of God and not take no for an answer.
The spirit of antichrist wants to scatter the power of the holy people. This is easy to do if we have unforgiveness in our hearts. A sign of the last days is many will be offended. Our unwillingness to lay down offenses is one of the key factors as to why we see so few prayers answered. We live in an offended generation and blame everyone else for our offenses.
We want God to forgive us, but we are not willing to forgive. This is ingratitude. We need to pray for God to forgive us no more and no less than we are willing to forgive others.
We have to settle our own offenses in order to overcome. We have to trust one another enough to begin gathering together to build a prayer agreement.
Is it possible for a Christian to be overcome? There is a huge group who believe that is impossible to happen. But we have to ask if Scripture tells us if it is possible to grieve, quench, insult, or blaspheme the Holy Spirit? Is it possible to choke God’s Word where it becomes unfruitful? Could the enemy take away our knowledge of salvation?
There is not one external thing, working from the outside in, that can separate us from the love of God. But, however, that which is working from the inside out, and dealing with you in the thoughts and imagination of your heart and head, this can separate us from God. A demon spirit can begin a discussion in your head and take your armor away. This is the inner struggle where we have the inside voice rising up to exalt itself against the knowledge of God. It is the inside voice trying to lure you back to the life you had. It’s called temptation.
If we are going to be effective in our generation, it’s time to come out swinging and fighting. Prayer, fasting, repentance. Let your heart be torn before God. Recall your first love.
If you want it, there’s a way back to God. He will heal and restore.
It’s time to fight your way back to God. Whatever it takes. Put away whatever has you down. Put away your idols. Put away your sin. Humble yourself. Find our way back to God. Find your way back to the joy of your salvation. Find your way back to the fullness of God. He’s a good God. He loves us and wants us back.
It’s our duty as Christians to restrain the advancement of the antichrist spirit and hinder his every work. The way we do that is through the explosive power of prayer. We need to move prayer back to the forefront of our worship service. There are a multitude of people who have grown up in church but still don’t know what praying really means. We don’t know how to fight. The army of Christ is disorganized, undisciplined, and unable to fight. We don’t ask to learn. We take coldness in prayer as the acceptable norm. It's time we engage with God and learn how to pray. Our warfare is to reach the heart of God and see Him move. If we could employ our weapons of warfare in the proper way, we could turn the battle. There’s a humble boldness to be found as we come to the throne and pray the will of God. He is waiting for someone who would pray the prayer of faith and believe Him, not backing up. That is what every revival was made of. The need of the hour and the emphasis in house church is to find those who have the spirit of prayer. It’s time for the children of God to pray a Prayer of Importunity – which means a shameless, troublesome, urgent, overly-persistent request or demand. Our father in heaven will give better than our fathers on earth if we shamelessly make petitions. One of the biggest things we need to do is pray for division in the kingdom of Satan. Satan has been scattering the powers of the holy people, and we need to see a scattering of the unholy. We are in a war and the number one enemy is religion itself. When we engage the wicked one, he will fight back. We can expect that. But we need to keep in our spirit that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. There is no match. In this podcast, Teryl Hebert teaches on the power of praying in tongues; putting on the whole armor of God; pulling down strongholds the enemy uses to torment and prevent victory; learning how to pray from the Lord’s Prayer; and connecting with God through a proper attitude of worship as we see what’s going on around the throne of heaven and we begin to exalt the glory of God. When are we going to fight? If not now, when? If not us, who? Lord, teach us to pray. If we can’t learn to pray, if we can’t watch and pray, if we can’t keep guard and pray, if we can’t stay alert and pray, if we can’t keep our lamps full of extra oil and pray, how will we be resurrected from the dead?
The need of the hour is to bring prayer to the centerpiece and focal of our worship. Prayer needs to become our worship, where we are seated before God and waiting on Him, instead of being overly focused on entertainment. We need to learn how to pray. Every promise of God in the New Testament is predicated on us being found in Christ. The promises of God are absolute when we are in Christ. We have to understand the same spirit that dwelt in Christ, The Anointed, is now dwelling in us. Too often our prayers are unanswered because we are not meeting the criteria. We have to humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways. The problem is people do not think repentance is necessary. Everything is predicated on a clean heart. Offense is the trap of the devil, and the greatest move of faith is to get all offenses against God, others, and ourselves out of our heart. We are the restraining agent of God and are given the mandate to restrain the wicked one. The power to restrain is when we, as watchmen, call upon His might through prayer. It is time we understand our strength is in the power of God as we humble ourselves and yield. If we are going to engage in Warfare Prayer, we need to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might as we put on the whole armor of God and stand against the wiles of our opponent and adversary, the devil. We need to stand against the work of the devil, taking our stand and not backing up. It is time to engage in war-type mentality. We need to put the devil in a death grip and render him useless. He uses one method, and it is lies - he lies to you so you will be afraid. If he can do this, he wins. We have to stand against lies by standing with truth. We have to stand against fear by standing in faith. We have to be bold. It is time for some unusual faith from the people of God, and it is an hour to see a great move of God in prayer. 2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
With current events, there’s a feeling of hopelessness as we question, “What can we do?”
The need in this hour is for us to go straight to the Supreme Judge of all the earth, begin to pray His will, and watch God work from heaven.
Right now, as we occupy until He comes, our occupation should be Warfare Prayer - powerful intercessions that really begin to move the hand of God.
There’s an intense need for precision praying, powerful praying, anointed praying, and bold praying that will move heaven. We will see the hand of God like never before.
The antichrist spirit wants to scatter people, but God wants to gather His people together in prayer. It doesn’t take a large crowd to see His manifest presence and His powerful glory. It can be where two or three are gathered together in one accord.
Join us as we continue to learn about the Christian duty in this hour.
While we are waiting to be gathered up to the Lord Jesus, we are privileged to gather together in prayer and see God move. There’s power in the praises and prayers of the people of God when we pray His Word effectively. If we could only understand this power that’s almost nearly untapped. We have to change our thinking about prayer. Prayer is how we go into the political realm, and not just cast a vote, but petition the Most High God to move the situation. It’s called Warfare Prayer. We have been given the duty to restrain the antichrist spirit. That’s our job. It’s inevitable that what is written will come to pass, but it doesn’t have to be on our watch. We need to get this into our spirit. Unfortunately, right now there’s more unity in the devil’s house than the house of God. It’s time we come together, get in harmony, and stop the enemy of Christ. This is the Symphonic Prayer in one accord that has great power. Everything in prayer is predicated with a clean heart, free of offense. We need to first get ourselves cleansed with God and cleared of offense with one another. Then the Spirit of God is pleased to dwell among us and there is power, authority, and anointing in our prayers. The thing we have to deal with is the timidity, the fearfulness, the false humility that we approach prayer with. There’s a demonic binding of the tongue right now and at some point the fire of God needs to get in the heart of man as we shout out our faith. From the inner most part of our being, the spirit of man begins to pray with the Holy Ghost from deep inside. It’s a communion with God few experience. It’s time to put ourselves in the right posture. Get humble, cleansed, and right before God. Gather together. Deal with any unresolved offenses and settle all conflict with one another. And then pray the Word of God with boldness like He is already moving for us. We will then see the tide turn. The greatest promise we have on this side of salvation is found in Matthew 18:18-20 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” 1 John 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” Psalms 149:6-9 “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment -- This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!” Acts 4:29-31 “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”
Who taught you to pray? Who taught you how to storm heaven or make intercession?
What is the Christian duty right now in prayer? How are we to pray?
Join us as we dig into 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 to understand how “gathering together” (episynagōgē, G1997) is what God is calling us to in this hour.
The duty of the church is the gathering together of the saints in one accord in prayer. One of the greatest promises on this side of the cross to the saved person is Matthew 18:20, when two or three gather together in the name of Jesus, He is in our midst.
We have such a scattering in this generation that is so problematic. We are so scattered and divided; and it’s the opposite of the gathering together we are called to.
You cannot do this by yourself. The Church is not independent or codependent; it is an interdependent Body that functions as each member is fitly joined together.
Do not forsake the assembly of the saints. If you refuse to gather, what else do you have other than narcissism?
God is calling sincere believers to gather together and take part in the pinnacle of worship – prayer.
Join us next time for Prayer, Part 2 - The Christian duty in this hour.
The structural thinking of how we do church is shifting worldwide. It’s time to repent and change the thinking of men. The Lord is calling us to transition, leave the structure, and get into a right paradigm. We need to seek out the anointing to be a relational person. Walk out our faith with other people in a close setting, in the light of fellowship, with relational transparency. Christ is coming back, and He’s got people in a religious system He does not want them in. He’s saying, “Come out of her My people.” We are trying to get into the environment God has always wanted us in - a relational community where we can build a prayer agreement in which the power of God can reside. It’s called church. The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. No programs. No hype. No buildings. No money-grubbing. Just the simplicity of people who come together, love each other, pray, and see God answer prayer. You can do this. You can call if you need help: https://housechurchesusa.com/contact-us/ As we finish the last chapter of the book, Biblical Church, this isn’t the end; it’s just the beginning. Join us next week as Teryl Hebert teaches on specific points of prayer.
After a short recap of what we have learned so far in this Biblical Church study, Teryl begins this episode with a breakdown of our New Testament mission in this hour. Like Titus, we need to set in order the things that are lacking. We need to set things to the New Testament order. Our mission is to retrieve people back from the traditional, non-biblical structure and set the apostolic order. We need to retrieve and feed the lost sheep of the church. Getting back to relationship, the beauty of home church is when we build relational adhesion and there’s a spirit of unity. Every single member of the Body can get involved and be part of The Great Commission. This is the work we have right now.
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/
In this episode, we unveil the damnable heresies of our Christian traditions through exposing the foundational beliefs of Constantine, Augustine, Martin Luther, Roman Catholicism, John Calvin, and others. If you are unaware of the beginnings of these traditional beliefs, do your faith a favor and listen to the history. Embrace the true faith found only in Jesus Christ and not the deceptions of traditions.
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/
Is traditional church biblical? Have we been cheated by the traditions of men? Join us as Teryl Hebert teaches through his book, Biblical Church. The book can be read for free at our site: https://housechurchesusa.com/books/