Shaun and The Word: Recent Episodes
Dr. Shaun Miles
I have journeyed with Jesus for over 18 years and have experienced the Divine Exchange. I look forward to sharing this experience with you.
Pastor Shaun challenges what we esteem as success. It should be the pursuit of obedience to God in reaching others for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Shaun preaches about how the word of the Lord came to Nehemiah and nothing would stop him from building. What is the word of the Lord for you.
Pastor Shaun pierces to the heart of the matter by stating, "Only the dead man heard Christ voice and obeyed."
Pastor Shaun teaches strong truths about Christians being bought with a high price, the death of Christ on a cross, and how we must willingly forfeit our desires to serve Him.
Pastor Shaun gives a relevant word from the story of the prodigal son about having a relationship with a loving Father,
Pastor Shaun preaches a powerful word about the nature of God as our Father. He goes deep into detail about how society has been impacted by our current pandemic of absentee Fatherhood.
Pastor Shaun Miles preaches at Westview Baptist Church in Sanford Florida. His powerful word encourages to answer God, through he Blood of Jesus, "Here I am Lord."
Pastor Shaun preaches from Ephesian 6:10-18 about being ready to take a stand against the schemes of the enemy.
Pastor Shaun teaches from 1 Peter 1:15-16 about the Holiness of God and how having a relationship with God makes us Holy as He is Holy.
A word of encouragement from John Chapter 20. Listen to how Jesus turned a Fallen Eden into a Majestic Garden.
Abraham points the way to Jesus by sacrificing his promised son. He trusted that God would provide a sacrifice. In your life, God will provide, you just need to keep pointing others to Jesus.
This message is from September 3rd 2023. We were at one of our partner Churches in Central Florida to share about our ministry to Vietnam. The Lord spoke this message into my heart from Matthew 12:12 and I know it will bless you as it has me. You are valuable to King Jesus.
This message was preached from the book of Luke 11 on learning how to pray. It was preached at the Springs Church in Jacksonville Fl. In January 2022. I pray it stirs your heart and encourages you.
This episode is going to talk about the importance of God leading His people. King David wrote in Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in His ways.” I will share about David’s life and how he was dependent upon the Lord for guidance and direction. I will also share a testimony how in April 2009 the Lord led me to Vietnam to be a blessing but from that time it totally blessed my life. He leads us!!
This is a powerful word from Matthew 6:32-33. I know the Lord will use it to encourage and bless you in a special way.
We serve a God who deals on a different economical system. He deals in abundance when we struggle with lack. This episode is one of my favorite testimonies about God’s abundance. He truly opened Heaven’s flood gates in this season of my life.
The Lord has a special way of revealing to His people that He is still at work even in the midst of dark days. The Psalmist says, "Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You." Psalm 139:12. God is at work and He is accomplish HIs great will for our lives even in the midst and especially in the midst of tough time and dark days.
This episode I will share how the Lights at the Church were shut off and how from one of the lowest points of my ministry the Lord sent His calvary to come and partner with us. HE is so good!
Jesus declared if we were going to follow Him we needed to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow after Him daily. For us Americans that speaks against the embedded hopes of the American dream deep within us. This episode speaks about the journey to learn how to dream other dreams.
This is the message the Lord gave to me in 2007 when I won the preaching award at the Baptist College of Florida. It focuses on the Godness of Jesus Christ on the cross and it brings a depth to the sacrifice that I seldom think about. Enjoy!
Wow! Just wow! I found this sermon from 2012 that the Lord has given me from the book of Colossians and it blessed me tremendously. I know it will do the same for you! Jesus is still enough!!!
This message is from 2007. It reflects the need to not just know about the Lord but to know Him. This should be the greatest priority of our life. To know HIM! I pray this message stirs your heart for more of Jesus. God bless you real good.
This episode is going to take about how DAVID understood the hand of God at work in his life even in the midst of the darkest times. I will share a testimony about how the Lord called my friend Jud Hatfield to come and serve with me in Deland and how the Lord provided manna (Pancakes) that would spring open a homeless ministry that lasted for years following.
My dear brother in the Lord preached a powerful message at the Christmas Eve service for his church and I thought it would be encouraging to have you hear it. May the Lord ignite a flame in your heart from this word.
The Lord truly has graced us with His Goodness by inviting us to be a part of His work in this generation. This episode speaks about how my first trip to Vietnam stirred my heart to fully surrender to full-time ministry.
This episode is such a special one to me. It speaks about the power of God to orchestrate our lives to the place where we are meant to be for His glory. I will share about the way the Lord brought me to Vietnam and it would change my entire life.
This episode speaks about how David kept a eternal perspective on all that hall had been entrusted to him. The Lord allows us to be a part of His plan and we must keep the mindset that we are going at it alone. I share a testimony of how for me to graduate my final semester it seemed like a impossible task but God. Listen and be encouraged to finish STRONG
The Lord has the ability to take the worse situation snd turn it around for something beautiful. In this episode I will share with you about how the Lord took a difficult time in my life and turned it around for His glory. He is so able!!
A Message Preached at the Baptist College of Florida in 2016. I graduated from the Baptist College of Florida in 2008 and was invited to preach in the chapel service 8 years later. It was a special moment for me because not to many preachers get an opportunity to preach in the very place where they graduated from. This message was given to me while in Ho Chí Minh City and I had to carry it for what felt like ever to deliver it the campus. You can literally hear the shaking in my voice while I share what the Lord gave me.
This episode will explain how the Lord has molded me and shaped me to serve Him. I will share how the Lord opened the door in 2007 to go to inland China to preach at a school. I will share the message I preached that day from Ephesians 2. God’s great Grace
In this episode I share about my experiences going to Israel and visiting different sites. It is a reminder that the Lord truly wants to give you and I life, and give it ABUNDANTLY.
This is a message from Sunday October 25, 2020 at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Deland. The readings from the day comes from Leviticus 19, Psalm 1, Matthew 22, and 1 Thessalonians 2. The scriptures are read prior to the preaching portion of the service so it is not done during the time of preaching even though I reread the portions I reference. I sure pray the Lord uses this to encourage and stir your heart for more of Him.
Many times in the life of the believer we face intense pressure and tight situations that can bring anxiety, fear or panic into our life. In this episode I will share with you one of the on going battles I have had with anxiety and panic of Over the years and how the Lord has helped.
This episode is about a time in my life that the Lord taught me to be reliant upon Him for my righteousness and not in my own strength. It is not a moment I am most proud of but very thankful for.
This is a testimony about how the Lord gave me the gift of prayer language that has helped me in my journey with Him.
The Lord is so faithful to His promises. In this episode we will look briefly at the life and faith of Abraham and then I will share a testimony of how the Lord fulfilled his promise to me some 3 years after the fact.
This episode will discuss the importance of Jesus’ word choice in the great commission. I will also share while in Jerusalem in 2006 how the Holy Spirit allowed me to be a part of a real life miracle.
This episode will speak about the call of God to bring the gospel to the nations. I will share my first experience at missions and how on that first trip God set me up with some pretty amazing relationships that would impact my life for years to come.
In this episode we are going to look at the importance of discerning between good and God. We will look at the testimony of Joseph during the birth of Jesus and also hear about a divine set up testimony in my own life.
This is part 3 that in the dealing with loss series and in this episode We will discuss Father as protector.
- FATHER AS A PROVIDER: HIS comfort
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
- I would like to share about the passing of my mother.
- One thing I love about the Lord is that we can know Him as Father.
- Father is such a surreal name for it entails more then relationship, but includes attributes.
- For a Father title comes with Fatherly characteristics
- A Father is a preparer. The term for head of house (Father) literally means to be out front. Which means to lead or prepare the way
- Jesus reflects His fatherly attributes by saying He is going to prepare a place for us and one day soon He will come and reveal that place to us for all of eternity
- Another attribute of a Father is a Provider. Father provides
- Another Attribute of a Father is Protector. Father PROTECTS
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These are three attributes that really speak the loudest when understanding God as Father.
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Father is a preparer (Gets things ready for the family)
- Father is a provider (Makes sure family has all they need)
- Father is a protector (Makes sure family is safe from the schemes of the enemy)
In a practical sense I would like to reflect how my Father moved on my family’s behalf during the lost of my mom.
- Father as a PREPARER: His timing
- FATHER AS A PROVIDER: HIS comfort
- FATHER AS A PROTECTOR: HIS promises
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
- Jesus said He would give us HIS peace
- Let that sink in for a moment
- HIS PEACE
- Jesus has perfect, SHALOM!
- HIS SHALOM IS the very standard
- There is no higher mark, nor anything to compare it to, for it is PERFECT
- Jesus promised to provide and give us HIS PEACE
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
- The heart of Jesus to come and give LIFE and to give it abundantly is a beautiful promise.
- This word abundance is special
- It is used in another New Testament passage
Ephesians 3:20 (KJV 1900):
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us
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Abundance- very great, excessive, extremely, emphatic, surpassing, all the more, much greater
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Jesus proclaimed that one of the attributes of belonging to the Shepherd is an abundant life.
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The Apostle Paul uses this same term when describing what the Shepherd is capable of accomplishing in and for us. Exceedingly abundantly above all...
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During this season of loss I have experienced an abundance.
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The Lord’s abundance of presence. He has been so near and has truly proven His nearness in tangible ways through the entire process.
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The Lords peace has been given in abundance as well. I have never in my life experienced such a peace in the middle of such pain. Unreal!
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The Lord’s comfort through His Church has been so abundant that others have witnessed it themselves.
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There has been an abundance of food and fried chicken. So much so that I am literally sick of fried chicken.
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At the funeral service there were an abundance of flowers which showed the love and heart of so many.
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There was an abundance of pastors who in their own way ministered the gospel to us.
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There was an abundance of family members and friends that even in the midst of all of this pandemic they still showed up.
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Only Jesus could turn a hour of loss, into a season of abundance
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The potential of getting all the Lord has for you during times like this is only available when He is your Shepherd. Jesus said
John 10:9 (KJV 1900):
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
- Jesus said that He is the door that one must entered in order to enter in to the place where He can become your Shepherd.
- When we come to the one who stands not only as the door keeper but as the very way in to salvation we have access to all He has.
- The word Saved literally means “to have what God has for you”.
- When we are in need and Jesus is our Shepherd we have the opportunity to get all He has for us.
- In most cases, it is abundantly more then what we ever thought it could have been.
Psalm 19:1-2
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.
- I would like to share about the passing of my mother.
- One thing I love about the Lord is that we can know Him as Father.
- Father is such a surreal name for it entails more then relationship, but includes attributes.
- For a Father title comes with Fatherly characteristics
- A Father is a preparer. The term for head of house (Father) literally means to be out front. Which means to lead or prepare the way
- Jesus reflects His fatherly attributes by saying He is going to prepare a place for us and one day soon He will come and reveal that place to us for all of eternity
- Another attribute of a Father is a Provider. Father provides
- Another Attribute of a Father is Protector. Father PROTECTS
-
These are three attributes that really speak the loudest when understanding God as Father.
-
Father is a preparer (Gets things ready for the family)
- Father is a provider (Makes sure family has all they need)
- Father is a protector (Makes sure family is safe from the schemes of the enemy)
In a practical sense I would like to reflect how my Father moved on my family’s behalf during the lost of my mom.
- Father as a PREPARER: His timing
- FATHER AS A PROVIDER: HIS comfort
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FATHER AS A PROTECTOR: HIS promises
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Father as a PREPARER: His timing
Matthew 24:21-22
“For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
- I have written in my Bible from years ago, “The ELECT IMPACTS HISTORY AND TIME!”
- You see the Lord is in control of TIME and SEASONS and from this passage and so many like it, it appears as though He uses His ability and power to direct the course of time to a desired goal.
- What is that desired goal, the good of His people, and the glory of His name.
Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
- The Apostle Paul declares that Jesus is out in front, and the out in front means leading the way, preparing the way
- Then it says, “HE is holding all things together.”
- He is out in front preparing the way and making sure that WAY is secure in HIM
- When we are in the States we stay with my mom
- She has always been gracious enough to allow us to be with her and help her in areas of need.
- Last year we bought a one way ticket for the first time, not knowing when we would return, but in November the Lord told me to return in December for He had something for me.
- We did and was able to have Christmas for the first time in the States in 4-5 years. Pretty special time with my family and loved ones, especially my mom
- Then at the start of the year we began to meet and prepare for our return to Vietnam and like every other time before the Lord gave me a general idea of when we are to go and so I purchased our tickets for the middle of March
- THEN CORONA
- SHUT DOWN, I mean COMPLETE LOCKDOWN
- VIETNAM closed, TICKETS CANCELED and nation on lockdown
- Because of my mom’s health condition we really had to be wise, respectful and careful, so we did not go any where
- Every day, we were home, in her little house hanging out with her and enjoying her
- Everyday we ate, laughed, drank coffee, argued, bothered, and spent time together
- Since December of 2019 until mid July 2020 we were with my mom almost every day, all day long.
- This Pandemic has been awful, and horrific, but it has also been used by God
Psalm 139:12
Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.
- The night that my mom passed I had been teaching our pastors online and went to go to sleep about 2 am
- I heard some movment but it was normal movement, but I drifted off to sleep
- I woke up 45-1 hour later and went to go to the bathroom and poked my head into her room to check on her and saw her laying across the bed
- I went over and was trying to wake her up and was praying
- I just felt like it was not right, so I started CPR while I was on the phone with 911
- The ambulance came and took over CPR and was able to get a pulse, and vital signs
- They took her to the hospital and my family made their way here
- We were confronted with the reality that she is ready to go be with the Lord and in the midst of Corona Virus they were not letting people in to see their family members in that section, but God gave us great victory
This episode speaks about how we long to see God’s promises but hardship and difficulties can sometimes cause us to give up or want to quit. However the word of God and the Spirit of God says, “Don’t you quit!!”
Hebrews 10:35-36
Divine Set up 3: If you don’t sow, you can’t reap
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
- We are talking about Divine set ups and what that means is the providence of God in putting us in situations, or with people in order for us to get, grow or learn from so that we will be prepared for where He is bringing us.
- When the Lord had put me divinely back with brother Henry in 2003 until August of 2004 it was a time of preparation. A time of learning and growing and a time of getting some key principals deep down in to my spirit so that I would learn to walk by them
- One of the greatest lessons brother Henry taught me and in fact he just sent me a text yesterday about it is “Sow a seed, reap a Harvest.”
- He would always say, “You can never expect a harvest if you have not put a seed in the ground.”
- I can hear his voice right now saying, “If you get it in the ground you can expect a Harvest because God is so faithful to His word.”
- The Holy Spirit used him to teach me about tithing and the importance of tithing but also the importance of sowing. Not to just hold on to extra money but to pray about where to put that in the ground and sow it for the Kingdom of God
- The truth is this is a law, more then a principle
- For this law of sowing and reaping goes beyond ones faith in God or trust in the Lord.
- Every year all over the globe farmers go out and prepare their land for a seed they will put in the ground and then that seed will germinate and grow and then the farmer will go out and harvest their crop
- Over the years I have met so many non-believers who are strong advocates about the sowing and reaping, giving and it shall be giving back unto you law
- They have learned to conduct their business and guide their wealth through such a law that goes beyond dirt and water
- We may word it differently like investment (sowing), paying it forward (sowing), but the reality of the law is present.
Galatians 6:7-9
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
- Paul makes it clear here that this sowing and reaping law/principle goes beyond the ground and the seed
- He says whatever you sow, you will reap. If you sow hate, it is hate you will reap, if you sow to the flesh you will reap corruption, but if you sow to the Spirit you will reap the fruit from the Spirit that leads to eternal life.
- This sowing mentality is one that is proven and has stood the test of time.
- Sowing into your marriage, sowing into your business, sowing into your kids, sowing into your own life is done naturally, but the one thing we have to learn to control is what are we sowing
- We must look to make heavenly investments in to the hearts and life of those around us, especially our family members who are nearest to us
- I am going to use this time to specifically focus on sowing money where the Lord would lead you.
- We live in a day where life is about dollars and cents and every penny counts. Especially after the bottom dropped out of the market, jobs were lost, hours were cut, savings were lost, 401 k’s were ruined. It has been a very uncertain time financially
- SO this principle of sowing and reaping is one that has to be a go to resource during times like this.
- Our natural instinct would be to withdraw from tithing, withdraw from giving, or sowing and start storing, or holding on to. Believe me, I get it and have been guilty of it on many occasions. I have two little kids now and a wife and even though I have founded my life and lived my life on this principle I still am tempted to scrounge up what I got and hold on to it, but to watch it rot is way worse.
- Paul says this “Yes you are going to get burned out and weary at times sowing, but don’t stop, don’t give up for your harvest is sure and it is coming.”
- Did you hear that, “YES you are going to want to stop, and hold on to what you got, but don’t you do it, for if you keep sowing, you will keep reaping and will reap a good Harvest.”
- As I said a couple of episodes ago, Brother Henry would always talk about sow, and reap, seed time and harvest, but he would always add in that Matthew 13 parable where Jesus says, “30, 60, 100 fold harvest.” What Henry would tell me was when you sow in faith, something the non-believers don’t have access to for they only depend on the natural return of the sowing and reaping, but the believer relies on the supernatural return of the sowing and reaping because we do it by faith.
- I have many stories to tell about this principle but I will share this particular one at this time. In 2005 I went on a mission trip to Mexico with Pastor Rick Hagans which I will share with you later about how amazing the Lord set that up, but I met a guy that would become one of my best friends this life has known. Joel. Now Joel loves the word of God and I remember being a young pastor in Bible college sitting next to this guy from New York City who worked as a flight attendant and who sat next to me on our bus rides in and out of Mexico every day. He held a small NT bible and just kept showing me scripture and pouring into me and showing me this and that from the word of God and I remember sitting there thinking, this dude knows more about the word of God then I did at that point. So I made it a point to get me a little NT bible and get in and become a man of the WORD. Well on that trip Joel had mentioned that Times Square Church was doing a trip to Israel and he invited me to go with him. This was December 2005. I was like, yeah man, I will go. At that time you didn’t need a passport to go across the border in Mexico and I had never flown on a airplane before but I was like, yeah I will go.
- Well, we had talked a couple of times via phone after that. I was the pastor in Two Egg and the Spring semester of 2006 had started and ended. I came back to Deland during the week to visit my mom and family and it was getting close to the end of May. It was a Wednesday night and I was in a church service at Calvary Christian Center where Pastor Jim Raley was preaching and in the middle of the sermon he said, “There is someone in here that had something that they thought was dead, but God has brought it back to life even tonight. I knew that was for me, I just knew it. I thought it was a relationship but was I wrong. I went out after the service and saw where I missed a call from Joel around that same time. I called him back and the first words out of his mouth, “You ready to go to Israel the first week of June?” This was the second to the last week of May. I said, yes, I know the Lord has put this together let me try to get my Passport. Remember I was a college student, serving as a pastor in Two Egg, which meant I had no money once so ever. I did however have enough to go to the clerk of court and pay for my passport to be expedited in 24 hours. That Sunday I told the Church in Two Egg that I felt like I had a once in a life time opportunity to go to Israel for a David Wilkerson pastors conference and a tour of the Holy Land. They were overwhelmed and said they would pay for my flight. I remember sitting there in that pew like, WOW, just WOW! I am really going to go to Israel. The next day I called Joel and told him. I ordered my passport and the Church has given me the money to pay for my flight. Hallelujah!!!!
- We were scheduled to fly out in one week. I rushed around that week as I prepared and I felt like I was on cloud 9 man. Blown away at this opportunity. As I traveled back up the Church on Friday to visit folks and preach I realized I only had $210 to my name and that should be my tithe. I knew I was flying out on Monday and I needed money to pay for rooms, food, gas, etc. but I could work that out with Joel and pay him back. I thought to myself, yeah, but you should keep that $210 so you can have money for getting something. For what felt like the entire 5 hour trip up to Two Egg I wrestled with the thought to keep the tithe or to sow it. Some people only tithe on what they earn, but over the years I made my mind up to calculate gifts toward the tithe or give an offering based on the gift. That week the Church gifted me a Flight to Israel and I was going to give an offering to the Lord on it and when it was all calculated it was about $180 and then my heart was to simply give Him all I had $210 because the $30 left over was not going to do me any good. So, I had settled it in my heart and prayed about it to the Lord. When Sunday came and the time for offering I was in tears as I said, “Lord here is my heart and my gift, thank You. I don’t care if I go two weeks in Israel without eating, I am going and I am so thankful.” Well that was a sincere prayer, and a sincere seed.
- I preached and then gave the invitation. During the invitation people started walking up to offer me a gift from the Lord. I mean, check after check. It was so overwhelming. I just was in tears. It totaled over $1500 and for a young man who grew up in Deland and who only ever could dream about maybe one day going to New York City, the Lord used His principles in which He instilled inside of me, and His Church where He placed me, to show me “30, 60, 100 fold harvest is available for those who sow in faith and leave the results to Him.”
- Israel was breath taking, the pastors conference was powerful. When we came back I stopped in New York City to stay at my Friend Joel’s house, and visit my friend Joey who was working at Times Square Church. I had always wanted to go to New York, but it was nothing compared to Israel. The Lord can do exceedingly, abundantly, more then you can think, ask or imagine. Sometimes He puts us in Divine set ups to test our faith to see if we will trust Him with all of our tomorrows. If you don’t sow, you can’t reap. Don’t stop SOWING, FOR HE IS FAITHFUL!
Divine Set up 2: You can run but you can’t hide
Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
- When we talk about Divine set ups we are saying that God has a way of putting people in your life, or you in a situation in order to get you or give you what you need to get you where you need to be.
- The great thing about Divine set ups as we might not recognize it during the time of it taking place but we will surely know afterward that it was totally the Lord allowing or causing it to happen
- Think about Joseph’s life, how he had the dream to where his purpose would lead him, but it appeared as though he was not taking steps toward it but away from it.
- We was beaten and thrown into slavery, he was then brought forward and made a chief ruler of the slaves and then was falsely accused and thrown into jail.
- From jail he met two workers within the King’s courts and translated a dream they had. The one got out and the King Pharoah had a dream and needed an interpreter and sure enough remembered Joseph. Joseph was brought forth and after helping the king Pharoah he was given a royal position of authority.
- Later Joseph’s family comes and Joseph tells them,
Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
- Joseph recognizes that the Lord had put him in the right situations, around the right people, at the right times to get him to the place he needed to be
- Joseph recognized the providence of God
- I have and you have experienced so many times and events in our life when we truly experienced a move of God or a divine set up and we maybe didn’t recognize it until later on
- Before I came to the Lord I had a serious anger issue. I mean I was simply mad and hateful
- My music list was the gangster rap that simply glorified killing and murder. I had this deep seated anger within me and any little thing would set it off
- When I got saved and experienced the love of God that anger seemingly was removed and replaced
- I was working at Ferran and spending some special time with brother Henry every day and seeking the face of God.
- The Lord really wanted to do some deep cleaning in me during this time and put me in some divine set ups to expose what I needed and how to handle situations.
James 1:19-20
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires
- Testimony about sharpening my knife on the electricians cart.
Ephesians 4:26-32
Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Anger in your heart exposed!
- The anger Paul is speaking about here is not a revenge type of anger or a retaliation, but a anger that is affiliated with love. One that causes a disturbance within when you love someone or something and it is far from what it is meant to be.
- The anger that is sinful is usually attached to a selfish, or prideful response. As if your pride or your self indulgencing heart is not being fulfilled and the response is a sinful anger.
- Paul says that when a person comes to Jesus and is a stealer, he must stop stealing, and start doing righteous acts by laboring.
- Then Paul speaks about our speech and our conduct and how we are to live our lives in complete mindfulness of the Holy Spirit
- The call not to grieve the Holy Spirit is one that is a warning of all warnings, for it is HE, the Holy Spirit that is the in house resident of God
- We have to live our life mindful that He is wanting to teach, show, and lead us to greener pastures but we would never get there if we don’t listen, and follow.
- ``Lord telling me to go back the next day and tell him I am sorry for getting upset and angry at him.
- Man I did not want to do this, but I knew I had to. We arrived at work and sure enough he was standing in line to get in the buck hoist and I said “Hey man, I am so sorry for getting so angry in my heart toward you yesterday. Please forgive me!”
- Man that dude looked at me and said “you want to make me happy?” I said “yes”, He said, “Then don’t look at me or talk to me.”
- DANG!! DANG!! I had to pray again and the Lord showed me what good is it to love only the people that love you back. Love them that hate you.
- For what seemed like months every morning we would arrive at the same time and be waiting for the buck hoist to go up to the floor we were working on. Every day, he and I stood next to one another and every day I said good morning. How are you? No answer then after months of almost every day, he looked at me and said, man it is a good morning. I had a awesome weekend. DUDE that was the best feeling I had ever had. FIRE WORKS was exploding in the inside because I had loved him to the point of friendship
- The Lord used that Divine set up to expose a deep rooted sin and on top of it to also reveal a long lasting principle. OBEY THE HOLY SPIRIT
- Don’t Grieve Him with my actions or life, or my desire to not obey
- In God’s providence maybe, just maybe He has brought up some situaitons or some people, or even messages like this one to expose some unforgiveness, bitterness, or anger that has not been dealt with.
- Maybe He has shown you that your actions are grieving His Spirit. This means to shame, embarrass or cause to suffer sadness
- When we live a life far from obedience, we live a life of causing the Holy Spirit to suffer sadness
- He gives us divine set ups to deal with dirt, and to offer you His life
The Lord provides for all of our needs:
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”
The testimony about being called to school and then getting laid off from my job and starting community college.
Well I ended up getting my old job back at a very large local A/c company and they put me at the Port Orange Halifax remodel. Now when I used to work with them before I was a wild, wild kid who ran his mouth all the time and was angry and hard to be around.
Now I go back almost a year later and I am completely changed. I mean completely. I was enrolled in college, I was a youth pastor, I had been delivered of so many things and the Lord was daily growing me and teaching me.
Could you imagine the people I had worked with for years previously when I came back and was a totally different man. Unbelievable experience.
The Lord began to teach me so much. I really began to get deeper and deeper in the knowledge of the word of God and it was in this time that I truly learned how to hunger for God in His word and in Prayer.
The Lord put me with the man that years earlier that would come up to me and tell me, God had a plan for me. This man Henry Rivera would begin to pour into me a passion and desire for more of God and to trust God and His word. FAITH!!
Matthew 13:3-9
“Then Jesus told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”
- The Sower- The Son of Man/Any one sowing the word of God
- The Seed- THE WORD OF GOD
- The Soil- The hearts of people, (PATH, ROCKY, AMONGST WEEDS AND THORNS, GOOD SOIL)
- The Supernatural- A great return on the harvest would be 10 fold, but here Jesus says that when the WORD of GOD lands on the heart prepared for it produces a supernatural crop, a supernatural return. 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold
My friend Henry would sit with me in the car at break time, at lunch time, before and after work and pour this verse in to me. He would really show me what it meant to sow the word of God in to peoples hearts for you never know what God is going to do. He would say, “BE LIKE JOHNNY APPLE SEED!
He kept saying this parable over and over again because the truth is God’s word does not return void. God’s word does produce supernatural results in the life of the one who have prepared their heart to receive it by faith. The problem is not in the seed, nor the sower but the ground in which it lands. This is the one and only area we can do something about.
The Apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:12 “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day”
The Apostle Paul is saying, “To know JESUS is to TRUST HIM!” You have to know HIM! YOU HAVE TO KNOW HIM! FOR KNOWING JESUS IS TO TRUST HIM!
The Lord brought brother Henry into my life to sow the seed of salvation and then years later to sow the seed of faith and fire. You see after I surrendered my life I would felt called to go to new heights. Go to the Bible College, to do this and to do that, but it was all so far out of my league out of my level of comfort or normalcy. That time with brother Henry was a time of preparation. A time of getting a hunger to KNOW JESUS, and to KNOW HIM is to TRUST HIM!
One day during lunch we both had been fasting and praying and seeking the face of God. I mean the Lord was freshly pouring out in that car that day. All of a sudden Brother Henry looks at me and said, “God is going to enlarge your borders, He is going to bring you to places you never thought you would go, and He is going to use you to preach to the nations. A international ministry!”
I remember sitting there overwhelmed by the Lord’s presence but feeling as though what Henry was saying was far from what I could ever accomplish. Some 17 years later here I sit, having preached in nations around the globe, having a International ministry where we serve as missionaries to the nation of Vietnam and train national pastors and leaders. What Henry saw that day was God’s seed of purpose for me, what I had that day was a heart filled with good ground.
Everyday of our life we have to hunger for Jesus, we have to thirst for His word and we have to know Him. For knowing Him is trusting Him! Trusting Him and His word brings a supernatural return. 30, 60, 100 fold.
Never in a million years would Brother Henry had known that the 18 year old, drop out, hung over addict, who was so angry, doing construction A/C duct work that he kept sowing the seed of the WORD of God in would become a Dr. in ministry, serving in a closed nation where generations will be impacted with Gospel message through that ministry.
The Divine Exchange 7:
Our loneliness for His family!
John 1:12-13
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God
- The home unit in the majority of Americans lives is broken or dysfunctional. IN a survey from 2015 it was reported that 56% of teenagers from ages 15-17 had never understood or known what a whole family unit was like. Either their parents where never married, divorced or had been separated for a period of time. That is 1 out of every 2 kids that knows some level of division or brokenness.
- Check this out in January a report came out declaring that 60% of Americans feel lonely or live a lonesome life.
- This is a real situation where it plays a huge role in the life of the believer and in their journey the Lord has had them on.
- For me, I come from a broken dysfunctional family. We had love as we knew or understood it but we were so far away from what the ideal family situation would look like and lacked a lot in a lot of areas
- It played a huge role in my behavior, my actions and how I dealt with situations
- Even though my family was dysfunctional, they are my family and we have always been committed to one another and loving toward one another.
- When I got saved I noticed that I began to take on a new family.
- I literally started to trade in my broken, dysfunctional family experience for the family of God.
- Not that I traded my family in but the impact of growing up and experiencing a broken and dysfunctional family unit.
Mark 3:31-35
There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. 32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
- In first-century Graeco-Roman and Jewish society, it was a person’s family that primarily determined identity and social standing.
- Jesus’ teaching radically modifies this custom by prioritizing participation in the kingdom of God
- To have Jesus’ mother calling for Him and Him to openly and publicly break from her, was a serious thing.
- It was something Jesus had to publicly demonstrate that YES, family is important, but God’s will being accomplished in our life is even more important
- For it was Jesus that said,
Matthew 10:37
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
- With the commitment to the Lord above everything else comes an access to all the Lord would have for you
- As Jesus said in Mark’s gospel “The ones that does the will of God is my family”
- Jesus also promises at another place that
Matthew 19:29
And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
- This is not that you ever stop being important to the natural family unit or have obligations to the natural family unit, but if obeying the Lord causes you to have to leave, or be dismissed from a family unit because of your obedience to Jesus not to worry there is a 100 fold reward.
- Jesus is not wanting us to dismiss the natural family for that is contrary to His word
- He is wanting us to know that there should not be any allegiance on par with our allegiance to Him
- We don’t loose a family, but we gain a family.
- Look how Jesus entrusts His mother to John while He was on the cross.
- She had other sons, and other children, but here Jesus calls on His followers to embrace her and care for her as if she was part of their own family.
John 19:25-27
But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
- You see when we make the decision to surrender to Jesus and make Him LORD over all we enter into a family
- A family that is not broken, a family that is not and should not be dysfunctional
- A family that is committed to us, loving toward us, forgiving toward us and helps us grow into what the Lord has called us to be
- When I got saved and started going to Church those folks became my family. I loved them and they loved me
- They were so proud of me and what the Lord was doing in my life
- They were proud to watch me grow and God to use me
- When I went to College they were more excited and enthused about my decision to follow the Lord then anyone else in my life at the time
- Some of them were educated, some of them were old and well experienced and wise, some of them were good husbands and fathers and I began to learn how to glean from each of them
- I learned what it look like to be around well to do, educated people
- I learned what it was like to be a husband, and father figure
- I learned what it was like to have goals and dreams that reached past my sphere of influence growing up
- My family, the family of God helped form and shape me, and then I was leaving
- When I got to Bible College there was some lonely times
- Sure you had friends and room mates but I missed my family and my CHURCH family
- I read a verse that has set with me for over 16 years now.
Psalm 68:6
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing;
- When I was preparing to go to Bible college I thought I could preach at a church to earn money to help me through school
- My pastor said that would probably not happen until my second or third year.
- My first two weeks in Bible College I preached at a boys home in Marrianna Florida, and then was invited to apply for a youth pastor position in Quincy, Florida
- All of this activity I was still very lonely, missing my family and my Church family
- I was set to be voted on by the Church in Quincy to be their youth pastor but had an opportunity in Two Egg Florida to preach at a little country Church
- I went to that country Church the first week and as soon as I walked in the Lord said this is where you belong.
- That Church had gone through a hard time just before I showed up with all my college friends that first Sunday
- However what happened that day is the LORD set the lonely in a family
- Every single person that was and is a member of that Church has meant the world to me these last 16 years
- They have walked with me, helped me, cried with me, loved me, encouraged me, listened to some terrible messages, laughed with me, fed me, fed me again, blessed me and watched me grow into a man, a husband and a father
- I tell people I was born in Deland, but raised in TWO EGG
- God has a way of taking the lonely and putting them in a family, HIS family
Ephesians 2:19
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
- Once again I found myself in a lonely isolated place on the other side of the world
- Testimony about my wedding in Vietnam
His Healing for our sickness!
1 Peter 2:24-25
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
- I just listened to a song and in that song it has a line that says, “You (Talking to the Lord) will never run out of miracles.”
- That is the truth! We do serve a God of miracles and we do serve a God that has provided a substantial way for miracles to take place
- Within the laws that He has established He has made a way for an exchange to take place, not that the issue or problem is done away with on its on, but that it is dealt with and removed and in exchange Heaven’s reward is giving.
- NO other place in our life do we want to see more miracles then in the area of healing.
- I am a man who prays for God to heal people, but there are times when He has a bigger plan for the sickness then to offer healing.
- Ravi Zechariah just passed away. The Church has been praying for about 6 months for his healing and then again for about two weeks we have prayed for a miracle. Yet he still passed.
- IS GOD deaf? (NO WAY!)
- Does not care about Dr. RAVI? (More then we will ever know)
- Is God capable of healing? (ALWAYS AND FOREVER)
- SO, why would Dr. Ravi not be healed. Well, the Lord knows and it is between Him and His servant.
- Our days are numbered by the Lord and His plans for our days are there to bring honor and glory to Him.
- That does not mean the Lord does not care, nor does it mean the Lord cant heal or is not willing to heal.
- It simply means He knows what is best and what will bring more to know and understand Him.
- We are going to look at the provision of the Lord for the healing of the body by exchanging.
Matthew 8:14-17
When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him. When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.”
- Jesus’ compassion here is revealed
- No one asked, no one prayed, and no one brought her, JESUS KNEW, SAW, and WAS WILLING
- JESUS went to Peter’s home
- Jesus SAW his mother in law sick in bed
- Jesus touched her hand
- There are times when the Lord does what only He can do, and brings to mind what only He knows about.
- The response of the fever, infirmity or what ever it was that was gripping her left. The word used here in GREEK is APHIEMI, which means to leave or to forgive.
- The catch is the subject is not just to itself to leave or forgive but that something is allowing it, or causing it to leave or be forgiven.
- SO, lets say Peter’s mother in law is sick with a fever and she has tried so much to relieve or get rid of it but nothing is working, almost like it is latched on to her then all of a sudden Jesus comes and touches her and thus given release to the point where it has to leave.
- It was like JESUS TOOK IT OFF OF HER
- IN fact Matthew reviews to the Jewish audience just what Scripture has to say to what had just took place.
- He quotes and interprets Isaiah’s prophecy of what the MESSIAH will come to do.
- Notice, she went from lying in the bed gripped with sickness to serving Jesus. AN EXCHANGE!
Isaiah 53:4-5
However, he was the one who lifted up our sicknesses,
and he carried our pain,
yet we ourselves assumed him stricken,
struck down by God and afflicted.
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.”
- One translation uses the word took up, another uses the word lift off. This gives a beautiful image of what exactly an exchange looks like.
- Jesus takes it from YOU, in verse 5 shows you how He deals with it by His wounds, and then offers HEALING
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Not just a scab, but a complete removal of… and a given of HEALING! HIS HEALING!
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Testimony about my mom being healed while in Bible College
The Lessons Appointed for Use on the
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Year A RCL
Acts 17:22-31
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
Psalm 66:7-18
The Collect
O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The First Lesson
Acts 17:22-31
Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,
‘For we too are his offspring.’
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
The Response
Psalm 66:7-18
Jubilate Deo
7 Bless our God, you peoples; * make the voice of his praise to be heard;
8 Who holds our souls in life, * and will not allow our feet to slip.
9 For you, O God, have proved us; * you have tried us just as silver is tried.
10 You brought us into the snare; * you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.
11 You let enemies ride over our heads; we went through fire and water; * but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.
12 I will enter your house with burnt-offerings and will pay you my vows, * which I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.
13 I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts with the smoke of rams; * I will give you oxen and goats.
14 Come and listen, all you who fear God, * and I will tell you what he has done for me.
15 I called out to him with my mouth, * and his praise was on my tongue.
16 If I had found evil in my heart, * the Lord would not have heard me;
17 But in truth God has heard me; * he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
18 Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, * nor withheld his love from me.
The Epistle
1 Peter 3:13-22
Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you-- not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
The Gospel
John 14:15-21
Jesus said, ”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
The Divine Exchange 5:
When speaking about Divine exchange we are talking about the Lord taking something from us and giving us something from Him in exchange. One of the key verses that gives a great oversight of this exchange is found in
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
Paul says Jesus who knew no sin, became sin for us. HE took from us sin and in return or exchange has given us His righteousness. Now the Divine exchange does not stop at that but continues on to so much more the Lord has for us.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Isaiah 53:8-9
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
- The call to go to Bible college but not feeling like I could do it or even felt worthy of it
- Going to casting crowns concert testimony
Having the feeling of not
The Divine Exchange 4:
He was rejected so that I can be accepted
When speaking about Divine exchange we are talking about the Lord taking something from us and giving us something from Him in exchange. One of the key verses that gives a great oversight of this exchange is found in
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
Paul says Jesus who knew no sin, became sin for us. HE took from us sin and in return or exchange has given us His righteousness. Now the Divine exchange does not stop at that but continues on to so much more the Lord has for us. We are so limited in our understanding of just how much the Lord wants to impart to us. As a child of God journeys with Him, through His Holy Spirit, He speaks to certain areas in order to offer an exchange. In this episode I am going to share how the Lord dealt with me about rejection, and took it away from me and gave me His acceptance.
When my mother was pregnant with me, my dad who was married at the time left us to return back to his wife. My mom was distraught but the Lord truly did a work in her life and in our life. I grew up without a dad in my life and to never even meet him or see him or even hear his voice brought a lot of hidden issues. One of those main issues is a since of rejection.
The idea of feeling rejected comes from a dad who had me but made the decision to never want to be a part of my life. What also tags along with rejection is feeling unlovable. The idea that you are not lovable and if anyone really got close to you or knew you, they would reject you and leave. When I got saved I had this love inside of me and looked to lavish it on everyone, but I noticed I was not able to receive that type of love in return from others. It was as if I had this huge wall up all around my heart and mind and would allow love to go out but would not allow any to come in.
One afternoon I was praying and the Lord showed me this verse and it turned me upside down.
Matthew 13:45-46, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
If you look back over Matthew 13 and follow the parable of the sower, it will be easy to know that the Son of Man is the Sower mentioned in it. Thus in reference to that parable it would only be logical to assume Jesus would be the Merchant in this parable. With Jesus being the Merchant lets follow the story, A Merchant went seeking fine pearls. If Jesus is the Merchant and HE has come seeking for fine pearls, what would be the pearls? What is it that caused Jesus to come seeking? What has peeked His interest or what is valuable to Him? Yes, you guessed it. PEOPLE! Jesus came seeking to save people. To gather people. To bring people unto Himself.
Now, the parable does not stop there. It goes so much deeper. It says that the Merchant goes out seeking fine pearls and when He found ONE pearl of great value, He went and sold all that He had and bought it. He went looking for fine pearls, when He found 1, HE gave everything to make that 1 His. Well I read that and just started crying because I knew that I had been saved. I knew that Jesus gave everything to make me His. I knew that but the Holy Spirit made it very clear to me that if it was just me, if I was the 1 pearl He would still give everything to make me His. That is still an overwhelming thought. If you or I was the only 1 that would ever come to faith in Jesus, He would still give His life for us. That is how valuable we are to Him. That is how much He loves us.
This set me free. The Holy Spirit was saying Shaun I want to take your rejection, and give you my acceptance. I want you to know deep down inside of you that you are lovable and accepted. How could this exchange even be offered. Isaiah’s prophecy speaks about how the Messiah’s ministry would provide such an exchange.
Isaiah 53:1-3
“Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
It says in no uncertain terms that this Messiah would simply be despised, forsaken and rejected. Jesus the Creator of the world would come unto His own and in John’s gospel it says, His own would rejected Him. In Mark’s gospel it says even His own family rejected Him and thought He was out of His mind. Later on in the Gospels some scholars believe it references His father turned from Him.
Mark 15:34 “At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
They believe that it was at this point that Jesus endured the entire portion of humanity’s sin and thus causing the Father to turn from Him in rejection of sin. Jesus was despised, forsaken and rejected. He endured that so those who like me feel unlovable, rejected or forsaken could receive His exchange. The Exchange is being accepted and loved by the FATHER!
John 15:9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”
Jesus said, that HE LOVES US, just like the FATHER has loved Him. He commands that we live in that love. LIVE IN that LOVE! You see Jesus took our rejection, so we could have His acceptance. My dad left me, my dad didn’t love me, and it left me with a rejected spirit. Feeling unlovable, but once I realized that for the first time in my life someone truly knew me, knew everything about me, and yet wanted to be with me and would give everything to make me His, it gave me an opportunity to offer Jesus my rejection, so I could receive His acceptance. To be loved and able to receive that love is priceless.
The merchant went out looking for fine pearls, when He found one, He went and gave everything to make that ONE His very own. He knows you, He loves you and He wants you so bad that HE would be despised and rejected so we could be accepted.
Divine Exchange 3:
When speaking about Divine Exchange, I am saying the Lord Jesus came to live our life and die our death so that we could have His life. Throughout Scripture there is an implementation that He takes what we have and gives us what He has, an exchange.
For example in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
Paul says Jesus who knew no sin, became sin for us. HE took from us sin and in return or exchange has given us His righteousness. Isaiah’s prophecy speaks about this particular ministry of the Messiah in Isaiah 61.
Isaiah 61:3 “to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful head dress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified”
What is implied is the people of ZION are mourning and the Lord’s Messiah is going to take some things off of them and exchange it with what He has for them.
- Comfort for mourning,
- beauty for ashes,
- joy instead sadness,
- garments of praise instead of spirit of despair.
In the New International Version it says, He will provide for and bestow on them. I love that because it clarifies the process. The Messiah will make a way for the exchange to take place and will not just give the exchange but will do so with JOY. TO bestow something on someone is like a judge at a beauty pageant awarding the winner of the pageant with a crown. It is a joyful event. The judge takes great joy in giving the prize away, bestowing on the winner. What a joy!
After I felt this call into ministry, and it was confirmed by my pastor I really struggled with it because I still struggled with some sinful behaviors. I was addicted to chewing Tabaco, I cussed all the time and I had lustful thoughts in my heart all the time. I truly didn’t think I was ready or even worthy of being used by God. But, the good thing was I just was summoned to pray and prepare. What was about to happen over the next couple of weeks was nothing short of a miracle. The Lord took my addiction and in exchange gave me freedom. Addiction is so different then just a sinful act. It is like being a slave to sin. Almost like you are forced to do it as though you no longer have control over it. Addiction to anything seems demonic at it’s core because it is like you are being controlled.
John 8:33-36 “They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Jesus tells those who were following Him that if they held to the truth they would be set free. They said we have never been captive, bound or slaves to anyone, why do You talk about freedom. Jesus said, everyone who sins is a slave to sin and when the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Again this is what is seen in Isaiah’s prophecy as what the ministry of the Messiah will offer.
Isaiah 61:1 “To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners”
Isaiah 53:7-8 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, Yet he opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment:
Did you hear it? The Messiah would bring deliverance to the prisoner, to those in bondage and chains. In Isaiah 53 it explains how. He Himself would be bound, would be in chains, would be imprisoned. He took our bondage, our chains, so that we could have His freedom.
JOHN 18:12 “So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him.”
JESUS paid the price for us to be free. He takes our bondage, our chains, and gives us His freedom. Who the Son sets free is FREE indeed.
Divine Exchange 2:
This episode I take a moment to explain my thought process behind the first several episodes and the track we are on. I sure pray this is a blessing and encouragement to both you now and those who will listen in the future.
My call in to ministry. I totally felt like I was not worthy, or had anything to offer the Lord or His people. I mean I just got saved and was still on prohibition from my DUI. My life was still changing and it was changing quickly. The next morning after the Lord had spoken to me from Mark’s gospel I remember waking up and my dog had ate my entire can of Copenhagen tobacco Snuff, my mom took my last couple of dollars I had laid on the table and then getting in the work truck and telling my cousin whom I worked with that I believe the Lord might be calling me to serve Him. I will never forget what he said. He looked across the front seat of the truck as I leaned against the door craving a dip of snuff and said, “DUH, I thought you knew that.”
Apostle Paul must have felt some of the same feelings of not being worthy to serve Jesus. Grace is an amazing thing that our life and mind can’t fully comprehend. Paul had been persecuting the Church of Jesus and was doing it with zeal. He was present at the stoning of Stephen and then went on a rampage soon after chasing, capturing, and trying in his own ability to destroy the people of the WAY.
In Acts 9 it records the events, “As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”
Paul who was named Saul would never be the same. His life was interrupted by GRACE. He was a murder of God’s people, He was working against the very plan of God and the people of God, but Jesus stops Paul in his tracks to tell Paul that He wanted him. Jesus Himself said that Paul’s attacks were attacks directly on Him, but Jesus still wanted him and had a plan for his life. Saul was blinded and led to Damascus and for 3 days stayed there until the Lord sent His servant to go and pray for Paul and tell him what lied ahead.
Paul would write in 1 Timothy 1:15, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
Paul had to feel just awful when he found out that he was actually working against the Lord and killing the people of God. No wonder he saw himself as the chief of sinners. I heard a testimony by a Israeli pastor talking about his time in the IDF air force and how one of his fellow soldiers was doing a fly over patrol and saw a brigade of tanks rolling across the mountains. He had to act quick and used no time to report back but acted quickly and destroyed the tanks. He returns to base expecting to be the hero only to find out that he had destroyed his own brothers. This must have been the same feeling Paul had. BUT GOD and His Holy Spirit could exchange sin, shame for righteousness.
That afternoon it only seemed obvious to me to go to my pastor and share with him what I felt the Lord calling me to do. I shared with him that I simply wanted to start mowing the Church’s yard for I felt like that was the only thing I could offer the Lord and if He could use a nice looking yard at the Church and someone seeing that and coming to the Church to know Him then it is all worth it. Now mind you this property at the Church would literally take me 2 ½ to 3 hours to cut it by push lawn mower. It was huge. He told me that was a great offer and I should be baptized. Going to my pastor and telling him I wanted to serve by mowing the Church’s yard
Visiting so many friends and family with my pastor to tell them about what Jesus had done.
My pastor telling me the best advice I have ever had for ministry and in serving the Lord, “PRAY”.
Divine Exchange 1:
In Matthew 5 Jesus teaches about how those who would long for and come onto Him
would experience an exchange.
“He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:2-5
When we come to Jesus in pure faith, He will forge us, He will save us, and above all He will give Himself to us in the form of His Holy Spirit and then begin to implement in to our lives all that He has for us. Just like on the offer on the Sermon of the mount, Jesus still offers it today. Whoever would be hurting, spiritually bankrupt and come unto Him in faith, He will offer you and exchange with Heavens treasure.
When I was learning how to pray and seek Jesus’ face after I became a Christian I heard His Holy Spirit speak to me very clearly about a certain passage in Mark’s gospel. I grew up not knowing my dad and having never met him, but I had always knew his name was Mike Fisher. Now, that night the Lord spoke very clear to me, I has been walking and praying and asking the Lord to please allow me to help people feel like I feel and have what I have. When I arrived home I opened the King James Bible that I had and started reading in Mark 1:16-17, “As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
That night the Lord spoke to me in words like this, “Your dad’s last name is Fisher, it is your lineage, your DNA, but I am making that into something better. I accept you, I will bless you, I want you, and I am going to use you as my servant.” From that day, the Lord has done a work within in me and through me that has been amazing. This is available for everyone who by faith would call upon the name of the Lord. For He too will take your trash and give you Heaven’s treasure.
This episode is a little longer than what we will be aiming for, but the purpose is because it is really a message. What Jesus' resurrection means to the Church and to me personally is overwhelming. It was on this day 18 years ago my life forever changed and it all started on this day 2000 plus years ago when Jesus' came out of that grave.
We are going to hear my testimony of my first Easter experience in Church, also look at Mark's account of the resurrection and how the Lord used it to reveal His heart toward the messed up and broken. The Apostle Peter had messed up several times but none more significant then the night of Jesus' betrayal when he publicly denied Jesus the three times. That left Peter undone and distraught. However when Sunday come, along with it came that message of forgiveness and acceptance. This is the same message that changed my life and prayerfully would change yours. Jesus is alive, HE did rise from the grave, and He offers you and I forgiveness of sins and life everlasting if we would just surrender our life and heart to Him.
I am going to share a story about how my 4 year old son came to understand the cross and how that simplicity of the gospel message should resonate within us as well. We will explore the triumph entry as recorded by Luke (Luke 19:35-40) and the crucifixion as recorded in John’s gospel (John 19:1-30).
May our hearts burn with passion for worship unto our Jesus for all He did in ONE DAY! It was that One day that everything was made right side up for all who would believe. So that even in a time like we are currently facing with Covid-19 where it feels like our world is turn upside down, we can still worship and praise because the Cross of Jesus Christ is larger then anything we will ever face and more powerful then anything we will ever encounter. For from that day all who would believe have had their lives turned right side up for both now and eternity.
My name is Shaun and I have so many short comings and faults in my life and journey with Jesus. However, the Lord has used His WORD and His Holy Spirit to deal and heal with so many of those areas in my life and I know He wants to do the same for you. This podcast aims to share some of Shaun and a whole bunch of God’s WORD to help the listener in their journey with Jesus.
I believe it is extremely important to proclaim our faith, and recall all of God's promises for us found in His WORD. This is a prayer and proclamation of faith that I have developed over the years that has been a blessing to me and my family.
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen
Lord I thank you for saving me from my sin. Your word says “Everyone that calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” •I thank You Jesus that Your blood forgives me from all of my sin •I am thankful Jesus that Your blood redeemed me from Satan •I thank You Jesus that Your blood cleanses my soul and heart from the stain of sin •For You who knew no sin, became sin on my behalf so I can become Your righteousness •I was not Your child but You lavished Your great love on me so that I could be called your son and daughter which I am. •Jesus you became a curse for me so that I can receive Your blessing. •Jesus if You be for me who or what could be against me •Lord I thank You for healing all of my diseases, forgiving all of my sin and renewing my youth as the Eagle. •Jesus I thank you that You prepare a table before my enemies, and truly Your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life •I thank You Lord that no evil will befall me and disease will come near my home •You promised that I would not die but live and declare Your works all the days of my life. •I thank you Lord Jesus that You have given me Your Holy Spirit and He is guiding me in all Truth and teaching me all that You have said. •I thank You Lord for causing my strength to be as leangth of my days and my feet to always be dipped in oil and my gates that suround my mind and heart to be iron and bronze • I thank You for the blessing of the Lord makes me rich and You add no sorrow to it. •I thank You Lord that You have caused all that my hands have found to do to prosper and for us to have great success.