Christian Assembly Church - 2021 Audio Archives: Recent Episodes
Christian Assembly Church
Catch up on the teachings from Pastor Bill and Christian Assembly Church in Ohioville, PA from 2021!
How did the legend of Saint Nicholas begin? What is the history behind it? Today we delve into the historical beginnings of this part of Christmas culture.
What child is this? He’s God (deity); man (humanity); king (royalty). He’s messiah, redeemer, savior, healer, deliverer, provider, protector, cloud by day, fire by night, fourth man in the fiery furnace, the one Herod couldn’t kill, the grave couldn’t hold, the creator and upholder of all things, always was, is and will always be, he Jesus, Emmanuel and God with us!
God knew that by loving us unconditionally, many would respond to His love, love Him back, and be motivated to love others "even as" He loved us. He’s now resting in the finished work of His love and rejoicing over every person who responds to His great love.
We were slaves to sin; we could not redeem ourselves; silver and gold could not redeem us. The Blood of Jesus was the price of our redemption. Now that we know our value and worth, we are to place the same value and worth on others and love them as Christ loved us.
Confidence toward God grows as we focus on who God is and who He says we are. By doing so, we silence every voice that would have us get our eyes on ourselves and off of Christ, who is our life. God is always for us, will always help us, and is no respecter of persons.
Training our hearts to be thankful does many good things. It gives God all the glory. It protects us from letting our lives be defined by what we don’t have. It reminds us of our need to stay humble and dependent on God.
In order to develop thankfulness, we must submit our thinking to God’s Word and allow the Holy Spirit to transform how we think about the challenges we experience in life.
Thankfulness can change our lives and help us navigate through the difficulties we face. God wants us to rejoice, pray and give thanks so His glory can flow through our lives and bless others.
Today’s church is not to be as the shorn Samson - powerless, blind and grinding at the mill of the enemy; but powerful, enlightened and laboring for God to bring in the last days harvest and return of our Lord.
The same Power that shook the place where they were in the book of Acts is still available to us today. If we desire to shake our world for Jesus as they did, we must go back to the basics of PRAYER, PASSION, and PROCLAMATION!
The power that shook the meeting place and prison then, is available to us today. If we want to shake our world for Jesus today as they did then, we must return to the basics of prayer, passion and proclamation, so that great power and great grace rest upon us as it did them!
When addressing the topic of healing, we must go back to the Master’s teaching of sowing the seed of God’s Word. The message of healing never changes, the methods of healing are numerous, and the moment of healing is determined by the believer - receiving by faith what God has spoken in His Word!
We have many advantages over the early church, but they outdo us in accomplishments. How? They stuck to the basics and allowed God to demonstrate His power through them. That same power is available today. We must return to the basics of prayer, passion and proclamation if we want to shake our world for Jesus.
The life of faith is walked out not by what our senses tell us, but based on the unseen things of God. Our foundation of faith is based on what God has said. When we release our faith, we can be tempted to fear or waiver. But by feeding our faith on God’s Word and by fellowshipping with those of like-precious-faith, we can inherit the promise.
Is the manifestation of God’s power affected by one’s belief? Does God’s power save someone who views preaching the cross as foolishness? God wants us to understand that the greatness of His power was used to benefit us. Now, we are to use it to benefit mankind.
Our God is a mountain leveler. He wants to reduce our mountains to molehills. It’s up to us to cooperate with Him by speaking His Word to the mountains of adversity in our lives, until they become level plains we can walk on.
The Prophet Samuel learned early in his life to identify the voice of God. His mentor Eli eventually instructed him in hearing and responding to God’s voice. Like Samuel, many struggle with knowing God’s voice and discerning where our thoughts and impressions are coming from: God, ourselves, or even the devil. Knowing the difference can mean the difference between life and death!
We can look at the testimony of Gertrude Ticer as an example of standing on the promises of God to receive healing. Regarded as one of the greatest healing miracles of the 20th century, a blind and disabled Ticer waited in her hospital room insisting that Jesus would be by to heal and restore her of the debilitating condition of MS. Today we will look at scriptures which support the process that Ms. Ticer took to receive her healing from Jesus.
We need saved because of what Adam did. In Adam, the entire world is on a crash course with eternal torture. There’s nothing we can do to escape it on our own. God made a way of escape for everyone in Christ. By calling upon His Name, one can become a new creation and be saved.
God has provided everything we need in order to experience abundant life. In Christ, He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. What God has provided must be taken by force; salvation must be received or taken by force, and healing is also received by faith.
Before the church age, there were only two people groups in the world: Jews and Gentiles. But on Pentecost, a third group emerged: the Church. Let’s unite to make Jesus known to the world and lets’ become the glorious church Jesus is returning for.
From the time of Jesus’ ministry, through the early church in the book of Acts, and even today: it is God’s will that His people be healed. Let’s take a look at the history of healing through the church age!
Nothing should prevent us from serving God and fulfilling the purpose He created us for. Mercy is greater than fear, anger, resentment, shame or any excuse we can make for not serving God. Let’s take the advice of Jesus and be about our Father’s business.
God wants us to be Spirit filled and to maintain a Spirit filled life. Praying and speaking in tongues is the initial evidence that we’ve been Spirit filled and by practicing it daily will help us maintain a Spirit filled life.
God is a spirit and we are spirit being. When filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke the language of the Spirit because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
There are 3 causes to sickness: physical, emotional, and spiritual. The most effective cure is to RESTORE a right relationship with God in all three realms: spirit, soul and body.
There are three baptizers and three baptisms spoken of in scripture. The doctrine of baptisms is one of the six principles of the doctrine of Christ. In order to move on from principles to perfection, we should submit ourselves to all three baptisms.
When Jesus walked the earth, He had authority over sickness and demons. He demonstrated his authority by commanding sickness and demons to leave, and they always did. We can access the authority of Jesus when we recognize the authority we have in his name.
Eternal judgment is a foundational principle of the doctrine of Christ. Along with repentance from dead works, faith toward God, baptisms, the laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, eternal judgment is foundational to our faith. And eternal judgment WILL happen; but where it happens for each of us is determined by the individual.
Continuing our study of hell, we focus on the sacrifice of Jesus - what He did to accomplish salvation for the world. Hell is a real place that no on has to go to. Escaping hell came at a great price for Christ; where we spend our eternity is up to us.
Those who have died are still alive; they retain their personalities, can see, hear, feel, remember, speak... Hell is a real place, and once in, you cannot get out. In Luke 16, Jesus reveals the destinations of two men that really lived. God’s grace is revealed to us through Jesus; His grace rescues those who choose to follow Him from this awful place.
There is a battle involved when we fight for our healing. Apostles Peter and Paul admonished us to use our faith to resist evil forces. Let’s look at how to stand in our faith for healing!
As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, there are 3 ways we should focus our attention: looking within, looking back, and looking forward. These three looks can help us reverently and meaningfully participate in this intimate expression and celebration of our Savior.
Appropriating the promises of God - receiving them by faith - requires two areas of effort: RECEIVING and RESISTING. God never intended man to experience sickness, but even in our fallen state, God made provision!
True freedom is found in Christ. In Him, we are free from spiritual, emotional, and physical bondages. It’s our responsibility to discover these truths and allow them to transform our lives into the image of Christ.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. When it is preached, it must be believed and acted upon in order to have an effect on the hearer. God has sent His Word- it’s up to us to believe it and act upon it!
A recent survey on college campuses revealed fathers were the primary influence in their lives (positive and negative). When the Creator of the universe chose a surrogate father for His Son, there are a lot of qualities He could have considered: religious wisdom, wealth, social or political influence, or experience. But God chose Joseph to help rase Jesus for different qualities. We need more Joseph’s today than ever before!
Our faith doesn’t move God to supply our needs; He has already supplied everything we need for our natural and spiritual life through Christ Jesus! God takes pleasure in giving His children the kingdom. God has given us everything we need that pertains to life and Godliness!
Everyone has values, but not everybody agrees on what they should be or where they should come from: the world or God. Values are what someone thinks is right or wrong, what matters or doesn’t matter. It is the line we draw in the sand for our personal conduct and behavior. There is a fundamental choice to make when it comes to values: God’s views, or the world’s view. We should be motivated by what affects humanity temporally versus eternally!
Continuing our study of the children of Israel, we can observe Moses’ reaction to Pharaoh when he attacked Israel. What was Moses’ counsel? How did he respond?
Though the Israelites didn’t enter the promised land under Moses’ leadership, they did under Joshua’s. By promoting faith over unbelief, the Israelites entered in, and we continue our study to point to seven truths that moved this people from unbelief to living by faith! Let’s learn from them!
Tomorrow, we celebrate a Memorial of those who served our nation and gave their lives in her defense. Freedom is never free, and there are men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms we enjoy. As we remember these fallen heroes, we also remember the One Who gave His life for our ultimate freedom!
We serve God because we love Him, because He is worthy of service and obedience and allegiance. But everything we do, everything we are, everything we give - comes back to the glory of the One who graciously saved us! Our motivation for serving more, for giving more, for loving more, for praying more, for worshipping more- is that at the revealing of Jesus, everything we’ve done in faith, will bring Him glory.
Jesus made it possible for every believer to receive the Holy Spirit. Have you received the Holy Ghost? Are you thirsty for more of God? All you have to do is get to Jesus and drink!
What God gives us, we must possess by faith. We can look at the example of Joshua and the children of Israel as they went to possess the promised land. But where they had the promise of things to come, we have New Covenant: providing a change of heart, remission of sin, and an eternal inheritance.
Mary was a woman of purity, a thinker, a woman of faith, a humble servant, a devoted mother. By following the example of Mary, every teenager, single woman, and mother can live a life that honors God.
Though the same faith that saves man’s spiritual condition is the same faith that heals man’s physical body, it can seem as though receiving salvation is easier. Why is that?
We live in a fallen world ruled by unseen spiritual forces intent to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus called Satan the prince of the power of the air. Paul called him the god of this world. To deal with these forces we face here below, we need power from on high.
In June of 2020, our church administrator Chuck Cirelli tested positive for the coronavirus, or COVID-19. What followed was a battle he never expected, but through which God proved Himself faithful. Be encouraged in your faith through this testimony. God is faithful, and He is still in the healing business today!
When receiving by faith, there are certain keys to success which we can follow along the way. What begins in our fellowship with the Father must be completed by a life of faith in God. Even as we face the battle of the "time lapse," we must continue to put our trust and faith in the God who is faithful!
God never intended for man to die. Adam opened deaths door. Though God wants to satisfy us with long life, His will is not automatically done in our lives. Our confession of faith based on the Blood of Jesus releases power that enables us to live victorious lives and overcome every work of the enemy.
Praises shouldn’t be difficult to understand. We praise our children for their achievements and for doing right. Employees are praised for working hard. God, above all, is to be praised by His people for Who He is and what He has done. Praise releases power that defeats the enemy!
Fulfilling our purpose requires passion. Purpose has to do with our head; passion has to do with the heart. No matter the purpose, it’s passion that separates success from failure.
Everyone has a destiny - a predetermined future that leads to a destination. A destination is the goal of a journey, a destiny is the trip along the way. God has His plans for our destiny, the devil has his plans. It is our faith that can change our destiny to line up with God’s plans.
The resurrection is what distinguishes Christianity from all world religions. Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead- who is alive for evermore. The body is not a prison for the soul, but the temple of the living God, purchased by the Blood of Jesus, and will one day be raised up glorified.
Why call it Good Friday? It was the darkest day in human history. The innocent Savior of the world was betrayed, arrested, falsely accused, judged, beaten, publicly shamed, and crucified. This was all part of God’s constructive plan for man’s eternal salvation.
The week before the crowds cried out, "Crucify him!" they were shouting "Hosanna!" We can learn from the fickle faith of the Palm Sunday crowd. Peace with God must be on His terms. So where are we in the crowd? Who do we see Jesus as?
All of creation was made by the unseen. It was the Word of God spoken and the work of the Holy Spirit of God which caused the formation of the world. Because every created thing responds to the sound of God’s Word, we can expect healing to manifest by commanding our situations to line up with the Word.
When one does not fear God, there’s no motivation to listen to God. Fearing and obeying God are closely connected. Our goal is to grow in the fear of God as Job, on whom God bragged.
Continuing from last week, we take a look at some necessary revelations which point to God as our healer, Satan as the destroyer, and faith as our access to the grace of God through what Jesus completed on Calvary.
The fear of God is to govern our conduct, character, behavior, speech, and every thought, word, action and motive. The fear of the Lord asks "is what I’m doing or about to do, something that pleases God?"
Compassion moved Jesus to heal all who are sick, Mt. 14:14. He never turned anyone away who came to Him.
Eternal life is not about programs, religious traditions, theological positions, rituals, ceremonies or having intellectual knowledge. It’s about knowing God personally, intimately accurately and in reality. It’s about experiencing God and Jesus, not just perceiving things about them.
Sovereignty does mean God can do what He wants, when He wants, if He wants, how He wants. He wanted to establish boundaries for everyone and everything He created. He also established boundaries for Himself so man would be able to trust Him.
Sovereign is defined by many as meaning God is in control of everything, everywhere, all the time. He can do what He wants, when He wants, how He wants, no matter what. Is this what sovereign really means?
No one is exempt from experiencing the emptiness and hopelessness that comes from shattered hopes and dreams. The valley of dry bones (Ez. 37) represents just such lifelessness. But, praise God, nothing is beyond what God can do!
Jesus is our High Priest, and He ever-lives to make intercession for us. But we must know how to approach the throne of God - with a true heart, full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with the pure water of the Word!
There are no unneeded members in the body of Christ, just like the human body. As every body member serves the body, every member in the body of Christ is to serve God in one way or another.
Receiving from God requires faith in what God says to do even if we don’t understand why He says to do it!
Moses is a great example of what we can think as people, trying to excuse ourselves from God’s call on our lives. But when we trust God’s call, and His command, we receive from God the equipping to do His will.
Faith involves trusting our Father unconsciously because we know He loves us more than any earthly father can, and wants us to enjoy all that He has provided for us in his life through Christ.
Serving God is a choice. We’ve all been called to serve. Our motive is our love for God. We all have been given gifts. We all have something to offer. There are many ways to serve.
Everyone is called to serve God, but not everyone chooses to do so. What group do we belong to? God has drawn a line, but the choice is ours.
Throughout history, many have encountered supernatural encounters with God that transformed their lives and ignited within them a passion to serve God. We can’t make God give us a special encounter, but we can position ourselves to have an encounter with Him.