Category: Bible Preaching

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Bible Preaching

A Gospel Message of Hope – G. T. Haywood

A Gospel Message of Hope[1]
Bishop G. T. Haywood[2]
(April, 1922)

We wish to call your attention to the third chapter of Romans, beginning at verse 1, “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” That is, the first opportunity to know God. The law of the Ten Commandments was given to them. God had committed unto their trust the oracles of God, and gave them that they might bring the light of God to the world. And although they failed their God, yet His purpose went forward. Even though some did not believe, “shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” Man’s unbelief does not change God’s word, nor stop Him from working out His purpose.

The word of God is true whether the people believe it or not. God will bring Salvation near. It makes no difference what you say, or what I may say, because, “God hath said.” Our God can work while we are sleeping. And when we are folded away like a garment in our graves, God will still be working. If one man, or one people, fails God, He will take up another and move on. God brought Israel out and made them a great people through a man who was only a shepherd of the plains of Midian and not a warrior, but could speak words of wisdom by the spirit of God. Words, which, even to this day, have astonished the world. God sent His Word from heaven unto this people, and walked in the midst of them with mighty signs and wonders showing His mighty arm. And yet they failed God through their unbelief.

The Lord had no people He could trust. So He declared He would “take a people who are not a people and make them a people of God.” He did this to prove that He does not have to depend on any nation or individual. God Himself never failed, and could not fail. Even the prophets He ordained became weak at points along the line and were filled with fear, or took honor to themselves. “The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment” (Isa. 28:7). 

What if man does not believe the Gospel as it is laid, down in the Book? The Gospel is true regardless of his unbelief. I believe in the Blood of JESUS CHRIST, and that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. But the question is: how shall I get the remission? One may say, “I will just believe,” but to “believe” means more than to just say, “I believe.” Matt. 26:28 says, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

If any people start out with the power of God in their midst and become full of pride and lose their spirituality, God will put them aside and take up another. And if the latter fails, He will set them aside and take up still another. I am satisfied that God does not depend upon any of us to carry His work through, but we are compelled to depend upon Him for without Him we can do nothing.

“For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Jesus was the greatest preacher the world has ever known, and turned the preaching of the Gospel over to Peter as if to say, “You are next, Peter. You shall begin where I leave off.” Then that preacher in Acts 2:38 said, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” That is the way the Holy Spirit gave it out on the day of Pentecost. In those days the people were always baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins that they might receive the Holy Spirit, which was God’s witness to their faith.  

What is the Holy Ghost? He is a witness to your having received remission of sins. That is what the Apostle said: “There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one” (1 Jn. 5:8).  He did not say one was any greater than the other. All three of them are required to make one witness. Many people look at water alone, but the proper thing to do is to see the name in which it is administered. Take away the blood, and you have nothing but faith. Take away the water and you make Jesus a liar. The Bible, in the first epistle of John, tells us plainly, “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 Jn. 5:6). I do take notice of this much, there was so much authority in the command of JESUS to baptize, that nearly all the churches (with a few exceptions) try in some way to administer it, if it only be the dipping of the finger in the water. But if it is worth doing at all, it is worth doing rightly. However, a man’s failure to believe and obey does not change the Word of God. You can scarcely join a church in the city without some mode of baptism. There are about as many ways as there are human minds, and all for the lack of following the mind of the Spirit.

The reason some people do not live holy is because they have not been taught it and have been brought up wrongly. But you start a man or woman believing the Word of God and you can bring them out on the Word. Our experiences are so varied that it does not pay to attempt to tell others about it, for they will try to get our experience instead of what is written in the Book. I do not want anybody to be able to rise and say the Word of God is not true. There has always been somebody filled with the Spirit, ever since the day of Pentecost. God has never left Himself without witness. No doubt some did not know just what they had. Luther had it. Wesley, Finney and Fox had it; and they had a hard, severe trial in their days.

We want God to be justified. We have not a thing to boast of this day. There is false holiness and true holiness. The true, is the Holy Ghost in you; and the false, is human efforts without God; self-righteousness. If we acknowledge our own failures God will give us His power to overcome day by day. God does not get behind a man with a whip and drive him to heaven, but He fixes it up so you will follow Him because you love Him.

Who is it that never did sin? Paul shows the whole human family had sinned, and if all sinned, all were condemned. But God had mercy. We could not help but sin. We were born that way. But God said, “You must be born again.” And no newborn child walks perfectly at once. First they crawl, then they totter and fall, but they do not keep falling. By this I mean, when a man or woman is filled with the Holy Ghost and starts out to walk with Jesus Christ, they may stumble and fall at first, but don’t get discouraged. If the devil tries to trip you up God will help you. He is able to keep you from falling, says Jude. I am talking about those who have it in their hearts to live for Christ. Do not let any failure daunt your courage. You know God is able to carry you through. Many have found it to be so.

If God brings judgment upon a sinner for his wrongdoing, some will charge Him with injustice. But how can God then judge the world? God said He would give us a light for our path, and put His angels around us, and give us a pattern in Jesus, and place His Spirit within us. Brother, I would be ashamed to tell God I could not live right with all that help! Then folks will try to tell you, “You can’t make it, Brother!” So we are going to commend the righteousness of God, by acknowledging: “O Lord, we are all failures?”  

It is the grace of God that is able to sustain and uphold any man or woman who desires to be kept by the Power of God. There are people who desire to boast of themselves and never have had a change of heart. And some even go so far as to say, “I am all right. I am good enough. I don’t need that Holy Ghost.” I don’t care if you did not steal, drink, or commit adultery: it is in your heart anyhow! Everybody needs the power of God. Good works never did save anybody. It takes the “power of God unto salvation” (Ro. 1:16). I am not telling a moral man to get worse in order to get saved. No! I am telling him there is no condition so bad but that God has grace to save us from it. 

You cannot make men righteous by legislation for “ye must be born again.” God says to the church, “preach the word,” and makes a fertile spot in the terrible desert of sin, that men may see the water of life along the side of the road. No law can make you live right. God Almighty tried it Himself with the children of Israel, and the Word says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Ro. 8:3). Did you know that when a man becomes saved he will keep the spirit of the law? There is no law against attending to your own business, paying all your debts, and no law against praying.  Do right, and bless God, and pray without ceasing. No law is against doing that which is just and good (Gal. 5:22-23). 

Many homes have been torn asunder. Sorrow and mourning drapes the human heart because of sin. I dislike hearing some people talk because of their disgraceful utterances. But let God get into their hearts and then note the change. Everybody without Christ is guilty. Had God Almighty demanded justice, every living person would have been dead, and brought before the judgment bar to give an account of their misspent lives. The only thing that is going to save a man is the power of God. I am talking about genuine salvation, too! You can go any place and hear everything else but the Gospel of salvation. But men shall be saved. That is our whole service: to save men. The church is ordained for that purpose. 

God sums up the whole human family and declares that it is full of “wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores” (Is. 1:6). To tell a man he should not steal, or covet, or commit adultery is not enough. Tell him how to get saved so he will not do those things. The power of God can save anybody that will believe. The god of carnality has certainly got some folks fast, but, 0, I am so glad I am saved! Saved by the power of God! It is wonderful to be God’s free man, delivered from the power of the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the flesh. It does not make any difference whether a man is old or young, rich or poor, black or white, or brown, just so he believes. If you have never been to school to learn a letter, you can believe. I am satisfied that you do not have to have eyes to believe. You do not have to be able to speak to believe. You may have both hands cut off, but still you can believe. If you cannot hear, somebody will write, or make signs and you can believe. You do not have to weigh so many hundred pounds or write letters, or understand the Bible to get saved. All God said was to believe. Why? Jesus paid it all! The people that are saved today are people that believed the Gospel. And you do not believe God if you do not obey Him! I will prove it to you, too. “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18).  I will show you my faith (without saying a word) by my works! It is not merely saying, “I believe” it is proving your belief. If you actually believe then you know what Jesus was talking about when He said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” and prove it by your actions (Mk. 16:16). Jesus declared, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). If you do not obey, then you do not believe. 

God has fixed the matter so you need make no mistake about it, either. Too many jump over the fifth verse of the third chapter of John’s Gospel: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Moreover, Jesus stated emphatically that He “testified of that which He had seen; and spake that which He did know” (John 3:11), and this is what He spoke: “I know that if a man be not born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” If you have never been baptized in the name of JESUS CHRIST, you have never been immersed properly. This is the only name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved. If you repent deeply enough in your heart, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, I will guarantee that you shall receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost as you come up out of the water.[3] If people do not believe God’s Word they never get His best. Even if you do not understand, you must believe, before you can see the Glory of God.[4]


[1] SOURCE: http://www.greateremmanuelchurch.com/drsmith/haywood.htm. Accessed: 5/3/2012. (Link no longer works).

[2] Elder G. T. Haywood at the Apostolic Faith Assembly, Indianapolis, Ind., delivered this sermon during a Sunday morning service in April, 1922.

[3] At the end of this sermon seven persons accepted the word, came forward immediately for baptism. Four of them received the Holy Ghost while coming out of the water, and another soon after changing clothes.

[4] Edited by Stephen E. Kuntzman. 5/3/2012.

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Bible Preaching

The Night Before the End – Norman L. Wagner

Bishop Norman L. Wagner (Pentecostal Assemblies of the World) preaching “The Night Before the End” in 1987 to the Because of the Times conference in Alexandria, Louisiana, and introduced by Nathaniel A. Urshan, who was the General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church International at that time.

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Bible Preaching

How To Receive the Holy Ghost – Billy Cole

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Bible Preaching

Justified By Faith -J. T. Pugh

This journey we’re on is a faith walk, not a works walk. I know that our faith will produce obedience to God’s  Word, but to say that my salvation will be the result of my own goodness is a lie, or that my guilt can be assuaged by good deeds. No, It is only by the redemption of Jesus Christ (He paid the price for my sin, my guilt, my salvation) and my faith in Him that I can live free from the pangs of guilt. 

Hear J. T. Pugh preaching about the subject of being Justified By Faith: 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qrfdpi3j0wd4d7p/%20Justified%20By%20Faith.mp3?dl=0

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Bible Preaching

Pergamos, Christ and You

Much of the following sermon was influenced by the work of Dustin Abbot’s book Revelation Unveiled and F. J. Ellis’ curriculum for Purpose Institute course on The Book of Revelation. So, please allow this disclaimer to serve as my citation for anything I failed to properly cite in the body of the text. Be well & maranatha! 

Text: 

“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:2).

The book of Revelation is probably one of the most misunderstood and discussed books in the Bible. 

Many, including myself, often read its pages attempting to figure out answers to questions we describe as the end times, or eschatology (the study of the end times).

In those pages, written by the apostle John – John the beloved – students of the Word of God try to figure out future events coming to this world. 

My interest today is not about when, where or how the catching away of the Church will take place.

Nor am I going to discuss seals, vials, elders, or the four beasts sitting around the throne.

I’m not even interested in who the beast, false prophet, or antichrist are, and if they are alive right now.

I know that rockets continue to  drop all over Jerusalem and Israel even while I am in this podium, and that many are discussing the coming of the Lord for that very reason, but that is not why I have lifted this text to our attention today. 

You see, according to Dustin Abbot (in his book Revelation Unveiled), the Book of Revelation is primarily written to reveal Jesus to us. It is a disclosure of the everlasting Truth of who Jesus Christ is yesterday, today, and forever. And along with this is the unveiling of the Church in its relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:” (Rev. 1:1).

It is a “Jesus” book, and in its pages we see Jesus Christ as:

1. Alpha and Omega – the Almighty.

2. One in the midst of the seven candlesticks.

3. One holding the seven stars of the seven churches.

4. The only One worthy to sit on the throne.

5. The Lion of the tribe of Judah.

6. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 

7. The King on a white horse.

8. The Judge of all. 

It is also a book written to the church about the past, present, and future.

It is specifically addressed to seven churches: “What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”

Seven Churches of Asia:

1. Ephesus

2. Smyrna

3. Pergamos

4. Thyatira  

5. Sardis 

6. Philadelphia

7. Laodicea

Some believe that these seven churches are symbolic of various ages that the Church will have gone through from Acts until today (source: Purpose Institute’s notes on the Book of Revelation, lesson 1):

Church/Meaning of Name/Time Period:

Ephesus/Desirable/100-200 A.D.

Smyrna/Myrrh/200-300 A.D.

Pergamos/Marriage or Elevation/300-500 A.D.

Thyatira/Continual Sacrifice/500-1500 A.D.

Sardis/Remnant/1500-1900 A.D.

Philadelphia-Brotherly Love/1900-Rapture

Laodicea/People Rule/Present-Rapture

I also think it is referring to conditions evident in churches right now, spiritual conditions that exist in local assemblies and even in the lives of its individual members.

With that in mind, it is this third church I am interested in today: Pergamos.

PERGAMOS

Revelation 2:12-17  

(12)  And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

Pergamos literally means “married with the world.”

It refers to a condition and time when satan changed tactics to attack the Church.

We all want to be accepted. So, satan stopped persecuting the church and began popularizing it. The church became the “in thing” to join. And so it became fashionable. But while fashionable it was impure. Those joining didn’t leave their sinful practices and those already in it became influenced by the world.

This led to a condition where the Church would become unfaithful to Christ and married to the world.

Jesus is stating here that He is coming with a two-edged to divide the true Church from the false church that is full of compromise and polluted works.

(13)  I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 

Even as popular culture tried to pervert, popularize, and convolute the name of Jesus, the Church held on to the truth of the mighty God in Christ. They still understood:

*Neither is there salvation in any other…

*In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily…

*Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name…

God has always had a True Church that has held onto His name.

Somewhere and somehow Truth has always been preserved.

Even when satan changes tactics, God is always steps ahead preserving and protecting the Church.

You see, Truth doesn’t need protecting. Truth is true whether all believe it, or none do.

It was Adrian Rodgers who said,

It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. Let me tell you something, friend, it is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It’s better to stand alone with the truth, than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. There is only one Gospel and Paul said, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

-Adrian Rodgers, National Religious Broadcasters Convention in 1996

Pergamos had martyrs who’d died for Truth – Antipas (thought to be the pastor).

(14)  But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

It was Balaam who couldn’t curse the Hebrews. So, he encouraged Balac to have his pagan people intermarry with the Hebrews.

Thus, the Hebrews brought a curse on themselves when their gentile wives brought false gods, heathen practices, and compromise into their homes.

The devil wants you to bring a curse on yourself by allowing a marriage of the holy with the profane in your life.

(15)  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.  

The doctrine (deeds) of the Nicolaitans: corrupted Paul’s teaching concerning grace, and made it a license to sin.

They were sensual and unrepentant.

They turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.

Paul wrote in response to them: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2).

2 Corinthians 6:17, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

(16)  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

REPENT – Jesus here gives to John the very first word of the Gospel that He shared in the beginning – REPENT.

It is the only solution for your sin.

It is better to fall in humble repentance now than to be broken by God’s judgment.

Psalms 103:8-11, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.  He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.  He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.”

(17)  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Hidden manna = Divine provision both natural and spiritual.

The Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, is our sustenance.

White stone = a sign of purity and innocence.

Even in this wicked age of compromise God can keep you pure and declare you innocent.

Name recorded in stone = worthy of eternal life

God would not condemn the True Church to Hell because of the failures of their generation.

“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12). 

SOURCES:

Dustin Abbott. Revelation Unveiled.

F. J. Ellis. The Book of Revelation. Purpose Institute.

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Bible Preaching

Playing the Composition of Life In Another Key – J. T. Pugh

The late J. T. Pugh preaching “Playing the Composition of Life In Another Key.”

https://www.connollymusic.com/stringovation/music-composition-beginners-guide

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jp9sklyjexc1em6/Playing%20the%20Composition%20of%20Life%20In%20Another%20Key.mp3?dl=0

I have always had a high regard for Bro. Pugh’s preaching and depth since the first time I heard him preach.  Then I met the man and all that regard increased. In fact, as a young man, I would often say that I could gauge a young minister’s depth and maturity by what they thought, or said, about Bro. Pugh. Perhaps that was wrong of me, but I must admit that I still think this way.

Listen and let this man’s ministry continue to bless you.

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Bible Preaching

The Comeback Story of the Royal Seed

“While everyone was busy looking after Jezebel they failed to take note of Athaliah.”[1]

Jezebel’s attack on the ministry (the Word of God) was a distraction, Athaliah is a real threat to the kingdom (attack the authority of God), Jehoshabeath (Jehovah-Sworn)[2] will protect the royal seed, and the King will come back.

Text:

“But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not” (2 Chronicles 22:10-11).

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Genesis 3:14-15, “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:  (15)  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

JEZEBEL = “Baal exalts,” “Baal is husband to,” or “unchaste”

When we say her name, it conjures in our mind an image and thought. She was a dangerous queen, the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel, but her true allegiance was to herself.

She refused the Word of Jehovah, and even killed His prophets: “For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD…” (I Kings 18:3-4). – No details, but just that fateful line.

The threatened to kill Elijah after he destroyed the prophets on Mount Carmel. Her intimidation tactic distracted him and he ran.

Refuse the distracting tactics of Jezebel and identify her by her traits:[3]

  • CONTINUALLY TESTIFY OF THEMSELVES: Through their revelations, insight, or spiritual sensitivity.
  • OFTEN SEEK RECOGNITION: Thrive on recognition from the pulpit by leaders, becoming offended or distant if they are not.
  • TRY TO GET CLOSE TO LEADERS:  Fellowship, Flattery, Prophecy
  • SELDOM WANT TO BE IN AUTHORITY: But will seek to be the power behind the throne (with hopes of being the King of the throne).
  • USUALLY ATTRACT THE WEAKEST MEMBERS IN THE CHURCH: Will begin to control and manipulate them with flattery and/or grand prophecies.
  • USE THOSE WEAK MEMEBERS:  To spread slander, discontent, and division, lies…
  • OFTEN TRY TO BE A MATCHMAKER: And try to control those relationships.
  • MOST OFTEN HAVE WEAK SPOUSES: (Like Ahab) But will proclaim them strong, spiritual, and greatly gifted.
  • STEAL PROPHECIES FROM OTHERS:  In order to look better.
  • USUALLY FEEL PERSECUTED: They don’t, believe, want to use me because…
  • OFTEN MAKE EXCUSES:  And never, or rarely, acknowledge their own sins.
  • USUALLY ARE WORKS-ORIENTED: Often fasting and praying hoping to be seen as spiritual.
  • OFTEN FULL OF BITTERNESS: Towards Father, or another male authority figure.
  • OFTEN HAVE FLAWED REASONING: hiding behind a pseudo-spirituality that implies that only the spiritual can understand.
  • OFTEN HAVE CHARISMATIC PERSONALITY: Constantly looking for people to listen to them, with hopes of having their own following.
  • OFTEN REFUSE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY OF PASTOR:  Get their direction from God, have no need of a Pastor, or counseling.  Usually leave the church and have private meetings – – forsaking the house of the Lord.
  • OFTEN THE SOURCE OF THE JEZEBEL SPIRIT IS SHAME: A grudge one holds against themselves, others, or God.

Yes, Jezebel is dangerous, but most of the time her attack is a distraction, a feint, an attempt to get your attention on a possible danger and to ignore the real danger lurking in the palace hall.

What Jezebel seeks to have is control through manipulation, domination, and intimidation. She works behind the scenes causing division, mistrust, while feeding a spirit of offense with hope of getting you to reject the God appointed spiritual authority in your life.

“The issue is never the issue, the issue is almost always control” –James Rowe

You won’t win this battle in your flesh, it’s spiritual warfare:

Ephesians 6:10-20, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  (11)  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  (12)  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  (13)  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  (14)  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;  (15)  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  (16)  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  (17)  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:  (18)  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;  (19)  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,  (20)  For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

ATHALIAH = “afflicted of the Lord”

While everyone was busy looking after Jezebel they failed to take note of Athaliah

Jezebel had a sister-in-law who was married to King Jehoram of Judah. Her name was Athaliah and she was the sister of Ahab.

>>Some scholars believe that Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel<<

Regardless, she was a deadly force to be reckoned with. She was a contemporary of Jezebel and had watched and learned from her, silently learning how and when to make her own move for power. She refused the authority of God.

The desire for power and recognition will destroy you, but usually not until it has hurt and possibly destroyed those in your way. Innocent people, God called people, and children of the King will not stop Athaliah from reaching her goal. Not if she can help it.  

Because she will stop at nothing to get what she wants, God will afflict her mind. There is no peace of mind for Athaliah. She was vexed, troubled, bothered, upset, worried.

When you want something so bad that you will take it, steal it, kill for it, and lie for it. Well, you have an Athaliah problem.

While Jezebel is busy manipulating, pulling the strings and intimidating – Oh, she’s a bully – people to achieve her agenda,

Athaliah sits in the queen’s chamber silently plotting, scheming, and biding her time.

The spirit of the antichrist controls Athaliah. She is driven to destroy the Royal Seed.

God told the old serpent, the devil, back in the Garden of Eden, that while he would bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, the Seed of the woman would crush his head. That passage in Genesis 3:15 is the first messianic prophecy in the Bible and it is a promise that there was One coming who would reverse the curse of sin.

Since that time, the devil has been trying to supplant the promise of God with the antichrist spirit.

Antichrist = “An opponent of the Messiah.”[4]

In another passage, Judah was promised that the scepter would never depart from His line. David was promised that from his seed would come the Messiah.

So, that old antichrist spirit rose up and influenced Athaliah, and she set out to kill all the royal seed of Judah. Every man and every boy of the tribe of Judah who had a claim to the throne she marked down until the right moment and then, when her son died, she had them killed…

JEHOSHABEATH = “Jehovah is an oath”

BUT, Jehovah had sworn that the Seed of the woman would crush the head of the devil, and that the Messiah [the Anointed One] would come through Judah.

This is a good time to tell you, “God keeps His promises.”

Joshua 23:14, “…not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you…”

Delay is not denial.

So, Jehoshabeath [Jehovah is an oath] found one infant son of the royal seed and hid him away. He was hidden in the house of God. Do you want to know the safest place to stay when Athaliah is on the loose? Stay in the house of the Lord.

Jehoshabeath’s husband was Jehoiada the priest, and he hid and protected Joash for seven years in the temple. In that seventh year he gathered all the Levites and all the rulers and captains and showed this the Joash of seed royal and they made a covenant with him saying, “Behold, the king’s son shall reign. As the LORD hath said of the sons of David.”

2 Chronicles 23:11, “Then they brought out the king’s son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.”

This is The Comeback Story of the Royal Seed – It doesn’t matter what plot the enemy of your soul has planned against you. When God has made an oath He will keep it, and He will never leave or forsake you.

Joash [Jehovah fired][5] is a type of Christ. We know how that the devil, the antichrist, tried to kill Jesus Christ – the Messiah:

  1. He was falsely accused and brought before Pilate.
  2. He brutally abused, beaten, bloodied, wounded, tortured.
  3. He was marched to the place of execution.
  4. Then the Royal Seed, the promised Messiah, was brutally staked and crucified to a cross.
  5. Naked. Alone. Rejected. Despised. Afflicted: “…he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”[6]
  6. He died. “On the cross crucified for me He died. He was nailed to the cross for me”
  7. He was buried in a tomb.

Yes, the Christ was buried. He was dead. Everyone has an appointment with death, but this death seemed to be the capstone of Satan’s career.

How could anyone come back from that?

  • You have been dealing with a Jezebel, who is trying to distract you from the ministry God has ordained for you to walk in.
  • You’ve been attacked by Athaliah, who want to kill you because your very existence is proof of God’s power and Lordship.
  • You’ve made mistakes, committed sins, chose paths, and listened to lies that told you that there no coming back from where you are this time.
  • Your marriage is trouble, your prayer life is non-existent, your job is in question, finances are down, sickness is all around you, you’ve hunkered down in a hidden place (secreted away in isolation like Joash of old), and perhaps you’ve just about given up all hope and haven’t the strength to lift the shield of anymore.
  • HOLD ON! Day three is coming! Resurrection power is on its way. the Royal Seed is coming.
  • On that third day, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and He said: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is The Comeback Story of the Royal Seed, and He is here right now to help you with your own Comeback Story.

Comeback from depression, sin, anger, marital strife, financial despair, addiction, hopelessness.

Come to Jesus. He trades beauty for ashes, joy for heaviness, forgiveness for sin, peace for anger, unity for strife, miraculous provision for financial despair, freedom from addiction, and He is the God of Faith, Hope, and Love.

Jesus Christ is the Comeback King and you are His Royal Seed.

1 Peter 2:9-10, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:  (10)  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

[1] The Lord spoke this into my spirit about 2-3 months ago (July-August 2020) while I was crossing my driveway.

[2] Strong’s. H3090.

[3] Source: Mark F. Kuntzman. (10-14-2007). The Jezebel Spirit.

[4] Strong’s. G500.

[5] Strong’s. H3060.

[6] Isaiah 53:5.

Categories
Bible Preaching

Baptism In the Name of the Lord Jesus – William Crowther (1867)

Historically, this is an interesting sermon for apostolics to read.

Doctrinally, it is a unique message for oneness pentecostals to consider.

Sermon: Baptism In the Name of the Lord Jesus
Preacher: William Crowther
Text: Acts 19:5

Delivered: Artillery Street Chapel, London, England

Date: August 27, 1867

Originally posted on https://thepillarandgroundoftruth.blogspot.com/2013/11/baptism-in-name-of-lord-jesus-william.html

Categories
Bible Preaching

Freedom’s Hope

Apostolic Life Cathedral | 7/3/2022, 10:00 AM

Text: John 8:31-38

(31)  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

(32)  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

(33)  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

(34)  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

(35)  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

(36)  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

(37)  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

(38)  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

Freedom’s Hope

She is the Statue of Freedom and she is bolted to the top of our nation’s Capitol Dome.

FREEDOM: Achieved[1]

[A]ll persons held to service or labor within the District of Columbia

by reason of African descent are hereby discharged and freed.”

— D.C. Emancipation Act, April 16, 1862

T he Statue of Freedom was cast from Crawford’s plaster model at Clark Mills’ foundry in the District of Columbia. In 1859 an Italian craftsman demanded more money for the job. Mills then turned to one of his enslaved men, Philip Reid, to separate the five sections of the plaster model. Reid then worked on casting the sections in bronze. Once the casting was completed in 1862, workmen erected the statue section by section atop the Capitol Dome. The final section was bolted in place on December 2, 1863 with thirty-five guns firing a salute to Freedom. If Philip Reid was present on that day, he was there as a free man. The D.C. Compensation Emancipation Act had ended slavery in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862.

FREEDOM: Phillip Reid and the Statue of Freedom[2]

“I have endeavored to represent Freedom triumphant.”

— Thomas Crawford, 1855

The nineteen-foot six-inch bronze statue of Freedom crowns the cast-iron Dome of the Capitol. Sculptor Thomas Crawford’s second design represented Freedom as a female figure clad in classical robes, bearing a sheathed sword and shield, and wearing a liberty cap.

Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, a slaveowner from Mississippi who would later become president of the Confederacy, objected to the liberty cap “as the badge of a freed slave” and suggested that Crawford change the statue’s headgear to a helmet. The sculptor followed Davis’s instructions, and Freedom wears a helmet composed of an eagle’s head and feathers. Neither Davis nor Crawford could know that an enslaved African American would play a critical role in casting the statue.

The statue of Freedom was cast from Crawford’s plaster model at Clark Mills’s foundry in the District of Columbia.  After an Italian craftsman in 1859 demanded more money for the job, Mills turned to one of his slaves, Philip Reid, to separate the five sections of the plaster model.  Reid then worked on casting the sections in bronze.

Once the casting was completed in 1862, workmen erected the statue section by section atop the Capitol Dome. The final section was bolted in place on December 2 with thirty-five guns firing a salute to Freedom. If Philip Reid was present on that day, he was there as a free man. The D.C. Emancipation Act had ended slavery in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862.

What a juxtaposition, a contrast, an irony…

The sculptor, Thomas Crawford, designed her, and Jefferson Davis had him make changes to her because of the symbolism of freedom her first design represented to the slaves.

The Italian who cast her mold was greedy and demanded more money. So, Clark Mills, the owner of Mill’s Foundry, turned to his slave, and in between 1859 and 1862 this slave worked on Freedom.

Philip Reed, a slave, was responsible for separating the molds and then casting the five sections in bronze.

Those sections were then bolted, one section at a time, to the top of the capitol dome.

On December 2, 1863, the last section was bolted and Freedom stood “triumphant in war and peace.”

By the time the last bolt was tightened Philip Reed, and all the slaves in the District of Columbia were freemen and freewomen.

The U.S. Congress freed them on April 16, 1862.

Could the Hope of Freedom been the force behind Philip Reed’s careful and expert work of the Statue of Freedom.

Perhaps, Freedom as an ideal moved him along his given path.

He was enslaved bodily, but his mind and heart and soul were free.

I’m not free, yet, but one day…

Then that one day came and was free.

What does it mean “to be free?”

Thayer’s Greek Definitions:

  1. freeborn
    1. in a civil sense, one who is not a slave
    1. of one who ceases to be a slave, freed, manumitted
  2. free, exempt, unrestrained, not bound by an obligation
  3. in an ethical sense: free from the yoke of the Mosaic Law

Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries: “unrestrained (to go at pleasure), that is, (as a citizen) not a slave (whether freeborn or manumitted), or (generally) exempt (from obligation or liability): – free (man, woman), at liberty.”

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/free:

  1. enjoying personal rights or liberty, as a person who is not in slavery: a land of free people.
  2. pertaining to or reserved for those who enjoy personal liberty: they were thankful to be living on free soil.

Freedom is Liberty

There is a freedom beyond chains and physical bondage.

It comes only from Jesus Christ.

The Lord has planned our release, and it is foreshadowed in the Old Testament in the way:

“At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’S release….And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day” (Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 15).

But, Israel didn’t keep the Law of Release, the Law of Freedom, and they were judged for it:

Jermiah 34:17, “Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.”

Isaiah 58:6, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”

True Freedom has happened when:

  1. We are released from all the chains of wickedness, wrong, iniquity
  2. The heavy weights of sin and the burdens of the past are removed
  3. We free the broken, bruised, crushed, discouraged, oppressed, and the struggling.
  4. We break every oppressive bond of enslavement.

Freedom is here for you today: Luke 4:16-21

(16)  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

(17)  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

(18)  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

(19)  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

(20)  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

(21)  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Today is your Day of Hope, your Day of Freedom – Freedom’s Hope

After his freedom, Philip Reid signified his new found freedom by changing the spelling of his last name to “Reed.”

Today, you can also have a name change as you receive your freedom.

John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

[1] SOURCE: https://uschs.org/explore/from-freedoms-shadow-freedom/. Accessed: 7/3/2022.

[2] Ibid.

Categories
Bible Preaching

More Than A Song

Apostolic Life Cathedral | 5/11/2021 | 7:00 PM