Faith walked out in obedience upon the mountain of the Lord.

In Geneses chapter 22 we see the story of Abraham, where he willingly puts his son on the alter as a sacrifice unto God. Abraham's faith and obedience is being tested by God and he passes with an A +.

There are two questions we need to ask ourselves.

1) Have you heard from the Lord?

2) Have you stepped out in faith and obeyed the Lord, even if it may cost you greatly?

There are several lessons that can be drawn from this story.

1) We must hear from the Lord.

2) We must put God first above family, and everything else. We must be willing to lay down our dreams and hopes, if asked to by God.

3) We must obey the Lord, and it may require great sacrifice. Obedience is always the result of faith. Faith without action is not faith at all. Also, faith is always based or rooted in the Word of the Lord.

4) Abraham believed (hoped) God was going to provide the lamb, but willing to slay his son, even if God did not come through for him.

5) When God provided a lamb for the sacrifice, minutes before he was going to kill his only son, the promised son, Abraham declared, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided".

6) When God asks us to do something, He always makes provision. We find this provision as we are on the mountain of the Lord, in His presence.

Finally, it is not about the sacrifice. It is about faith walked out in obedience. Do not boast in your great sacrifice, nor put your self down because your sacrifice pales next to the other persons. All God looks at is your faith and obedience to His Holy Spirit and His Word. God rejoices over every step of faith, great or small. He rewards those who live this way.

Thoughts from No More Free Samples by Harry Vellekoop

The Psalmist says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good". The Holy Spirit wets our appetite for the things of God. As it were, He gives us free samples. There are things in our life that He will allow for a hile, but eventually there is a price to pay for continuing on in the blessing and truth that He is offering us.

Christian can deceive themselves by assuming that because they have experienced an encounter of some kind with God that they are now the possessors of that experience - that it is no part of their life - when in actuality they may have enjoyed a free sample.

It is often from our human perspective that it seems that growing in Christ costs us anything. In retrospect, we can always see that the cost would have been not to allow God to deal with our lives in order for us to progress in Him. (Philippians 3:7-9)

How could anybody consider changing corruptible for incorruptible as a cost?

We must not be satisfied with free samples of God's presence. We must not be satisfied with visiting the presence of God, but rather continually be in the presence of God and as result impact this world for His Kingdom.

Moves of God always have something spectacular associated with them, and during those times is seems so easy to "follow after God." The problem arises when we no longer are motivated to continue in God's transformation processes when the spectacular ceases.

God hates willfull hypocrites.

Jesus speaks out against the hypocritical teachers very strongly in Matthew chapter 23. It is clear that God hates hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is when our inside doesn't line up with our outside. It is when we declare what is true and right. Then we yourselves do not apply what we have declared as true and right. Even worse, we condemn what other do and think while we are no different. Hypocrites are usually proud while pretending to be humble. Hypocrites love the praise of people more than the praise of God.

There are two kinds of hypocrites. There are intentional hypocrites who know full well what they are doing and have no remorse. There is unintentional hypocrites who because of weakness do not match up inside and out.

We the church need to speak out against those who are hypocrites. Hypocrites who know full well what they are doing, but no desire to repent. Jesus says, we are not to have any fellowship or relationship with this kind of hypocrite.

Yet, those who are weak in the faith and walk with Jesus, we must gently speak to them and encourage them to turn away from their sinful way.

SEVEN STEPS TO CHANGING THE FUTURE (by Michael Cavanaugh)

I. Get the power to change.

Acts 1:7 - "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

     A. Power to believe.

Matthew 17:20 - "He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

    B. Power to live righteous lives.

James 5:16 - "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."

    C. Power to defeat Satan.

Luke 10:19-20 - " I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

II. Pray God's will.

1 John 5:14-15 - "
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."

To know God's will we must know the Word of God and seek Him.
  
Matthew 7:7 - " Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

Acts 17:27 - " God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us."

III. Proclaim God's will.

Mark 11:23-24 - “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

IV. Plan for the future God has shown you.

Proverbs 21:5 - " The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

     A.  Invite God to give you His plans.

Proverbs 16:3 - "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."

    B. Seek Godly advice.

Proverbs 15:22 - "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

    C. Take steps of action.

V. Persevere through short term pain.

Psalms 105:17-19 - "and he sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true."

Vision keeps leaders empowered and thorns keep leaders authentic. 

VI. Praise God for the future.

    A. Joshua and the people of Israel praised God until the walls fell down.
    B. Paul & Silas praised God, and the prison doors were opened.

In conclusion:

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, then to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat."  (Theodore Roosevelt)

 



 

WHAT HAVE YOU LOST UNAWARE

Sometimes we lose things unaware that we lost them until later. This is what happened to Samson.

Judges 15:14-15 - "As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men."

Here we see Samson empowered by the Spirit of the Lord kill 1,000 Philistines.

Judges 16:20-21 - "Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison."

Here Samson thinking that he would go out in the power of the Spirit once again to destroy the enemies of God which he had done so many times in the past. Yet, he was unaware that the Spirit of God had left him because Delilah had cut his hair while sleeping which broke the Nazirite vow he had made.

What have you might of lost unaware in your relationship with the Father?

You may have lost hope and faith. Maybe you have lost your first love and zeal for God. 

 

Revelation 2:4-5 - "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.  Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."

 

Maybe you have lost your integrity and holiness. Possibly you have lost that intimacy you once had with the Father.

We must seek those things that we have lost and reclaim them for ourselves that we may continue to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Just because God used you in the past does not mean that he will automatically use you now. 

 

Our power in Christ is dependent on us remaining in Him and He remaining in us. It is dependent on a right relationship with God.

In Numbers 14:37-45, we see the people of Isreal refused ot go into the promise land because of the negative report of the spies. Therefore, God judges the spies. Then the people recognized their sin and decided to go up and take the land of Canaan despite God forbidding them to do so. Therefore, they went up to battle without the presence of the Lord and were defeated.

 

Never take for granted that past victories will bring you future victories. Never take the Holy Spirit for granted.

GOD WANTS US TO BE FRUIT BEARERS

John 15:8 - "This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

When we bear fruit it brings glory to the Father and shows that you are Christ's disciple. 

There are 2 types of fruit. There is nonspiritual and spiritual. Nonspiritual fruit is produced by man himself whether good or evil.  Spiritual fruit is produced by the Spirit of God which produces righteousness and good works.

God desires us to produce much fruit as we yield to the Holy Spirit's power. Bearing fruit is a natural out working of our relationship with God. The first key to bearing much fruit is being connected to the source of nourishment which is Christ himself. 

John 15:5 - "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

I must hold onto God and He will hold onto me. A couple of keys to holding on to Christ is desire, yielding, and obedience.

The second key to producing much fruit is being pruned.

John 15:2 - "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

We are unable to prune ourselves. It is the work of the Gardner.  Yet, we must yield to the pruning and learn from the pruning in order to bear much fruit. 

There is warning to the branch and a promise to the branch. The warning is that if we do not remain in Him, we will but cut off and thrown into the fire. The promise is that are able to ask whatever we wish, and it will be done for us.

Do not fret or be envious of those who do wrong.

Psalms 37 encourages us not to fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; rather, we are to trust in the Lord and do good. he gives reasons who not to fret or be envious and reasons why to live righteous lives.

Why should we not fret or be envious of those who do wrong or live a life of sin?

1) They evil person will not endure. There life will be cut short.
2) Fretting only leads to evil and anger.
3) The Lord laughs at the wicked for he knows their day is coming.
4) The plots of the wicked and their evil acts will come back on them.
5) The wealth of the wicked will not go with him in death, and he will receive no inheritance from the Lord.
6) There is not future for the sinful man.
7) Wrong doers will be completely destroyed.

Why should we live righteous lives and do good? 

1) God will give the righteous the desires of their heart.
2) God will make your righteous reward shine, and vindicate us.
3) The righteous will receive the inheritance God has for them which is eternal.
4) The righteous will enjoy peace and prosperity.
5) Even when the righteous have little, they have peace and joy.
6) The righteous are under the Lord's care, and cares for them even in the most difficult times.
7) The Lord makes the righteous steps firm. They may stumble, but not fall.
8) The Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.
9) There is a future for the righteous.
10) The Lord is a strong hold for them in time of trouble.