Can you believe this week?!

People filed into church Tuesday and Wednesday nights to receive important messages from our Apostle.

Why?  Elder has God’s anointing to deliver the Word of God with authority and straightforwardness, and he adds grace and mercy.  He is a man of God who has lived the true Gospel.  People came to hear from God’s throne.

The Lord’s been giving Elder some serious things over the last few months, and now he wants to make sure we get them.

The messages were especially strong and the delivery was powerful as heaven poured down.  The Elder’s presence and wisdom blessed the people.

The Bible study that followed at Elder and Sister Jean’s house Thursday night is still being talked about.  That message ended with an entire room of people full of the Holy Ghost.

And He Prayed Again

If Ever There Was a Time to Listen to God’s Man, the Time is Now.

Like the days of Elijah, people were satisfied as long as their cupboards were full and everything was good.  But Elijah prayed and asked the Lord, ‘whatever it takes, turn the hearts of the people back to You’.  So for three and a half years, God took the crops from their fields, removed the bread from their cupboards, and even the false prophets who told the people they would always have these things—they also disappeared.  There is always a moment when people’s hearts are open to truth again, and like the days of Elijah when it seemed as if everything was coming to an end in their lives, God had their attention.  Then, Elijah prayed again!  Read I Kings and you will understand the excitement.

Elder is warning us if we don’t heed this moment in time, that tomorrow, next week, next month, or a few years down the road, judgement worse than anything we’ve seen in our lifetime will be imminent.  He let us know that right now we still have an invitation from God to come back.

Tuesday Evening:  Respect the Lord and Ministry

Deuteronomy 6:1-3

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:  That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.  Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

Terms To Know

Birthright:  Esau gave his up for food.  When it’s gone, it’s gone.  Esau was devastated when he could find God nowhere, though he sought him carefully with tears.

Commandments:  These are not recommendations or requests.  When it comes to God’s commandments, He doesn’t ask if you can or if you will.  When you give God everything, He gives you everything right back.  And then some.

Dancing:  Done at the right time to show you are praising God or that you have a victory.  We are coming into a time when the Church should be feeling excited and enthusiastic!

Endure:  What the early Church did.  The beginnings of the early Church were anything but peaceful.  Jesus had been crucified and there was a blood-thirsty crowd walking the streets, dead set against any follower associated with Christ.  However, the Lord always makes a way for His people to live in peace, despite external circumstances, but we have to endure.  Our mind has to change.

Fear:  If you fear God, you Respect Him, the Ministry, and Church.  If you don’t have respect, it will catch up with you.  Have fear for God that makes you run into His will and keep His commandments.  When you do, He will protect you.

Judgment:  Past the time to say ‘I’ll make some changes’.

Promises:  Things you might have said to the Lord when you were in a tight spot and knew only He could turn it around for you.  So, He did.  Now, your turn.  Ecclesiastes 5:14 says it best, “Pay that which thou hast vowed.”

Root of Bitterness:  Leads to being happy when you see someone you don’t like fail or struggle.  You should be crying and praying for them.

Scriptures To Know

Psalm 25:12-14 | You’ll get the rewards of that which you sow.  Prove to God that you fear Him.

What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.  His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.  The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

2 Corinthians 7:8-10 | Paul was not sorry that he wrote the letter and made the people sorry.  He was glad they changed their ways and were sorry.

For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.  Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

2 Peter 2:9-10 | Some people are not afraid of speaking evil about the Ministry.  They speak their minds.  God will reserve them for the day of judgement.

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

Psalm 13:5 | We Need God’s Mercy.

But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

Psalm 128:1-4 | If you get this fear, you will begin to prosper and God will give you peace.  Fear God.  Don’t run away from God, run to Him.

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.  For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.  Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.

 Hebrews 10:27-31 | If you despise the Body of Christ and Ministry, God will judge you accordingly.

But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  

Hebrews 6:4-6 | You do not want to fight God.  He will fight back.  Once you’ve partaken and begin to lose God and turn your heart against Him and His people, there is a price to pay.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Wednesday Evening:  God Wants You To Come Back

In Jeremiah 2, God is pleading for His people to come back to their sanity.  They had no fear of God and were betraying Him by worshiping other gods, which is in violation of the very first commandment.

Terms To Know

Betrayal:  God’s people went far from Him, chased worthless things, and became worthless themselves.  Most significant, they went through some of the motions, but no longer had a heart for God.

Broken Cisterns:  Involved in one of the two evils committed in Jeremiah 2:13.  The people built cisterns for themselves that were cracked and could not hold water.

Common Faith:  Having no other doctrine in front of you.

Forgetfulness:  Occurs after God answers prayers.  We forget what He’s done for us.  Unlike God, who never forgets what He’s done or what we’ve done.

Good Conscience:  Hold the truth and faith in a good conscience.  Keep a clean, pure conscience.

Last Words:  Jesus had famous ones as he died on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Note:  God did not forgive them.

New gods:  Your latest BFFs and worldly obsessions.  You’ll need them on speed dial for when bad things happen.  You’ll forget and call on the almighty God when trouble and despair knock at your door, only to find that He unfriended you and left a message for you in Jeremiah 2:27-28.  You’ll remember all that time the Lord was there and available for you, but you were busy paying more attention and swooning over Egypt.

Speaking Evil:  Woe, hold it right there.  Speaking evil of God, the Ministry, or Church results in nothing good.  The Word of God gets deep on this matter, and God is not pleased.  Too much has been written about what happens.

Tongue Wagging:  Stop.  Don’t do it.  If you need reasons, James 3 is ready for you.   

Vengeance:  When people imagine God still having mercy on them, except He Doesn’t.

Wednesday Night:  The new Sunday night—as in people stirring up the Holy Ghost mid-week.  We’re talking coming to the altar, singing, and praying after heeding Elder’s messages.

Your Own Sword:  When you ask Elder to pray for you, but go off and do something else that isn’t right.  You have your own sword, your own bible, your own god.

Scriptures To Know

Jeremiah 2:13 | The people committed Two Evils:  they forsook Him and built broken cisterns.  God will cause bad things to happen.  Even more important, the Lord will lose confidence in you, which is a very bad place to find yourself.

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Jeremiah 2:27-28 | When trouble comes and you need an answer, pray and cry out to your gods to arise and save you.  Or, get back to the first commandment and serve the One True God.

Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.  But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

 Acts 3:16 | The man at the gate couldn’t walk, but was made strong by his faith.  He left leaping and shouting.

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.  And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.  And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.  And all the people saw him walking and praising God:

 1 Corinthians 16:13 | No matter what happens, stand fast in the faith.  Don’t worry about others watching you.  God is watching you.  Let go and be strong.

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

2 Corinthians 13:5 | Examine yourself.  If you are in the faith, prove yourself.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Romans 3:3 | They cannot beat God.  No one who has unbelief can affect those who believe.

For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

Romans 14:1 | We try to get those weak in faith, stronger.

Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

2 Timothy 4:7 | Fight a good fight and keep the one faith!

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Pray For An Outpouring of Forgiveness and Faith

In 2018, we are a people of instant everything.  Go back to the old-fashioned concept that the early church lived by of pressing in until the answer came.  Pray for the kind of faith the early church had and the Elder has—believe and determine ‘I won’t let go of my children, grandchildren, marriage, health, or anything in my life that appears hopeless’.

Don’t Give Up.  Don’t Let Go.

Too Much Has Been Written

How many books of the Bible do you have to read where God’s people stood at a critical juncture and turned away from Him?  They are all sobering moments that should lead us to make important decisions.  God wants us to treat Him fairly.

We have been taught much and we’ve taken notes.  Read your notebooks.

Judgment may last longer than you think. The Lord will play a tape for you, like tonight, to remind you.  Don’t let that be how your story ends.

You need God tonight.