Podcasts about yes lord

What does a desperate mother's encounter with Jesus teach us about approaching God when we're overwhelmed? This powerful message explores the remarkable story of the Syrophoenician woman—the only person in scripture who seemingly "won" a debate with Jesus.On Mother's Day, we examine this unnamed mother who crossed every cultural and religious barrier to seek help for her demon-possessed daughter. Despite Jesus initially seeming to rebuff her with silence and a challenging parable about children and dogs at the table, she persisted with extraordinary faith. Her response—"Yes Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs"—reveals profound theological understanding and unwavering trust.From her example, we discover three crucial principles for when life's burdens become too heavy: First, approach Jesus with genuine humility, acknowledging our unworthiness. Second, pray persistently without giving up, even when heaven seems silent. Third, fully trust Jesus enough to leave our burdens with him completely. This mother didn't just have a good argument—she demonstrated unwavering faith that impressed Jesus himself.Whether you're a mother carrying concerns for your children or anyone feeling crushed by life's overwhelming circumstances, this message offers hope. Jesus invites all who are weary and heavy-laden to come to Him. Unlike his temporary retreat to Tyre, Jesus never takes vacations from our needs. Right now, He intercedes in heaven for you, with inexhaustible resources of grace and mercy for everyone who approaches in faith.What burden feels too heavy for you today? Bring it to Jesus, not because of who you are, but because of who He is—mighty to save and generous beyond measure.Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-5u5KBgs8k

The Rev. Nick Lannon preaches a sermon on Acts 9 (Saul's conversion) and John 21 (Peter's recommissioning). Jesus comes to his enemies and makes them, by his death and resurrection, powerful ministers of his Gospel.

Homily by Father Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic ParishGospel: John 21:1-19Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, ‘I'm going fishing.' They replied, ‘We'll come with you.' They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night. It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, ‘Have you caught anything, friends?' And when they answered, ‘No', he said, ‘Throw the net out to starboard and you'll find something.' So, they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could not haul it in. The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.' At these words ‘It is the Lord', Simon Peter, who had practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak round him and jumped into the water. The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land. As soon as they came ashore, they saw that there was some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.' Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?'; they knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead. After the meal Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?' He answered, ‘Yes Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.' A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?' He replied, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, ‘Look after my sheep.' Then he said to him a third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter was upset that he asked him the third time, ‘Do you love me?' and said, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. ‘I tell you most solemnly, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.' In these words, he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, ‘Follow me.'The Gospel of the Lord.R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

The Rev. Nick Lannon preaches a sermon on Acts 9 (Saul's conversion) and John 21 (Peter's recommissioning). Jesus comes to his enemies and makes them, by his death and resurrection, powerful ministers of his Gospel.

God never promises life will be easy. But when you say, Yes, Lord, you can expect life with Him to be a meaningful adventure. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth shows you how to genuinely live out the story God's given to you, on Revive Our Hearts. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

God never promises life will be easy. But when you say, Yes, Lord, you can expect life with Him to be a meaningful adventure. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth shows you how to genuinely live out the story God's given to you, on Revive Our Hearts. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

FORTY DAYS ON EARTH After Jesus had descended into Paradise and hades he took the keys of hell and death and re-inhabited his entombed body. He then sealed the offering of his shed blood on Calvary to his Father in Heaven for the purification of the sins of the whole earth. He returned to the earth that same day in a resurrected body that could never ever die again. This resurrected body was without the constraints of a limited physical body, but it could be seen and recognized as a natural body. After that, He appeared in another form (heteros morphe – an altered form or nature) (Mark 16:9) Jesus returned to the earth in Jerusalem where he heard that the temple priests had fabricated a story that his body had been stolen by the disciples and that they had overcome the temple guards and raided the tomb. He set off walking from Jerusalem in the direction of Galilee, where he had said he would meet with his disciples. He saw two men walking together in serious discussion and he greeted them and joined them as they walked, but Holy Spirit had supernaturally veiled their eyes from recognizing him (Luke 24:13). They were taken aback that this stranger seemed to know nothing of what had happened in Jerusalem over the last few days. They explained patiently to this stranger the things about Jesus, that he did miracles and that he was a great prophet and how their chief priests and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified. They said to Jesus they were hoping that it was Jesus who was going to redeem Israel as he had said that he would rise on the third day, and today was the third day. As they walked the 12 K journey to Emmaus Jesus quoted to them passage after passage from the writings of the prophets, beginning with the book of Genesis and going right on through the Scriptures, explaining what the passages meant and what they said about himself, and  something happened in their hearts as they listened to him. They appealed to him to stay with them as they finally arrived at Emmaus, even though he had told them he was going further, so Jesus accepted their offer to at least stay and have a meal with them. During the meal Jesus took some bread, and prayed a blessing over it, and as he broke the bread their eyes were opened and immediately, they recognized who he was and at that very moment Jesus vanished from their sight. This could well be called the firstfruits communion service - a prophetic illustration of how our times of fellowship and communion in remembrance of Jesus open up to us a deeper revelation of who Jesus is as we sit in the presence of God in the unity of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus had disappeared the two men decided to go back into Jerusalem and find the disciples who were in hiding, afraid of what was going to happen to them because of the rumors that were going about that they had stolen Jesus' body. They found them and were whisked inside and the doors were locked behind them. They told them of their journey with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and their miraculous meal with him where he had suddenly vanished. While they were still talking Jesus appeared in their midst while the doors remained locked. The disciples panicked, and thought they were seeing a ghost, but Jesus explained to them that he was not a ghost because a ghost didn't have bones and flesh, and he asked them to touch his hands and his feet and to see for themselves.    Jesus stretched forth his hands and his peace hit their hearts. He breathed his Spirit upon them and they received the impartation of his peace. They immediately felt at one with Jesus and with each other. But this was just a mere foretaste of what was to come, as it would only be after his final ascension and being seated at the right hand of Father that Holy Spirit would be sent to dwell within them. On the day of Pentecost Holy Spirit would be sent from Father and from himself upon all humanity.  He asked them if he could have something to eat, so James brought back some steamed fish and some honeycomb and Jesus accepted it and ate it. Jesus noticed that Thomas was not amongst them and he told them he would see them in a few days at Galilee, and he vanished once more. The disciples all gathered at Galilee eight days later and Jesus again miraculously appeared to them and this time Thomas was present. He knew that Thomas had not believed that he had risen, even though the other disciples had said that they had seen him. Jesus held out his hands towards Thomas and told him to have faith and believe and to touch his hands and his side where he had been pierced. Thomas did this and said, ‘My Lord and my God'. Jesus acknowledged that in seeing and touching he now believed. He went on to tell Thomas that there would be many who will believe without even seeing him and that they would be greatly blessed for that kind of faith.  Jesus appeared to them again one morning after seven of them had been out fishing all night and had caught nothing. He stood on the shore and watched them fishing but they didn't realize that it was him. They had taken two boats out, one larger boat, rigged for catching and one auxiliary boat, which helped with baiting and with the haul.  Jesus shouted out to the fishermen from the shore asking them if they had yet caught anything and they said no they hadn't. Then Jesus told them to throw out the net on the right-hand side of the boat, and they would get plenty of fish, and when they did they couldn't draw in the net because of the weight of the fish. Then John called out to Peter ‘That is the Lord', and at that, Peter put on a robe and jumped into the water and swam ashore. The rest of the disciples stayed in the boat and pulled the loaded net close to the shore. They looked over to where Jesus was, sitting with Peter and they saw that a fire was kindled and fish were frying over it, and there was bread. Jesus told them to bring some of the fish they had just caught, so Peter went and helped them drag the net ashore and bring some fish. There were 153 large fish and yet the net hadn't torn. Jesus then invited them to come and have some breakfast and Jesus went around serving them the bread and fish. That was the third time Jesus had appeared to them since his return from the dead. After they had all enjoyed breakfast together Jesus called Peter aside. He knew there were things that had to be said between them. Peter's soul was in a turmoil of regrets, shame and guilt. Time and again he had asked himself why he didn't stand up for Jesus instead of disowning him three times when he was asked if he knew him. He had remembered when the rooster crowed that Jesus had predicted that he would deny him three times. What was Jesus going to say to him now – would Jesus disown him, even rebuke him three times? But Jesus asked Peter three times, in three different ways whether or not Peter loved him. The first time Jesus used the word phileo which means brotherly love and Peter said yes of course he did, and Jesus said to him feed my lambs. Jesus asked him a second time, using the same word, phileo and Peter said emphatically Yes lord – you know I do! And Jesus again said to him feed my lambs The third time Jesus asked Peter if he loved him he used the word agape which means a sacrificial love, higher than any other kind of love. Peter said Yes Lord, and he meant it with all his heart. And this time Jesus said to Peter feed my sheep. And so Peter humbly gave himself up to the ownership of God's love. As a true representation of a flawed humanity owned by God's love, Peter was mercifully forgiven and accepted. It was also this moment that owned him, not his past, or his uncertain future.  This would also continue to be his greatest gift to God, the gift of his each moment to God. As Peter would go on in life, he would have faced his many imperfections, and he may well have learned to return to that special moment on the seashore, where he could surrender to the ownership of God's love and shed his fears, growing in faith and being transformed into God's nature. The bible says that Jesus met with over five hundred people over those forty days, and in the book of Acts it describes the final time that he met with his disciples when they asked him if this was now the time for him to free Israel from Rome and restore his people as a mighty nation, and again Jesus realized that they still did not understand the nature of his Kingdom, but that they would soon learn. He told them that only his Father had set these times, and they were not for them to know. He also told them that they would testify about his death and resurrection with great power. He instructed them not to leave Jerusalem and that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit in just a few days and receive the promise of the Father.  Suddenly a dazzling light shone within a billowing white cloud above them. Jesus turned to them all and raised his hands in blessing. He did not need to say goodbye. As he began to rise slowly heavenwards he was enveloped in the cloud, and as they stood together looking into the cloud that had taken him they saw the shining figures of the now familiar two men in white standing to one side who told them that the same cloud that they saw taking Jesus into eternity would also bring him back one day to that same place - in total glory and triumph, and The Plan of Salvation will have been fulfilled. And so, they waited just as he had instructed them, and after ten days the Holy Spirit fell upon them on the day of Pentecost. Jesus had told them he would join their lives to his risen life and they would become one in Spirit with him. The Holy Spirit would take Father's love, and his own words, and place them in the hearts of men and women, as a deep consciousness of his indwelling and abiding life.  The Holy Spirit had accompanied Jesus every moment of his life on earth. He had joined himself to the human spirit of Jesus and had felt every feeling that Jesus had felt. He had known every one of his thoughts, and he had communicated every thought from Father God to him. Those thoughts became words in the mouth of Jesus, and The Holy Spirit caused those words to have life and power to all who heard Jesus speak. In this way Holy Spirit had also experienced life within humanity on the earth.  The Holy Spirit would become the bond between Heaven and earth for all time. He would fall like rain from Heaven upon the souls of mankind, seeking to awaken the spirit of humanity to the cosmic truth of what Jesus had done in joining mankind to God.  Humanity could now live in the new law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and win its struggle against the mindset of lostness and separation called the law of sin and death.  Within the human pain of this struggle against lostness and separation would be found the cry of Holy Spirit wrestling to join the minds and hearts of people to God. It is the Spiritual energy of God's love that would never cease its activity in the human heart, subduing human nature, that it might resonate with the nature of God. His ministry of intercession is working moment by moment in our lives to bring about the healing and saving of our souls. Whenever this truth is embraced by a human heart, that heart will at last find itself at home, around the Family table, where it was destined eternally to be.        

Can Jesus be your Savior but not your Lord? People separate these terms all the time. But Nancy says you can't separate those terms so easily.

Can Jesus be your Savior but not your Lord? People separate these terms all the time. But Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth says you can't separate those terms so easily. She explains what it means that Jesus is Lord, on Revive Our Hearts. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

Can Jesus be your Savior but not your Lord? People separate these terms all the time. But Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth says you can't separate those terms so easily. She explains what it means that Jesus is Lord, on Revive Our Hearts. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

The heart to yield control to Christ as Lord is an evidence of true salvation.

Plenty of people claim to be Christians without giving God control of their lives. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth challenges that kind of thinking, on Revive Our Hearts. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

Plenty of people claim to be Christians without giving God control of their lives. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth challenges that kind of thinking, on Revive Our Hearts. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

In this episode, we are seeking the Lord on behalf of several right now issues that we are facing on this earth. We are praying for our children, our parents, our loved ones that are suffering with sicknesses, and we are lifting up our leaders. Thank you for being a supporter of this podcast as I grow and learn things will become more like previous episodes, but I do not want to delay the podcast while I learn how to use the new format. Thank you for all of your support. Thank you for your shares. Thank you for joining your faith with my faith so that we can see God move upon the face of the earth if you have a prayer request, you can text 843-790-4229 or submit it by email to seeingwithoutseeing2020@gmail.com. Please put prayer request in the subject line. That email address can be used on Zelle and PayPal. If you desire to sow a seed, you can do that also on cash app at $seeingwithoutseeing. Thank you once again for your support please share this and believe God with us as we seek God.

Ps. Jon Norman, 6 April 2025 

A surrendered life is hard, but it leads to joy. Learn from those who've said “yes, Lord.”

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 5th of April, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Luke 1:46-55, but before I read it, I just want to say something to you. This is a beautiful, beautiful scripture spoken by Mary the mother of Jesus. I want to tell you the thing that I love about Mary more than anything else is her faith in God, truly, a giant in the faith. You see, Mary was not divine, no, no, no. She didn't come down from heaven like an angel. She was born of an ordinary mother, an ordinary father, just like you and me, but God looked right through the world to find one maiden, a virgin, who He could trust with His only beloved son, Jesus Christ, and He found Mary from Nazareth. He saw this young virgin and He said, ”She will look after My Son while He lives on earth.” What an honour, what a privilege! But what I want to stress is the faith that Mary had, to believe the message that the archangel Gabriel brought from our Heavenly Father down to her, and when he told her that she was going to bear the Son of God in her womb - a Baby, nine months in your womb, and then you are going to bring Him up to age. What a responsibility, what an honour! This is her response, verse 46: And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; (You see, she didn't think of herself as anything special at all) for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty (our Heavenly Father) has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm;He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.” You see, no doubt at all. Accepted the call. Said, “Yes Lord, I'll do it.” And by faith she did it. Today, start to trust God by faith with the things that He has promised you that maybe haven't come to pass just yet. I can tell you, they will come to pass if you continue by faith. Remember faith can't see. Faith is to believe what you cannot see. God will bring it to pass.Jesus bless you richly today and goodbye!

The Christian life is meant to be one of surrender, but sometimes saying yes, Lord is hard. We're quick to try and write our own stories instead of entrusting them to the better Story-writer. Listen to stories of real-life Christians who've said yes, Lord and be encouraged to do the same on Revive Our Hearts Weekend, with Dannah Gresh and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

The Christian life is meant to be one of surrender, but sometimes saying yes, Lord is hard. We're quick to try and write our own stories instead of entrusting them to the better Story-writer. Listen to stories of real-life Christians who've said yes, Lord and be encouraged to do the same on Revive Our Hearts Weekend, with Dannah Gresh and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

Monica Hall had been serving the Lord for a long time when she entered an emotionally dark valley. Her church went through a lot of hurtful disagreements and she miscarried twins. She wasn't sure she believed God was good. Find out how the Lord used the body of Christ to hold Monica up in her lowest point on Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

Monica Hall had been serving the Lord for a long time when she entered an emotionally dark valley. Her church went through a lot of hurtful disagreements and she miscarried twins. She wasn't sure she believed God was good. Find out how the Lord used the body of Christ to hold Monica up in her lowest point on Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/453/29

A Regnum Christi Daily Meditation. Sign up to receive the text in your email daily at RegnumChristi.com

In this sermon from the book of Luke, Special Guest Speaker Judge Wayne Mack shares profound insights on the power of obedience and faith. He emphasizes that saying "Yes" to God can lead to miracles, but a healthy "Yes" requires a balanced "No." Judge Mack explains that God's "No" to our prayers often leads to unexpected blessings, aligning with His grander plan where He sees the end from the beginning. He shares a personal testimony of miraculous healings—his own and his son's—triggered by his willingness to obey God after previous refusals. Judge Mack's message is clear: when we align with God's will, there is no obstacle too great for His power to overcome.Verse References: Luke 5 verses 1-11Make sure you subscribe to this channel and follow us on all our platforms to always stay up to date with our latest content!And you can always head over to our website for any general information!https://godspeak.comPrayer/NeedsIf you have any needs, or have a willingness to be used to meet various need in the body, please email info@godspeak.com. Also, let us know if you need prayer for anything.Giving is part of our worship time, and in this season, the easiest way to do that is online. If you go to our website, godspeak.com, you will see the "Give" tab in the top right corner. Or you can simply click this link https://pushpay.com/g/godspeakAny questions?Please feel free to email us, comment here, or DM us on Instagram any questions that you may have.Please Subscribe to this channel and turn on your notifications to be notified when our Livestreams start so you don't miss out! We hope you are blessed by the service!-The Godspeak Team

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 7th of February, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Gospel of Mark 10:22:”But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” You cannot bargain with God. You know, I looked up the dictionary - the definition of the word “bargain” is a cheap buy. It's a giveaway; that's what a bargain is. You cannot bargain with Jesus. You see, the rich young ruler did all the right things. Oh yes. He tithed, he went to church on Sundays, he was a good family man, but Jesus Christ was not first in his life.Now, the Lord is not particularly talking about money here today, gentlemen and ladies. No, He's talking about anything in your life, anything in my life, that we put before Him, is not acceptable. Why? Because He died for you and for me. The least we can give Him is first place in our lives. Don't you agree? You know, I've often wondered about the Lord standing there with the young man walking away. Where was he walking? He was on his way to hell. That's right, and the tears must have been running down the face of the Saviour because He loves all men. He didn't say, ”Listen, let's strike a bargain. I tell you what. You give half of your goods away and we'll negotiate the other half.” No, no, it was all or nothing, black or white. There's no grey area in the Kingdom of God. You and I need to understand something very clearly today. If there is anything in our lives that is more important than Jesus Christ, then we have to surrender it.Do you remember that beautiful chorus? I'm going to try and sing it with you:Seek ye first the kingdom of God And His righteousness; And all these things shall be added unto you, Halleluja, Halleluja“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33.Jesus doesn't want to take your family away from you, sir. Jesus doesn't want to take your career away from you, your expectations, not at all. In fact, He wants to give them to you and more, but now and again He'll test you. “Do you really love me?”“ Yes Lord.”“ Well, give Me that thing.”“ But Lord…”“ Give it to Me.”You give it to Him and what does He do? He gives it back. He doesn't need your money, He doesn't need your ability, He's got it all. He said one word and this whole universe came into being. Today, make Him first in your life, and you'll be surprised by what happens. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

In this episode, we are seeking the Lord on behalf of several right now issues that we are facing on this earth. We are praying for our children, our parents, our loved ones that are suffering with sicknesses, and we are lifting up our leaders. Thank you for being a supporter of this podcast as I grow and learn things will become more like previous episodes, but I do not want to delay the podcast while I learn how to use the new format. Thank you for all of your support. Thank you for your shares. Thank you for joining your faith with my faith so that we can see God move upon the face of the earth if you have a prayer request, you can text 843-790-4229 or submit it by email to seeingwithoutseeing2020@gmail.com. Please put prayer request in the subject line. That email address can be used on Zelle and PayPal. If you desire to sow a seed, you can do that also on cash app at $seeingwithoutseeing. Thank you once again for your support please share this and believe God with us as we seek God.

1/ Snoop Dogg. Hard Knocks. 2/ JAY WORTHY AND DJ FRESH. No Gimmicks. feat KEAK Da Sneak. 3/ KENDRICK LAMAR. TV off. 4/ AB SOUL. California Dream. feat VINCE STAPLES, KAMM KARSON. 5/ B-Real & Psycho Les. Doin’ what you never did. 6/ Apollo Brown & CRIMEAPPLE. Wonderful feelin’.feat WILLIE THE KID. 7/ STRESS EATER (CZARFACE & KOOL KEITH). Here’s some homicide. fEAT. ICE T. 8/ Termanology and Tek. Teknology. 9/ Wordsworth & Stu Bangas. God 's mailbox. feat PAV BANDY. 10/ ETO. Yes Lord. feat FLEE LORD. 11/ TALIB KWELI & J. RAWLS. Swat. feat Coast Contra. 12/ Westside Gunn and Dj Drama. Runway Pieces at the last supper. 13/ 7xvethegenius. Float.14/ Bishop Nehru. I don’t know. 15/ THA GOD FAHIM AND CARTUNE BEATZ. Prove and show.16/ KURIOUS. Untainted.Escuchar audio

Up and Adam! Go , it was made to go! Get , get outside and walk and thank!Say yes Yes Lord have it Your way!May Your ideas take flight in my life and family and community-Nations. Yes yes yes, be it unto us according to thy Word.

True Leadership & Revival (audio) David Eells 12/4/24 The Lord is going to repeat the history written in the Gospels and Book of Acts on a much larger scale. Read God's Word and make sure that you will be on the right side of what is coming. Those early disciples were raised in their youth to believe that they were the people of God and that their apostate leaders were Godly men, until the Word of God through Jesus opened their eyes. When this happened they became a threat to the apostate (backslidden) leadership. Great persecution will come from the official church against those who begin to believe and walk in the steps of Jesus instead of religion. We know this to be so because it has been happening and will continue just as it says in Ecc 1:9 That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. If your church does not teach the Word as it was given in the beginning you are not learning to abide in Christ. You are in danger of being on the wrong side of what is coming. 1Jn 2:24 As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father. Christianity has followed in the steps of Judaism with its paid professionals who do not know God and have added to or taken away from the “everlasting covenant” with their traditions. They pay no heed to the warning in Rev 22:18 I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: 19 and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. The prophet Joel declares a full restoration of all that the curse and religion has taken from God's people for years, first the Jews, and then the Gentiles. Joe 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the former (or early) rain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first [month]. 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. God's people will be restored from the devastation that these insect type curses did to His crop in the early and now going into the latter rain. This rain was identified in verses 28,29 as an outpouring of the Spirit on them. Peter quotes verses 28,29 in Joel declaring that the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost was a fulfillment of this prophecy. Act 2:16 but this is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams. This early rain came to the Jews that believed to restore them after a great falling away and then it was passed on to the Gentiles. Those disciples who received that power of the Spirit walked as Jesus walked and did His works. The pagans called them “Christians”. There's not enough evidence to convict many “Christians” of that anymore but the story is not over. For 2000 years only a few have been partakers of the early rain. The early and latter rain will come to those who believe, to restore the fallen Church and then it will be passed on to the Jews, because now most of them are the unbelievers. When will the latter rain come? Both the Jews and the Church have fallen away from what was given on Pentecost for 2000 years. The Spirit of God says in Hos 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly. In the midst of affliction, which has already started, His people say in Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. 3 And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth. We see here that on the morning of the third day, where we are now, the latter rain outpouring will come to empower and restore the Church. What are these days? 2Pe 3:8 But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Having read the writings of the early church fathers I can tell you that they commonly believed in the 1000-year day and that after six of these days the end would come. The Hindus, Muslims, and the Jews also believed this. Gibbon in “The Rise And Fall of The Roman Empire” said that the Christians believed this. I have found in Scripture over a dozen astounding revelations using the 1000-year days pointing to this time in which we live. The Bible is laid out in seven prophetic 1000-year days. These days are always numbered from the creation of the first Adam or the birth of the last Adam. There were 4000 years or four days between the Adams. I believe in September of 2001 to 2002 we came approximately to the Biblical year 6000 A.M. (Anno Mundi -year of the world). This begins the morning of the third day or third thousand years from the last, new creation Adam, Jesus Christ. It will also be the morning of the seventh day from the old creation Adam. This is when the end time begins and God finishes His work as God said in Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. According to this type God is about to finish His new creation work on the seventh day and rest. This soon coming latter rain outpouring will restore the true believers to the holiness, power, and ministry of Jesus. Religion will fight against this as they did the early rain and this time it will be worldwide. In perfect parallel to the early rain in the Book of Acts, this revival will come to the people of God who will receive it in the latter rain. God's crop is about to burst forth on this morning of the third day. As with the early rain this revival will not be spawned in the established apostate church but on the streets. As they lose their “members” the jealousy of the New Testament Pharisees and Sadducees will be evident. This revival will not be the placebo of false signs that have been seen, but a restoration of the Biblical gifts and powers to the righteous Joe 2:23-25. And as Jesus said, “greater works than these shall you do”. Mass healings and deliverances will come through the Man-child reformer ministers. The Med Beds will be put to shame.   The Real Apostolic Church Matthew J. Burdette (David's notes in red) I was in prayer several nights ago, and God began to show me a vision. In this vision I saw one that I knew to be an Apostle out in the streets. He was healing the sick, wheelchair cases were getting up out of their chairs, shouting and praising God. He was as Jesus was when He walked the earth. The very power of heaven seemed to be at his disposal without effort. (At this same time, God began to speak to me, or reveal to me, what was happening, almost in a narrative sense.) As the Apostle did the miraculous, he was also proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the people. His message did not veer from the message Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. It was “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”. (Mass baptisms of water and Spirit will happen.) Many believed his words, and obeyed his message. Great revival was present! As the Apostle continued to proclaim and work the miracles, I saw others come on the scene. These men were leaders in churches. God was not moving for them in the same way he was with the Apostle, yet they were carrying the title of “Apostolic.” There was a hatred that came upon them for the Apostle. They despised his miracles, and began to say his power came from the devil. They cut him off from their fellowship and began to persecute him.  At this time I saw him in several different ways, or scenarios. Some of the “Apostolic” men began to try to turn the people away from the Apostle. Some followed them because they were ‘Elders in the church.' Their position and standing in the assembly swayed some to their view. They then began to fight the Apostle, throwing rocks at him, he was put in prison. He was even killed. It seemed strange, but as the Apostle suffered the persecution and was killed he still continued to do the work. (They will be dead to self, the world and religion.) Even after he was killed he was still there, preaching salvation, and showing God's power through the signs and wonders that he did. As all this was being shown to me God was narrating the whole thing to me. This is what He was saying: “The Apostle is the Real Apostolic Church. He is My Ambassador to the world. He will demonstrate My power to the world, but he will hold the same doctrine that the first Apostles taught, any other doctrine negates him as My Ambassador. The Apostle will be men that do not limit Me. They will ask for the impossible, so that I may get the Glory, because man could not do what they were asking. They will believe Me for the limitless.” As the scene changed, and the Apostle began to be persecuted, I seemed to know the interpretation as it happened. The Real Church will be persecuted by those that claim to be the church - much like the Pharisees persecuted Jesus. They will try to draw some away by speaking against the move of God through the Apostle (the Real Church). Some will follow them because they have been the leaders of the “church” for years. As God continues to move on the Real Church, these false leaders will hate all who stand with the Apostle. They will fight and cast false accusations, drawing some away. They will turn the ‘governments that be' against the Real Church. Men will be put in prison. Some will be put to death. (And some spiritually put to death.) Yet all the persecution will not destroy or stop the Real Apostolic Church from the task before them. The gates of hell will not prevail!     Corporate David Raises Apostles Soon Garrett Crawford - 05/13/2009 (David's notes in red) In this dream, the first thing I remember was that I was at my pc, looking at a website. There was some kind of piece written about a movie. The movie was about a few young men who traveled the world and ultimately changed it forever. I assumed it was about the first apostles. I was amazed at the good things the critic had to say about them and the movie because I did not think of him as a Christian. After I saw this, I began to look around some more on these young men and saw that there were many movies and books written about them. It was like they were larger than life and the whole world knew about their great works. But I also got the feeling that what they had accomplished was a one-time thing, never to be duplicated. As I sat and found myself thinking about them, I began to even admire them and think of the greatness of their works. (To most of the Church, the things that happened in the Gospels and Acts have passed away and are only of historic value, but God will repeat the former rain in a latter rain that will cover the world. Ecc 3:15 That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.) Shortly after this, I found myself sitting down on the floor with a small group of young men, some younger than me. David Eells was in the middle, sitting in a wooden chair. (I am being used as a type of this thing that will happen corporately all over the world, through the David ministries God told me He was about to raise up.) He had a book in his hands and he was teaching these men, but this was no ordinary teaching. He was preparing these men who sat around him to do many mighty works. He was raising them up to walk in the steps of their first-century counterparts. These who sat around him were on the verge of shaking the world and it was all going to start in this humble setting, in a small living room. (In the steps of the apostles, modern apostles will be raised up by the Man-childs to bring a remnant of the Church back to their biblical foundations in this coming latter rain. While the world was all excited about a movie of the former miracle workers, something so great was stirring here in this house and no one knew. (Much of the church has been deceived that God is not raising a people in the image of Christ to prove the power of His salvation.) While I was sitting there, my mom (representing the Church) walked in and said, “Garrett, the new movie just came out. Do you want to go see it?” I remembered my excitement about it and said yes, but then, as I looked back to David and the group sitting around him, it dawned on me, why would I want to see a movie about the past when I, along with these others, are on the verge of reliving what those men did, in the very near future? (In a repetition of history, many religious people will walk in the steps of their forefathers -- the Pharisees, Sadducees and Zealots -- in persecuting these men because of the dead letter that is taught to them. These Apostles and those who spring from them will shake the world.)     Revelation Given To David Walters I arrived early for the Sunday service and sat in a local church in Georgia. I looked around the sanctuary and saw only one or two other people. I looked around at the condition of the church and saw that it was well maintained. I have visited this church a number of times over the years. I had even preached there on several occasions: the first time in the mid-eighties. WHERE WAS EVERYONE? The sanctuary was capable of seating about four hundred. I knew there would be far less in attendance than 400. Probably around seventy or eighty. I began to consider what would be needed to fill that church. I began to imagine what I would do to fill it, if I were the pastor. Make the platform larger? Take the front pews out? Get rid of the grand piano and install a keyboard? Look for many gifted musicians? Change the pulpit to a fiberglass see through podium? Put banners on the walls? Make the meetings more attractive and exciting, in order to draw in lots of young families with kids and lots of young single adults? I said, “Yes Lord, I know You want to fill this church, but I'm not quite sure how”. The Lord then answered me and said, “I am not interested in filling church buildings. I have never been interested in filling church buildings, for it has never been on My agenda. My desire and My agenda is not fill church buildings, but to fill the whole earth with My glory. This has always been My agenda, to fill the heavens and the earth with My glory”. He then told me to check it out in the scriptures. “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea”. (Hab 2:14.) “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory Amen and Amen”. (Psa 72:19)  He then went on to say, “There are many church buildings that are full today, but they have nothing to do with Me. I am not interested in filling church buildings, but many buildings will be filled, because of Me. But this will happen because of the moving of My Spirit upon the earth. When My Spirit moves you will not have enough buildings to contain the sinners and backsliders which will pour into my church. They will fill the streets, the marketplaces, the places of business in the cities. Yes! Every area of society will be affected by My mighty outpouring. For I am more concerned about nations, countries, cities and villages, than I am about church buildings. I am more concerned about nations than church affiliations and denominations.  For when My people become more concerned about their communities, their cities, their villages and their nations and pray and seek My face and give up their own agenda's and come into unity and seek Me for My agenda and My glory, then I will come upon their communities and their cities and their villages and their nations. When My people renounce the religious spirit, which has polluted much of My Body and caused division and has weakened My church and made her impotent, then I will hear and answer”. “When My church refuses to trust in the arm of the flesh, and in human talents, and renounces vain traditions, and casts out spirits of suspicion against herself, and calls upon My name, then I will come and visit her with My great power and presence. Expect to see a great sign and wonder which I am waiting to accomplish. Observe what I have already done and am doing in the nations across the world and know that there is nothing too hard for Me. For I am no respecter of persons, or countries, or nations; therefore humble yourselves, renounce the spirits of darkness and evil, repent of your sins and pray for a visitation of My Spirit upon your nation. When My people humble themselves, then I will humble the nations”.     True Church Government David Eells The common church government today breeds false prophets. Jesus, as a type of the Man-child, raised up the apostolic fathers to found the Church on a five-fold ministry of men who are spiritual specialists in their field. Pro 11:14 Where no wise guidance is, the people falleth; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Jesus Christ is the Spirit (1 Cor.15:45) and head of His Body the Church (Epe.5:23). His headship is manifested physically through the five-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Epe.4:11). The members of the head represent these different five-fold ministers. Apostle is Greek for “one sent forth”, and they are sent to raise up churches and set them in order. The apostles are ‘a jack of all trades' with a little of the gift of the rest of the five-fold ministry so they can discern the elders that they are called to ordain (Act.14:23). Elders are ordained five-fold ministers, not assistants to the pastor (Act.20:17, 11:30). Even apostles are elders (1Pe.5:1; 2Jn.1; 3Jn.1). When the legalists were trying to bring the Gentiles under the law the apostles and the other elders were gathered to consider this problem (Act.15:6). Together the elders made a decision (v-22) and sent their findings to the rest of the church (v-23; 16:4). Let's consider the other elders who are members of the head. The prophets are the spiritual eyes of the head and see what others do not. Isa 29:10 For Jehovah... hath closed your eyes, the prophets... 11 And all vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed. The pastors or shepherds are the nose of the head because they lead the local body of sheep to pastures with a discernment that is neither from their eyes or ears. There is no such thing as an assistant pastor in Scriptures. You either are a pastor or you are not. Teachers are the ears of the head. Solomon asked for “an understanding heart” in 1 Ki.3:9 and in verse 12 God granted him “an understanding heart”. The Hebrew word for “understanding” in both verses is “hearing”.  I was first ordained through an apostle to be a teacher. Later a prophet who knew nothing of this saw a vision of me with ears as big as elephants. Later the Lord appeared to me twice and re-ordained me to another office, which was confirmed by other ministers. I am certainly not comparing myself to Paul, but he was re-ordained as an example that the Lord does do this (Act.13:1-4; 14:14). The evangelist is the mouth of the head because he ministers to those outside the body. It takes all of these to perfect the saints and raise up others into the head (Eph.4:12,15) so that individuals in the Body have a portion of these gifts so they may be guided and used personally by their Lord. Now you know why Satan wanted to replace the five-fold ministry with a manmade one-fold ministry. This false government is easier to corrupt and the saints are not perfected by it. Through men with a lust for power Satan has been able to destroy the Scriptural government of the church. God never wanted a king over Israel; men did. They said, “make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1Sa.8:5). Does pastor, assistant pastor, and elders sound a lot like President, Vice-President, and cabinet? The church has copied “all the nations” as Israel did. God gave Israel the king they wanted saying,       “they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them (7). God has given the church her kings too. God also warned Israel that their king would take their children to serve him and would charge them a tithe of everything for his service (10-18). Sound familiar? Pastors, without any Scriptural foundation, tell us that the Lord did away with the five-fold ministry after the apostles died. Actually it was false prophets who did away with the five-fold ministry. In our worldly system the pastor usurps the authority of the rest of the five-fold ministry. I have heard pastors who are not even filled with the Spirit claim that today they are the prophets when they expound the Word under the anointing. If this does not make them false prophets, then I do not know what does. As far as the five-fold ministry is concerned, nowhere in Scripture does the pastor take authority over a prophet or teacher or vice versa. In the world do doctors take authority in a lawyer's field or vice versa? Does it make sense to be given authority over another's gift that you have no expertise in? If a prophet, speaking in the Spirit, is told to shut up by a pastor, then God is told to shut up. (Many can exercise the gift to prophesy but the office of prophet is that of an overseer that has authority in the Body.) Remember that each of the five-fold ministers are overseers (or bishops) who are specialists in their field with authority only in their gift. Each is a portion of the head of the Body of Christ and necessary for the guidance of the Body. However, when one of the five-fold ministers falls into sin or gets deceived, the rest have authority to correct, discipline, or throw them out (1Cor.5:9-13). This insures the safety of the sheep. The false system of shepherd-ship is the Nicolaitan error, which Jesus said He hates (Rev.2:6,15). Nicolaitan comes from two words, “Nikao”, meaning “to conquer”, and “laity”, meaning “the people”. This was and is a privileged order who consider themselves above the common people as mediators between them and God. Ministers are to make disciples of Jesus and His Word, not themselves and their traditions. He is the mediator. The Protestants falsely copied the Nicolaitan error from the Catholic Church, which partially took it from the Old Testament priesthood. Jesus constantly denounced this worldly relationship between the ministry and the people. We read this in Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister (Greek: “servant”); 27 and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant (Greek: “bondservant”): 28 even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto (Greek: “served”), but to minister (Greek: “serve”), and to give his life a ransom for many. Mat 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, [even] the Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.     Jesus' Coming on Board Brings Revival David Eells Many years ago I asked the Lord, “Why is there so much spiritual resistance and all the wicked coming against us, with limited success in getting the Word out to the multitudes?” I was led to flip my Bible open and stick my finger down without looking and I got: Luk 5:4 And when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answered and said, Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the nets. 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking; 7 and they beckoned unto their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken; 10 and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. So this is saying the disciples worked in relative darkness while Jesus, as a type of the Man-child, wasn't in the boat and they caught no fish, representing the lack of revival. When Jesus entered the boat and gave the Word, the catch was overwhelming. I have said that we are building a platform for the Man-child ministry and not us. PTL! Come on board, Lord! The fact that He gave me this underlined part of the verse, from henceforth thou shalt catch men, says to me that we are almost at that point when Jesus comes on board and we will be amazed at the multitudes coming into the Kingdom. I then said, “What else will you speak about this, Lord?” In the same way I got the part below, which is a type of Jesus in the end-time Man-child. Rom 15:12 And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be the root of Jesse (A type of David / Jesus / and Jesus in the Man-child), And he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles (Nations); On him shall the Gentiles (Nations) hope. 13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit. God is permitting hindrance until the timing is right when the light of the coming of the glory of Jesus in the Man-child will start the great revival. For many years it has been prophesied that a great revival would start in Pensacola, Florida. When I lived there a prophetess pointed me out all the way across a large church saying loudly that I was the one the Word would come through. That was my first time there and her first time there. (In 1993, Dr. David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, South Korea, the world's largest church, conducted a meeting in Seattle, Washington. As he prayed for revival in America, he questioned, “God are you going to send revival to America, or is she destined for judgment?” The Lord instructed him to get a map of America. He did so, and the Holy Spirit told him to point his finger at the map. As he did, he felt his finger drawn to the Florida panhandle and to the city of Pensacola. “I am going to send revival to the seaside city of Pensacola, and it will spread like a fire until all of America has been consumed by it”, said the Lord to Dr. Cho.) When the Brownsville Revival came, pastor Cho at first thought this was the fulfillment of his revelation, but I knew that it was only the counterfeit before the real even as Babel came before the real virgin birth. I believe we will get the boat built but won't have great success until the soon coming glory of God comes aboard through the Man-child reformers. Then I got this verse: 1Pe 4:13 but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy. (The greater glory is coming through the Man-child reformers.) 14 If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed [are ye]; because the [Spirit] of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.     Saul's Death Brings David and Revival Shirley Hinkle (David's notes in red) I was told by God at the end of 2007 to fast for the death of Saul (1 Chronicles 10:12). (God does not want us to pray for the death of any individual but for the death of the Saul ministry which is leading God's people to death. [See Pharisees, Saul & Eli Ministry series.] An apostate Saul ministry is spiritually dying now to make room for the anointed Davids, the coming Man-child Reformers, in whom Jesus will be manifested by Word and Spirit. 1Ch 10:6 So Saul died, and his three sons; and all his house died together. ... 11:1-3 Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, ... Thou shalt be shepherd of my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over my people Israel. ... and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of Jehovah by Samuel.) During this fast I had 2 dreams. Dream 01/04/2008 A man walked up to me in my dream and said, “Pray for the womb to heal from the inside out, prepare for the seed”. (The seed of the Word has to have good nurturing soil in us to bring forth the fruit of Jesus. When the seed is planted, Saul's death will be completed in nine months and the Davids, as the Man-child, will be anointed. Also the Davids will be planting the seed of the Kingdom in the womb of the saints.) Dream 01/06/2008 I was in this room with some other people. We were sitting in rows of chairs; there were just a few of us there. David Eells (Representing the coming David, Man-child reformers in whom Jesus will live by Word and Spirit.) walked into the room and said, “Where is everybody?” (In the beginning there will be only a few. According to Rev 3:10, it is only the Bride of the Philadelphia Church who will escape the hour of trial for they have already been tried.) David said, “Maybe they all went in the rapture after all.” He then chuckled in that little laugh of his and we all laughed with him. The atmosphere in the room was very light and peaceful. A woman walked into the room and up to David and said, “You need to remove that big farmer's machine that is blocking the front door; not everyone knows about the side door over there that we use. (In other visions we have seen two doors: a smaller one opened in the beginning for the first fruits and a larger door for the ingathering harvest at the end.) So we all looked and sure enough, there blocking the front door was this big planter machine that puts the seed into the ground to fertilize it. (Jesus was not seeking for the multitudes since he spent much time with 12 disciples who could perfectly reflect Him to the world. He was the pattern to be duplicated. These 12 became a geometric progression that later reached the World.) The next scene David was passing out something to the few of us who were there. When he came to me I saw he was carrying a very large brown woven basket full of water. (The basket is our life full of the water of the Word. The coming revival will have a small beginning — the Bride, which is Zion. Psa 14:7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When Jehovah bringeth back the captivity of his people, Then shall Jacob rejoice, [and] Israel shall be glad.) I looked into the basket to see what it was and saw it was full of pickled cucumbers. (Cucumbers are mostly water and are full of seeds and they were in the water of the Word. When pickled they are incorruptible.  This is what purifies souls or manifests Christ in you. 1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: 23 having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth. Zion is the “small remnant” that has the seed to restore the rest of Israel. Isa 1:7 Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.)  I got very excited and said, “Oh, I have one of those too”, and we looked down on my lap and there was the exact same very large brown woven basket full of water with pickled cucumbers. (We are to bring our baskets full of the Word to feed the revival.) The people around us started eating from the baskets and found it to be very refreshing, they said. (The seed of the Kingdom greatly refreshes. Song 2:5 Stay ye me with raisins [old seed], refresh me with apples [new seed]..., and Mat 13:52 And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.) As the people started eating, the people began to multiply until the room was packed and there was no place to sit; it was standing room only. People were trying to make room for even more who were coming in. (Passing around the incorruptible seed of the Word will make for a great revival.) In the front of the room a lady called to me to come to her, so I did and when I reached her, I recognized her to be from the UBM ministry. She had a teabag in her hand and then handed me enough to make a cup of tea. When she went to hand it to me she got so happy she started rejoicing. She said to me, “Look!” and I turned and there behind me was a line of people that was so long we couldn't see the end. (This is the geometric progression. One shared with ten. Ten shares with a hundred. A great revival is coming our way.) She started laughing and rejoicing again, saying, “I don't know if I will have enough teabags for everyone, but I will continue to pass it out”. (Skillful workers in the Kingdom are like teabags that pass on the pure flavor of the tea without passing on the flesh of the tea leaves.)

Some people never say YES to God. They live their lives saying NO — rejecting God's plan and choosing to live by their own rules and desires. In this podcast, I talk about four things during Paul's conversion that he said YES to and what his YES meant.

Subject: Bible Class Speaker or Performer: Bro Clyde Owens Scripture Passage(s): 1 Samuel 3:4 Date of Delivery: October 6, 2024

Often we get stuck in our everyday routine and miss the amazing things God is doing around us. What would happen if we took time to listen, then said YES LORD to what God is calling us to? Often we talk ourselves out of what we sense God calling us to, but what would happen if we just listened and said, YES LORD?  

We spend the entire night in Worship! Worship through Word, Worship through melody, Worship through our Yes! Worship Worship Worship and Worship some more!

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 8th of September, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Lamentations 3:39:“Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins?”Why do we complain when we have done something wrong and things don't work out? Then we go to the Book of Micah 7:9: ‘“I will bear the indignation of the Lord, Because I have sinned against Him…”Just be honest and say sorry. Just ask God to forgive you and stop complaining about the punishment you are receiving because of something you have done wrong. Fix it, just fix it! Many years ago I leased a field from a neighbouring farm and we grew a crop on that farm, and a young man, who was working with me was a great farmer and he would come back to the farm and would complain furiously. “What is wrong?” I would say. He said, “The neighbour that we have hired the land from, his cattle keep going into our crops and are eating our crops because the fence is so poor. So I said, “Well, let's fix the fence.” He said, “But that is not our responsibility. We have just hired the land, he is supposed to look after his own farm!” And this continued, and of course, the farmer we were leasing the land from, he wasn't complaining, his cattle were getting fat, until one day I said to the young man, “Go and fix the fence. It doesn't matter if it isn't our responsibility. We are losing our crop.” And of course, once we had fixed the fence, the cattle couldn't go in anymore. I want to say to you this morning, that Jesus is more eager to forgive us of our sins than we are to ask Him to forgive us. Remember the story of the rich young ruler? He came to Jesus and said, “I have obeyed all the commandments of the Bible. The Lord said, “There is just one thing you haven't done. Give your riches to the poor and come and follow after me.” And he couldn't do it, he would not, he walked away. And as one minister said to me, “Jesus must have been standing there with tears running down His face,” because that man was walking on his way to hell because he would not repent and adjust his ways. I believe that if that young man had said, “Yes Lord, I will give it all away”, the Lord would have probably said, “Now you can keep it', because He does not want us to be ensnared by the things of this world. Today, fix it! Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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These two exemplify "steadfastness" in more ways than I can say. Pastor Robert and Cristi are not strangers of overcoming obstacles. They've remained faithful in the midst of opposition, keeping their "Yes" fully intact to the Lord. Which has ultimately led to the birth of, "YES Lord" Church. They remind us that steadfastness and perseverance isn't just for us, it's for those around us - those watching and who will ultimately be impacted by our willingness to stick it out when it gets hard.

Jesus bids me come and die that I might truly live. Breaking the back of the orphan spirit!

When God calls out to us we have a choice, though the choice is rarely easy. We can choose to remain in our bubble and be about our business or we can step out and step into God's will.

During times of unrest and cultural failures, it's important for us as Jesus followers to have and attitude of "Yes Lord, here I am. It positions us to look towards God, evaluate our own condition, and points people towards Jesus.

Join us as we continue our series.

This is the call to therefore, go. You have been given a gift...the gift of faith. A gift that is daily replenished when you wake up in the morning with the eternal promise that God will meet your every need. So the question is, how are you called to share that with the world? It starts by saying...."Yes Lord, I will go."

Justina R. Page is an international speaker and natural storyteller who speaks with a bold and refreshing honesty. She's the author of the award-winning book, The Circle of Fire, which tells the story of how her life was changed forever when fire swept through her home, causing the loss of her 22-month-old twin son, Amos; severe, lasting injuries to her other twin son, Benjamin; and her own devastating experience of third-degree burns covering 55 percent of her body. She's also the author of 17 other literary works.  Justina now inspires audiences with a powerful message of hope and triumph. She's the Founder & Executive Director of The Amos House of Faith, a nonprofit organization established to provide post-burn support to families affected by burn trauma. She's a voice-over actor, children's audio producer, and an actress in the award-winning, faith-based movie We Are Stronger, the inspirational TV series Breaking Strongholds, and several other faith based movies. She resides in Richmond, Texas, with her husband of 35 years, Pastor James Page. She believes that with God, all things are possible!

On today's Friday edition, we chat with Kristian Stanfill of Passion Music! From its start in 1995 Passion has been rooted in the truth of Isaiah 26:8 – “Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and Your renown are the desire of our hearts” - existing to glorify God by uniting students in worship, prayer and justice for spiritual awakening in this generation. Passion believes that worship and justice go hand in hand, so students arrive ready to give. They give toward the END IT Movement, fighting against modern day slavery and this year Passion also called students to give toward Share Light – a campaign to see the Bible translated into the 6,000 known languages of the world during this generation's lifetime. Passion has encountered millions of students and 18-25 year-olds, young people whose lives have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.   One of the most impactful and stirring aspects of the movement founded by Louie and Shelley Giglio has been the sea of voices uniting together to lift up the name of Jesus. Passion, currently helmed by Kristian Stanfill, Brett Younker and Melodie Malone, has ushered in the writing, recording and leading of some of the most recognizable and unforgettable worship anthems of this generation. Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Crowder, Christy Nockels and more have also lent their voices alongside Passion throughout the years.   With more than 2 million units sold and a multitude of chart-topping singles such as “Glorious Day,” “Build My Life,” “God, You're So Good,” “How Great Is Our God,” “God Of This City,” “One Thing Remains,” “Even So Come,” and “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord),” listeners across the world continue to be impacted by the music of Passion. Passion's latest album, 'Call on Heaven', is out now! passionmusic.com @passionmusic christianmusicguys.com @christianmusicguys.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianmusicguys/message

When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened.Support the show

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Janet shares prophetic words from several different people and the things that God has shown her.   I want to share a word with you that I feel like God spoke over my life and I believe that it is for all of us who have been seeking His heart. “Hey my friend! I had a dream about you this weekend. I saw you at the very top of a beautiful white staircase! It was breathtaking! There was so much light around you and everything was super white, including the walls and staircase. I felt God's glory! Get ready!!! You're going up! More Glory Lord!” Not too long after that I saw a prophetic word by

Heavenly Father, we come to You not on the basis of our righteousness. We come to You not on the basis of our uprightness or our morality. We come to You on the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Jesus, we thank You that You made a way for us to have a loving relationship with God the Father, a meaning to experience this Person, to experience His presence and to experience His power. And we thank You, Jesus, because of Your work on the cross, because of Your death, burial, resurrection, Your ascension and You sent us the Holy Spirit. You offer the Spirit of God to each person who humbly asks. I pray, Lord, today, that You do unleash Your great power in our lives, in our homes, in our households, in our families, in our church and in our city. We do believe in You that You are a great God and You long for people to come to know You. You long to adopt many into Your household, to make those who are not Your children, Your beloved children in whom You delight.I pray, if anyone is far from You, far from the household of God today, give them the gift of repentance, give them the gift of faith and draw them to Yourself. And Lord, for the rest of us, I do pray that You embolden us to speak the gospel, give us opportunities to proclaim the gospel, unleash our tongues, to proclaim the gospel, the truth to the people around us. There's so many that don't know You and they haven't experienced Your presence and Your power and we believe on their behalf and we long to bring them to You, Lord. And I pray that You give us much grace in that. Lord, bless our time in the holy scriptures. Bless everyone who's here today. What a great way to start off the brand new year. And Lord, I pray that You prepare our hearts for holy communion, which we'll celebrate later. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.Well, good morning and welcome to Mosaic on this communion Sunday. We're continuing our sermon series through the incredible Gospel of Mark. We've called it Kingdom Come, the Gospel of Mark and the secret of God's kingdom. And in the gospel, Jesus is revealing, He's unveiling, He is regulating revelation. And those that do believe in Him, they take Him at His word. They begin to see that He really is who He is and His power is unleashed in their life. The title of the sermon today's Great Faith Unleashes Great Power. And what we've seen so far in the Gospel of Mark is that God, who created everything, the great God overall, He takes on flesh. The Son of God is sent by God the Father. He's anointed by God the Holy Spirit to establish the kingdom of God here on earth where God's presence and His peace reigns.And how does Jesus Christ, the Son of God, establish the kingdom of God? He does so with a message. And this is the good news, the gospel. It's the gospel that changes hearts because the kingdom of God is an inside out kingdom. God changes our hearts when we believe in the good news. He changes our desires. We begin to desire prayer. We begin to desire fellowship with God's people. We begin to desire to do the will of God, to live in submission to God out of love for Him and love for neighbor. And what was the gospel that Jesus preached? It was very short. His very first sermon is documented and it went like this.He says, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Repent and believe the good news that the King of the Universe has come to save us, save us from Satan, sin and death by laying down His life on a cross." And we are to repent and believe in Him, believe that He is God, believe that He is the King of the Universe. Now, how many people believed this message? During Jesus' three year ministry, how many people believed this message and how many people were saved? I think, statistically speaking, it was a very small percentage. If you look at First Corinthians 15, it says that the resurrected Christ appear to 500 people. 500 people, what a small percentage of all the people that He ministered to.And who believed? Well, those who were seemingly crazy enough to take Jesus at His word. He spoke, they believed, and all of a sudden, they were saved and God's power was unleashed in their life when they really believed that He was the Great I Am when they humbly believed. Those people experienced the power of God. His family, Jesus' family, we read, they thought He was out of His mind. The good folks back home and His hometown mocked Him as, "Oh, you're just a carpenter. You're just the Son of Mary." And the Pharisees we read that they joined forces with the Herodians to kill Jesus. Some thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead. Herod Antipas believed that. Some thought He was Elijah even when He fed the 5,000 miraculously. They understood that He was presenting Himself as the Messianic King, but they didn't realize what kind of king He was, the king of people's hearts.The religious establishment said that Jesus was demon-possessed, a sorcerer, a false teacher. And even the disciples we read who saw His power over and over and over had said that they were hardened in their hearts and they had trouble believing. Amazingly, the only ones that truly recognize Jesus for who He is all of the time are the demons. The demons understood. But the few who took Jesus at His word, they experienced His power and they experienced His salvation. And today, we come to such a woman. We come to a woman who amazed Jesus Christ with her faith. To her, Jesus said, "Oh, woman, great is your faith." And her great faith released great power in her life. And great faith does release great power. Why? Because God honors bold faith because bold faith honors God.So that brings us to Mark 7:24-37. Would you look at the text with me? "And from there, He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth and she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He said to her, 'Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' But she answered Him, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' And He said to her, 'For this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter.' And she went away and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.Then He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, his tongue was released and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure saying, 'He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.'This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First, great faith is humble chutzpah before God. Second, great faith is humble hunger for God. And third, great faith is humble bringing and begging. First, great faith is humble chutzpah before God. Chutzpah, it's from the Yiddish. It means nerve. It means courage. It means impudence. It means confidence in action. I like that word. And it definitely perfectly characterizes this woman's posture of heart. She comes boldly with confidence, yet it's humble confidence. So this is point one, the great faith is humble chutzpah before God.We saw the progression from chapter 7 verses 1 through 23 to this one, which is very logical where Jesus said, He called all food clean, meaning He removed the barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles, the barrier of the dietary laws that separated Jews socially from Gentiles. And now Jesus is positioned perfectly to enter Gentile territory, something a Jewish rabbi would have never done because they consider the Gentiles unclean. And Jesus said, "It's not what comes from the outside that makes you unclean. It's that which comes from the inside that makes you unclean and Jesus can cleanse all.So now He comes into Gentile territory. This is verse 24. From there, He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon and He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. The human, Jesus, God incarnate, He did grow tired at some points. He just had ministered to many people. He's exhausted and now He journeys into Gentile territory, tries to keep Himself hidden. He can't do it because His fame had already proceeded Him. Tyre had a long history of antagonism toward Israel. Josephus, the Jewish historian, he said, "The inhabitants of Tyre were notoriously our bitterest enemies." There was bad blood between these two groups of people, the Galileans and people from Tyre. So that's the context.So this woman who is from the other people, she's from the other religions, she's from the other socioeconomic status, she's from the other-other everything, she comes to Jesus and she comes to Jesus boldly. Verse 25, "But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet." The unclean spirit is a demon that's made clear in verses 29 and 30. So here, we meet a mother, a desperate mother. She comes to Christ. She's heard of His explosive power and she throws herself at His feet in an attitude, a posture of heart, of self-abasement and supplication. She prostrates herself before Him, which shows the level of her distress, her pain.The pain of her child had brought her to Jesus Christ. The pain of her child had brought her to her knees. And she's interceding for her child. A mother is praying for her child. And whenever I see texts like this, just a reminder that we are to intercede for our loved ones. We are to intercede in prayer for our children and for our siblings and for our families and for our neighbors, and for our city. We are to pray. And when we intercede, God hears those prayers, especially when they're prayed with this posture of heart. The mother prayed for her child because the child couldn't pray for herself and the mother persisted until her prayer was granted.We see that this woman is very similar to the woman that was suffering 12 years from a hemorrhage in chapter 5. The likeness has seen that they were both ritually impure. They both needed miraculous power from the Lord. And despite her impurity, the Syrophoenician, like the woman with the hemorrhage, comes boldly hoping for healing from Christ. Verse 26, "Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He said to her, 'Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'" The Matthew parallel calls her a Canaanite woman. The word for Gentile here, it's a word that means that she was Greek speaking or Hellenized. So she's a Greek-speaking pagan Gentile from Tyre and the woman hopes that Jesus is going to heal her. She asks, she begs, she pleads. And it seems like He says no. It seems like Jesus' response dashes her hopes in a very hard way. And what is Jesus doing here? Jesus is showing that He ... First of all, there was an order to the salvation process. There was an order to the revelation that, first of all, He came to the children of Israel. Romans 1:16 says, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, but it's for anyone who believes."Or 1 Corinthians 1:22, "For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." Why the Jews first? Because the Jews became the first rebellious children of God. He chose them as His people. They rebelled against Him. He sends His Son into this vineyard, so to speak, to then save them, save the elect from Israel. And Isaiah 1:2-3 explains or opens, reveals the Father's heart, "Hear, O heavens and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people do not understand."The word first is used in our text proton. It's always used in order to explain that in the eschatological timeline of God's revelation, there is progress. The coming of Elijah was supposed to come before the Messiah. The binding of Satan needs to happen before despoiling of His house. Jesus' ministry to His fellow Jews was first, but He's in Gentile territory, meaning He's there to bring home the elect as well. Jesus expands His gospel ministry beyond Israel even when He was here. Only after these events have occurred in their divinely ordered sequence can the end come. As Mark says in chapter 4, "First a shoot, then an ear, then full grain in the year." There's a pattern here.The word proton and the thought behind it are similar to those of Paul in Romans 1 and Romans 11. Jesus did come for the Jew first but also for the Gentile. And here, it seems very derogatory if you think about it. He's calling her a dog. He's like, "I'm going to feed the children first and then you don't feed the dogs before the children." And you read the commentaries and they're like, "Well, it's not that offensive. It's the diminutive. He's calling her a little dog." No, that's offensive. You call anyone a little dog in that ... In our context, we love dogs. Dogs are domesticated. I have a daughter that prays on just as persistently as a Syrophoenician woman for a dog and ... Long story.But in our context, we love the dogs. People even consider themselves dog parents. Back then, they didn't domesticate dogs. Dogs were wild. Dogs lived outside of cities. Dogs were considered unclean and the New Testament continues this negative attitude. St. Paul says, "Beware of the dogs." In Philippians, Jesus says, "Don't throw what is holy to the dogs or the pigs." In Revelation 22:15, "The dog is an outsider to the community of God's grace." So using the terminology dog, he's calling her a dog, is an insult. That's what's happening. He's insulting her so to speak.And the question really is, how is she going to respond? Is she going to say, "No, I reject your verdict. I reject your bad news. I don't want your good news because I reject your bad news about my current state"? She doesn't do any of that. She hears it and she desperately continues in her persistence. Despite Jesus' seeming cool indifference and silence, she got His no. And she's like, "Okay, great, but I still ask for Your yes." Matthew 15 in the parallel context, in Matthew 15:22, "And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.' But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and begged Him saying, 'Send her away, for she is crying out after us.' He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' But she came and knelt before Him saying, 'Lord, help me.' But He answered, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'"You'd expect her to get angry. You'd expect her to call Jesus all of the isms and call him all of the ist names, but she doesn't get all huffy. She's not too proud to accept the verdict. She doesn't say, "How dare You? How dare You mock me? How dare You belittle me?" She could have said, "I didn't choose to be a Gentile. I didn't choose to be born here. I didn't choose to have a daughter that suffers. I'm not even asking for myself, Jesus. Do You know how much we've suffered together? We deserve something from You." She doesn't do any of that. She realizes that she cannot stand before Jesus, before Christ, before the Son of God, before God Himself on her rights, on her moral record.Even on the basis of her own suffering, she understands that God owes her nothing. She understands who she is in relation to the God of the universe. She remains humble. Even when she hears really hard words from Jesus, she gets a really hard no, but she continues asking. She continues believing, humbly believing, humbly understanding that she has absolutely zero grounds upon which to claim His favor. She says, "Yes, I am a dog. In relation to God, I am a dog. I'm unfit for the Father's favor. I have transgressed commandments. I have lived as though God does not exist. I have broken the first commandment, it's because I've broken the first one, I've broken them all. The first commandment is, 'Thou shall have no other gods before me.' I haven't worshiped Yahweh. Yes, I am a dog. Yes, I'm outside, but, but I see Your house is big enough even for me, but I see that there's enough bread on Your table even for a dog like me." That's her posture of heart.And when we present the gospel, we say, "Look, it starts with the bad news." The bad news is we have broken God's sovereign law. Whenever you break any law, there are to be consequences for the breaking of the law, especially when it comes to God. Whoever transgresses even one law deserves death. The word of God says, "Deserves eternal damnation." The word of God says, "That's the bad news. Apart from God, we are not children. Apart from God, we are sinners." "And yes, Lord, I am a sinner. I am a filthy, wretched dog. I am a dog. Can I be Your dog? I hear You're a good master." That's what she's saying. That's why I use the word for chutzpah, it's nerve, it's brass, it's confidence and actions gall. It's audacity.And this brings us to point two, great faith is humble hunger for God. And you see this, you see what she's doing. She's not just asking for the miracle. She's relating to Jesus. She's conversing with Jesus. She wants more of God in her life. She's hungry for God. Verse 28, "But she answered Him, 'Yes Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'" The Syrophoenician woman, she's like, "Yes, I am a dog," but all of a sudden, she's so smart, she switches everything. She puts the dog in the house. I don't know if you notice this. She's like, "I am a dog, but I'm a dog in Your house under Your table." That's what she's doing.And this reminds us, this whole encounter with a Gentile woman, a Gentile woman's daughter, it reminds us of Elijah. Elijah the prophet was sent to the people of Israel, but the people of Israel didn't obey. They didn't believe in God. So then he goes to the Gentiles. And Jesus, when He started His ministry in His hometown, He goes to the synagogue and He reminded them of that story. He said, "Look, I've come here to the children of Israel, but the children of Israel refuse to believe. So I'm going to the Gentiles, just like Elijah was sent to the Gentiles," Luke 4:24, "And he said, 'Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heavens were shut up three years and six months and a great famine came over the land. And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath and the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elijah and none of them was cleansed, but only Namaan the Syrian.When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath and they rose up and drove Him out of the town and brought Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, so that they could throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went away." And you say, "Why did they get so mad? Why do they get so angry?" They got so angry because He reminded them that God loves Gentiles as well. And it's not your birth, it's not your DNA, it's not your ethnicity that makes you right with God. It's your humility. It's your humble repentance where you say, "God, I don't deserve to be Your child. God, I don't deserve a relationship. God, I don't deserve cleansing in Your power, but I'm going to ask anyway."After His rejection at Nazareth, Jesus gives a clear warning of the coming mission to the Gentiles that He's going to the Gentiles. And it is in light of this background that we must read the initial response to this woman. He went to the children of Israel who said, "We don't want You. Jesus, we don't need You. We're children of Israel by birth." And Jesus said, "No one's a child of God by birth. You can't be born into the Family of God physically, only spiritually. You need to be born again." And they didn't want to hear that. They didn't want to hear that they needed to repent, that they needed to follow God.And yet this woman, she's told, "You're not a child of God. You're a dog," and she doesn't get huffy. She continues the conversation. She calls Him Lord, "Yes, Lord. Even the dogs on the table eat the children's crumbs." She says, "Yes, Lord, but there's plenty on that table even for me." She lays hold of Christ's word and bases her plea upon Him. The woman's response transforms the dog of Jesus metaphor into a domestic dog in the house. She, here in the stories, part of the household of faith. One translation says, "Since then, I am a dog. I'm not a stranger. I'm not outside." Another translation, she says, "Let me be a dog. I'll accept that I am, but even a dog has his day or her day. Yes, I'm a little dog, but can I still have some crumbs from the table? Yes, I'm a little dog, but I'm Your dog and You're my master."She calls him, "Lord, I am a humble part of the household. I don't deserve to be here, but I'm just asking for a crumb. I'm just asking for a little bit of your grace." And Jesus hears that. Jesus hears her plea and her plea is actually based on a promise from the Old Testament, a promise that God gave to Abraham. When He blesses Abraham, He says, "I'm going to extend the blessings I'm giving you to the rest of the world." Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. All of the families. All of the families shall be blessed. All of the families, all of the people that come to God and say, "God, I don't have any rights to assert, that I'm coming to You with a right less assertiveness. I'm not coming to You on the basis of my goodness. I'm coming to You on the basis of Your goodness and Your generosity."Thomas Cranmer, in The Book of Common Prayer, he says, "We do not presume to come to this thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table, but thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy." Jesus hears her and He likes her response. In verse 29, He said to her, "For this statement," another translation says, "Good answer. Good answer." I wish I was there to see the twinkle in His eye, "Good answer." "For this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter," and she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.In response to the woman's audacity, her impudent faith, She wrestles a blessing from Christ. And in this, she reminds us of someone else's scripture. She reminds us of Jacob. Jacob, when he wrestled with God, when he took hold of God, and most likely, that was a Christophany because it says that he wrestled with God and it said that he wrestled with a Man. It was a Man God, the God Man, Jesus Christ. This woman is much like Jacob in her persistence, her refusal to take no for an answer. She's content to get the no, "Yes, I am a dog," but she still keeps asking for the yes.And Jacob did the same thing. Jacob in Genesis 32, he was a man in need. The next morning, he was going to meet his brother, Esau, his estranged brother, Esau, and he thought he was going to meet Esau with murderous intent, that Esau wanted to kill him. He feared for his own life, Jacob did. He feared for the lives of his wives and children. So he prays. He sends them ahead and he prays with God. And the Lord appears to him as a man and wrestled with him through the night. And of course, the Lord was play wrestling. He's not really wrestling with Jacob. Jacob thought He was wrestling. Jesus was playing.This is Genesis 32:24, "Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that He did not prevail against Jacob, He touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as He wrestled with him. Then he said, 'Let me go for, the day has broken.' But Jacob said, 'I will not let You go unless You bless me.' And He said to him, 'What is your name?' He said, 'Jacob.' Then He said, 'Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.' Then Jacob asked Him, 'Please tell me Your name.' And He said, 'Why is it that you asked My name?' And there, He blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, 'For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been delivered.'"And you say, "Why did Jesus tell a woman no in the beginning? What is He doing? Did she change His mind from a silent indifference to helping her?" I don't think that's what's happening. When He says for this statement, He's not saying, "Because you have said this or because you have changed My mind," He's saying, "Because you've passed the test." He was testing her. He said, "No," to test her. "Is she going to persist? Is she going to continue asking?" It was a ploy designed to evoke even greater levels of faith on her part. Martin Luther commenting on this text, he said, "Christians need to persist in trusting God even when He seems to turn His back on them. We must learn to see the yes hidden in His no."I think that's really powerful, especially if you meditate on or you apply it to your life. We must work to see His yes and His no. If He says no, now He has a better yes for us. So we keep asking, we keep asking, we keep asking, and obviously, in all the Lord's will. Matthew 15:28, "Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly." Her faith delighted Jesus Christ. My daughter, sometimes they come to me and they test me to see how strict I am regarding grades. And they're like, "Yeah, but if I get an A-, is that okay?" "Oh, yeah, that's fine.""What if I get a B+?" "You're pushing it. You're pushing it." "What if I get a B ..." And my conversation is, "Look, I don't care about your GPA honestly. I can't tell you that I just did, but I really don't care. I don't care. I do. Do your best in your sports. Do your best. I care about your soul above all else. I care about your faith. I care that you grow in your relationship with the Lord. I care about you growing in wisdom." And Jesus is in the same way. He's delighted by this woman's faith. May your faith and may my faith delight the Lord in the same way. She took Christ at His word, and when He said, "You're dog," and then He blesses her like a child.And this is really how God speaks of salvation, that when we repent of our sins and turn to Christ, we get regenerated, we get a new heart, but we also get a new identity. We become a child of God. God adopts us into His family. God says, "You are not My children, but I'm going to make you My children," and it's all because of His Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." He rewards those who seek Him. Do you seek Him with the same posture of heart persistently, "Lord, I want more of You. Lord, I want more of Your presence. Lord, I want more of Your power."And that's why Jesus is called the Bread of Life, and we are to hunger, our souls are to hunger for Jesus as the Bread of Life. "Lord, I'm starving. I am famished for You." What do you do when you're hungry? You can't stop thinking about food. You're just salivating. You're thinking about that next meal that's coming and this is ... What is humility? It's recognizing, "Lord, apart from You, I'm starving. My soul is starving. Lord, I seek you." And the word of God says, "Whoever seeks God will be found. He will be found by them." Her faith is dramatically contrasted with the heartened unbelief of the Pharisees who were Jewish. They consider themselves children of God, but they weren't because they had no faith in Christ. And her faith even outshines the understanding of the disciples whose hearts were hardened at times. And God loves persistent pursuit of Him and He rewards this lavishly.Matthew 11:12, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force." What does that mean? He's talking about John the Baptist. John the Baptist, he sacrificed everything to proclaim that Jesus Christ is God, to proclaim that, "Jesus Christ is here. He's willing to save people." John the Baptist sacrificed everything for the kingdom of God to expand. The violent, he took it by force. It took effort. It took work on his part and the same way, if you pursue God, if you sacrifice to pursue God. And yes, this does take sacrifice like, "Rain, snow, whatever, I'm going to church." That's who you are. I commend all of you. You're here at first service. Praise be to God.I had a phone call from a pastor and he's like, "Are you guys canceling church?" I was like, "This isn't public school. We don't believe in snow days. Forget that. We're going to church." Yeah, we'll get a little wet. That's fine. We do close church if the tea's not running. That's because of the temple situation. But what I'm saying is, yes, it does take effort. You want to experience more of God? It takes effort to wake up just to study the scriptures. It takes effort to pray. It takes effort to pursue the Lord. Like the paralytic friends, remember that the house is full, they couldn't get through to Christ. They climb into the roof. They break through 18 inches of sod and branches in the roof lowering the man and the man is healed and Jesus forgives him of his sins as well.Jesus delights in persistent faith like that of this woman. Another example is Luke 18 and Luke 18, there's a woman who keeps returning to a judge, pleading her case over and over and over. And verse 4 of Luke 18 says, "For a while, he refused, but afterward, he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And this is a comparison, opposites of course, that God, He wants to give us mercy, He wants to give us justice, He wants to pour out His power in our life, but do we keep coming to him persistently, doggedly, voraciously, yet humbly like this woman does?She depended on Christ's goodness, not her own, so she finally understood grace. She understood grace. "It's not because of anything in me, Lord. I plead Your mercy. I plead Your grace. And faith is such a picture. It's not this bloodless, flaccid, distracted, half-hearted acceptance of certain propositions or theorems of theology about God. No, you realize that God is a person and that God does bless those who pursue Him. Faith is driven. It's determined. It's an unyielding grip upon God Himself and that's why hunger is such a good metaphor. Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."Matthew 5:3-6, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." And we continue the text, point three is great faith, humble bringing and begging. And verse 31, "Then He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him." Who are these people that brought this man that needed healing to Jesus? We're not told. We just know that these people heard about Christ. They heard that Christ has power to help, so they bring their friend and they beg God on behalf. They beg Christ on behalf of their friend."Lord, just Your hand, one hand touch our friend. Heal him." Verse 33, "And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue." Why does Jesus do this? I think the simplest explanation is probably the best one. He's speaking with this man, communicating with this man in the only language the man can understand. He puts His finger in his ears as though He's saying, "I'm going to do something to your hearing. I'm going to do something with your tongue, with your speech." Jesus is entering the man's world, the Great King of heaven, the Great Creator of heavens and the earth. The Sinless Lamb of God is coming down. He's identifying with this man and his condition and all of its wretchedness and all of its agony and angst. Jesus is coming right down to where the man is.Verse 34, "Looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' which is an Aramaic, "that is, 'Be opened.'" He looks up to heaven, so he's invoking God's power. He sighs. Why does Jesus sigh? And this is a sign of His deep feeling, His compassion for the sufferer. If you remember when He comes to Lazarus' tomb, He knows He's about to resurrect Lazarus, but before He does, He reveals His emotion in John 11:33, "When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, 'Where have you laid him?' And they said to Him, 'Lord, come and see,' and Jesus swept." So the Jews said, "See how He loved him."The phrase for deeply moved or greatly troubled, that phrase is a word used in another context to describe a horse snorting. One translation says, "He gave way to such distress of spirit, has made His body tremble." One commentator says, "This great sigh came out of His wounded heart." So what's happening? Jesus is moved by Lazarus' condition. He's moved by this man's condition. It offends Him, "This is not the way the world was supposed to be. The world was created and it was perfect and we were supposed to live in perfect harmony, perfect shalom, but we rebelled against God and sin entered the world and the ravages of sin, the consequences of sin are felt by each one of us." And when Jesus dies, He knows, this isn't the way it's supposed to be and everyone knows this.If you ask even an unbeliever, someone that doesn't believe in God, you ask them, "Is the world the way it ought to be? Are you the way you ought to be?" And everyone says, "No, because everyone knows deep down inside there's something wrong, something wrong with us, something wrong with the world." Where does that knowledge come from? The knowledge of a perfect reality and knowledge of a perfect world. It's written on our hearts. This is not how creation was meant to be in all of its beauty and all of its glory and now it's marred with sin. This man was made to reflect the image of God, the glory of God, and here, he's a poor wretch of a man suffering and Jesus is moved by that. He sighs and he says, "Be opened," and this is called a divine passive. He says, "Be opened by whom? By God." That's what he's saying. He's invoking the power of God. In verse 35, "His ears were opened, his tongue was released and he spoke plainly." The ears were opened. That's another divine passive. His tongue was released by whom? By God. His tongue was unshackled, so to speak. The bond of his tongue was released.Jesus is creating a new world. That's what bringing the kingdom of God into the world means, that He's recreating things from the inside out and it starts with the message of the good news and it transforms our hearts from the inside. And then everything in the world, little by little, becomes transformed. Verse 36, "And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. He has done all things well."And this echoes Genesis 1:31 where God creates, He sees everything He's made and he says, "It is good." They say, "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak," and that's an illusion to Isaiah 35, talking about the Messianic kingdom, verse 5 of Isaiah 35, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped and shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert." Of course, Jesus' miracles weren't just miracles for miracle's sake. His miracles were always a sign, a sign of a deeper reality, a sign of who Jesus is, a sign of what Jesus has come to accomplish, which is to redeem people, to redeem the world, to save souls. And this motif of the opened ear is a symbol for revelation.Same people hear the same message and someone's ears are opened and they believe and they know that this is the truest truth in the universe. This is the truth beyond any truth, underneath every single truth. And some people, they hear the same message and they walk away and they're like, "That was nice. That was a good message. What's for lunch?" The opening of the man's ear is meant to be understood as a symbol of the way in which a person is made receptive. So this is the miracle, the greater miracle. It is a great miracle that the woman's child is freed from the demon. It is a miracle that this man is healed of his deafness and his muteness, but the greater miracle is the miracle that these are pointing to and that's the miracle of the ears being opened and you hear the good news, "Oh, yes, I am a sinner. Oh yes, I have transgressed the law of God. Yes, I am guilty as charge. Yes, I accept that verdict, and yes, Jesus Christ is the only one who could save me."The problem was that Jesus wasn't clear in His teaching. You say, "Why didn't more people get saved?" The problem wasn't that His message was confused or complicated. The problem was that these people's ears were not receptive to the message. That's why Jesus often said, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." He means that there was a kind of supernatural hearing or understanding that many people are incapable of. The unbeliever certainly hears the words physically spoken, certainly maybe even understands them to an extent. They're perfectly ordinary words. We have done wrong. A great deal of wrong. We do need forgiveness and God will forgive you for all of the sins that you have ever committed only if you believe in His Son who is sent into this world to die on a cross precisely to secure forgiveness for those who trust in Him. Those who are in Christ will go to heaven when they die and only those.Nothing in those English sentences is difficult to understand, but the unbeliever does not understand them not in a way that saves them. Why? Because the unbeliever doesn't understand that they cannot come to God whenever they want. They can't come to God on their own timetable. It happens as a miracle. When you hear the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart, when you hear the Holy Spirit saying, "Repent of your sin. Come to Christ," at that moment, do not stop up your ears. At that moment, say, "Yes, Lord, I believe. Yes, Lord, I repent. Yes, Lord, save me."Therefore, it's important for us, for those who have been given ears to hear to bring people to Christ. We're not the ones that can save. Just like the friends that brought the deaf person to Jesus, they brought Him, they begged Him, but it's Jesus that does the work, not them. Verse 32, "They brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him." And that's our job as believers. We are to bring people to Christ. We are to have gospel conversations with people. Any opportunity I have to speak about the Lord, I am going to use, I'm going to take. That's our job, but I can't transform a heart. I can't give ears to hear. Only the Lord can do that.In the same way that this man's tongue was unshackled, in the same way that this man's ears were opened, that's what the Lord has done for believers. Some of you have had your ears opened. You understand the gospel, you love the gospel and you love sermons, you love church, but your tongue is still shackled when it comes to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. You've heard it, you understand it, but you can't really speak about it. And I'm telling you why, because you feel a little ashamed. There's just a shame like, "I don't want them to think I'm a believer Christian like those Christians."I pray that the Lord unshackle our ... You know how Jesus tells these people, they saw the miracle and he's like, "Don't tell anyone," and then they go and they tell the whole world? And now I'm like, "Jesus, why do You do it? Is it like reverse psychology?" It's like in the great commission, Jesus went to us and said, "Do not go and make disciples of all the nations. Do not do that. We'd be making so many more disciples." Whatever it takes, this is our job. We are to unshackle. We are to speak. We are to bring people to church. We are to bring people to community. We have to bring people to read scripture together. We are to bring people to have conversations about the Lord. We are to pray for people.If you have unbelievers in your life and they have needs, ask if you can pray for them. So easy. So easy. And pray to Lord and like, "Lord, can You please flex? Lord, reveal Yourself to these people." And in the same way that these friends, anonymous, they drag their friend to Christ, the friend gets the miracle. We are to do the same here. We're meant to see the Lord's power to heal the spiritually deaf and He can give the chief of sinners even, that was what Paul called himself, a hearing ear. He can save absolutely anybody. When Jesus pours forth His Spirit, nothing is impossible and we must never despair of others. We must never regard our own hearts as too bad to be changed.You are not too much of a sinner for Jesus. Every single one of us can receive grace, can receive the crumbs from the Lord's table. All we need to do is ask. All we need to do is what this woman did. Matthew 15:2, she comes to Jesus, gets on her knees and what does she say? "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." May that be the constant cry of our hearts, "Lord, have mercy on me." And if you pray that today, if you pray to Jesus Christ, "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me," the word of God says that you are saved, that you have received eternal life. Now, follow the Lord Jesus Christ the rest of your days.This woman asked for a crumb from the Lord's table and she received what she received. She received power of God in her life. For the power of God to be unleashed in our lives, for the crumbs to fall from the Lord's table, what did Jesus Christ have to do? The Bread of Life had to come into this world and that His body was broken. And that's what today we're celebrating in the holy communion, we are remembering the suffering of Christ. His body was broken, so that we could get the crumbs from the Lord's table to be saved. His blood was shed in order to cleanse us, to redeem us, to ransom us from our sins.With that said, I'm going to transition to holy communion. For whom is holy communion? It is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you've repented of your sin, you are welcome to partake, even if today for the first time you repented and believe in Christ. If you do not believe in Christ, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service, or if you are living in unrepentant sin, also please refrain. I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 11:23-32, and while I do that, if you would like to partake and you haven't received the elements, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring them to you.1 Corinthians 11:23, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way also, He took the cup after supper saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died, but if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world."Would you please pray with me over communion. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You, the Great God of the Universe did not leave us in our sins and trespasses and You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank You that You live that perfect life. You obeyed the Father's will perfectly from the heart at all times, every second of Your incarnate life. And Lord, You were sacrificed. You sacrificed Yourself on the cross. You gave Your life in order to save us. We thank You that on the cross, You took our sin upon Yourself. You became our sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.Lord Jesus, we thank You that You offer us mercy. You offer mercy to whoever would plead Your name, the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, have mercy on us and You extend it graciously, willingly. And I thank You, Holy Spirit, that You are with us and I pray that You help us meditate now in the suffering of Christ to remember that His body was broken and His blood was shed in order for us to be healed from the inside out and given new hearts in order for us to be cleansed from shame and guilt. Lord, bless our time in the holy communion now. We repent of any sins, known sins and unknown sins, and we come to You with complete contrition of heart, asking for mercy and grace as we remember Your sufferings in our behalf. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.If this is your first time taking communion with us, there's two lids. If you open the top one that opens the cup and then the bottom one opens the bread. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, He took the bread, and after breaking it, He said, "This is My body broken for you. Take, eat and do this in remembrance of Me." He then proceeded to take the cup and he said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant of My blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink and do this in remembrance of Me."Lord Jesus, as we meditate on Your sufferings and we think of what a great miracle that was, the Son of God, Son of Man dying on our behalf, we also thank about the great miracle of the resurrection, incredible that You rose from the dead verifying everything that You taught to be true. And Lord, we think of our own conversions, our own regeneration, our own salvation. What a miracle that is, that we were given faith, we were given ears to hear. And we pray that we don't take that for granted, Lord, and we pray that You, in the same way that You've saved us, in the same way that You made the great miracle of our salvation, I pray that You save many around us. Save them miraculously. We believe in a great God. We believe in your great power.And with our faith, Lord, we believe, help our own belief, but we pray that you pour out Your Spirit upon our city and upon this region, upon New England. Pour out Your Spirit in a way that the world has never seen, that I pray save hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands and more. And Lord, as this woman pleaded with You, we plead, Lord. We plead for our neighbors. We plead the blood for our loved ones. We plead the blood of Jesus Christ for our city. Lord, we thank You in advance for the great revival that is coming and we pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.