Awake 014 – Gifts from Above

Hello, I’m Bill Bakkeby. In the last episode I spoke to you about being empowered by the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
Actually, all the Members or persons of the God-head: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit give gifts to the church or the Body of Christ. But the supernatural empowerment for believers comes through gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit.
Today, I’ll briefly touch on the gifts of the Father and the gifts from Jesus to the Body of Christ, but our goal is to unveil the gifts of the Spirit.
Gifts from the Father:
The gifts of the Father are delineated in Romans 12:4-9. We sometimes refer to them as the motive gifts as they describe the driving forces of our lives. Every believer will have at least one and probably several of these gifts. Let’s look at scripture and then we’ll briefly discuss the gifts.
Romans 12:4-9 – 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to
what is good.

Verses 4,5, and 6a, tell us that we are components of the church or Body of Christ and we all have a part to play, but we all play different parts or functions.
In verse 6b, it mentions the gift of prophesy – note, this in not the ministry office of a prophet, nor the spiritual gift of prophesy. This is a motive to speak the truth in the context of God’s truth or the Word. It is to motive to speak the sometimes hurtful truth about a person’s situation or actions rather than telling them some nice little platitude. Jesus was demonstrating this gift when He called the Pharisees and the Sadducees vipers and serpents.
Verse 7 mentions two gifts: the gift of ministry and the gift of teaching.
-In this context ministry means the gift of serving. It is not speaking of one of the five-fold ministry gifts. It simply means to do what is necessary to get the job done. It could mean washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, or talking care of an elderly or invalid person. It means to love through service. Jesus demonstrated this gift when he washed the disciples’ feet.
-The gift of teaching, again is not speaking of one of the five-fold ministry gifts, but of the desire to convey our knowledge and skills to another person. An example would be a father teaching a son or daughter how to catch a football pass, how to repair a defective electrical switch, or how to mow a lawn.
Verse 8 mentions four gifts: exhortation, giving, leadership, and mercy.
–Exhortation is the ability to motivate a person to action, or to move a person out of an attitude of defeat, or depression. To give a person hope. This could be a person, who just has to tell people about how good Jesus is and has been to them. Similarly, to a coach’s locker room speech to a team that had a bad first half and turns the team around to win the victory.
–Giving – this is the desire to share your abundance with others. To alleviate their lack with your supply. This is the heart of Father God: John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. This is not merely giving gifts to our families and friends, but to spiritual and charitable organizations, i.e., giving to the poor.
–Leadership – this is the ability instill a vision of a better world or a better environment into a group of people and to get them to work in harmony to bring the vision to pass. Diligence is keeping on focused on the goal and striving toward it.
-Mercy is giving people what they need, not necessarily what they deserve. If I were to receive what I deserve, I’d be holding a one-way, no-return ticket to hell. Thank God, He showed me mercy. When we look at others, we need to remember God’s mercy to us and treat others the same way.
Finally, verse 9 speaks of love and says let love be real and not phony. Understand, love is an action, it is what you do, not just what you say. Feeding a hungry beggar is an act of love, bandaging an injured unbeliever is an act of love. Love is an act not a feeling. You can love someone you don’t like. Jesus died for the unlovely. Rom 5:8 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Every believer will have one or more of these motive gifts. My driving force is to teach, I love to teach others how to do things. I also have the gifts of giving and mercy. My wife is motivated by the prophetic motive – to speak the truth.
Gifts from Jesus the Son:
The gifts from Jesus are listed in Ephesians 4:7-12.
Eph 4:7-12 – 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says: “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE, AND GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” 9 (Now this, “HE ASCENDED”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

These are sometimes referred to as the five-fold ministry gifts. They are gifts to the church, the Body of Christ, but to individuals, they are not gifts, but callings. Their purpose is strengthen the church and to help it grow and defeat the kingdom of Satan. You cannot ask for or obtain these gifts by coveting them. They are callings from Jesus, He decides who receives the callings. Consider Saul, the persecutor of the church, who was struck down and called by Jesus. Acts 9:1-6 – 1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the
synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said,
“Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
As this passage shows, Jesus decides who gets called and who doesn’t get called into ministry. And as an aside going back to the gifts of the Father and the gift of love – Saul, later known as Paul the apostle, was thoroughly unlovable at the time of his calling.
In a future episode we’ll discuss the five-fold ministry gifts in some detail. For now, let’s move on to the supernatural, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
How important are the gifts of the spirit? The apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit devote three chapters of the book of 1st Corinthians to the gifts of the Spirit. Chapters 12, 13, and 14. Chapter 12 delineates the gifts, chapter 13 (which most people mistakenly call the “love chapter,” sets forth the motives for operating in the gifts, concluding that love is the best motive, and chapter 14 explains the operation of spiritual gifts
in a congregational setting. If the Holy Spirit devotes three chapters of the New Testament to a subject, rest assured that the subject, in this case spiritual gifts, is important. In fact let’s start by looking at I Cor 12:1 – Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t want us ignorant, then that means that He wants us to be informed. Yet chapters 12 and 14 are some of the least preached and least understood chapters of the New Testament. Chapter 13 is preached often,
but it is usually preached out of context; i.e., it is usually preached as an exposition of love (which it is) rather than as an exhortation for operating in the spiritual gifts.
Let’s look at 1st Corinthians 12 and allow the Holy Spirit to educate us.
1 Cor 12:2,3 – 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
As we’ve discussed previously, Gentiles is a euphemism for unbelievers or heathen. The Holy Spirit says in verse two that we worshiped all sorts of stupid things before we came to Christ: things like prominent persons, movie stars, sports heroes, fancy automobiles, palatial houses, luxurious clothing, money – dumb idols.
Then in verse three, He says that no one can state that Jesus is Lord (that is the master of his or her life) except by the influence and leading of the Holy Spirit.
Verses four to six refer to the three different sets of gifts as we started with in the beginning of this session:
1 Cor 12:4-6 – 4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. Verse four is speaking of the gifts of the Spirit and says that are different kinds of gifts, but they all come from the same Holy Spirit. Verse five states that there are different ministry callings, but they all come from Jesus. Finally, verse six says there are different motives for Christian activities, but the motives all come from God the Father.
After this preamble, the Holy Spirit brings us to a discussion of the gifts themselves.
1 Cor 12:7-11 – 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these
things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
Verse seven says the manifestation or the operation of the gifts is given to each Spirit-filled believer (that is tongue-talking Holy Spirit baptized believer as discussed in the previous episode) for the benefit of whatever congregation is assembled there. Then verses eight through ten list nine gifts of the Spirit. These gifts are divided three groups: revelation gifts, utterance gifts, and power gifts. The revelation gifts include the “word of knowledge,” the “word of wisdom,” and the “discerning of spirits.” The utterance gifts include the “gift of prophesy”, the “gift of tongues”, and the “gift of the interpretation of tongues”. Finally,
the power gifts include: the “gifts of healings”, the “working of miracles”, and the “gift of faith”. We will discuss these gifts individually.
First understand that all these gifts are not skills or abilities that are prevalent among unbelievers such as the healing arts such as those of doctors, nurses, and health care workers. The revelation gifts are not speaking of highly-trained or educated persons, but of receiving supernatural insight from God. And the utterance gifts are not talking about persons who have linguistic ability, but of supernatural utterances. Also, these gifts frequently operate in conjunction with and in cooperation with other spiritual gifts.
Let’s start with the utterance gifts beginning with the gift of prophesy. The simple gift of prophesy means to speak for God. It is the gift of forth-telling not of foretelling. It is simply telling a group or an individual what God wants to say to them. It can be as simple as the statement, “I love you with an everlasting love.” Consider the impact that those simple words could have on a defeated, discouraged person who may feel suicidal.
The gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues work together as a pair. This is not referring to the ability to speak or understand foreign languages. The Bible calls them “unknown tongues”. They are supernatural. In I Cor 14:1, the Bible says no man understands them but that they communicate with God. In 1 Cor 14:4 & 5, the Bible implies that tongues and interpretation together are equivalent to the gift of prophesy.
The gift of the word of knowledge is supernatural knowledge of something that happened in the past or present that the person exercising the gift could not naturally know. For example, you might speak to a person you just met and bring up the subjection of the death of a child that you had no way of knowing about. Or you might mention God’s ability to heal a disease that you were unaware of that is afflicting that person. This is knowledge that is revealed by the Holy Spirit. Several times the Holy Spirit has guided me
to avoid traffic jams on the highways.

The word of wisdom is supernatural knowledge of a future event or of the mind (i.e., of the purposes or intent) of God in a particular situation. A dream that reveals the future is a word of wisdom. Words of knowledge and words of wisdom are often spoken though the gift of prophesy or through the gifts of tongues and interpretation.
The gift of discerning of spirits is seeing into the spirit realm. It is not the discernment of spirits or a person’s motive, as some say. It is seeing angels, seeing Jesus, or seeing demons. At the lowest level it may indicate the spirit that is motivating another person. But what many call the gift of discernment is simply a spirit of suspicion operating in you. I, myself, have never seen into the spirit realm (which by the way is very real – more real than the physical realm). However, I have known people who have seen angels standing beside me as I preach; one man frequently saw Jesus, high and lifted up sitting on a throne, with His train filling the temple as Isaiah saw Him in Isaiah chapter 6.
Looking at the power gifts, lets start with the working of miracles. A miracle is something that contravenes the laws of nature as we know them. It most definitely not the things that we in our culture call miracles: miracle drugs, miracle fabrics, or the miracle of flight in an airplane. These are all applications of the knowledge of chemistry and the laws of physics. But, Jesus turning water into wine, was a miracle beyond the laws of chemistry, it was supernatural. Moses, turning the Nile River to blood was supernatural, a miracle. Joshua causing the sun and moon to stand still was a miracle. A 20th century missionary in Indonesia, Mel Torrey, witnessed the miracle of water becoming wine and he also
experienced the miracle of walking on water.
Next are the gifts of healings. This is plural because some who are used in these gifts seem to specialize in certain diseases. For example, the evangelist (deacon) Phillip in Acts 8 seemed to specialize in the healing of the lame and paralytics. I have laid hands and prayed for many different kinds of illnesses and diseases. Some get healed and some don’t, but I keep on praying for the afflicted.
The last gift is the gift of faith. This is not saving faith, the faith that brings salvation to the unbeliever. All believers have saving faith. This is faith that brings forth miracles. For example, once when I was a relatively new believer, it started to rain at a church picnic. I was expecting the pastor to rebuke the rain, but he did not. So I raised my hand to heaven, and said, “I command the rain to cease in Jesus’ Name.” And with a plip and a plop, the rain ceased and we enjoyed the picnic.
The raising of the dead involves all three of the power gifts. The gifts of healings to cure the sickness or disease that caused the death, the working of miracles to reverse the ravages that the affliction had done to the body, and finally the gift of supernatural faith to call the human spirit back into the body.
Finally, verse 11 says that these gifts are under the control of the Holy Spirit Who distributes them to believers as He wills or desires. This means that you are a candidate to be used by the Holy Spirit in any or all of these gifts at any time. Note that the gifts don’t belong to you, it is as the Holy Spirit wills; but, on
the other hand, the Holy Spirit is very willing to manifest the gift. Ordinally, the Holy Spirit is not going to manifest His gifts in an atmosphere where He is not welcome. In other words, He is not normally going to prompt a believer to speak out in tongues in a congregation that doesn’t believe that the gifts are for today.
Verses 12 through 27 of 1st Corinthians is a dissertation about the importance of each believer to the Body of Christ, the church. It states that even though we have not have dramatically visible roles, we are all important the healthy functioning of the church. Lips and eye can be very attractive, even beautiful, on the other hand I am pretty certain that stomachs (the interior organ) are not beautiful, but how could you live without your stomach?
1 Cor 12:28-31 – 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
These verses speak about the distribution of the gifts, both the ministry gifts and the spiritual gifts. It states the obvious, that is that every person does not have every gift. A word of caution, however. There are those who will point to verse 30 and say, “See, it says everyone does not speak with tongues. Therefore, speaking in tongues is not for today’s church.” Wrong, what that doesn’t reveal is that there are two different types of manifestations of tongues. This is revealed in 1st Corinthians 14 which we’ll
discuss in the future. 1 Cor 12:30 is speaking of the public gift of speaking in tongues in a church assembly. Only a few will be used this way in any particular assembly meeting.
However, again in chapter 14, there is a private gift of tongues, we call it a prayer language, that God wants every spirit-filled believer to be able to manifest. It is a code language for communicating with God.
1 Cor 14:2 – For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. Here’s what the Apostle Paul said about it in 1 Cor 14:18
– I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; Paul said that he prayed in tongues more than a whole church congregation did. Personally, I believe that this praying in tongues was the power behind Paul’s successful ministry.
Lets close by looking at two verses 1 Cor 12:31 and 14:1 – 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way 1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Notice that both these verses tell us to pursue or go after the best of the spiritual gifts.
Listen to this teaching again, study the scripture verses, then pursue the spiritual gifts so that you can bring the supernatural help of God into the lives of those around you. Be a blessing – show others supernatural aspects of the love of God.
– wmb –

Awake 013 – The Holy Spirit

Attention:
Welcome to Awake. I’m Bill Bakkeby, in the last episode, I talked to you about being empowered by God to do His works in the earth. Today, my desire and goal is to introduce you to the source of that empowerment. The Holy Spirit.
Text: Gen 1:1-3 – 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Introduction:
We met the Trinity back in Awake-001. We found God, the Father, in verse 1, the Holy Spirit in verse 2, and God’s Son, the Word, in verse 3. We learned that God the Father is the Chairman of the Board (so to speak) who establishes policy, the Word is the Chief Executive Officer who gives the directions, and the Holy Spirit is the Chief Operating Officer, i.e., the One Who gets the will of the Father done.
The Holy Spirit is the power or force behind the miracles, signs, and wonders of God.
I. THE HOLY SPIRIT
A. Review

  1. Let’s start with a review of some scriptures from the last episode, “Empowered.” The book of Luke ends with an admonition from Jesus to His disciples:
  2. Luke 24:49 – Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
    a. That admonition is continued in the book of Acts:
    b. Acts 1:5,8 – 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
  3. Jesus told the disciples to wait a few days (actually it turned out to be ten days) until the day of Pentecost. (God does significant things on Jewish feast days. Jesus was crucified (the Lamb slain) on the Feast of Passover, He was raised from the grave on the Feast of First Fruits (He was the First-Born from spiritual death); and Holy Spirit was given on the Feast of Pentecost.
    a. Something is very significant here; Paul says in I Cor 15:6 – that more than 500 persons saw Jesus ascend from the Mount of Olives, but only about 120 disciples were present in the upper room (Acts 1:15) on the day of Pentecost. What’s the significance? Less than a quarter of those who saw Jesus ascend into heaven were hungry enough to wait (to tarry) for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, ten days after the Ascension.
    (1) What’s the significance? Spiritual hunger, a desire for more of God is one of the
    requirements for receiving power from on high, for receiving the Holy Spirit with power.
    B. The Day of Pentecost
  4. Acts 2:1-4 – 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
    a. The next few verses (5-11) tell us that there were men and women of 15 different ethnicities in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost who heard the disciples praising God and declaring His works in their native languages.
    b. Even more amazing than this is the change that happened to the disciple Simon Peter. Let’s look at what Peter said to some of the disciples before the Day of Ascension:
    (1) John 21:2-3 – 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
    (2) Actually, the Greek language implies that Peter said, “I’m giving up this ministry stuff, and going back to my career as a professional fisherman.” Peter was saying – “I’m done with the things of Jesus and His ministry.”
    c. Something else happened to Peter, at Pentecost he was transformed from a so-so believer into a powerful apostle who preached the first sermon preached by a Christian and who got 3,000 people saved and baptized (Acts 2:41).
    (1) Later on, Peter and John ministered healing to a cripple at the Beautiful Gate to the temple (Acts 3:1-9). Then in Acts 9:36-42, Peter raised a woman, Tabitha, from the dead.
    d. What happened to Peter? The Holy Spirit happened to him and empowered Him.
    e. Peter in his powerful sermon quoted the prophet Joel:
    (1) Joel 2:28-32 – 28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 32 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in
    Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.
  5. This outpouring of power wasn’t just for Peter and the rest of the eleven apostles. It was and is for all flesh. Later on in the book of Acts, we find:
    a. Stephen, a deacon, preaching a powerful sermon to the religious leaders in Jerusalem and having a spiritual vision of God, the Father, and Jesus standing to welcome him into heaven (Acts 7).
    b. Then we find another deacon, Philip, going to Samaria, preaching, casting out demons, and healing people. Then he has a supernatural encounter with a high Ethiopian governmental official (getting him saved) and then being supernaturally transported several miles away by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8).
    c. Finally, we find an enemy of the church, Saul (later to become the Apostle Paul) having a supernatural encounter with Jesus, being saved, healed (of blindness), empowered by the Holy Spirit to preach, teach, heal, raise from the dead, visit heaven and write 13 or (14 if you count Hebrews) books of the New Testament. (Actually, most of the book of Acts, chapter 9 and chapters 13 to 28, is about Paul and his ministry).
  6. What happened to all these people? The Holy Spirit came upon them, anointing them with supernatural power. Would you like that power? Would you like to be used of God
    supernaturally? It’s available! All you have to do is ask . . . and yield to the Holy Spirit.
    C. Why You Need the Fulness of the Holy Spirit
  7. The evening before He was crucified, Jesus shared the Passover meal with His disciples and during that time period, He gave His valedictory address (many refer to it as the Olivet discourse) and shared many new concepts with His disciples. One of the most important things He shared with them was the role the Holy Spirit would play in their lives:
    a. John 14:16,17 – 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
    (1) He said He would pray and the Father would send the Holy Spirit Who would stay with them throughout their lifetimes, not just three and a half years as Jesus did. He called Him the Helper. The Greek word is paraclete which means one who comes along to bear the burden of the task with you. Let me illustrate, suppose you want to move a sofa from the first floor of a house to the second floor by taking the sofa up a stairwell. This would be very difficult to do alone, but it you had a very strong helper on the other end of the sofa, it would be relatively easy. This is the job of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual realm.
    (2) Many people are not even aware that there is a spiritual realm, but there is one. Jesus called Satan the ruler of the spiritual realm on earth.
    (3) John 14:30 – I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he – The Holy Spirit has nothing in Me.
    (a) Jesus said Satan is the ruler of the world – cosmos in the Greek. Cosmos means the world systems: political, moral, financial, educational, legal, etc.
    (b) Satan is bigger, stronger, smarter, faster than you and I are as mortal human beings. But Satan is much less powerful than God, the Father, God, the Son (Jesus), or God, the Holy Spirit. Jesus offers us the Holy Spirit to contend along us against Satan and the world systems.
    b. Jesus tells us more about what the Holy Spirit will do for us:
    (1) John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
    (a) The Holy Spirit not only helps to recall scripture in time of need, but He gives us revelation knowledge of what the scripture actually says and means.
    (2) John 16:7 – Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
    (3) John 16:13-15 – 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
    c. Let give you another illustration. To attempt to live the Christian life without the fulness of the Holy Spirit is like going into a fierce battle as a soldier with a rifle but without any bullets or ammunition for the gun. You may be able to fight but you would be greatly handicapped.
    (1) God doesn’t want you in a “fair fight”, He wants you to have an overwhelming advantage. God wants you to be able to “kick the snot” out of the Devil.
    D. Receiving the Holy Spirit with Power
  8. Hopefully, I have you anticipating the power of the Holy Spirit with great eagerness and spiritual hunger. There are three requirements for receiving the empowerment of the Holy Spirit:
    a. John 14:16,17 – 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
    b. You must be born again. Jesus said the “world”, i.e., those who are not born again cannot receive the Holy Spirit, I know that there is a Bible example of persons being born again and filled with Holy Spirit all at one time, but the usual scripture experience is two encounters with the Holy Spirit. Even in the case of Jesus, Himself – His mother Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit and He was filled with the Holy when He was baptized by John Baptist. Two separate events 30 years apart.
    c. John 7:37-39 – 37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
    d. The second requirement is that you must be “thirsty” or “hungry” for more of God. Remember that there were more than 500 persons who witnessed Jesus’ ascension into heaven from the Mt. of Olives but there were only 120 persons in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost. Why? Only 120 were hungry enough to follow Jesus’ instructions and “tarry” or wait for the spiritual outpouring. You, too, must have this spiritual hunger or thirst. The good news is that you don’t have to tarry. The Holy Spirit has already been “poured out” and is immediately accessible to those who are born again, thirsty, and meet the third requirement.
    e. Luke 11:9-13 – 9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
    (1) In this passage, Jesus says that he (or she) who asks will receive, and that if you ask for the Holy Spirit that is exactly what God, the Father, will give you.
    f. To recap, the requirements are to:
    (1) Be born again
    (2) Be thirsty or hungry for more of God.
    (3) Ask
  9. Let’s discuss the process:
    a. Understand, right now, that receiving the power of the Holy Spirits comes with and is manifested by speaking with tongues. You might ask, “But isn’t speaking in tongues controversial?” Absolutely, the Devil has made it controversial, because he, the devil, doesn’t want you to have spiritual power.
    b. One person asked a well-known preacher, “But can’t I receive the Holy Spirit without the tongues?” The preacher replied, “That would be like an elephant without a trunk.” You see the elephant needs his trunk to get the food past his tusks and into his mouth. Without a trunk, the elephant would starve without physical nourishment. Similarly, a Christian without tongues is starving spiritually. There are five instances in the book of Acts of people receiving the Holy Spirit. In three instances, the Bible clearly states that they spoke with other tongues. In the other two cases, there is a very strong implication that the spoke with other tongues.
    c. Before we ask for the gift, let’s review one more thing:
    (1) Acts 2:4 – And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
    (2) That scripture verse is composed of two independent clauses:
    (a) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues,
    (b) as the Spirit gave them utterance.
    d. Let’s focus on the first clause:
    (1) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues,
    (a) Who spoke?
    (b) They, the people, spoke
    (c) The Holy Spirit did not do the speaking, He simply filled them
    (d) They spoke, they pushed their breath through their vocal cords, they moved their tongues and their lips – simply – they spoke.
    (e) If you wait for the Holy Spirit to do the speaking, it’s possible that you’ll still be waiting when it comes time for the Lord to take you home.
    (f) The Holy Spirit’s job is to give you the “utterance” or the words to speak. He will speak the words to your spirit.
    (g) Your part is to listen to your spirit, your spirit resides in your belly area, and speak out what you hear down there.
    (2) A word of caution, it won’t sound like English, or Spanish, or any other normally spoken language except in very unusual circumstances. Here’s what God says about speaking in tongues:
    (a) 1 Cor 14:2 – For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
    (b) God says tongues are not to communicate with men, but with Him, God. It’s a spiritual code language from your spirit to God. God understands and communicates with your spirit. The good news is that Satan can’t understand it or interfere with your communication with God.
    e. Are you ready? Here we go; pray this with me:
    Father, God, I come before you in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I believe He’s Your Son, and that He died for my sins. I believe You raised Him from the dead and that He sits at Your right side in Heaven. I receive Jesus as my Savior and as my Holy Spirit baptizer. Jesus, I ask You now to extend Your hand and to fill me to overflowing with the gift of the Holy Spirit and tongues. I receive this wonderful gift by faith and I thank You for it. Again, I pray this in the mighty Name of Jesus.

    f. Now open your mouth and tell God and Jesus that you love Them. Don’t speak in English or any language you know, just speak the words of the Spirit from your heart by faith.
  10. Heb 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
  11. A famous preacher with a supernatural ministry, Smith Wigglesword, said, “Faith is an act.”
    a. In receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, the act of faith is opening your mouth and speaking in tongues.
    b. I like to say it this way, “If you will speak in tongues before you’re able to speak in tongues, then you will be able to speak in tongues.”
  12. In the next episode, we’ll talk about how tongues is the gateway to supernatural power in your Christian life.
    a. In the meantime, use your new language of “unknown tongues” often.
    E. Benediction:
  13. I want to close with my favorite benediction:
  14. Acts 20:32 – “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
    – wmb –

Awake 012 – Empowered

Attention:
Welcome to Awake, I’m Bill Bakkeby and today I want to talk you about our life missions. I say “our” because I’m speaking about both my life mission and your life mission.
Text: Eph 2:8-10 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Introduction:
This text from Ephesians says that God saved us, that is redeemed us from an eternity in hell, to give us a future in heaven and that He did it, not because we deserved it or earned it, but rather He did it out of love.
I. Empowered
A. God’s Love

  1. John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
    a. We were saved by the love of God, Who sacrificed His Son on a cross to redeem us, and we all have a purpose in life
    b. Eph 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
    (1) Just as we are all individuals and individually different, our works are all different, assigned by God to fit our individual personalities, strengths, and life experiences. However, we all have the same general assignment; that is, there is one assignment that applies to all of us as believers.
    B. Make Disciples
  2. After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus appeared to the disciples several times and
    somewhere between the 40th day after the resurrection and the 50th day, Jesus spoke to the assembled disciples from the Mount of Olives. There are several scripture passages that address this event.
  3. Luke 24:49 – Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
  4. Act 1:8 – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
  5. Matt 28:18-20 – 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
    a. In these passages, Jesus was speaking, from the Mount of Olives, to the eleven apostles, along with about 500 other disciples (Paul said that Jesus was seen of over 500 persons at that time).
    b. Jesus’ commandment to them was to go and make disciples of all nations (that includes you and I – both as having become disciples and then turning around and making disciples).
    c. But note the cautionary admonishment, don’t go until you receive power from on high which will come from the Holy Spirit.
    (1) Also note what Jesus said in Matt 28:18-19 – all authority in heaven & earth has been given to Jesus – He truly is Lord or master – and He said, “Go therefore . . . ,” lawyers have confirmed to me that this wording comprises a delegation of His authority – a power of attorney to exercise Jesus’ authority – as we labor to accomplish this commission. This passage is known as the Great Commission. Jesus has commissioned us to go in His authority.
  6. Let’s look at one more passage from Jesus’ final exhortation from the Mount of Olives:
    a. Mark 16:15-16 – 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
    (1) This is known as the Great Commandment – Jesus commands us to go and preach to every creature. Everything has been created; rocks, trees, buildings, animals, and of course people. Personally I believe the word creature is used is so we wouldn’t attempt to determine which people are worthy to hear. Jesus said to preach to them all.
    (2) This commandment was given to the 500+ at the Mount of Olives and to all subsequent converts or disciples including you and me.
    (3) But Jesus didn’t stop at this, His exhortation goes on:
    (a) Mark 16:17-18 – 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
    (b) Notice what this says, it says that supernatural signs will follow them that believe. Now the majority of churches and preachers will tell you that this applied only to the original 11 disciples. No, it applied to all the 500+ who were listening to Jesus. And, if verses 15 & 16 apply to current day believers then, logically, verses 17 & 18 also apply to us. I believe these that verse 17 should be interpreted this way And these signs will follow those who believe that these signs will follow them. . .
    (c) Look at Mark 16:20 – And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
    (d) When they preached, the Lord confirmed the Word preached by working healings,
    deliverances, and miracles.
    b. Let me tell you a story from my early days as a believer. I had become saved and filled with the Holy Spirit (the subject of the next episode) and was regularly reading the Bible.
    (1) I was a US Army officer and one of my subordinates, named Jim, and I were participating in a war game exercise. We were sleeping in the back of a large truck on army cots. I had purposely left some Christian literature scattered around the truck. As we getting ready to sleep Jim commented on the literature and I told him I had become a believer. A few minutes after we laid on our cots, Jim exclaimed, “Ohhh! I just got a headache – I get these terrible migraine headaches and they last for days. The pain is excruciating. I have medicine for it, but the medicine gives me a hangover. I don’t know which is worse, the medicine or the hangover.”
    (2) I thought for a moment and said, “Jim, I’ve read in the Bible that I can lay hands on you and pray for you and you’ll be healed. I’ve never seen it done, but I have read it in the Bible.”
    (3) Jim thought for a moment and responded, “What have I got to lose, let’s try it.”
    (4) I laid hands on Jim’s forehead and prayed, “Be healed in Jesus’ Name.” We laid back down and in about two minutes Jim exclaimed, “It’s gone, it’s totally and absolutely gone.” We called it, “The Miracle of Exercise Braveshield.” Jim would give others his testimony, and I would share the Gospel will them. Jim and I were a team.
    (a) These signs will follow them that believe that these signs will follow them. If you don’t believe it, the signs won’t follow.
    C. Empowered to Work
  7. We have just seen that Jesus gave the Great Command – “go ye” – and the Great Commission –delegated power and authority to the apostles, the 500, and ultimately to us. Let me give you some scriptures that confirm this:
    a. These verses are from Jesus’ high priestly prayer at “The Last Supper,” the Passover meal He ate with the disciples before being crucified.
    (1) John 17:18 – As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
    (a) Jesus said He was sending out the disciples as the Father had sent Him out. So the
    question is, how did the Father send Jesus out? As I’ll give scripture to support this, the
    Father sent Jesus out as a human man (albeit a sinless one because of the virgin birth)
    filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
    i) Philip 2:6,7 – 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (ESV)
    a) In verse 7 the phrase “made himself nothing” in the Greek says that Jesus emptied
    Himself of all His god-like attributes and prerogatives because He didn’t cling to those
    attributes (verse 6). Why? because He came a man like us, albeit a sinless man. He
    came this way to demonstrate what a empowered man (or woman) could do.
    ii) Luke 3:21,22 – 21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
    (b) Just as Jesus commanded the disciples (and us) to wait for the Holy Spirit Who would empower them (and us):
    i) Acts 1:8 – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
    ii) So Jesus Himself waited the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. He did not enter into
    ministry until after He was baptized by John and empowered by the Holy Spirit. If you
    carefully read the gospels, you will find that Jesus did nothing supernatural until after He had received the Holy Spirit.
    iii) Let’s look at what Jesus said after receiving the Holy Spirit
    a) Luke 4:18,19 – 18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS
    ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO
    HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES AND
    RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE
    OPPRESSED; 19 TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”
    b) God, the Father, willed it this way to demonstrate through His Son, Jesus, how a human being empowered by the Holy Spirit should live and what that spirit-filled man (or woman) could do.
    c) Again the supernatural followed Jesus’ receiving the Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself
    publicly announcing that signs would follow His ministry.
    (c) John 17:20 – “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
    i) In this portion of His high-priestly prayer, Jesus says that this applies to all believers down through time; i.e., we also are sent as the disciples (the 11 apostles) were sent – to be empowered and to go.
    b. What is it that we are empowered to do?
    (1) Matt 10:1,7-8 – 1 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
    (2) Luke 9:2 – He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
    (3) Luke 10:9 – And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
    (4) Luke 10:19 – Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
  8. Jesus called His disciples (that includes us) to do the same works He did: preach (that simply means to proclaim or tell – not necessarily to stand in a pulpit – it could be one-on-one); to heal, to cast out devils, and to raise the dead.
    a. Luke 4:18,19 also apply to us, after we receive power from the Holy Spirit.
    b. These works are not in our power – that idea is very intimidating. But in and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
    c. Our job is simply to tell and if someone is sick, to lay hands on them and pray. The results are the responsibility of the Holy Spirit.
    d. But, if no one lays hands on the sick, then no one gets healed through the laying on of hands.
    e. You and I are to go, tell, and lay hands on the sick and leave the results to God.
  9. Many believers are afraid to do these things because they feel they’ll lose respect if the person they pray for is not healed.

    a. Once you mention the Name of Jesus, you’ve already lost respect. In the eyes of the world, the lost, you’re a weirdo – a religious kook. So what more have you got to lose.
    b. It’s not your reputation that’s at stake. It’s God Who promised that signs and wonders would follow – it’s His reputation at stake.
  10. Next episode, we will talk about receiving power from and of the Holy Spirit.
    D. Benediction
  11. Acts 20:32 – “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
    – wmb –

Awake 011- The Church

Attention:
This is Bill Bakkeby, welcome to Awake, today I want to talk about something near and dear to God’s heart – the church.
Text: Matt 16:18 – And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Introduction:
Jesus called Peter a rock, a boulder, but He said that He would build His church on a mass of rock (think Rock of Gibralter – think Mt. Everest). Jesus used two different Greek words. Actually, He said He would build His church on the same type of rock mentioned in:
Matt 7:24-25 – 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
This passage is significant for another reason, it talks about a man, Jesus Christ, building His house – the church – on a rock like unto the Rock of Gibralter or Mt. Everest. And it identifies the rock as the Word of God, implying that the Word is as solid (actually more solid) and unshakeable as Mt. Everest.
I. THE CHURCH
A. Defining the Church

  1. The Greek word translated as ‘church’ in the original New Testament is: ekkle¯sia
    (ek-klay-see’-ah) – a calling out, that is, (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both): – assembly, church.
    a. Although the Greek word was used to describe members of a synagogue, the word church does not appear in the Old Testament. Church strictly applies to New Testament Christians.
  2. Act 16:31 – So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
    a. The Greek word used for ‘house’ in Matt 7:24,25 is the same Greek word used for ‘household’ in Acts 16:31. Therefore, I conclude that when Jesus said He would build His Church or House on the Rock, He was actually saying that He would build His family on the Rock and that is actually on the Rock of revelation knowledge of the Word of God.
  3. John 1:12 – But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
  4. The moment you were born again you became a member of the family of God, an adopted brother or sister of Jesus Christ. By the way, the word adopted doesn’t make you a second-class citizen; it makes you a first-class citizen – no more riding in the back of the airplane (cabin-class –so to speak).
  5. So, the church is the family of God, both here on earth and also in heaven.
  6. Eph 1:22-23 – 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
    a. The Bible also clearly defines the Church as the body of Christ, or the body of the Anointed One, Jesus of Nazareth. In other words, the Church (composed of individual members) compromises the hands, the arms, the legs, the eyes, the feet, the mouth, and the heart of Jesus of Nazareth here on the earth.
    B. The Role of the Church
  7. Eph 2:8-10 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
    a. Surprise, God doesn’t need us in heaven, at least not yet; where He needs us is here on earth.
    b. Matt 9:37-38 – 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
    (1) As we’ve discussed previously, God wants a family, a huge family, how big, only God knows –He has an infinity capacity for love.
    (2) Jesus can’t do the job, He’s in heaven and the harvest is on earth. He’s delegated the job to us.
    (a) The work of Jesus, the work of the Kingdom of God (which is another name for the church) can’t be done by an individual alone. Just as a great quarterback cannot defeat an opposing team by himself or a great basketball player cannot by himself defeat an opposing team – they need a team to help. The church must organize into teams.
    (b) Jesus started by assembling a team, the twelve apostles.
    (c) Paul started with a partner, Barnabas, and ended up with a team.
    (d) God wants you on a team.
    c. What we’ve learned is that God wants us (the church) to work in His harvest; we’re to do good works, and God wants us on a team.
    (1) The good works that we’re to do are the works of Jesus.
    (2) John 14:12 – “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
    (3) What are the works of Jesus? There were basically six types of activities that Jesus did:
    (a) He prayed – this was the basis of His inspiration, wisdom, knowledge, and power.
    (b) He preached – He proclaimed the Gospel – simply, He had come to set the captives free from the bondage of Satan and sin.
    (c) He taught – He instructed people how to live successfully and abundantly in God’s economy
    (d) He delivered – He set people free from the influence of demonic spirits. Yes, there is such a reality as demons. Jesus believed demons exist; so it must be so.
    (e) He healed – He cured people of their diseases and injuries.
    (f) Finally, He worked miracles – when the obstacles wouldn’t move any other way, He did a miracle. What we call modern miracles are not actual miracles, but are marvels of science and invention. An actual miracle is a contravention of what we know as the laws of science. Multiplying bread and fish was a miracle. Turning water to wine and walking on the water were miracles. Raising the dead is a combination of healing, working of miracles, and supernatural faith.
    d. So what is the church and its members supposed to do? Simply – pray, preach, teach, cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, and when necessary perform miracles.
    C. Get Involved
  8. God did not call Christians to be loners; He called them to be part of the church and to get to work doing the works of Jesus.
  9. 1 Cor 12:12-18 – 12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
  10. This is a long passage, but it’s basic message is that you, yes, you – the listener – were recreated to fill a particular role in the church, the family of God, the body of Christ.
    (1) What role? That’s for you to find out. As I often say, if you’ve ever driven a vehicle without power steering it’s hard to turn the steering wheel when the vehicle is parked, but much easier when it’s moving. What’s the point? get moving so God can guide you.
  11. Join a local church, all local churches have member needs to fill: preachers, shepherds, teachers, helpers, worshipers, and prayers.
  12. The work of the local church is to evangelize (get people born again), feed them spiritually, equip them to do the work of the ministry, and finally to send them out into the mission field.
    a. Someplace in that list, is a position and a mission, a life-purpose for you.
    b. Quote by Henry David Thoreau: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” – the poet was saying that most people live lives that end without any eternal significance. That’s not what God created you for; you will find your eternal significance only by being born again and by becoming a productive member of the church of God.
  13. Your life, also, can make an eternal difference. The only way you can do that is through Jesus Christ, and His body the church.
    a. John 15:5 – “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
    (1) We all know that there are things that you can do, perhaps even great things in the eyes of men. But Jesus is talking about things in the eyes of God – things of eternal significance.
    (2) Jesus says that you can’t do anything of eternal significance without Him.
    (3) How do you do that?
  14. I’m going to talk about myself for a while. At age thirteen, I was attending a Lutheran church under protest – I was compelled to do so by my father who didn’t attend church himself, he just wanted his associates to know that he was raiding his kids right.
    a. One Sunday, I looked up at the pulpit and saw a vision of myself preaching. I told God that He had made a mistake, in the Lutheran church sometimes a portion of the liturgy is chanted and I knew I couldn’t do that – I was known as an extremely poor singer.
    b. I ran from God for 25 years, but He chased me down and brought me into a situation where I had to cry out for His help. I was instantly saved and filled with His Spirit.
    c. I had a great desire to learn more and grow in the things of God. In the process, I was sent to Iran as a military advisor. While in Iran, I was given an opportunity to learn evangelism or soulwinning as many call it.
    d. I started out as a student and ended up as the instructor before the class was finished.
    (1) I learned soul-winning skills that have served me well for over 40-years. My primary ministry is teaching, but soul-winning is always present along side of it. I have led hundreds to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and I don’t think that a year has passed that I haven’t helped someone find salvation in Jesus Christ.
    (2) Eventually, I did answer the call to the pastorate that I had received in the Lutheran church, not as a Lutheran, but as a Pentecostal. I went to Bible college to be trained, pioneered a church, and pastored for 35 years.
    (3) My greatest satisfaction from pastoring is that I can count at least 20 persons who have gone into full-time ministry after sitting under my ministry. I recently, learned that both the sons of one of my earliest sheep (one of my parishioners) are now both pastoring churches.
    (4) These people who are in ministry and those whom I have helped lead to the Lord are my eternal legacy.
    (5) Although, I have often been frustrated, disappointed, and discouraged; I have not led a live of quiet desperation.
    (6) My life has made and will continue to make an eternal difference.
  15. Become a member of a local church and get involved; do something for God, the Father, by working the works of Jesus.
    D. What Kind of Church?
  16. A Bible believing church – a church that believes the Bible is true and not just a collection of myths and stories, but a true record of God’s past and present dealing with man-kind.
  17. A soul-winning church – a church where non-believers become converted to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
  18. A missionary-minded church – a church that supports and sends missionaries to foreign countries and unreached people groups (this could include native-American reservations)
  19. A church that puts people (the saints) to work in the ministry and trains the people for their positions. It takes a trained and efficient team to meet the spiritual and physical needs of a community; especially the needs of the lost.
  20. Hopefully, a supernatural church – a church that believes that healing and miracles have not passed away (they haven’t), believes for and experiences them regularly
  21. When you find a church, join it and support it financially; it takes finances to build God’s Kingdom on earth. I know that I’m hitting you in a sore sport – your pocketbook – but let’s look at what God says about it:
    a. Mal 3:8-12 – 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts;
    b. You need to realize that God is your ultimate source, everything you have is a gift from Him – Show some gratitude by supporting His family in the earth.
    c. He is well able to compensate for anything you give up.
  22. Get involved in the church (including financially) and make an eternal difference!
    a. Why did Jesus come?
    b. 1 John 3:8 – He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
    (1) Why did Jesus come?
    (2) He came to destroy (or to loose people from) the works of the devil.
    (3) The devil is hard at work today. He is the motivation for abortion, homosexuality, and transgenderism – all things which impede the growth of God’s family. Speaking of
    transgenderism – only a deluded person, i.e., a demonically influenced person would counsel a person to destroy all hope of ever parenting children of their own. Obviously, the devil is active and thriving in his destructive works.
    (4) Now, Jesus is in heaven and the devil is on earth. Therefore, Jesus is depending on His body the church to continue the work of loosing people from the works of the devil.
    (5) That’s my job and your job. God has called us for this purpose also, to complete Jesus’ work.
    c. Find a church, get involved, create a legacy, and make an eternal difference.
    – wmb –

Awake 010 – The Word

Attention:
This is Bill Bakkeby and I welcome you to another episode of Awake. Today I want to talk to you about God and His Word, which we call the Bible, which simply means, “The Book”.
Text: Acts 20:32 – “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Introduction:
For thirty-five years of pastoring, this verse was my benediction to the congregation each and every church service. Benediction, by the way, means to speak good or blessing over the people. People ask me, “Is the Bible reliable, is it relevant to our day and age and technology? Can I rely on it and trust my life to it? Is it really the ‘word’ of God?”
The answer to those questions is a resounding, ‘Yes’”.
I. The Word
A. Introduction.

  1. The Bible is compendium of 66 books or volumes written by approximately 34 authors over a period of 1,500 years that comprises a whole that is self-supporting and without contradiction. Yes, there are minor differences between the accounts given by different authors (especially) in the “synoptic gospels”, but these are simply the variations of the testimony by any three eyewitnesses. (They don’t all see or remember the exact same details).
    a. When I first came to belief in God, I sat in a service where the speaker used verses from all over the Bible to explain her premise. I was amazed at how seamlessly all the quotations fitted together (like a zipper) to support her teaching points.
    b. The Bible is divided into two Testaments: The Old and the New. A testament is two things, a will and disposition of the property of a deceased person, and sometimes a statement of that person’s beliefs.
    c. The whole Bible is about one person, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ or Messiah. Both the words Christ and Messiah refer to the “Anointed One”; that is One is endowed with God’s authority, power, and strength.
    d. The Old Testament starts with creation and unfolds the story of the future coming of the “Anointed One” to His creation. This story is revealed piece-meal by many authors who didn’t really grasp the whole meaning of what they were prophesying.
    e. The New Testament begins with the coming of the “Anointed One”, Jesus Christ. into this world as a human infant and emphasizes the teaching and ministry actions of the last three and a half years of His life. The remainder of the New Testament unravels the impact of the life and coming of Jesus upon our lives today and gives us a veiled view into the final days of life on earth.
    B. Is It True?
  2. Absolutely the Bible is true.
    a. Just recently I was asked, if the Creation Story in the Bible is true, or is it just a parable. (A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning). No, the Creation Story is God’s Truth and those who would contradict it are wrong.
    b. Evolution is a theory that is based on no physical evidence of the ascent of mankind from lower forms of life. For about 150 years the world’s top archeologists have been trying to find the “missing link”, i.e., archeological evidence to prove evolution. They won’t find it, because it doesn’t exist. Creation happened the way God said it did; any honest scientist will agree that any life form is too complex just to have evolved by random chance.
    c. Over the years, I’ve come to accept the Bible completely because when I have trusted in various Bible passages I have found them to be true and as a result I have accepted the entire Bible as true.
    d. Notice, I said that I have accepted the Bible as true, not as truth. What’s the difference? The Bible is composed of statements from all kinds of persons. There are statements from God, the Father, from God, the Son, and from God, the Holy Spirit. There statements from the Devil, from God’s angels, and from fallen angels, from demons, from true prophets, from lying prophets, from righteous men and women and from unrighteous men and women. So not all their statements are true, but they are truly recorded; i.e., the biblical record of what they said is true. The Words of God Himself are truth.
    e. This means you must be discerning when you are reading the Bible, you must discern who is speaking.
    (1) E.g., at funerals, you frequently hear preachers quote from the book of Job:
    (2) Job 1:21b – “. . . The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
    (a) Usually they just quote the last portion of the verse, but that’s not truth. Let’s look at the whole verse.
    (3) Job 1:21 – And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
    (a) Those were the words of Job and they weren’t truth, if you read the context, you find that it was Satan, not God, who took away Job’s stuff. Job spoke without knowledge of what was happening in the spiritual realm.
    f. The stories in the Bible are true unless they are identified as parables:
    (1) When the Bible says the Red Sea split and the water stood as walls and the children of Israel passed over on dry ground, it means that the sea split and the Israelites crossed the sea bed, walking on the dry sea bottom.
    (2) When it says that Jonah was shallowed by a big fish, it literally means that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish.
    (3) But, Bill, don’t you know that’s not natural, things like that don’t happen. Yes, what I know is that God is supernatural, He’s not bound by natural law, He establishes it – the Bible is a book about a supernatural God and the supernatural things He does.
    C. What the Bible Says
  3. The Word is a person
    a. John 1:1-3,14 – 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
    b. This is speaking of Jesus, He is the third Person of the God-head, the Trinity, that spoke the re-creation of the world into being, the One Who eventually left heaven and came to earth to become our Savior.
  4. The Word is trustworthy
    a. We’re going to look at what the Word of God says about itself. Unlike we humans, God
    doesn’t take the 5th Amendment, He gives testimony.
    b. John 17:17 – Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
    (1) This is Jesus speaking, asking God the Father, to sanctify, i.e., to set apart His disciples past, present and future
    (2) Prov 30:5 – Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
    (3) Psalm 12:6 – The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.
    (a) This says the impurities have been smelted out of God’s Word.
  5. The Word is Unchangeable
    a. With the recent Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve been hearing a lot of the phrase, “Follow the science . . .” The implication being that science is solid, yet as far as Covid is concerned, the science has changed almost daily.
    b. On the other hand, that’s not the case with the Word of God – it’s rock solid
    c. Matt 24:35 – Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
    (1) Once again, Jesus is speaking, and He says His Words are eternal
    d. Psalm 119:89 – Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.
    (1) Forever is a long time, but God says that’s how long we can depend on His Word.
    e. Mal 3:6 – “For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
    (1) In this verse, God is saying that He is unchangeable, if He has made a promise, He will it keep no matter how much He is provoked to change it. Here, He’s recording His disgust with the Jewish people
  6. God performs His Word
    a. Num 23:19 – “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
    (1) To me, this verse says it all – if God said it, He meant it; and He’ll make it come to pass.
    b. Jere 1:12 – Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”
    (1) One translation says – “I watch over My Word to perform it”; in other words, God stands ready to make His Word come to pass.
    D. Is It Relevant?
  7. You might say, Bill, that’s all well and good, but is it relevant in today’s culture and society?. After all, the Bible’s an old book.
  8. I’m so glad you asked that. I once read, that in World War II, during the Battle of Britain when the Germans were trying to bomb the British into submission, high school students were asked if they thought God understood radar, which was a new technology at the time. The result of the survey was that God did not understand radar.
    a. That’s ignorance gone to seed. Since the creation, bats have been flying in lightless caves by a form of radar. Porpoises have been swimming the lightless depths of the sea by a form of sonar. The Bible says that Wisdom, an attribute of God, is the giver of witty inventions. So, the inspiration for radar came from God.
  9. God says twice, once in the Old Testament, and again in the New Testament, that He doesn’t see or count time the way we humans do.
    a. 2 Peter 3:8 – But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
    b. What that says, is that in the mind of God, the writer’s of Bible just finished their writing during this week, and the information it contains is hot off the printing press.
    c. Yes, the history is important – actually the word – history – can be re-written as “His story”. The whole Bible is about Jesus and what He has done for you and me.
  10. God, did not inspire the writing of the Bible to tell you about the way things were in the past or what He did in the past. He had the Bible written as a love letter to you – yes, to you. To tell you of His love for you and what He wants to do for you – if you’ll trust Him.
  11. The culture, the technology, and the trappings are not the story. These things are just vehicles to set the scene, the atmosphere for story, like the scene settings on a stage play.
    a. Don’t misunderstand me, the histories recorded in the Bible are true, and the prophesies that haven’t been fulfilled will be fulfilled.
    b. But, as to you and God, the most important time is NOW; God is interested in your
    relationship with Him.
  12. The Bible is about relationships:
    a. The relationship between God and mankind, and
    b. The relationship between mankind and their fellow men.
    c. The Bible sets forth principles for relating successfully with God and for relating successfully with mankind.
    d. Live in accordance with the principles and you’ll have a great and satisfying life and future.
    e. Violate the principles and the future is not great at all, actually, it’s terrifying.
  13. God gave us the Bible so that we could find Him, understand Him, love Him, and spend eternity with Him, but only for those who will fit into His family
  14. Actually, God’s desire is that every human being who ever lived would be with Him for all eternity, but that won’t happen. He left the choice up to us. Unfortunately, the Bible records that only a relatively few will make that choice.
    a. 2 Pet 3:9 – The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
    E. How to Read the Bible
  15. Considering everything I’ve just said about the veracity and reliability of the Bible, how do you enter into making it a part of your life?
  16. Set aside a daily time for communication with God; you can talk to Him like you talk to your neighbor, after all, He is a person.
  17. Let Him talk back to you, the primary way He will talk back to you is through His written Word, the Bible. He also speaks through preachers, ordinary humans and by the still small voice. Both preachers (myself included) and the still small voice need to be confirmed by the written Word, the Bible.
  18. So if you don’t have a regular Bible reading habit, where do you start? Not in the beginning of the book!
  19. I recommend that a new Bible reader start with the book of the Gospel of John (St. John) in a contemporary, easy to read version ( such as The Living Bible, the New Living Bible, or the Good News Bible).
    a. The Gospel of John tells you Who Jesus is and emphasizes His heavenly attributes and
    authority.
    b. You can start by reading just a chapter a day (maybe 15 minutes to read).
  20. After the Gospel of John, read the Epistle (Paul’s letter) to the Ephesians. Again, a chapter a day, this letter tells you who you are in God’s economy, what you have in His economy, and what you can do.
    a. Don’t read it with a religious mindset, clouded by doctrine that you’ve been taught, read it as it is, a personal letter from God to you.
    b. It starts out like this:
    (1) Eph 1:1-2 – 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
    (2) Let’s discuss those two verses for a moment. First Paul says he’s writing as an instrument for God. He is writing to the saints (the set-apart ones – if you’ve accepted Jesus as your Savior, that includes you). I just recently learned that this letter was very probably a circular letter, re-addressed to all the churches in Paul’s realm of influence. That means it includes all, including you in the here and now where you are located.
    (3) Verse two confers grace and peace upon you. One popular translation of grace is
    unmerited favor; another popular rendering of the Greek word is mercy which we all need. However, the Greek word is charis which means gift and since it’s unspecified, it is a gift without limits. Peace is referring to a state of no hostility – no hostility between you and God – again, if you’ve accepted Jesus, God’s not mad at you. When God sees you, He sees Jesus reflected off you. You look like Jesus to Him because you’ve been washed in Jesus’ blood.
    c. Read the whole book in this vein to understand who you are and what you have in God’s eyes. It’s really quite amazing.
    d. The first three chapters of Ephesians are your position in Gods’s eyes; the last three chapters tell you how to conduct your life as a result of your position with God.
  21. After you’ve read the Gospel of John and the book of Ephesians, go back to the start of the New Testament and read all the way through. When you’ve read the New Testament twice, then you can read the Old Testament.
    a. There’s a saying about the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament:
    (1) The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.
    (2) You see the Bible is written in a spiritual code, it is difficult to be understood (in fact the Bibles says it can’t be understood) except by a person who is born again; i.e., has made Jesus Christ of Nazareth their Lord and Savior.

    F. A Firm Foundation
  22. Here’s what Jesus had to say about a person who bases his or her life on the Word of God, and one who does not:
    a. Matt 7:24-27 – 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
    – wmb –

Awake 009- The Tongue

Attention:
Welcome to another episode of Awake. Today I want to talk to you about the power of the tongue.
Text: Heb 11:3 – By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Introduction:
The tongue is very powerful, because words are very powerful. In the first episode – Awake-001, we learned that the Word, the second member of the God-head Who came to earth as Jesus the son of the virgin Mary, recreated the heavens and the earth by the words of His mouth.
I. THE TONGUE
A. And God Said

  1. Gen 1:3 – Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
  2. In Genesis chapter 1, seven times “God said” and created things; in verses 3,6,9 11,14,20, and 24 God said and created things.
  3. The eighth time God said was in:
    a. Gen 1:26 – Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
    b. Here God announced His intention to create mankind and to give to mankind ruling authority over all of God’s creation upon and including the planet earth. This power was to be manifested the same way God manifested His creative power, through articulate speech.
  4. Heb 11:3 – By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
    a. This is an interesting verse – there is a play on words in the phrase – framed by the word of God. First, the worlds were framed or put together by the Word of God, that is Jesus, in His pre-incarnation persona; secondly, the worlds were framed by the Word of God speaking the Word of God – “. . . and God said . . .”
    b. That’s mind boggling when you think about – everything around you, not their current form or shape, but the substances from which they were formed came into existence by the spoken Word.
  5. Heb 1:1-3 – 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
    a. Notice that this last passage says that Jesus continues to hold all things together by the “word of His power” or by a little re-arrangement, by the “power of His Word.”
    b. Obviously words are very powerful – they are both creative and destructive.
    B. Your Words
  6. Let’s talk about your words and the impact that they have, but first are you the man or woman that God is looking for?
  7. Eze 22:30 – So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
    a. In this passage Israel is tragically back-slidden and away from God. God is searching for a man (or a woman – a human being) who will stand in the gap as an intercessor and speak God’s Word, i.e., God’s will and plan for the nation over the land.
    b. God is always looking for a man (a human being) to speak His Word over the land because He can’t do it. At the creation (re-creation) of the world God ceded authority over the world and all it’s inhabitants to mankind. With Adam &Eve’s fall, Satan usurped that authority. However, mankind (because they have citizenship in the world) can still exercise that authority by speaking God’s Word – by being God’s mouthpiece.
    c. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist denomination said, “It seems that God can do nothing in the earth except a man pray.”
    d. Will you be the intercessor that God is looking for?
  8. Prov 18:21 – Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. a. Note the power of the tongue that is implied in this verse; it says you can create both life and death by your speech. Then it says, you’re going to have to live with the creations of your tongue – you’re going to have to eat the fruit of your words.
  9. James 3:2-12 – 2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed
    by mankind. 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
    a. This is a long passage, but it contains so much and is so relevant.
    (1) Understand that James is writing to Christians, to believers, and the first thing he says it that we all stumble or miss the mark, i.e. we sin, in many things. But then he says that if we can control our tongue, we are perfect or mature beings and able to control all the body or our fleshly, i.e., our sinful nature.
    (2) The James tells us that we guide horses by a bit and bridle – a bit puts pressure on the horse’s tongue; and we guide a ship with a rudder; a rudder is a small tongue-shaped appendage below the waterline of a ship. Bottom line, we guide horses and ships with their tongues. The implication is that we set the direction of our lives with our tongues by the words that we speak.
    (3) Let me say that again; we set the direction of our lives with our tongues by the words that we speak. If you don’t like where you are in life, perhaps you should examine what you’ve been saying, especially what you’ve been saying about yourself. You see, words are creative.
    (a) I had a young minister ask for a position on my church staff and I hired him. I bought him some nicer clothes than what he had and told him how to care for them and his
    appearance. He replied to me, “I was born poor, I was raised poor, I’ve always been poor,
    and I’ll always be poor.” And then he left me, you know what – unless he changes his
    speech, he’ll always be poor. He decreed it.
    (4) James continues, the tongue is a fire and sets things on fire. Have you been punched in the nose for the things you’ve said? I have – sometimes I’m a slow learner – my tongue has gotten me punched more that once. Think before you speak.
    (5) Then James talks about taming animals. He says all kinds of animals can be tamed, but no man can tame the tongue. Actually, with God’s help you can learn to tame the tongue. Read the book of Proverbs it talks a lot about the tongue.
    (a) Speaking of taming animals, at Sea World in Los Angeles, I watched an ordinary house cat traverse a rope suspended over a deep pool of sea water that was filled with porpoises. The cat did it upside down – wow talk about taming and training animals.
    (b) James says the tongue is full of deadly poison – yes our tongue can kill us and others. A major cause of suicide is rejection – a feeling of being unloved and unwanted.
    (6) Then James addresses an anomaly, he says we praise God with our tongue and then we turn around and use our tongue to curse men. He says just as no well can dispense both fresh and salt water, neither should our tongue dispense both blessing and cursing.
  10. I had a lawyer in my church. I led him to the Lord when he was age 74. About twenty years later, he stood before the congregation and said, “I’ve learned one thing from Pastor Bill; if I say I’m sick, I’m sick.” Let me tell you how he died, he had a friend who owed a condominium at Myrtle Beach, SC. At age 97, he and the friend were at the beach, they ate breakfast, went for a walk on the beach, and returning to the condominium, the lawyer pushed the elevator button, fell to the floor, and passed on into heaven. What a way to go; he left without a final sickness, he was with
    friends, doing what he enjoyed.
    a. As the late Zig Ziglar used to say, “Whether you say I can, or you say I can’t – you’re right either way.”
    C. Salvation Is By Words
  11. The most significant thing that can happen to a human being on earth comes about by words.
  12. Deut 30:19 – I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
    a. God’s will is that every man woman and child that is born into the earth be redeemed from the curse and have eternal life – but God said it’s your choice.
    b. 1 John 5:13 – These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
    (1) God wants you to know that eternal life, i.e., life in heaven with God is available to you and that you choose it by the words of your mouth. I’m going to give you some biblical examples:
    c. Josh 2:8 – 8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men: “I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
    (1) This is Rahab, the prostitute, speaking. She (a prostitute) is in the lineage of Jesus Christ. She was not a Jew, she was a despised heathen Canaanite. She got into the lineage of Jesus by the words that she spoke: “. . . for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”
    d. Ruth 1:1 – But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.
    (1) This is Ruth speaking; she was also a despised heathen, a Moabite, from a nation that worshiped false gods. She is also in the lineage of Jesus Christ because of her words: “. . .Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.”
    e. Rev 12:11 – And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
    (1) This scripture is talking about tribulation saints who will be in heaven because of the word of their testimony and the blood of the Lamb (Jesus). Understand that all human beings who go to heaven, go for the same two reasons:
    (a) Jesus died for them and us
    (b) The words that they spoke of about Jesus
    f. There is another testimony of a man redeemed to heaven by his words
    g. Luk3 23:39-43 – 39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” 40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

    (1) There were two thieves crucified along side of Jesus. One of the thieves mocked and
    blasphemed Jesus, the second thief recognized Jesus as a righteous man and acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah – the heir to King David’s throne. Jesus accepted the man’s confession or testimony as a salvation prayer or confession and decreed that the man would go to Paradise (which is now in heaven) with Jesus.
  13. Matt 12:37 – “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
    a. Jesus said your words will reward or punish you. If you’re speaking the wrong words; stop, change what you are speaking, and speak right godly things about yourself your family and your life.
    b. Find scriptures that proclaim what you want in life and speak those. I will give you a few possibilities of things that you can declare along with the scriptural authority for saying it.
    (1) I can do it
    (a) Php 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
    (2) I have energy and ambition
    (a) Col 1:27 – To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this
    mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
    (b) The Anointed One is in you – you have the strength and ability
    (3) I have a sharp mind
    (a) 1 Cor 2:16 – For “WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD THAT HE MAY
    INSTRUCT HIM?” But we have the mind of Christ.
    (b) Note this is out of context, but it serves as a point of contact for our faith
    (c) 1 Cor 1:30 – But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
    (4) I am healed
    (a) 1 Pet 2:24 – who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
    (5) My strength and vigor are being renewed like the eagles
    (a) Isa 40:31 – But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
    (6) Cut off the power of Satan in your life by binding and rebuking him
    (a) Luke 10:19 – Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
    i) Satan is referred to as “that old serpent”
    (b) Matt 16:19 – And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
    i) You have authority to bind or restrict the activities of satanic activities in your life and over your family.
  14. The bottom line is this – use your God-given power of speech and the authority delegate to you by God to direct the trajectory of your life.
    a. Matt 17:20 – So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
    b. Obey Jesus and use your tongue to move some mountains or obstacles out of your path.
    – wmb –

Awake 008 – Woke?

Attention:
Let’s talk about something very contemporary and very real that is affecting us in our day-to-day living. What I’m referring to is the “Woke” movement or “wokism”. If you are concerned about the price of gasoline, the shortage of baby formula, the lack of fresh fruits
and vegetables, the skyrocketing price of beef, or other aspects of inflation; these are all
manifestations of “wokism”. The leaders of the “Woke” movement have the ear of the U.S. president and the ears of many of the U.S. congressional leaders. The president and the congress are kowtowing to the “Wokes” and not to the concerns of the U.S. citizens as a whole.
Text: Job 28:28 – And to man He said, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.”
Introduction:
The Bible speaks of at least three, possibly four, kinds of wisdom:
! Godly wisdom
! Skills wisdom – construction, art, music, athletic
! Intellectual wisdom which could include the various skills wisdoms
! Earthly wisdom
! Devilish wisdom which may include earthly wisdom
What’s best? well duh – Godly wisdom, of course
In this episode I want to examine what the Bible says about some these types of wisdom.

I. WOKE?
A. The Challenge

  1. 1 Cor 1:18-20 – 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT.” 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
    a. In this passage, God throws down the gauntlet – note – in medieval times throwing down the gauntlet or the glove was a challenge to a duel.
    b. God is proposing a duel between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom – hint – godly wisdom will win – godly wisdom is better.
    c. Note that in verse 19 God said that He would destroy the wisdom of the wise. He’s talking about the wisdom of the intellectuals – the intellectual learning of the educated ones.
    d. The badge of “wisdom” in this society is the PhD degree – PhD is the abbreviation for Doctor of Philosophy. Philosophy literally means love of knowledge or love of wisdom.
    e. Let’s look at the next verse in this Bible passage.
  2. 1 Cor 1:21 – For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
    a. Let me paraphrase that verse: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through intellectualism did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
    b. This verse says that most studies in the halls of academia do not lead to the knowledge of or understanding of God.
    (1) You may ask why I said most, because there are educational institutions that are dedicated to educating in the knowledge of God and their curricula are predominately Bible-based.
    (2) However, many of the hallowed halls of learning that began as institutes teaching about God have strayed from their foundations and are pursuing worldly intellectualism. This includes many, if not all, of the so-called Ivy league schools.
    c. There is an academic discipline called “philosophy’”, which supposedly teaches knowledge of the universe; unfortunately it focuses on what the so-called great thinkers have written – thoughts of the human mind.
    d. I discussed the academic badge of the intellectual – the PhD degree – let me list the various degrees with tongue in cheek:
    (1) BS – Bull Slinger degree
    (2) MS – More of the Same degree
    (3) PhD – Piled Higher and Deeper degree
    (a) I feel I can poke fun at these degrees because I hold three degrees: BS, MSA, and ThD.
    e. There is a branch of philosophy called theology or the study of God. Note – I said that it’s a branch of philosophy which means the theologians get their knowledge of God from what they think about God and His universe and not from the Bible which is God’s revealed truth.
    (1) I took a course in theology in pursuit of a PhD. The textbook and professor agreed that most, if not all, theologians would not recognize God if He came down the street wearing a neon sign saying, “I am God.” In fact, the textbook stated that most scholars agreed that the person reputed to be the world’s leading theologian at that time was an agnostic; i.e., he wasn’t certain that there is a God.
    f. Bottom line – there is only one authoritative source of knowledge about God. That source is the Bible, the revelation that God has given about the God Head and His universe.
    B. The Cabal
  3. As you are probably aware, there’s always someone who says, “If I were in charge, I could do it better.” Perhaps, you’ve thought that yourself, I know I have thought that at various times.
  4. That is the thought of Marxism: Let’s put the smart people in control; they will be selfless and will make all things work better for the good of all people.
  5. This idea appeals to the ego of the intellectuals who keep pushing for the changes that they think would make the world perfect. There’s just a couple of problems:
    a. They don’t know all the parameters. What works in New York City won’t necessarily work in Pigeon Forge, TN; what works in Miami, FL won’t necessarily work in Bamberg, Germany.
    b. And then there’s the big one, one of their major premises is that, “mankind is basically good, people are just messed up because of their environment. When we get the environment right, people will be okay”.
    c. Wrong!! Here’s what God says:
    (1) Jere 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
    (2) God says – it’s the people that are the problem – get the people right and they’ll take care of the environment.
  6. The voices of “Wokeism” are driven by the East Coast Elites who include many of the intellectuals and the prominent voices of media: television, newspaper, news magazine, etc.
    a. People listen to the prominent voices and the intellectual experts. After all, “They must know something, they have all these degrees and so many people listen to them.”
  7. In contrast to the voices of the “Wokes”, God tells us how to think:
    a. Rom 12:3 – For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
    b. God says we are to think soberly, the Greek word translated soberly, so¯phroneo¯, means to be of sound mind, that is, to be sane, to be in the right mind, or in essence to think God thoughts.
  8. God doesn’t think the way ordinary humans think. By ordinary, I mean those that the New Testament refers to as Greeks or sinners, those who are not born again. Just a word of caution, merely being born again does not mean that you think God thoughts.
  9. How does God think? I’m glad you asked.
    a. Isa 55:8-9 – 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
    b. God thinks on a higher plane than we do. Many people believe that chess is a difficult game, yet there are those who play three-dimensional chess. That’s way beyond me. God, on the other hand, plays chess on multiple levels or dimensions. He is so far beyond us that we can comprehend Him only as He gives us insight. Therefore God gives us many exhortations to learn His thoughts as He has revealed them.
    (1) Tit 2:6 – Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded,
    (a) Here God says to think God-thoughts.
    (2) 1 Pet 4:7 – But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
    (a) Through Peter, God tells us that especially in the end-times – does anyone really doubt that we are in the end-times? – we need to think God thoughts.
    c. The Apostle Paul tells us that renewing our minds to think like God will transform us:
    (1) Rom 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
    (a) The mandate is to learn to think like God and not like the world, i.e., not like the “Wokes”.
    d. James, the brother of Jesus, gives us instruction on how to renew our minds.
    (1) James 1:21-25 – 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
    (2) James exhorts us to read the Word and to do the Word and he says it will renew our minds.
    e. And let’s consider what Jesus, Himself, said:
    (1) Matt 4:4 — But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD
    ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ “
  10. Let’s go back to the “Wokes”
    a. They say that they are “Woke” because they are aware of what is needful for society and they know the proper way to achieve those goals, whatever they may be.
    b. They call themselves Social Democrats, which is actually a form of Marxism.
    c. I recently read a comment on what makes Marxism so appealing to the elites.
    d. The appeal is simply the same appeal that the serpent made to Eve in the Garden of Eden:
    e. Gen 3:-5 – 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
    (1) If the intelligentsia are in control, they will be like “gods”. That has a tremendous appeal to the worldly mind and ego.
    (2) It doesn’t make any difference that Marxism has not been successful anyplace it was
    attempted.
    (3) After all, it wasn’t the “Wokes” who attempted it; they, the “Wokes”, are smarter and they’ll do it right.
  11. No, the “Wokes” are not smarter. The “Wokes” suffer from what a great motivational speaker, the late Zig Ziglar, called, “Stinking thinking.” The “Wokes” are not thinking soberly or soundly, their thinking stinks.
  12. There is a cabal, a conspiracy, led, perhaps unwittingly, by the intellectuals and the media, to take the United States away from it’s foundation on the Word of God.
    C. Bottom Line:
  13. If you are a born-again Christian, you are more awake than the “Wokes”; however, even so you may not be thinking soberly or soundly the way God thinks.
  14. Spend time in the Word both the New Testament and the Old Testament. Spend about three times as much time in the new as in the old.

    a. I include the books of Proverbs and Psalms as New Testament books because they are timeless. A great Christian teacher once said, “Read a chapter of Proverbs every day for wisdom and a chapter of Psalms daily for strength.
    b. I believe the book of Proverbs is a concentrated study in the wisdom of God.
  15. Jesus said this:
    a. Matt 6:33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
    b. The Amplified Bible says, “His righteousness” in this context means His “right way” of doing things.
    c. You will find the explanation of His right way to do things in the Bible.
  16. Don’t look to the news media or to politicians for wisdom or insight. Get your answers from God’s Word and through prayer. God speaks today, most often through His Word, either directly from the Bible or through a man or woman of God.
  17. When you ask Him, God will give you witness, understanding, and insight into the Word.
  18. God’s Word is relevant for today’s situations, perhaps more so than it has ever been.
  19. So be Awake, not Woke, get your guidance from God’s Word.
    a. John 10:10 – The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
  20. Immerse yourself in the Word of God; get His thoughts and guidance and live the abundant life.
    – wmb —

Awake 007-Righteousness

Attention:
Our topic today is one of the most important ones we could ever discuss. We are speaking about righteousness.
Text: Rom 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
1 Cor 10:32 – Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,
Introduction:
I am a charismatic or Pentecostal Christian, that is, I have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. However, I don’t attend a Pentecostal or charismatic church because I have not found a suitable one in the area where I live. I attend a church of a major denomination which prides itself on its adherence to strict Bible interpretation.
I. RIGHTEOUSNESS
A. Sin Consciousness

  1. This denomination loves to quote Rom 3:23
    a. Rom 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
    (1) The church members are always confessing, “Oh, I am such a sinner, I am so sinful.”
    (2) However, they are violating one of their major precepts of Biblical interpretation; they are taking this verse out of context
    (3) As they like to say, “a text (or verse) out of context is a pretext (or a farse).”
    b. The Church
  2. Let’s look at our other opening text for a few moments:
  3. 1 Cor 10:32 – Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God.
    a. God sees three groups of people on the earth:
    (1) The Jews – God’s chosen people – chosen by God to be a sign to the world that God could maintain a people group alive and thriving in spite of what Satan and other mankind could do to eliminate that people group. Other people groups, e.g., that Canaanite tribes that Israel dispossessed are now all extinct.
    (2) The Greeks (actually, the gentiles) all people groups other than the Jews and the church. God makes no distinction about race, color, gender, or language. If you are not a Jew or a member of the “church,” you are a “Greek” – a gentile which is a euphemism for “sinner.”
    (3) Third, the church. All members of the church of Jesus Christ were either Jews or gentiles (i.e., sinners), but they are no longer Jews or gentile/sinners although that is their ethnic heritage.
    (a) 2 Cor 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
    i) This scripture is to be interpreted literally. When a person becomes a Christian he
    becomes a new creation with different DNA (at least in the spiritual realm). He or she has been translated into the church – into God’s family.
    ii) He or she is no longer a Jew or a sinner, but a Christian.
    iii) Col 1:13 – He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the
    kingdom of the Son of His love,
    iv) God is saying, we’ve removed from the spiritual arena where Satan rules and dominates, and placed in the realm of God’s government and principles.
  4. Rom 3:23 in context
    a. Let examine Rom 3:23 in context
    b. Rom 3:23 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
    (1) Firstly, who or what is the “all” in verse 23; we have to go back to Rom 3:9 to find the
    antecedent for the word “all.” I urge you to check it out for yourself;
    (2) Rom 3:9 – What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
    (a) Verse 9 indicates the “all” is the groups of Jews and gentiles or sinners.
    (b) Rom 3:10-20 – describes the sinfulness of those groups and the futility of their attempting to earn righteousness.
  5. The church has been made righteous or made to possess righteousness
    a. Again righteousness is the ability to stand before God free from the stain of any sin or
    unrighteousness. It is very similar to being justified. One definition of justification is that is the ability to stand before God “just-as-if” you had never sinned.
    b. Rom 3:21-26 – 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
    (1) These verses surrounding Rom 3:23 state that the believers, who comprise the church, have been justified by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. They are no longer Jews nor sinners, but have been sanctified by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
  6. Greetings to the Churches
    a. Let’s digress for a moment and consider how Paul addresses the churches in his letters:
    (1) Eph 1:1-2 – 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
    (2) Php 1:1-2 – 1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
    (3) Col 1:1-2 – 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
    (4) 1 Cor 1:1-2 – 1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are
    sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
    (5) 2 Cor 1:1-2 – 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
    (6) Rom 1:7 – To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
    (a) Notice in all these epistles, Paul addresses the believers as saints, as sanctified in Christ Jesus, as called to be saints.
    (b) Literally, saints means sanctified ones, or set apart ones. That is, the church is a group of people who have been set apart from or separated from the other groups – Jews and Greeks (or sinners). Remember that both the Jews have been included under sin.
  7. What is the difference?
    a. Mat 5:20 – For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
    (1) This is Jesus speaking in the Sermon on the Mount, setting for what many consider an impossibly high standard of conduct to please God.
    (2) Those who say the standard is impossibly high are correct in the natural. The scribes and the Pharisees were meticulous in their attempts to keep the laws of God and Moses.
    (3) But look at what the Bible said about them:
    (a) Isa 64:6 – But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
    (4) As far as our natural abilities are concerned, it is an impossible standard to meet.
    (5) But God had made provision for us:
    (6) Gal 3:19,24 – 19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of
    transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was
    appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
    (a) This passage says that God gave the Law, the Ten Commands, to the Jews to show them their sinfulness, how far they were from pleasing Him. It also says the Law was our tutor to bring to Christ.
    (b) In short, the purpose of the Law was to set a standard that we could not reach so that we would cry out to God, “God, I can’t do this!. I can’t make the grade!”
    (c) When we utter that cry, God responds (in my words, not His), “I know, let Me help, let Me show you My plan.”
    (7) God’s Plan
    (a) Eze 36:26 – I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
    i) In this verse God promises to replace an unbeliever’s hardened, obstinate heart with the soft pliable heart of a believer.
    (b) Heb 10:16-19 – 16 “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER
    THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN
    THEIR MINDS I WILL WRITE THEM,” 17 then He adds, “THEIR SINS AND THEIR
    LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” 18 Now where there is remission of
    these, there is no longer an offering for sin. 19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
    i) Then God says in this quote from Jere 31:33 that He will put His laws into our new tender hearts and He will write them in our minds. In other words, He will lead us and guide by our conscience.
    ii) He ends the quote from Jere 31:33 by saying that He will not remember our sins and
    trespasses any more.
    iii) Beloved, you can’t even talk to God about the things that you’ve done wrong in the past. God has no remembrance of them.
    a) As Brother Kenneth Hagin used to say, “We’re on shouting ground.” Halleluljah!
    (c) Let’s go back to Heb 10:19:
    i) Heb 10:19 – Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of
    Jesus,
    ii) This is an awesome verse. Notice what it says, “. . .having boldness to enter the Holiest . . .”
    iii) Folks, in the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter into the Holiest; i.e., the Holy of Holies where the presence of God resided. And he could do it only once a year and only if he were carrying the blood of a sacrificial bull and were covered by a cloud of incense.
    iv) But if you are a born-again Christian, a saint, you can enter into God’s presence any
    cotton-picking time you so desire. Why? Heb 10:19 ends, “ . . . by the blood of Jesus.”
    When God looks at you, He sees you through the blood of Jesus and what He sees is all
    white and pure.
    a) Isa 1:18 – “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins
    are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They
    shall be as wool.
    b) The prophet Isaiah was speaking of the church age; our sins have been washed away
    by the blood of Jesus and the Father is inviting us to come for a heart-to-heart talk; a
    Father and son or daughter talk.
    c. The Saints
  8. Let’s go back to 2 Cor 5;
    a. 2 Co 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
    (1) This verse says that if you are in Christ, if you are a born-again believer, you are a new creature. You have been given a new soft, tender toward God, heart.
    (2) You’ve been washed by the blood of Jesus
    (3) Your sinful past has been erased from God’s memory
    (4) You are a sanctified one, a set-apart one, a saint
    b. 2 Cor 5:21 – For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
    (1) You have met the standard of the Sermon on the Mount; you are more righteousness than the scribes and the Pharisees
    (a) Not because of your own efforts; it’s called the “Great exchange”, Jesus took upon Himself your unrighteousness and imputed to you (i.e., gave to you) His righteousness.
    (b) You have been credited with having the righteousness of God Himself.
    (c) Mind boggling isn’t it?
  9. Aren’t Christians sinners?
    a. You might ask, “Aren’t Christians sinners? Why do so many Christians say they are so sinful?”
    b. 1 John 3:9 – No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. (ESV)
    (1) This scripture says that born-again Christians do not sin habitually. They don’t have a lifestyle of sin, but, yes, occasionally born-again Christians do miss the mark.
    (2) The Greek word translated as sin in the NT, harmatia, means to miss the mark or the
    bullseye, to get less than a perfect score.
    c. God has given us a promise to deal with that event:
    (1) 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
    (2) Earlier, we said that God will lead you and guide by your conscience. If your conscience tweaks you about something, simply pray, “Father, Your Word says that if I confess my sin, You are faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I confess that I missed it, and I thank Your for forgiving me in Jesus’ Name,” or other words to that same effect.
    (3) You will have been washed in the blood and will be able to stand in God’s presence having been forgiven.
    (4) Shortly after I became born-again and spirit-filled, I missed the mark. I confessed to God, and asked forgiveness. Words started to bubble up out of my spirit, first a message in tongues, and the interpretation followed. The interpretation was lengthy and I’ve forgotten it all except the first four words, which I’ll never forget. They were, “Bill, I love you . . .”
    d. There’s another promise to help us deal with the problem of sin:
    (1) 1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
    (2) The word light refers to revelation; revelation of the knowledge of God, the Kingdom of God, and God’s ways of doing things.
    (3) This verse says that if we walk according to the revelation we’ve received the blood of Jesus automatically washes our sins away. If our conscience isn’t troubling us, we’re probably alright with God.
    (4) Understand, that the Bible says our conscience can be seared or calloused; therefore, when or if our conscience bothers us, we need to confess according to 1 John 1:9.
    D. Walking Worthy
  10. Why am I making such a big deal about righteousness? Because if makes a huge difference in our lives. If we believe we are unrighteous, we tend to feel unworthy. If we feel unworthy, we don’t really believe that we deserve God’s blessings.
  11. I met a spirit-filled woman when I was in Iran shortly after I was saved and spirit-filled. She had been raised in a denomination that emphasized the sinfulness of Christians. She was never able to feel worthy of God’s blessings, and as a consequence Satan was able to steal those blessings from her. She was not able to hold on to her nice house and other things, such as divine healing.
  12. Beloved, it’s not God, who brings up bad things from your past. God has forgotten them. It’s the devil who keeps reminding you; if he can make you feel unworthy, he can keep you from God’s best.
  13. But you are worthy, you have been washed in the blood, you can enter into God’s throne-room any time you desire.
  14. You have the righteousness of God.
  15. You are a child of the King!
  16. Hallelujah!
    – wmb –

Awake 006-Marriage and Sexuality


Attention:
Today, I want to talk about something very close to the heart of God. I am going to discuss marriage and sexuality.
Text: Gen 1:28 – Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Gen 2:24 – Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Introduction:
Let’s start by examining the heart of God.
1 John 4:8 – He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God has many characteristics, but I believe the dominating one is love. As a person, dominated by love, God requires an object upon which to pour out His love. Similarly, God desires that the object of His love, reciprocate by loving Him in return. The consuming love of God was the motivation for the creation. When we study the Bible we can find no limitations on the abilities and the capacities of God, with the exception that He is good and not evil.
I. MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY
A. In the Beginning

  1. Gen 1:26-28 – 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
  2. So God, the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – created mankind. God gave mankind god-like powers – the power of articulate speech that could change things and set things in motion, that could express authority and demand obedience. He gave mankind the power to reproduce, to procreate other men, and He gave to mankind the authority to rule the world and all the creatures in it.
  3. He made them male and female, creating the man first out of the dust of the earth, and then making the woman, Eve, out of a rib from Adam.
    a. Gen 2:18 – And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
    b. Gen 2:21-22 – 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
    c. Again, it says that God took a rib from Adam to make the woman; actually, in the Hebrew, it says God took a chamber – a compartment that contained all of the feminine characteristics, traits, emotions, and motivations that were placed in Adam when he was created. Those characteristics, traits, emotions, and motivations became the core of the woman. Therefore, when a feminist tells a man to get in touch with his inner female, he doesn’t have one.
    B. Marriage
  4. Gen 2:23-24 – 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
    a. There is a lot in these two verses. First, because he had been whole before Eve was created, he knew that something was missing. He knew that he was incomplete – “She is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” Adam realized that, without Eve, he was missing something, he was incomplete, he was not what he used to be, nor was he what he needed to be.
    b. So in verse 24, the implication is that God instituted marriage by the cleaving together (being stuck together, permanently) of the man and the woman and the two of them leaving behind the parental supervision of their fathers and mothers to institute their own family.
    c. The union of the male and the female together in marriage has purpose:
    (1) One purpose for marriage is to make a complete person with the wife supplying those traits, characteristics, abilities, and strengths that are missing from the man, and vice versa, with the husband supplying what is missing from the woman. A godly couple walking with God are hard to defeat:
    (a) Eccl 4:12 – Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
    (2) The main purpose of the marriage union was to procreate; to multiply the human population, to help to satisfy God’s need for objects for His love and His affection.
    (3) Gen 1:28 – Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
    d. Marriage was created as a blood covenant relationship (the subject of a future teaching). A blood covenant is a permanent relationship dissolvable only by death and the penalty for violating the blood covenant is death to the person who breaks the covenant.
    e. Marriage is the most difficult of human relationships and I believe God intended it to be that way:
    (1) Pro 27:17 – As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
    (2) This verse says that an intimate relationship results in one person filing down the rough spots in his friends life and vice versa. I believe that one of God’s purposes in marriage is to remove some the roughness of our individual personalities; to refine us. Therefore, if sometimes the marriage relationship is painful, understand that God intended for us to be changed by marriage.
    (3) Note – I am not talking about spousal abuse – that is not God’s intent or will. As several persons have told me, God has entrusted me with His daughter. You get in big trouble when you abuse the King’s daughter.
    C. A Godly Seed
  5. A major purpose of marriage is to create a godly seed:
  6. Mal 2:14-16 – 14 Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the LORD has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. 15 But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. 16 “For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says the LORD of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously.”
    a. In this passage of scripture, God is expressing His disgust with the nation of Israel, because the men have been treating the marriage covenant lightly and divorcing their wives. God says that He hates divorce. Why, because He desires a godly offspring (the KJV says a “godly seed”). God wants the kids raised in an atmosphere where the family recognizes Him, the Creator, and submits to His will and raises the kids to honor and obey His tenets for their lives.
    b. The husband and wife each have a distinct role to play in raising their children:
    (1) The man should impart strength, honor, and survival skills (hunting, farming, or other income producing skills).
    (2) The woman should nurture affection, tenderness, compassion, and mercy.
    (3) Obviously, these are not complete lists, but both parents should exhibit and nurture love for God, obedience to God, and worship of God as well as love for others. Some persons could interpret this to mean that God just wants a bunch of simple-minded people to be sheepishly devoted to Him. Au contraire, actually Father does know what’s best. Father God knows the ways and the paths that lead to the most successful and satisfying life, both now, and in the age to come.
    (4) Jesus reduced the commandments of God (the Jews observed the Ten Commandments and 613 rabbinical laws as well as thousands of applications of those laws) to two laws:
    (a) Mark 12:29-31 – 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. 30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR
    MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the
    second, like it, is this: ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no
    other commandment greater than these.”
    D. Sexuality
  7. God invented sexuality or what we call sex as the way for human being to reproduce. He commanded mankind to be fruitful and multiply. Since the sex act is a necessary precursor to reproduction, the sex act itself cannot be sinful or “dirty” in and of itself. There is a scripture that, through misinterpretation, seems to imply that sex is sinful:
    a. Psa 51:5 – Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
    b. If you read or listened to Awake Episode # 1, you will remember that because of Adam &Eve’s sin, all mankind became sinners or as I prefer to say, separated or alienated from God. Everyone is born into that sin or separated state. The act of procreation is basically obedience to God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.
    c. However, God’s intention was that the process of reproduction (i.e., the sex act) take place within the blood-covenant relationship of marriage. Why?, for at least two reasons: first, because as we discussed earlier, God desired “a godly seed”, in other words, that the children be raised by a father and a mother who honored and worshiped Father God and would teach the children to do so also.
    d. Secondly, God did not want the woman to be abandoned to her own resources. He intended that she would be defended, provided for, and loved by her husband.
  8. Not only is sex not evil in itself, but God made it pleasurable. More sex ultimately means more children and sex in marriage sweetens the marriage relationship.
  9. God wants lots of kids, how many, I don’t know; but the number He desires is in the billions. Satan, the serpent, the dragon, the devil, knows that God desires a large family and he, Satan, has devised strategies to deprive God of His children:
    E. Satan’s Strategies
  10. Free Love
    a. Since the beginning, Satan has promoted sexual relationships outside of the marriage
    covenant. Why? to deprive the offspring of a godly environment – a God-fearing father and a God-fearing mother.
    b. As an aside, we see this manifested in our U.S.A. society today, where what we now call “The Wokes”, the liberals, have destroyed many of the young black males, by making it more profitable to the mothers to raise their children in a father-less society. This makes Satan laugh with glee.
    c. In the Old Testament, Satan motivated parents to offer their young children as burnt offerings to false gods – the babies were placed in the red-hot arms of brazen idols.
    d. Today, we see the same sacrifice made to the goddesses of free sex. We call it abortion.
    e. This is all a plan of Satan to deprive God of His desire – a godly off-spring.
    f. World-wide the number of abortions has well exceeded a hundred million children. Please note that I said children. It is a baby in the womb; not a mass of protoplasm, but a living being created to be one of God’s children. Also, note that the Chinese have gotten it right about conception, they say a baby is 9-months old at birth. Life begins at the moment of conception.
    g. The good news is that the sacrificed babies, the aborted babies seem to get a “pass” from God to enter heaven. Scripture seems to imply that children who die before the “age of accountability” enter heaven. However, I don’t believe that they enter heaven on the same level or status as born-again Christians. You see that God desires that His children chose Him of their own free will. Human infant sacrifices and aborted babies have never had an opportunity to make that choice.
    h. Again, as I’ve stated, free love and the resulting abortions are a scheme of Satan to deprive God of His children.
  11. Homosexuality
    a. Another ploy of the devil, to deprive God of children is homosexuality.
    b. Homosexuality seems to provide sexual gratification to those who practice it, but it is a misuse of the sexual drives because it doesn’t produce fruit – there are no children conceived from homosexual acts. For this cause God hates it.
    (1) 1 Cor 6:9-10 – 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
    (2) That scripture is pretty plain, and it could scare a lot of us because of the list of things that can keep a person from heaven, from receiving eternal life. I realize that many people have had their sexual proclivities, their sexual orientation changed against their will because they were sexually abused, creating both physical and mental impairment to godly sexuality.
    (3) But, there is, there remains some good news, actually great, wonderful news:
    (a) 1 Cor 6:11 – And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
    (b) The operative words in this scripture are: “such were some of you” – were – that means you can be changed – you can be set free. I was a drunkard (addicted to alcohol), but Jesus set me free. Mary Magdalene, was a prostitute, but Jesus set her free. Whatever your addiction, whatever form of bondage you are in, Jesus came to set you free.
  12. Celibacy
    a. There is another variation of this satanic scheme. It’s called celibacy. A large denomination has used this ploy unwittingly to take the best and the brightest of both men and women out of the reproduction chain by having them take vows of celibacy and chastity so that they can serve God. It is true that the Apostle Paul said that for some people celibacy might help them serve God better: however, he went on to say that if they were subject to strong sexual desires, they should probably get married.
    (1) 1 Cor 7:7-9 – 7 For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; 9 but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
    b. Paul said it was his (Paul’s opinion – not God’s) that a minister would be more productive single without the care of a wife, but that if he (or she) had strong sexual drives they should get married. Celibacy was not a commandment.
    c. The Body of Christ has been robbed of many productive lives because of this misinterpretation. Moreover, that particular denomination has been racked with scandal because many of the so-called celibates have been drawn into homosexuality and child abuse situations because of their unfulfilled sexual drives.
  13. Yet another ploy of Satan is the gender change debate and associated sex change surgery.
    a. God created only two genders – just two – male and female, and He got it right.
    b. To brainwash young children into sex change operations is worse than stupid. It’s criminal, it’s satanic. It’s another scheme of the devil to remove persons from the reproduction process and hinder and delay the fulfillment of God’s desire for a very large family.
    c. I knew two men who had sex transformation surgery. After they came to know God and His plan for their lives they realized how they had been hurt and what had been stolen from them by this foolish philosophy.
    d. Do everything you can to protect our children from this ungodly doctrine and its criminal surgical procedures.
    F. Bottom Line
  14. God invented and desires godly, that is Christian, marriages that will produce a godly seed – a huge family that will love Him and worship Him. A family that He can saturate with His love and provision both now in this life and throughout eternity.

    a. John 10:10 – The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
    – wmb –

Awake 005-Israel & Politics


Attention:
Today I want to discuss matters of spiritual urgency in the country and the world in which we are currently living. I want to talk about Israel and Politics. Both subjects are very much in the news especially in the U.S.A.
Text: Gen 12:3 – I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Introduction:
After the Flood; yes, the flood really happened and a man named Noah really did build an ark and stocked it with the greatest zoo ever assembled by man.
After the flood, God went looking for a man that He could use to carry out His (God’s) will on the earth as He had used Noah. About 350 years after the flood, Abram responded to His call. It took faith on Abram’s part to answer God’s call. We learned in a previous episode that God is a rewarder of those who have faith and so God reveals His reward to Abram. That reward is capsulized in our text verse.
Gen 12:3 – I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
I. ISRAEL & POLITICS
A. Israel

  1. Every important Bible doctrine gets its start in the book of Genesis, at least in seed form; i.e., it is usually expanded and matured further into the Bible.
  2. Shortly after God chased me down and converted me from an unbelieving agnostic (at best) into a saint (saint means sanctified one or set apart one – every born-again Christian is a saint); I began to read (actually to devour the Bible). It didn’t take me long to discover Gen. 12:3; since my mother didn’t raise any dummies, I quickly decided that it is better to be blessed than to be cursed.
  3. Abram to whom the promise was made was adopted by God (YHWH – YahWeh) and this was demonstrated by changing Abe’s name from Abram to Abraham by taking an “H” from YHWH’s name and adding to Abram.
  4. Abraham’s family became the nation of Israel.
  5. Therefore, if you want to be on God’s blessing side, you must bless and not curse the nation of Israel.
    a. In fact you must love the nation of Israel, but you don’t have to like them.
    b. You just have to be for them and not against them.
  6. You might think that’s contradictory, but you need to understand that God has those same mixed emotions toward Israel.
    a. He loves them for the sake of the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, David, and others), but He calls them stiff-necked, stubborn, rebellious, prideful and sinful.
  7. God sent His Son Jesus to the nation of Israel to give them the message of salvation, but they rejected Him.
  8. John 1:11-12 — 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
    a. Note – Jesus came to the Jews (the Israelites) and they as a group did not receive. On the other hand, I and hopefully you are among those who did receive Him.
    b. And going back to our opening scripture Gen. 12:3 – Jesus is the ultimate blessing to the Jews and to the whole earth.
  9. Backing up, I quickly understood this love of God for Israel and the associated blessing for treating the Jews well.
    a. When we pastored, our church always displayed the Israeli flag as a symbol of our Jewish roots. As a pastor, my boss was (and still is) a former Jewish carpenter.
    b. My wife and I give a significant percentage of our income to missions including several mission organizations that minister especially to Israel and Jewish people.
    B. Politics
  10. We’ve talked about Israel, now let’s address politics.
  11. I am going to use a tongue-in-cheek definition that I heard a former U.S. congressman use. He said, “Let’s break the word politics down into its syllables. ‘Poli’ is a Greek prefix that means many. A tick is a parasitic insect that sucks blood. The Bible teaches that the blood is the life of the flesh thereof. So politics means many parasites who suck the lifeblood of the people they govern.”
  12. In all honesty, this definition does not fit all politicians, but unfortunately it fits far too many. Many, many of today’s politicians are parasites who have been corrupted by the prevailing political climate. (I realize that defining a word by using a variation of the word is not good practice, but it seems to work).
    a. Unfortunately, there is an atmosphere of corruption that permeates far too many of the United States’ political capitol cities.
  13. This was not the way the authors and signers of the constitution envisioned it. They tried to protect against this kind of corruption. They envisioned a congress where respected citizens (businessmen, farmers, and professionals) would spend a portion of two years helping to create legislation for the country and then return to their occupations.
    a. However, someone discovered that you could wine, dine, and otherwise entertain these civilian legislators to at least look favorably upon, and possibly even support, a “pet” project or law that you were promoting. Unfortunately, many of the civilians legislators became addicted to the treatment they received from the “lobbyists” and, voila, a class of professional politicians emerged.
    b. Many of these politicians have lived in this climate of the lobbyists for so long that they no longer have the emotional and motivational ties with their constituents that they originally had. Their addiction to the favors of the lobbyist have caused them to place the ideology of the lobbyist above the concerns and welfare of their constituents.
    c. Israel & Politics
  14. Back to Israel
    a. Now what does politics have to do with Israel?
    b. Gen 12:3 – I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
    c. To those who understand the Bible, this is a no-brainer – be on the side of Israel.
    d. Unfortunately, very few people (relatively) are capable of interpreting the Bible correctly.
    (1) First, only born-again Christians can hope to understand the Bible:
    (a) 1 Cor 2:14 – But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
    i) In this verse, the natural man is the unborn-again man. The verse says that person cannot understand the things of God.
    (2) What does this have to do with Israel, simply this, throughout the ages, many persons who have called themselves Christians, have called the Jews, the Israelites, Christ-killers and have engendered hatred for the Jewish people and Israel.
    (a) That simply is not true. Let me say it again – it simply in not true that the Jews are or were Christ-killers. Jesus was born to die on the cross. He was crucified (in the mind of God) before He entered the world.
    i) Rev 13:8 – All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
    ii) God knew that Adam & Eve would blow it and sin. So, He, God the Father, planned for it before He ever created mankind.
    iii) The Jews didn’t kill Jesus, they were simply instruments in the hand of God. Mankind, in the persons of Adam & Eve, and all their offspring (including you and I) killed Jesus.
    (b) Throughout the centuries, the Jews have been persecuted for being Christ-killers: For example, in the Spanish inquisitions, in the Polish pogroms, in the German Holocaust.
    (c) Today, we see evidences of anti-Semitism in the U.S. in the burning and desecration of synagogues and in attacks on Jewish people.
    e. But in the beginning of this nation, Jews were tolerated and accepted, even appreciated by those in authority.
    (1) I have been told that at least one wealthy Jew helped to finance George Washington’s military campaigns by lending a million dollars to the country. That was a tremendous amount of money at that time.
    (2) When Israel declared itself as a sovereign nation in 1948, Pres. Harry Truman was the first international leader to recognize their sovereign independence.
    (3) When Israel was about to be defeated in the 6-Day War because they ran out of bombs and bullets, Pres. Richard Nixon sent armaments to Israel.
    (4) Pres. Donald Trump was the first international leader to recognize Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of the nation of Israel – that was a landmark decision for Israel. It made a tremendous change in the international political atmosphere.
  15. On the other hand there are many politicians (i.e., many blood-sucking parasites) in this nation who support the enemies of Israel – who are aligning themselves on the “curse” side.
    a. They would take away the land belonging to the nation of Israel and give it to the Palestinians who are the avowed enemies of Israel. This is absolutely contrary to the will of God. God gave the title deed to a great tract of land in the Middle East to Abraham and his descendants; basically the boundaries are from the southern boundary of Lebanon in the north to the southern boundary of Jordan in the South and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Euphrates River in the East. This includes all of what is now Israel (including the so-called West Bank),
    and what is now the country of Jordan and a large portion of the nation of Iraq.
    (1) Along this line, there is a movement, even among so-called Christian churches called “Social Justice” that would promote “justice” for oppressed people (especially Palestinians). Folks, “Social Justice” is a code-word for anti-Semitism.
    b. The real purpose of the so-called “Iranian Nuclear Treaty”, which was cancelled by Pres. Trump and is now being renegotiated, is not to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but rather to help them attain a nuclear arsenal by supplying them with finances and resources to do so. Remember, Iran’s avowed goal is to wipe Israel off the map.
  16. Again, many of the politicians are helping to set the scene for the “last-days” battle of Eze. chapter
  17. The nations of Iran, Russia, Germany, North Korea, and China are developing alliances that are anti-Israel. Our politicians are putting this nation in the position of fighting against God.
    a. Over the years, I have read and heard that U.S.A. will be an ally of Israel in that battle, but I’ve never been able to accept that. I have never found any scripture that I believe identified the U.S.A. in that alignment of nations, but it seems to many that as the world’s only superpower, we could not stand idly by and watch Israel fight for her very life.
    b. But now our blood-sucking parasites (oops, I meant politicians) are reducing our nation from superpower status to third-world nation status. From the status of stellar warriors to worried onlookers.
    c. Our parasites stood by as we were humiliated in Afghanistan and lost a large fortune worth of military hardware and priceless human resources were turned over to our avowed enemies.
    d. Similarly, we are being humiliated as we stand more or less idly by and watch a friendly nation (Ukraine) heroically fight for her life.
    D. Bottom Line
  18. So what is the upshot and meaning of all this.
  19. First, understand, that the United States is not the most important country in the world and that neither Washington, DC, nor New York City, is the most important city in the world.
  20. Israel is the most important country in the world and Jerusalem is the most important city in the world. If you desire God’s blessing in your life, you need to come into agreement with God on those facts.
  21. If you are not in agreement that Israel and the Jews are very important to God, you need to examine the scriptures and ask God to help you make His priorities your priorities. Great blessings in your life are tied to your attitude toward and your treatment of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.
  22. Perhaps you didn’t know this, but scripture says that if you are a born-again believer in the Messiah, Jesus Christ; that you a spiritual Jew:
    a. Rom 2:28-29 – 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
  23. A final thought, I have repeatedly heard conservative talk-show hosts speak about American exceptionalism. They speak of America’s ingenuity and work ethic having made this country great. They are wrong, American’s are no smarter than Jews, Russians, Germans, Chinese, and many other ethnicities.
    a. It is true, however, that America has been an exceptional country. That is because the founders and framers of this nation had an exceptional relationship with an exceptional God (the only true God – the Father of Jesus Christ). That exceptional relationship laid the foundation and framework that made this nation great.
    b. But understand this, the blooding-sucking politicians have almost destroyed that relationship between the U.S.A. and the Creator.
    c. Bottom line –
  24. Don’t let the politicians and the mainstream media lead you astray; keep your focus on God and His priorities and experience His favor and blessings in your life.
    a. Until next time, this is Bill Bakkeby, asking God, the Father, to bless and keep you and to smile upon you, giving you God’s peace.
    – wmb –

Awake 004- Under His Wings


Attention:
In our last session we talked about different kinds of faith: saving faith, dead faith, faith for healing, faith to live by. Today I want to talk about faith for protection.
Text: Psa 91:1,4 – 1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
Introduction:
The world system wants you to live by its tenets. To place your trust in the world system to protect and care for you. God, on the other hand, wants your trust to be in Him.

I. UNDER HIS WINGS
A. The World System

  1. Jesus spoke of the world and the ruler of this world:
    a. John 14:30 – I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
    b. John 16:33 – These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
    c. In these two verses Jesus speaks of the world and the ruler of the world. Let’s define these words:
    (1) World – the Gr. word is cosmos – which means the world systems. The world itself belongs to God, but the world systems belong to the ruler of the world. What are the world systems: the political system, the educational system, the financial system, the medical system, and the religious system. – we’ll come back to religion.
    (2) Ruler of this world – in the garden, God gave mankind (in the persons of Adam & Eve) a 6,000 year lease on the governorship of the world. Adam & Eve lost this authority when they disobeyed God. Satan, the devil, being aggressive, usurped the authority that had been given to Adam & Eve, and he, Satan, is now the interim (the pro temp) ruler of the world.
    (3) Coming back to religion –
    (4) Note – Christianity is not a religion it is a faith:
    (a) Religion (all religions) are an attempt by man to atone for their shortcomings (sins) by doing good works to please God and to earn His love and His forgiveness. Jesus said that is an impossibility.
    i) Mark 10:26-27 – 26 And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?” 27 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”
    (b) Christianity is a faith – it is simply trusting in God that He will be true to His promises and fulfil them. Salvation comes by accepting Jesus as your atonement and your personal Savior and Lord.
    (c) Psalm 91
    B. At this time I’m going to read the entire Psalm 91, we’ll examine it in some detail later
    C. Psalm 91:1-16 – 1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand;
    But it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. 12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. 13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. 14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
    15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
  2. Psalm 91 is a litany of God’s protection and care for His children. It is invoked by the word’s of our mouth. Previously, I’ve stated that we are made in God’s image and that like Him our words are powerful and have the ability to change things and to enforce things.
    a. Psalm 91:1-2 – 1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
  3. My family, my wife, two sons, and I were in Iran when the Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah of Iran. In the early part of the revolution, I receive an anonymous letter which contained a printed card with Psalm 91 on one side and on the other side the story of a British Regiment during WW-I. The British Regiment was in the thick of the fighting. Daily they assembled and recited Psalm 91 as a group – even during the worst of the combat, the regiment suffered no casualties.
    a. Later, during the Gulf War, I heard the testimony of a US Army Chaplain, who led his regiment in daily recitation of Psalm 91, they also suffered no casualties.
    b. Back in Iran, I shared the Psalm 91 card with my family and our prayer group and we all confessed Jesus as our refuge and fortress – no harm came to us.
    (1) My family was evacuated in Dec. 1978, and I remained until after Khomeini took over. My prayer partner, Joe G. was at Mehrabad airport when the Iranian Revolutionaries were assaulting the airfield. American contractors were cowering in hangers and under workbenches in fear. Joe prayed Psa. 91, esp vs 5-7 – 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you – as a confession of his faith. Then he commandeered a VW sedan and drove around in the fusillade of bullets, ferrying workers to evacuation helicopters. Neither he nor his passengers were injured.
    D. My Psalm 91 Stand
  4. The world system is using current crises to restrict the freedom of its citizens. No where is this more pronounced than here in the United States where Covid-19 has been used to control the population. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to travel, and freedom of religion have all been affected to a degree.
    a. They have loaded us down with rules, rules, and more rules:
    b. Get vaccinated, get re-vaccinated, get your naturally immune children vaccinated, wear a mask, no more than 50 people in a meeting, social distancing, can’t fly without a vaccination, you must have a vaccination record.
  5. I have drawn a line – I refuse to get vaccinated. Why? I see the vaccination record as a
    precursor to the mark of the beast predicted in the Book of Revelation. Wait! I know it’s not the Mark of the Beast; but, it is training the population to be unquestioningly obedient to the dictates of the government. It is being used to curtail our rights as American citizens as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
  6. These are the verses I’m basing my faith on:
    a. Psa 91:3-10 – 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
    b. God says that in His refuge, I’m protected from pestilences and plagues. Covid-19 is a
    pestilence and a plague and I’ve taken my oral vaccine.
    c. I’m not suggesting that everyone should rely on Psa. 91 as their vaccination. According to your faith, be it unto you.
    d. You must develop your faith.
    e. Angel Wings
  7. One more story about God’s protection:
  8. When Khomeini took over the country of Iran, I was on the first planeload of true evacuees.
  9. We were escorted onto our Boeing 707 by Revolutionary Guards – mostly teenagers armed with AK-47 automatic rifles – very scary.
  10. They kept loading us on and taking us off the plane to search and re-search our luggage.
  11. My seat-mate was a young Baptist man who was becoming frightened by the harassment from the guards. He was certain that they would shoot us or shoot down the plane as it was taking off.
  12. When he told me of his fears, God dropped the verse reference Isa. 41:10 into my heart. I had to look it up in my Bible, as I didn’t know the verse.
    a. Isa. 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
    b. I read it and then I told my seat-mate, “Don’t worry or be afraid, God just showed me that as long as I am on this plane, it’s going to get to its destination safely.”
    (1) That may sound presumptuous, but that’s what faith does, faith boldly declares what it believes.
    (2) 2 Cor 4:13 – And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED AND THEREFORE I SPOKE,” we also believe and therefore speak,
    (3) We read the Word, we hear the Word, we believe, and we speak, confessing our faith.
    c. Years later I told this story to my church congregation. We had a woman, Lydia, whose college-age daughter was afraid of flying. None-the-less, the daughter was flying back to college out of state. Lydia, put her on the plane and prayed the protection of Isa. 41:10 for her daughter. A white-knuckle flyer, in mid-flight, the daughter burst out laughing. Seated behind the wing, she had looked out the window and seen an angel behind the wing, holding it up and pushing the plane onward. Through the Word of God and prayer, Lydia’s daughter had overcome her fears.
    F. Overcomers
  13. God is looking for a family of overcomers. In Rev. chaps 2 & 3, God promises rewards to overcomers.

    a. We overcome through our faith.
  14. 1 John 5:4-5 – 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
    a. God is looking for overcomers
    b. We overcome by our faith
    c. We get our faith by hearing and hearing and hearing – and hearing by the Word of God.
    d. We develop our overcoming faith by using it – i.e., by believing God and relying on His promises in life.
  15. Keep on listening and hearing the Word of God.
  16. Become an overcomer. Please join me for the next episode of Awake.
    – wmb –

Awake 003 – Not Ashamed

Attention:
In my last message, we discussed death, righteousness, and faith. We said that the righteousness that God is concerned with means “right standing with God.” That is not a righteousness that we can earn; rather, it is imputed to us by God because we exhibit faith. Faith is the only way for a human being to attain God’s righteousness.
Text: Rom 1:16-17 – 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Introduction:
I want to start by discussing the power of the Gospel and then discuss the concept of living by faith.
I. NOT ASHAMED
A. The Gospel

  1. Rom 1:16 – 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
    a. Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel – but what is the gospel?
    (1) In I Cor 15, Paul talks about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus being the “Gospel.”
    (2) To me, that does mean much to an unbeliever; after all the gospel is for the unbeliever
    (3) The word “gospel” comes from the Greek word – euaggelion – yoo-ang-ghel’-ee-on – evangel – which means a good message, that is, the gospel.
    (a) To me the Good News is not the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but rather the
    results of His crucifixion and resurrection
    b. Rom 5:1 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
    Jesus Christ,
    (1) Let me interpret this verse for you – it says that if we accept God’s answer to sin; i.e., to our alienation from God, that He’s not mad at us. God, the Father, took out His anger toward us on His Son Jesus, and therefore, He can be at peace with us. That is He will have no issues with us.
    (2) To simplify it, I say it this way, “God’s not mad at you!”
    (a) My, wife, Elaine, before she became a Christian was a member of a large religious
    denomination. Whenever, she would go to church, she would be in fear wondering, “Is God going to strike me dead because of some infraction I’ve made.”
    (b) Now she goes to church with joy because she’s going to worship, i.e., celebrate with her Father.
    c. Going back to Rom 1:16
    (1) Rom 1:16 – 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
    (a) It says that the gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes
    i) Let’s talk about that word power first – in the Greek – it means dynamic power (i.e., dynamite power – miracle working power)
    (b) The verse says it is the power for salvation – salvation is another word we need to talk about
    (c) In the Scofield Bible (it used to be a favorite Baptist study Bible) there is a note on Rom. 1:16 – The Heb. & Gr. words for salvation imply the ideas of deliverance, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness. Salvation is the great inclusive word of the Gospel, gathering into itself all the redemptive acts and processes: as justification, redemption, grace, propitiation, imputation, forgiveness, sanctification, and glorification. Salvation is in three tenses:
    i) The believer has been saved from the guilt and penalty of sin;
    ii) The believer is being saved from the habit and dominion of sin.;
    iii) The believer is to be saved in the sense of entire conformity to Christ.
    (2) Going back to the power of a changed life –
    (a) BC (before Christ), I was addicted to alcohol; I had had several alcoholic blackouts – not a good thing.
    (b) In a desperate situation I prayed a three-word prayer, “God help me!” I was instantly saved and delivered from alcohol. I continued to drink for a few days because of habit – but when I realized that the addiction was gone, I poured the alcohol down the drain and that was it. No withdrawal symptoms, no will power required
    (c) There was another change – my mouth
    (d) The Gospel is the power of a changed life.
    d. So my beloved friend – if you have received Jesus, you should expect change (for the better) in your life.
  2. Now let’s look at Rom 1:17
    B. LIVING BY FAITH
  3. Rom 1:17 – For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
    a. Notice that the verse said the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith
    (1) That means there different kinds of faith
    (2) The most important kind of faith is saving faith or faith to receive eternal life – the Bible calls life in heaven with God – eternal life.
    (a) Why? Simply because it gets you into the Kingdom of God
    b. Eph 2:8-9 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
    (1) Even here it’s not your faith – God gives us the faith to get saved
    (2) He gives it to us through His Word
    (a) Rom 10:17 – So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
    i) In the last session, we talk about how the word hearing in the Greek means repeatedly and continuously hearing.
    ii) This is an individual thing, you may receive faith the first time you hear or maybe, 1,001st time.

    c. Going back to
    (1) Rom 1:17 – For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
    (a) notice that it says from faith to faith
    (b) the Bible talks about other kinds of faith
    (c) For example Paul speaks of faith to be healed
    i) Acts 14:8-10 – 8 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. 9 This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.
    ii) Whatever Paul was preaching, it stirred up faith to receive healing in the crippled man. He heard the Word and faith came. Then came healing.
    iii) Faith for healing comes from what is preached:
    a) If salvation is preached, faith to be saved will come
    b) If healing is preached, faith for healing will come
    c) If financial prosperity is preached, faith for finances will come
    d) If protection is preached, faith for protection will come
    e) We’ll come back to this – next session
    iv) Let’s talk about one more kind of faith
    a) Dead faith
    1) James 2:14-17 – 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith
    but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

    16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
    2) In this passage it is saying that faith that is not accompanied by works is dead – that
    is, it doesn’t touch or ignite the supernatural.
    3) If you truly believe you’re in God’s family and that God is your source, you will be
    generous and will share with needy people
    4) If your faith doesn’t touch the supernatural, you’re in trouble – you’re not going to
    make it to heaven
    5) Martin Luther, one of the leaders of the Protestant movement, wanted to throw the
    book of James out of the Bible because of James’ emphasis on works. Luther came from a denomination that preached salvation through works. Luther knew from personal experience that good works alone would not produce salvation
    v) Let’s look at a different translation – this is the same passage from the Weymouth translation:
    a) James 2:14-17 – 14 What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and
    yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a Christian brother or sister is poorly clad or lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “I wish you well; keep yourselves warm and well fed,” and yet you do not give them what they need; what is the use of that? 17 So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, has no life in it–so long as it stands alone.
    1) Notice that the word “works” has been replaced by the words ” corresponding
    actions”.
  4. What are corresponding actions?
    a. Rom 10:8-10 – 8 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 09 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
    b. This is now a familiar passage to us. Notice that it says the Word is in our heart and in our mouth. It says we must believe in our heart and say with the mouth that, “Jesus is Lord;” i.e , He is Lord of the universe and your Lord and my Lord.
    (1) If you don’t confess His Lordship with your mouth, you don’t get saved. Duh
    (a) Confessing with your mouth is the corresponding action to believing in your heart resulting in your salvation.
    (2) Folks, I hate to say this, but there a lot of people sitting in church pews who believe in their heads that Jesus was crucified for their salvation. But they have confessed confessed their faith and Jesus’ Lordship; so they are still spiritually dead and alienated from God.
    (a) When death comes, they’re liable to be very surprised and very disappointed.
    (b) Many preachers call this kind of dead faith – mental ascent – that is agreeing to the facts –it’s nice, but it won’t save you.
    (c) But, it’s so easy to change that; simply believe it in your heart and say it with your mouth.
    (d) My experience is that if you are truly born again – truly saved – you want to talk about it.
    i) If you run into someone who says that their faith/religious beliefs are too private to be talked about; you can be reasonably certain that person is not saved.
    c. Going back to the cripple Paul preached to;
    (1) Paul said stand on your feet and the man stood on his feet.
    (a) The cripple’s corresponding action was to try to do something he had never done
    (b) When he tried, God jumped and completed the process
    (c) The cripple had live faith because he had corresponding actions – he acted healed.
    (2) He had latent faith to be healed which was ignited by what he heard, “Stand up straight on your feet…”
    (a) Folks, go to a church that preaches the Word in a faith producing manner.
    (b) In the next session we’ll discuss faith for protection.
    – wmb –

Awake 002- Dealing with Death by Faith


Attention:
In my previous message, I told you we would now discuss FAITH and we shall, but first I need to finish up on our discussion of death.
Text: Hab 2:4 – “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”
Introduction:
In the previous lesson we spoke about the “Woke” movement.
The “Wokes” disregard the Bible; believing that it is an archaic book that is filled with myths, fairy tales and wishful thinking.
They could not be further from the truth. But then, they, the “Wokes”, have no faith. They don’t meet the criteria in our opening verse – “… the just shall live by his faith.” Variations of that verse are in the Bible 4 times. Anytime God repeats something 4 times, you can know that it is very important.
I was once at best an agnostic and I ran from God. Thankfully, He chased me down and brought me to faith in Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Since then, God has demonstrated to me the absolute truth of a great number of the passages in the Bible. The result is that I accept the entire Bible as literally true.

There are no myths or fairytales in the Bible. If the Bible says that the waters parted and the Israelites walked across the Red Sea on dry ground – then the Israelites walked on dry ground. If the Bible says the sun and the moon stood still then that’s what happened. The Bible is true and can by trusted.

There may be minor errors in the translations of Bible that are misunderstandings of the translators; e.g., as we talked about in the last lesson in Gen 2:17 – “. . . dying ye shall die.” But God’s Word, the Bible, is without error. You can bank your life on it – in fact, you had better bank your life on it.

I. Understanding Death
A. Original Sin

  1. Gen 2:17 – but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
    a. Last session – Adam & Eve ate – mankind died spiritually – followed by physical death
    b. All their progeny were (and are) also dead – Alienated from God
    (1) The Bible calls this condition of being alienated from God – sinners
    (a) In my estimation, this is an unfortunate choice of words
    (b) Why because the term “sinners” conjures up images of hardened criminals willfully conduction heinous acts and crimes
    (c) Most people aren’t like that, but they are “sinners”; that is – they are alienated from God
    (d) In this way we get the cart before the horse
    (2) We are not “sinners” because of what we do
    (a) We do things because of what we are
    (b) Dogs bark because they are dogs
    (c) Cows moo because they are cows
    (d) Sinners sin commit sins (transgressions) because they are sinners
    (e) Everyone has broken one of the 10 commandments
    i) If not overtly – they have broken the 10th one – don’t even think about breaking one of the first nine.
    (3) Getting back to “alienated from God” – personally, I believe it’s less offensive to tell someone that they are alienated from God, rather than declare bluntly, you are a SINNER.
    (4) Which should lead us to righteousness – but we haven’t finished with death
  2. Three deaths
    a. The Bible talks about three deaths –
    (1) Spiritual death – separation from God
    (a) This is a given
    (b) Because of A & E’s original sin, you entered life spiritually dead – separated and alienated from God (i.e., a sinner); but there are two more deaths to deal with:
    (2) Physical death – this is the one that most people are fearful of
    (a) The saying is that there are two things certain in life – death and taxes
    i) Actually, there will be a multitude of Christians who may escape physically death – by being raptured – taken bodily to heaven by Jesus Christ Himself
    (b) But, as most of us know, our bodies age, wear out, and then just quit on us.
    i) The “Wokes” would have us believe that, when our bodies quit on us that it is the end. We will be – “dead like a dog” – of no further significance
    ii) That is a lie of the Devil – Satan
    (c) Heb 9:27 – And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
    i) This is speaking of physical death – it says physical death will be followed by the judgment of our lives
    (3) Eternal death
    (a) The third death is eternal death – eternal separation from God – through incarceration in the lake of fire
    (b) Rev 20:13-15 – 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades
    delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
    i) Folks this is why I made this podcast and why I will follow it with more podcasts – I want you to escape the second death – the lake of fire.
    ii) Rev 2:11 – “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” ‘
    a) This Jesus speaking and He said that overcomers will not be hurt by the second death
    1) if you’re an overcomer that’s great news
    2) if you’re not an overcame – wellllll
    (c) Now we’re ready to look at righteousness
    B. None Righteous
  3. Rom 3:10 – As it is written: “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE;
    a. This scripture recognizes that everyone is born alienated from God.
    b. But we need to understand righteousness.
  4. There are a couple of definitions for righteousness:
    a. The first is living righteously, i.e., always doing the right thing
    b. Forget it – you can’t do it
    c. Isa 64:6 – But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
    d. There has been and is only one human being Who ever did it all right
    (1) His Name is Jesus Christ.
    (2) Heb 4:15 – For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
  5. One of the reasons the Bible is to be trusted is that it reveals the humanity, the errors and the sins, of its heroes:
    a. Moses, “the lawgiver” couldn’t keep the law for 24 hours. He smashed the tablets of stone containing the law the same day he received them
    b. Before that – he was a murderer.
    c. Abraham, the patriarch of the Jews “pimped” out his wife’s beauty twice to insure his personal safety.
    d. King David was an adulterer, a liar and a murderer.
  6. Yet these three people and many more are listed in God’s Hall of Fame of Faith.
    a. How? Why?
    b. What could make such people who were obviously alienated and did evil things acceptable to God and get them listed in the Hall of Fame?
    c. One word – Faith

    C. What is Faith?
  7. The best commentary on the Bible is – the Bible!
    a. In other words, if you search diligently in the Bible, God will reveal to you what He considers to be important for you to know.
  8. Heb 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
    a. What I want you to see here is that faith is absolutely necessary.
    (1) If you want to be an overcame and avoid the second death – the lake of fire.
    b. Faith that pleases God requires two things:
    (1) You must believe that God is –
    (a) That is that God is the Creator, the designer, the owner and ruler of the universe
    i) This includes believing the Creation story of Genesis that you are the result of intelligent design
    ii) Not that you are just some anomaly of a space creature that barfed on a rock and spawned life in an amoeba that evolved into what we see today
    (2) Secondly, you must believe that He – God – is a rewarder
    (a) That He gives us benefits in this temporal lite
    (b) And, eternal life in the ages to come
    c. In other words, believe that God created you and that He will take care of you
  9. An aside – we have to deal with an objection
    a. The “Wokes” and actually, the majority of mankind, will ask a question
    (1) If there is a loving God, and He’s good and loving why is there so much evil and suffering of seemingly innocent people in the world?
    a) I have at least two responses to that
    i) Original sin – all mankind is estranged from God
    ii) Choice – Deut 30:19 – I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
    b. God has given us free will
    (1) Life – we can choose to acknowledge God and follow His directions for our lives, or;
    (2) Death – we can ignore God and follow the dictates of the world system – currently – the “Wokes” ideology:
    c. Consider free choice
    (1) Wear a mask
    (a) The “Wokes” say we must
    (b) God is silent – it’s up to us
    (2) Get vaccinated
    (a) The “Wokes” say we must – going on 3 or 4 times now
    (b) God says it up to us,
    i) However, I believe He prefers we trust Him
    (3) Gun ownership
    (a) Wokes say we must restrict gun ownership
    (b) God – Jesus told His disciples to buy swords (gun equivalents of that day)
    (4) Women’s rights
    (a) “Wokes” – desire unlimited abortion
    (b) God – be fruitful and multiply – have lots of babies – and “thou shalt not kill” (commit murder)
    (5) Christianity
    (a) “Wokes” – evangelical Christians are domestic terrorists and a great threat to the nation and the world
    (b) God – they are my Over comers and a great blessing to the world
    (6) Your choice follow the “Wokes” or follow God
  10. Back to Faith

    a. Heb 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
    (1) Now this is a little bit wild – it says faith must be based on things that we can’t see, touch, or taste
    (2) Also, that the things which we expect (hope for) in future are built of faith
    b. Heb 11:2 – For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
    (1) This verse says that the three men I mentioned earlier: Abraham, Moses, David, and a bunch of others made it into God’s Hall of Fame because of faith
    c. Heb 11:3 – By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
    (1) By rearranging the word order slightly, we see that Jesus spoke the re-creation into existence because He had faith in His Words
  11. Where does Faith Come From?
    a. Back to Abraham
    (1) Gen 15:6 – And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
    (a) When Abraham heard God’s voice, he listened and obeyed
    (b) God told Abraham to leave the city of Ur
    i) Ur – very sophisticated – it had hot and cold running water
    ii) God said go live in a tent and Abraham packed up his family and moved into the
    wilderness in tent
    (c) God recognized this faith – hearing the word – and acting on it
    (d) Because of Abraham’s faith in acting on many instructions from God, God imputed
    righteousness to him
    b. Right standing with God
    (1) This kind of righteousness is called right standing with God
    (a) It is the ability to stand before God just as if you had never sinned – this is also the definition of justified and justification
    (b) You can never be declared righteous because of your works
    (c) But you can by declared righteous because of your faith
    c. Rom 3:21 – 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
    (1) This passage is talking about that “imputed righteousness” – it says vs 22 – that it is available to everyone through faith in Jesus. I left vs 23 in the passage to put it in context – it says that all mankind is the same boat because of alienation from God
    d. Rom 10:17 – So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
    (1) Faith comes from hearing God’s Word
    (a) In the Greek, this verse says from repeatedly hearing the Word of God
    i) You might get faith on the first hearing
    ii) You may have to hear hundreds of times before faith comes
    iii) Bev. Wigley story …
    e. Rom 10:8-10 – 8 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
    f. This is God’s plan of salvation for mankind
    (1) This is the way to get your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life
    (2) Believe in your heart (note that it doesn’t say believe in your head).
    (a) Follow your heart – not your head – your heart can say yes why your head isn’t sure what to think
    (3) If you confess with your mouth (confess essentially means to agree with God by saying the same thing God says; i.e., Jesus is the Lord of the universe and of you also) and believe that Jesus was crucified to pay for our sins and God has raised dead – you will receive salvation, redemption, justification, be declared righteous and have your name written in the Book of Life.
    g. If you haven’t prayed this prayer before or if you are unsure of your standing with God, then pray the prayer.
    h. Join me again for another faith lesson.
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Awake 001-In the Beginning

My name is Bill Bakkeby. I have been convicted that I must do something to help people as this nation (the United States) and most of the world are rushing headlong into oblivion. God has shown me that I cannot just stand by and watch passively. That is my motivation for this podcast – “Awake”.

A little background: for over 30 years I pastored a Pentecostal church which I had pioneered; then I turned it over to a young disciple who is continuing on. I was/am not really a preacher but rather a teacher who relies heavily on scripture for my messages.
As a teacher, I taught and teach the fundamentals. I like to use John Wooten the former coach of the four-time national champion UCLA Bruins basketball team as an example. He, too, emphasized the basics. Each year, he would start preparing for the coming season by assembling his national championship team, holding a basketball in his hand and stating, “This gentlemen, is a basketball.”

Unless I state otherwise, I will be using the NKJV of the Bible for my verse quotations.

Psa 1:1-3 – 1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Introduction:
We are living in the “Woke” generation of political correctness. This is a very difficult time to be living as we are being saturated with the “Woke” ideology. The news media, print, television, movies, sports, saturate the public with “wokeness.”

Our opening scripture says, 1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;.
Frankly, beloved, those three adjectives: “ungodly”, “sinners”, and “scornful” describe the
promoters of “wokeness”.

Then the scripture goes on to say: 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. This scripture says that we should get our wisdom from God the Creator Who knows everything, rather than from a group of intellectual elites who think they have everything figured out. It says that if we meditate in His Word – meditate means to chew on it – to incarnate it – i.e., meditate until it becomes part of us as when we eat a delicious meal that literally does become part of our bodies. Continuing on, when we meditate and incarnate the Word of God we will become fruitful and prosperous. Understand that this is a process. It takes years for a newly planted vineyard to produce grapes. With these thoughts in mind, let’s start at the beginning.

I. In the Beginning
A. The Creation

  1. Gen 1:1-3 – 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
    a. These three verses are our introduction to God and they are filled with divine revelation (revelation is insight into the nature of things that cannot be understood from natural human resources).
    (1) We will see later in this chapter (Genesis 1) that God re-created the earth and created mankind in six days; also by using the chronology in the Bible we learn that this re-creation happened about 6,000 years ago. Yet our human science using all it’s technology and accumulated knowledge estimates that the universe and the earth are millions if not billions of years old.
    (2) Beloved, there is nothing in the Bible that contradicts that scientific aging. Let’s look at verses 1 & 2 again – 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. – in the ages past, God created the heavens and the earth – when? only God knows. Then verse 2 says – 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Here it states that earth was without form and void. When? With the help of the hindsight of Biblical prophesy we are given some more revelation or insight:
    (a) Isa 45:18 – For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who
    formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
    i) In this passage The Lord God said that He didn’t create the earth to be formless and void. He made it to be inhabited. Therefore, it follows that when the earth was created, it was inhabited and had light (it was not lying in darkness). So apparently there seems to have been an unspecified period of time between the original creation and the re-creation which begins in Gen 1:3.
    (b) Even more revelation, beginning in verse 2, God is unveiling the Godhead. In verse 1, God (the Father) created the heavens and the earth; then in verse 2, the Holy Spirit (a separate and distinct person of the Godhead) is introduced hovering and brooding over the waters of the devastated planet earth.
    (3) The re-creation of the earth begins in Gen 1:3 and ends in Gen 1:31. Gen 1:3 – Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Oh, there is so much in this verse:
    (a) First, God’s creative power is in His voice in His Words – God creates by saying “let there be” and then the Bible tells us – “so it is”.
    (b) This is the second person of the trinity or of the Godhead; although we met the Holy Spirit in verse 2, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the third person of the Trinity.
    i) The apostle John introduces us to this second person in his book the Gospel of John. John 1:1-3 – 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
    a) In the beginning, the person we know as Jesus was a member of the Godhead and
    was called the Word of God. He is the One Who spoke all things into being.
    ii) Going back to Gen 1:3 – He said, Let there be light and light was – obviously, He spoke with authority and His Words carried power.
    a) As an aside, His Words still carry power and that power can be released or
    manifested today by speaking His Words in faith.
    iii) This was day 1 of the re-creation – let’s skip ahead to day 6:
    (4) Gen 1:26-27 – 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our
    likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
    (a) Again, let’s look at the revelation in these two verses
    i) God said – the Trinity agreed
    ii) Let us – the Trinity – Father, Word, and Holy Spirit
    iii) Make man in Our image – let Us create a living being to inhabit the earth that has the same characteristics as we do
    iv) Just as the Godhead is a Trinity so also God created a living being that is a trinity
    a) 1 Thes 5:23 – Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may
    your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
    b) That is to say, we humans are spirits, we have a soul or a mind, and we live in a body.
    v) The second god-like characteristic we were given is articulate speech. Of all the
    thousands of life-forms on the earth, only mankind has the power of articulate speech. Remember, that the Word recreated the earth through the power of the spoken Word.
    vi) Thirdly, God delegated to mankind sovereign authority over all forms of life on the earth.
    vii) Fourth, God created humans in two genders, male and female and gave them the
    power of reproduction.
    a) An aside, this podcast is “Awake” as opposed to “woke.’ The deceived “wokes” have
    codified 38 genders while the Creator only made two – male and female – well Duh.
    (5) Gen 1:28 – Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
    (a) Notice what God called mankind to do – be fruitful and multiply – have lots of kids. Again the “wokes” promote abortion and and other forms of population reduction – Covid-19. God, on the other hand promotes population growth and expansion. He (the Trinity) wants lots of kids.
    i) Before I became a Christian, the world’s intelligensia were saying the world was
    overpopulated (there were about 2 billion people) and was going to run out of resources. Now there are more than 8 billion people and there are more than enough resources. Understand that inadequate distribution is a result of the greed of world leaders, not because of insufficient resources. One of the covenant names of God is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord Our Provider. God insures that there sufficient resources for His kids.
  2. God wraps up the re-creation in Gen 1:31 —
    a. Gen 1:31 — Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
    b. God saw that the re-creation including mankind was very good. Also notice that re-creation was finished on the 6th day and that these were 24-hour day consisting of night and day. Note that for Jews, the day begins in the evening (6:00 pm).
  3. B. The Fall
  4. Let’s skip ahead to the fall of man.
  5. Gen 2:15-17 – 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
    a. I’m sure that you’ve heard of the Garden of Eden which God created to sustain mankind and to give them an occupation and a responsibility. The occupation was to tend, i.e., take care of the garden; the responsibility was to keep it or to guard it from intruders.
    b. The garden contained every kind of fruit, berry, nut, vegetable, and melon that you now enjoy and probably a lot we’ve never heard of. It also contained two special trees: the tree of life (whose fruit would have secured immortality for the eater) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
    (1) God was and is looking for offspring (kids who will be suitable to live with Him for all eternity where He is). So He created a test to discern or determine eligibility; the test was obedience to a simple demand – don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
    (a) Notice in verse 17, it says if you eat of the forbidden tree, it you shall surely die. Actually, that’s not what it says. In the original Hebrew, it says “dying thou shalt die”. The translators took that double death for emphasis – you shall surely die. However, what the Bible reveals is that Adam and Eve’s disobedience immediately caused spiritual death which eventually led to physical death.
    c. In the meantime, God had not yet created the female human.
    (1) Gen 2:18,21-22 – 18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
    (a) So God went ahead and created the woman out of a portion of the man Adam, that is God took all Adam’s female characteristics and placed them in the woman – Eve. Again, when the “wokes” say that men should get in touch with their female attributes – they can’t. God removed the female attributes from the male – Adam – and put them in the female – Eve.
    (b) For a short time Adam and Eve lived as husband and wife in communion with God. They were of His class, triune beings who spoke God’s language and who could converse with Him face-to-face.
    (c) But Adam failed in his duty, he let an interloper, a usurper, Satan, come into garden. And this leads us to the transgression.

    C. The Transgression.
  6. Gen 3:1-6 – 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
  7. Satan, which means the adversary, co-opted the body of a snake and deceived the woman who misled the man causing them to violate God’s single prohibition. “Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” That disobedience has caused mankind problems for all of recorded history.
    a. Just as God had said, both Adam and Eve instantly died spiritually. That is, they were no longer of the same class as God. They were separated from Him and were no longer able to converse with Him face-to-face. They were alienated from God – beloved, this is the definition of “Original Sin” – the alienation of mankind from God. God calls disobedience “Sin”. The Greek word for sin (Greek is the original language of the New Testament) means to miss the mark or to miss the bullseye.
    b. A ramification of this original sin is that the DNA of the male was damaged so all of the man’s offspring for all generations would be alienated from God. This of course includes you and me.
  8. Now it’s time for some good news.
    D. God’s Answer
  9. God knew that this would happen and He planned for it. He didn’t know how long it would take, but He knew that mankind would blow it – so He prepared for it.
  10. Gen 3:12-15 – 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
    a. God reacted to Adam and Eve’s transgression. He ejected the man and the woman from the Garden, He cursed the serpent and Satan, proclaimed enmity between Satan and mankind, and prophesied a Savior.
    (1) He said the Savior would be of the seed of a woman, i.e, of a virgin birth, and He (the Savior) would crush the head of the serpent (Satan). The Savior is the man we know of as Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
    (2) God had planned for this eventuality before He recreated the earth. Justice required that a truly Righteous Man (One Who had never sinned) must die to atone for original sin which had infected all mankind.
    (3) The Word left heaven to become the Righteous One – Jesus – Who entered earth as a man – and died on the cross to make us righteous – that is to restore us to right-standing or fellowship with God. Jesus came to earth to go the the cross and die.
    (4) Rev 13:8 — All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
    (a) This is speaking of Jesus – God provided for Jesus to bring salvation to mankind before He ever created mankind. That, beloved, is good news.
    (b) This salvation was and is available to all humanity of all ages through faith in the promised Savior. What is faith? Beloved, faith is the subject of the next lesson.
    – wmb –