BFF series week 4 – by: Pastor Tracy (notes/video)

Holy Spirit: My Best Friend             Part 4: Living with the Holy Spirit

Sunday April 21, 2013

(John 14:16 NKJ) “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— “

(John16: 7 NKJ) “It is to your advantage that I go away… “

Living in His Strength

(Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)  “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

• To live overcoming ________________.

(Romans 8:12-13 NLT) Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.  For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

• To live doing the __________________.

(Colossians 1:28-29 NIV)  “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuouslycontendwith all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”

Living hearing His voice

• ____________ will.

• ____________ will.

(John 10:4-5 NLT) “… and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Living with His friendship

• He is always _____________.

(John 14:18 NIV) “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

• He can get _______________.

(Ephesians 4: 30-32 NIV) “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealedfor the day of redemption.Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another,forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

• He hungers for our _____________.

• ____________________ Him.

(Proverbs 3:6 NKJ) “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

• ____________ His presence.

(Acts 4:31 NIV) “ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.And they were all filled with the Holy Spiritand spoke the word of Godboldly.”

What is the Holy Spirit saying to me?

Child Dedications 04/14/13

What an exciting time at Life Christian Church!  Our Child Dedication ceremony on 04/14/13, video below:

Cancer healing testimony

Healing Testimony that we’ve been praying about.

Ripped Off series “Armor of God” with Pastor James (video & notes)

Ripped Off Series

The Armor of God video – Pastor James

Weapons of our warfare:

You don’t have to chase the enemy down and find him and beat him up. You don’t have to pick a fight with him. But, we will talk about how to use the armor of God against his tactics and for ourselves.

Ephesians 6:12 NKJV – For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual  hosts  of wickedness in the heavenly  places.

The fight:

• No need to fight the devil, he’s defeated.  He wants you chasing him around, but there’s no need to chase him around. He’s defeated.  The more you chase him around, the more power he has.
• You don’t have to try to defeat him. You enforce the finished work in what you believe. It doesn’t change the enemy’s position of being defeated, but it changes the way you look at him.
  • Examples when it doesn’t feel finished:
    • A disease comes against us, we believe that it was defeated in Jesus body. We fight our flesh and mind to believe.
      • Even if it doesn’t change right away in this realm, it is finished in the realm of the spirit. We stay focused on the promise not the problem. It’s not easy, but it’s the way to see it through. Continue to tell that sickness that it has no hold on you. You are fighting from victory not to it.
    • A bad situation comes up in your business, we believe that John 10:10is for us. We fight to believe that this situation is bound to change to a better one.
      • Even if we don’t see it change right away, we believe that it is being worked out. We don’t stop moving forward, but in the process we continue to thank God for His promises and for the breakthrough.
    • Personal story of healing – sinus infection
      • After the healing took place, I still gargled with salt water and took the physical caution so that it wouldn’t return. I kept thanking God during the process. Even though it seemed it was only a 75% job finished, I didn’t stop thanking God. That thing was completely gone by the next work day which was two days later. Usually that would take a week or more with antibiotics.
• Sometimes Believing is the biggest fight against yourself (your human brain, mind, and flesh). I fight to believe against the odds that are constantly bombarding my world.

Sickness, depression, and strife – the enemy’s tactics to Rip you off.

We have authority over the enemy, but we also have authority over what we choose to receive. The authority was given, it’s up to us to remind ourselves of it more than the enemy tells us otherwise. We will evaluate how to do this today.

Ephesians: I think it’s interesting how Ephesians is laid out. He talks about our redemption, living alive in Christ, his stewardship of the church, unity in the spirit, the Christian walk, being imitators of Christ, marriage, relationships, and then the armor. It’s interesting because Paul encourages through most of the book and then he talks about relationships, marriage, and how to act. I have to believe he hits these points just before the armor of God, because this is where we will need the armor. To act right and hold our relationships together.

In this, we have to recognize that the armor and weaponry isn’t just to fight, but also to fend off the wrong stuff from entering into our lives.

• Their is an offensive approach that is taken when you refuse to let the enemy convince you of anything outside of the Word.

To develop this understanding, I think it will help us to break down the armor that is ours as believers. This will help us understand how to use it.

• For example: if you give your baby a set of keys to the car, will he know what they are for? Will he be able to use them affectively? No, he’ll swing them around and make some noise with them and be completely content that they are really cool to make noise. But, he won’t be able to go anywhere.

Ephesians 6:14-18

• Put on and take up
  • Put on the whole or fullarmor of God
    • Every piece is vital
• Take upthe full armor
  • “raise up” – keep held up. It’s your weaponry. It won’t help you if you don’t keep it raised.

Don’t be ripped off. Let’s take what is rightfully ours and use it.

You might not know this, but this armor is what Jesus put on to bring down the enemy and win over him.

• Tools to your offense
  • Loins girded with truth
    • To see the importance of truth, we’ll take a look at this word “loins“. You probably have a pretty good idea of what region this is in, but let’s clarify. It’s the region that contains the lower spine, the reproductive organs, and the muscles that hold you up.
    • You would probably agree that this is a pretty important area. It’s actually your power plant. If you have an issue in this region, you wouldn’t even be able to use the rest of your body or armor. Truth is a big deal, and we’re faced with deciding on it everyday.
      • Two types of truth:
        • Telling lies or extruding a story to make it sound better.
        • Receiving in facts about a situation or the truth of God’s Word regarding your situation.
          • Mom with cancer: I learned this at a young age. My mom had cancer when I was around maybe 7 or 8 years old. I remember her and my dad having many conversations about it prior to them telling us kids about it. I remember not being scared of losing her, the thought never really even crossed my mind, because the way in which my parents presented it was so faith packed. They told us that mom received some bad results from the doctor, but in every conversation they presented the up side. They told us that she would have to go through some treatment, but that she would be ok. We prayed about it frequently, but it wasn’t a crying type prayer, it was a thankful prayer that God had the rescue plan already in place. It was already accomplished, but we just had to walk it out by faith. Of course I had some questions, but they never allowed those questions to turn to a loss type ending. There was no doubt in my mind that she would make it. This wasn’t because I had some great faith or something, but it was because the only thing that I knew about it was a positive outcome. My parents didn’t even let it spread to our friends, because they knew that it could take a negative spin. My mom is alive today, and this is about 26 years later.
      • Truth will gird your loins, fact will sometimes sway you from the truth. It’s not easy, but it’s well worth it.

We have authority over what we choose to receive. Don’t be ripped off.

• Breastplate of righteousness
  • You’re not good enough
    • You are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Then, He equipped you with the imagery of your breastplate, so you could see that you’re sealed and safe. You’re not in need of putting on your righteousness daily, because you’re called righteous when you accept Jesus.
      • A soldier doesn’t have to put on his breastplate to be a soldier or to be part of the kingdom. However, he wouldn’t be very safe in war without it.
        • Throughout history, the breastplate many times has the logo or stamp of the king on it.
      • Our job is to protect our heart from impurities, negative input, condemnation, anything that opposes the fact that God loves you and thinks you’re special.
        • Or, anything that makes you think wrongly of someone else.
      • Guard your heart. Your authority was given to you. You’re in the kingdom. You’re on the team. You’re actually a starter on the team. You’re on the front line. God needs you. Guarding your heart will keep you from accepting anything outside of those thoughts.
    • If someone were to say to a soldier, “you don’t have the authority to stop me from doing this.” He would not hesitate to look down at his breastplate emblem, and say “I beg to differ with that opinion, take a close look at what’s on my breastplate. Now, stop or I’ll have to make you submit to me.”

We have authority over what we choose to receive. Don’t be ripped off.

• Feet prepared with peace
  • Stress, overwhelmed – hinder forward progress
  • Why feet with peace? We move forward by faith, but we follow our peace. He’s tying faith and peace together. You can’t go anywhere without moving forward. But, you won’t get to your destination without peace.
    • It’s offered to us, but it’s our job to follow our peace as we walk by faith.
    • Example: Many times I find that walking by faith isn’t as easy as it seems. We all say it, but really it’s tough when we can’t see the results that we are believing for in the process. This is just human. You don’t need to look down on yourself when you have these feelings. It’s normal. But, we fight against it lasting and winning.
      • Auburn Ridge deal: I recall very vividly our 12 month walk of faith for our debt cancelation last year on one of our properties. I had some times of squirrellyness in my brain. “This isn’t working, this is the tenth lender that I’ve talked too, there aren’t any other avenues to take this to get it financed, we’re up a creek here, we need to walk away…” As you can see, the enemy was having a field day in my head…peace was hard to find.
      • The enemy was trying to win by using my agreement with his thoughts. He was trying to win by taking me out of peace. I have to tell you, he was doing a pretty good job a couple of times during that 12 months. He wanted me to stop moving forward, because if he can ruin our peace, we stop in our tracks and our faith in the situation turning out well is dwindled.
      • How to overcome: I had good people around me to speak truth not fact into me. This helped me stay at peace. Others were in it with me, they were speaking encouragement when the situation was speaking discouragement. They were praying with me. They got in the boat with me. The Body of Christ is necessary to have around us.
        • The peace that they exhibited, was enough to keep me moving forward in faith.
        • Another way to stay in peace is this…I regularly would bring it back to the thrown. I would say, God I’m moving forward by faith, if I’m heading the wrong direction stop me. If I don’t hear from you, I’m just squaring up with you about my faith direction since it wouldn’t be faith without action.

We have authority over what we choose to receive. Don’t be ripped off.

• Shield of faith
  • Extinguish the flaming missiles (fiery darts) of evil
  • This term is interesting. “fiery darts” – I always thought that fiery or flaming was just to put emphasis on the enemy being really mean and dangerous, but in actuality I believe that this term is used a bit differently. The word “fiery” means to set a glow.
    • Think about this, when the enemy brings things against us, his intent is to set them a glow so that our focus turns to the issue and not the answer. Light a match in a dark room. Where does your attention go? Right to the match, of course, because you can’t see anything else. The enemy is trying to get your focus off your shield and into his negative force.
      • Example: raccoon- Have you ever hit a possum or raccoon with your car? What happens right before he meets his maker? He usually looks up and stops. He’s looking straight into your headlights. He gets mesmerized with the light, and forgets that he needs to get out of the way. I remember one late night driving home, and the worlds’ biggest raccoon walked in front of my car. I saw him about a tenth of a second before he bit my tire at 60 miles per hour. What I remember is him looking up at my lights and stopping. I also remember freaking out and thinking, why didn’t that guy just wait to cross the road or jump out of the way. He couldn’t, he was too focused on my headlights.
        • Shining deer: Do we have any proud rednecks (hillbillies) in the room? These folks know all about shining deer. They know what happens when you go out at night and put a spotlight on a deer. The deer freezes. He doesn’t move. He’s looking right at danger, but he’s frozen in his tracks. He’s focused on the wrong thing. He should be focused on his nearest escape, but he’s focused on the problem more than the answer of escape.
        • This is what the enemy wants us all focused on. The problem and not the solution that was given to us in Christ.

We have authority over what we choose to focus on. Don’t be ripped off.

• Helmet of salvation
  • Crown of thorns off, helmet on to protect the finished work in your mind
  • “But, you don’t understand…it’s my boss that makes me mad.” No, your boss does bad things, talks to you wrong, belittles you, etc. But, you get mad. You perceive it a certain way, which is your choice how to perceive it, and then you retaliate either outward or in your mind.
  • Boss story
    • He was so negative, nothing was good enough. I would beat him into the office by 3 hours every morning and stay 3 hours after him on conference calls to the states from Japan, but he was still mean and angry.
    • I let it sink in and it nearly ruined me. Everything started to have a negative spin to it. I remember, it was hard to enjoy anything because I let his view seep into my thoughts.
  • When you have a hope, a positive expectation of good things, a foreshadow of good that runs through your mind…you release endorphins.
  • Philippians 4:8 NKJV – Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things  are  noble, whatever things  are  just, whatever things  are  pure, whatever things  are  lovely, whatever things  are  of good report, if  there is  any virtue and if  there is  anything praise worthy meditate on these things.

We have authority over what we focus on and what we let in. Don’t be ripped off.

• Sword of the Spirit
  • Word of God – using the fruit of the spirit in your home
    • Example: home after a long day- You come home and your wife and kids are screaming and going nuts. She said this, and he said that, and you want everyone to go away and shut up. You had a perfect picture of rest and enjoyment from a tough day at the office, but it isn’t that way.
      • Your choice to blow up…turn around and go back to the office…start grounding everyone that’s standing around you (including your wife)…smile and walk directly to your bedroom and close the door (hiding from what’s going on).
      • Or, your choice: You use the fruit of the spirit as your sword to cut down the situation. You bring peace into your home instead of another yelling adult. You choose to rely on your sword to cut through this issue and help rather than hinder or leave it as is.
      • Which one do you think would work better? Which one will get you to peace quicker?
  • We probably look at the sword of the spirit as something that we saw in the movie 300, but that really isn’t realistic. It’s cool and tough, but not really easy to apply. You see, your wife isn’t really impressed with your 300 antics. She isn’t really impressed with your tough guy routine. She needs to see you use the sword in a relatable way that solves situations.

We have authority over how we use or don’t use our weapons. Don’t be ripped off.

• Extreme uncle example: I remember one of my uncles that just got saved. He was running around hollering at the enemy all day everyday. He was really an extremist. He was either all in or all out. He was either drinking at the bar until he puked or making everyone nervous with his awkward way of yelling at the devil for everything.
  • I’m not saying that there isn’t a place for that, but the way it played out was that he never let it sink in. He never let the reality of the principles of the scriptures being a big part of his warfare.
  • The flaming missiles are sometimes our choice to abide in the Word or not, so that we know how to use it. Our choice to use the Word is just as much for ourselves as it is to fend off the enemy.
  • My uncle never let that reality sink in, and even to this day isn’t following Christ any longer. We need to use the Word as a sword to cut off our negative tendencies. We need to do some surgery with our sword and not just swing it around at everyone else.

We have authority over how we use our weapons. Don’t be ripped off.

2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 NKJV – For the weapons of our warfare  are  not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ

• Isn’t it interesting that this scripture only mentioned the enemy once (strongholds). And it mentions us twice (arguments & thoughts)

Isn’t it interesting that there is nothing covering your back in all this armor? It’s either because we are to be on the offensive or God has our back…or both.

The enemy doesn’t know who’s inside the armor. The last time he saw it, Jesus was under it…and still is in you!

God has fully equipped you. He sees you pure through His Son that died for you. However, we have a lot to do with how much of this we experience here on earth.

A note from Pastor Sarah Marie

Dear Beloved,

Yesterday, my husband and I were involved in a National Day of Prayer event in Naples, Florida with many others from Life Christian Church. About a dozen pastors led in prayer and we joined our faith together. It was a powerful time as many churches publicly worshiped God and proclaimed our trust in Him. At the close of the event, there was a potent prayer for unity among the body of believers. I was so touched as a passage of scripture came alive.

In Psalm 133, it says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity…for there the LORD commanded the blessing – life forevermore”. We know that one can put 1,000 to flight and two can put 10,000 to flight. There is power in unity.

If we continue in prayer daily, unity with other believers will be evident. If you don’t pray daily, I encourage you to ask the Lord to give you the desire and a passion to pray. He will give it to you.

Prayer cannot only be a one-time event; it has to be daily fellowship with God. There we obtain the strength to overcome self and a critical eye of others. The more we pray, the more we will see others as Jesus sees them. Seek unity at any cost.

The result of unity is health, peace of mind, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

All My Love,
Sarah Marie Gardner
President and Founding Pastor of Life Christian Church

The abundant life @ Life

I’m overwhelmed … I’m so happy Life Christian Church is here, and I get to be part of it. In the past I have been to some amazing churches, but I have never had this kind of teaching that develops my relationship with God. I’m driving with the radio off, saying “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” and just talking with the Father, a lot of thanking. I’m approaching jobs and praying for God to go ahead of me and make the job smooth, have the customer find favor with me. When I get in a jam, I reject it, I said ” God your going to have to deal with this because I’m handing this over to you, ” I’m praying for needs, thanking God for meeting them, and dancing and praising Him for the victory. All tools that I have been equipped with from L.C.C. and even though I’m not consistent & I have my moments. I’m becoming more consistent as I start my day in the Word and keep my mind on Him and seeing the results of my relationship with God growing and the results are life changing. I’m living! I have life to the abundance! for real!

Easter 2012 pictures

Work in progress

About 4 months ago my wife connected with someone that she attended high school with through Facebook. As she communicated, she found out that she had been employed with one of the largest billion dollar corporations in the nation. My wife had told her that for years I have been applying online for various positions with the same corporation locally in Naples. As months passed, she told my wife now was the time to apply to another job agency which is a sub-contractor of this large corporation. Through God’s perfect timing, I was instructed to show up without knowing if I would have work the day of my reporting in-person at 5:30 am. As the favor of God moved in my life, everyday I showed up I was put to work. I still show up daily to be put to work, after talking to other employees there, I met men who are saved and are telling me there testimonies of how God has moved in there lives. At this point I am waiting for the corporation to hire me, by faith I know that I will be hired permanently, and God is custom fitting a position for me. This has been an incredible step of faith each day my faith in the Lord grows stronger.

Rescue Series “The Crown” by: Pastor James (video & notes)

Rescue – Crown of Thorns – “Your crown is much different“

By: Pastor James Boyd

Rescued from all mental illness, fear, guilt, strife, depression

• The healing of our minds, like the stripes and the healing of our bodies

• Matthew 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2,5

• Crown and stripes comparison: Much like the stripes on Jesus back were meant for our healing. The crown was also. But the crown was meant for the healing of our minds. The empowerment to not be trapped in our minds, restoring back to the original intent, and the power to break through strongholds that try to tell us facts instead of truths.
• Distortion: The enemy distorts good things. He isn’t very creative actually. He doesn’t create from scratch. He perverts good things and tries to convince us they are different than Jesus intended.
  • I recall working oversees for a Japanese manufacturer. I was surprised by the fact that we never started from scratch. We always took what was already created and engineered to make it better. We called it benchmarking.  We would take designs from GM, Ford, Toyota, and Chrysler and evaluate them to make them better.
  • It was surprising how many American vehicles we had in Japan to critique. This was actually very smart, because why waste time on creating something that already existed. Likewise, our American manufacturers did the same thing. It seemed that there was rarely a start from scratch.
  • The enemy: this is what the enemy did and does, but he doesn’t make them better. He perverts them and tries to convince you that they are different than what they were created for.
    • Even the church has told people that “Jesus went through this stuff, so you need to go through it too” – this is a perversion of the truth.
    • Matthew 8:17 Amplified – And thus He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.

Your crown is much different.

• The crown
  • Was meant to show royalty. It showed hierarchy. It showed prestige. It showed stability.
  • Kings wore crowns. The victors in events wore crowns. It covered the head and in turn said, “I am the head or the lead of this position or endeavor.” It stated without words that this is who you follow. There’s a good head on these shoulders.
  • It was intended as honor and glory and freedom to the one that wore it.
  • The thorns
    • Meant as a joke of kingship and ridicule
    • It was a perversion of who Jesus actually was. It was meant to show that He was a fake and not who He said He was.
    • Beat Him on the head with the reed, while thorns dug in (Matt. 27:29)
      • One inch thorns dug into His head with each hit
      • He only put up with this for you and I. The great RESCUE!
• Thorns meant sin and bondage.
  • Thorns were a product of the fall of man, a consequence of sins entrance into the world
  • Genesis 3:18 NKJV – Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
    • Jesus cancelled out this statement for you after the cross
    • The herb of the field is in the natural. You will consume from the earth, instead of from the heavenlies. Jesus changed this. He took the thorns of the earth, so that you could receive from the heavens or from the spirit realm.
    • The enemy perverted it, so that he could get us to a physical state instead of a spiritual one. He wanted to convince us that we were under his control.
    • What the enemy didn’t know: the enemy didn’t know that Jesus allowed this crown of thorns on purpose for us today. Jesus was making a bigger statement by taking the crown of thorns onto His head. He was stating the fact that He was taking all of this punishment, so you and I didn’t have to. He was showing us that we are free from bondage, because He took the bondage of our minds to the cross.  He took our stress, fear, emotional instability, strife, and depression to the cross and it died there.
      • God perfectly crafted our escape from anything negative through His Son.
        • The crown of thorns was made out of the Jujube tree
          • This tree is believed to alleviate stress
          • It is believed to be an anti-ulcer agent.  It is said to have anti-spastic characteristics.
          • What the devil meant for harm, Jesus purposes for good. Jesus made a bigger statement than we think through His march to the cross.  He freed us from the enemy’s attempt at mind games/control.

Your crown is much different

From last weeks message: The reason why they are significant is because all Jesus needed to do was die for our sins. In other words there had to be a point in time by which God could place all the sins of mankind on Jesus. So much besides that happened prior to the cross.

• The enemy has been playing mind games with the believers for a long time. However, the believer doesn’t have to put up with it. It left at the cross. The ridicule, stress, fear, guilt, depression, and negative thinking were all buried and gone.
• Cassiodorus (a Roman statesmen and writer)- (485 to 585 – wrote in 570), speaks of the Crown of Thorns among the other relics which are the glory of the earthly Jerusalem. “There”, he says, “we may behold the thorny crown, which was only set upon the head of Our Redeemer in order that all the thorns of the world might be gathered together and broken”

Believers have been persuaded that they have to put up with the things that Jesus took to the cross. They’ve been crippled by this doctrine or training.

• You’ve been lied to. Don’t receive the lie. It will hold you back.
• My story: I was trained by the world at a young age, when I started in the world of engineering at age 18. I was trained that everyone around me was always stressed and fearful of the future. It was engrained in me that life was always going to get the best of me. I saw marriages being broken. People hiding their fears and stress behind a bottle of booze.
  • I remember one day in Japan, I was sitting down for dinner with a colleague that was about double my age. In the conversation, he expressed a lot of his life issues. I remember thinking to myself, “is this really the way it has to be?  Do I really have to grow up to be stressed and fearful and beat up by what is in front of me.”
  • This guy continued to tell me how I would get used to it, and it wouldn’t be as hard to come to terms with…as he proceeded to get smashed in front of me.
  • I didn’t know where to turn, but I knew that I didn’t want this for me. There had to be an escape. There had to be a better way out.

There had to be a different crown

It reminds me of the Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something?

There is a much different crown

• In Genesis 22 – The ram
  • The ram in the thicket showed a picture of the crown of thorns – he was stuck by the horns in the thorns.
  • I know we’ve all felt this way before. I’m stuck and I don’t know how to escape.
  • You see, this ram in the thorns was not a picture of your entrapment, it was a picture of your release. The ram was a picture of Jesus. Isaac being a picture of you.
  • Jesus took the crown, and sacrificed all He had on earth so that you didn’t have to be stuck in your mind. He freed is by taking it to the cross and leaving it dead. He took it to the alter, and it is now gone.

There is a much different crown

• Matthew 13:22 NKJV – Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
  • Mark 4:7 NKJV – And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
  • Luke 8:14 NKJV – Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.

It reminds me of a story: Giving Calhoun the Ball

There once was this important football game between two teams. One team was much larger than the other. The larger team was dominating the game and beating the smaller team. The coach for the smaller team saw that his team was not able to contain or block the larger team. So his only hope was to call the plays that went to Calhoun, the fastest back in the area who could easily outrun the larger players once he broke free.

The coach talked with his quarterback about giving the ball to Calhoun and letting him run with it. The first play the coach was excited, but Calhoun did not get the ball. The second play was again signaled for Calhoun, but once again Calhoun did not get the ball. Now the game was in the final seconds with the smaller team’s only hope being for Calhoun to break free and score the winning touchdown. The third play and again Calhoun did not get the ball. The coach was very upset so he sent in the play again for the fourth and final play. The ball was snapped and the quarterback was sacked, ending the game. The coach was furious as he confronted the quarterback: “I told you four times to give the ball to Calhoun and now we’ve lost the game.”

The quarterback stood tall and told the coach, “Four times I called the play to give the ball to Calhoun. The problem was that Calhoun did not want the ball.”

• Calhoun is a story of all of us. Convinced by fear and stress that we can’t do it. This has produced depression and held the believers back.

Stress – media picture

• 75% of all doctors visits in this country are stress related. I believe it’s even more than that, but that’s a big number.
• All of your senses are involved in gathering information about your environment. They deliver what they gather to your brain. Your brain then stresses the rest of your body depending on what you gather.
  • Words are recorded
  • Circumstances are recorded
  • Attitudes are recorded
  • Job difficulties are recorded
  • Marital issues are recorded
  • Bills are recorded
  • Phone calls are recorded

There’s a much different crown

There are 5 senses that doctors record. But there’s a 6th, that they don’t. It’s called faith.

• Faith – there is another sense that isn’t defined by the doctors; it’s called faith
  • It’s measurable, but not measurable by the un-renewed mind. It’s measurable and shows up in your life when you least expect it. It shows up first in your mind where you convince yourself that your thoughts aren’t true about you.
  • Here’s what I like to do: I stress my mind with faith.
    • Here’s what I mean: when my mind tells me that something bad is happening or going to happen, I turn my mind around and show it the Word on the situation. My mind doesn’t right away understand it, but I stress it to believe what I’m showing it.
    • “Mind, here’s what you’re going to think. The Word says that I’m the head and not the tail. I’m purposed for good and harm wasn’t meant for me.”
    • Example: bills without enough in the bank
      • Worry, stress, anxiety, fear – or the Word response to your issue (2 Timothy 1:7)

mental illness, fear, guilt, strife, depression

• There’s a much different crown (show gold crown) for you. This one is of royalty. It doesn’t permit stresses of this world. It doesn’t allow for the perversions of your mind to live. It’s shows you as a ruler in the Kingdom of His Son.
• It’s time we convince our minds of what Jesus did on purpose. It’s time we receive the benefits of our salvation. It’s time for the enemy to get his thorns out of your head. They were conquered and buried once and for all.

Shoulder healed

So, I install ceiling fans and lighting. Until recently, I have worked 6 days per week for many years. During this time, I injured my shoulder. It was in pain whenever I used it or rotated it in certain positions. The worst was waking up in the morning, the pain was very bad. I wasn’t able to visit a doctor but I felt it wouldn’t heal with me using it everyday. I was pretty worried also that this would require surgery. I’m a strong guy, and I’ve never had an injury. I push myself beyond the limit and never feel pain or complain, but this was something else, perhaps I was getting old.

Now I started attending L.C.C., and they believe in faith for healing, I never attended a church that practiced this and as far as I was concerned it was for the crazies. I was torn with even continuing to go to this church because of this. But as the weeks went by, I found everything to be biblical, I found the pastors sincere, and as they practiced and taught about healing it made sense. I realized that I could be healed, and it was only my weak faith preventing it. I just had doubts, I knew God can do it, as Pastor Sarah Marie taught its just flesh and organs, of course God can supernaturally fix them, he created them.

So Pastor Sarah Marie was speaking over the Communion one Sunday during service. She even had a whip and was telling us that Jesus was broke so we could be whole. That we could receive healing. She asked that we would take the bread and imagine this going to whatever part of our body that was in pain or ill. I imagined my shoulder, I took the bread and imagined it in small pieces going to my broken shoulder. I immediately, after the prayer, rotated my shoulder and it was good. If at any time I pressed my shoulder backwards it would be in instant pain, but it was good, it felt great! I wanted to tell someone but I was worried that the pain would return, I realized I was doubting and that I should believe it is healed without doubt. But I doubted, and after an afternoon nap, I woke up in great pain. I was angry, angry at myself for doubting.

Later that week we had a Bible study. We were reading Exodus and the plans for the Tabernacle.  The Lord gave Moses instructions on how to build it using the finest and most precious materials. God spoke to me during this study, we are now the Tabernacle made holy through Jesus so that the holy spirit can dwell in us. So who designed this tabernacle? The same God who designed our bodies and just then a light when on. We are like the Tabernacle the Israelites built, we are precious.  When God reveled this to me I hung on to it tight, I started rejecting the pain in my shoulder, I believed and received healing and thanked God. When my head would start filling up with doubts, I rejected them and declared that I was the temple of the Holy Spirit, made by God and there is no room for pain or injuries. This mind frame took away the doubt. God gave me the Word to take away my doubt.

So in church the next week we were taking Communion, and I realized my shoulder hasn’t been in pain, its healed!  Glory to God!