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This is that ...

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came...

Many Jews were confused and marveled, “Whatever can this mean?”

Then Peter standing up raised his voice and began to speak. “These are not drunk as you suppose...but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel...” (Acts 2:16)

This is that... is a resource to reveal, and give light to scripture...by comparing scripture to scripture. Only God can reveal God. Only His Spirit can “guide us into all truth.” (John 16:13)

For more comprehensive studies into the glorious Word of God see:
The Library (Formerly Tuesday Bible Study.)

When you act on God's Word it will illuminate your purpose and put a fire in your bones and a two-edged sword in your mouth!

This is that...

2/28/2018

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This is that...2.28.18

Faith 101- Class 2
The Professor began his teaching with a recap of the previous class.
“We noticed from a preliminary teaching what faith is:

1. Faith is a spiritual substance...not part of the five-sense earthly realm.
2. God the Creator of all things is a faith God. By faith He created. God said: God saw!
3. He made mankind like Him...to have faith.
4. Faith is a gift. It is accompanied with grace from God only when a person believes and accepts Jesus Christ into his heart.
5. Faith is given to His children to use. ‘Now the just shall live by faith...’
6. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

“Now let’s answer the question from our last class: ‘how can I get faith to work better for me.’

HOW TO DEVELOP FAITH
“Plant it! Say it!
Faith is released through faith-filled words!
That’s the way God’s Kingdom works here on earth. Students, always remember this: No scripture? No faith!

THE SOWER SOWS THE WORD
“Let’s open our Bibles to Mark 4:10. Do you remember when Jesus was teaching His disciples and said, ‘To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God?’

“Jesus was the sower who sowed the good word of His Father.
How? By speaking words!

"He said that He never did anything or spoke anything that He did not first receive from His Father. He was releasing God’s Kingdom ways on earth. When His people were humble (child like), believed what He said and accepted it as true, God’s faith was transferred into their hearts as living seeds.

“‘Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ (Romans 10:17) Your heart is the good ground in which God’s word is planted, then grows up. You hear it: you receive it: it becomes yours!

"Result?
‘The Kingdom of God is in you.’ Luke 17:21)

“Jesus had challenges when preaching about God’s Kingdom.
Why?

"Because these things are spiritual. ‘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.’ (1 Corinthians 2:14)

"Jesus said, ‘The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.’
(John 6:63)

"Just think, what Jesus planted in His disciples became the New Testament!

HEAR THE WORD OFTEN—SPEAK THE WORD OFTEN
“So we see God’s Word needs to be planted into good ground to produce fruit, just like a farmer who would sow seed on his fertilized land, water it often, and watch over it so that weeds (tares) don’t grow up and kill the good seed.

"Guard your heart students; keep it plowed by studying the Word every day.

“Whatever the need or desire you have, you have a right to receive.

"The same Blood that saved you on the cross gave you over 5,000 precious promises to live by. But if they are not acted on — in faith — they will stay dormant and the will of God will not be accomplished.

“Our next class: Requirements of Faith.”

This is that...which your Father said:
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)

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This is that...

2/20/2018

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This is that ... 2.20.18

Faith 101
The Professor, standing at the head of a large theater of students, began the session with: “Today we’re going to visit the popular subject of faith. Recently, a young man came up to me after class and said, ‘First of all, what exactly is faith? And secondly, how can I get it to work better for me?’ That will be our subject for the next few classes.”

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is a spiritual substance.
That means it is not of the earthly five-sense realm with which you are so accustomed to. This substance cannot be touched or felt and you cannot see it while it is working.

But you can see its final results.

Example:
“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.” (See Hebrews 11:3)

By faith we understand.
Understand what?

That the worlds were framed (arranged, set in order, established, complete) by God’s spoken Word. The things which we now see in the heavens were not made of things which are visible. They were made with a substance that our Father, Eternal God, has within Him.

How God and His Kingdom Work
When God wanted a family, He had a plan which began with the outer reaches of the universe. “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” (Psalm 33:6-7)

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

Then God began to speak to our planet earth.
“Let there be light,” and there was light. God continued to design our earth to provide for all of man’s physical needs. Think of our existence: food, shelter, clothing, cars, buildings, cell phones, computers, airplanes, etc.; everything comes out of this God-formed earth.

Earth is so much different than the other planets. Why?

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion ...” (Genesis 1:26)

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 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.’ ” (Genesis 1:27-28)

The Hebrew scribes teach when God breathed into man the breath of life, man became a speaking spirit, like God.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4)

Since God is a faith-God, He made man the same way.

But man was made with a free will and given the right to choose. Man’s terrible transgression in the garden would release iniquity into all of his seed after him...that is, until God sent His only Son to redeem man by His blood on the cross.

1. Faith is a gift!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works that anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

What is faith?
It is God’s substance given to man by grace when he hears, believes, and accepts the gospel message. Through the incorruptible seed of God’s Word, faith gives birth to a new creation in Christ!

"And whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith." (1 John 5:4)

And Father has a growing family! (See Romans 10:6-15 & 1 Peter 1:23)

2. How can I get faith to work better for me?
Develop it! Part Two...next time.

This is that...
“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.” (Hebrews 11:6)

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This is that...

2/11/2018

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This is that...2.11.18

2018 THE GLORIOUS CHURCH
God and the closing of this age are moving us into position as the glorious Body of Christ. We are being strengthened with might by the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill individual and corporate assignments. It’s a magnificent work!

THE CHURCH IS GOD’S HOUSE...OF PRAYER!
Do you remember when Jesus got angry and brought correction to Israel because they had strayed from their assignment?

“Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

What’s happening here?
Over time, the hearts of the children of Israel turned away from God. Without Him, their hearts grew cold and hard, producing spiritual deafness— unable to hear Him. Paul warns Believers that they can have the same experience, becoming “dull of hearing.” (Hebrews 5:11-14)

That means revelation knowledge is coming forth from anointed Pastors/Teachers but their teaching and, more specifically, God’s Word has become cold and valueless, not penetrating into the heart of the believer.

Why? Something else has taken up residency.

The world and all its flashy carnal ways must not consume our thoughts. Just like a fly getting caught in a sticky fly trap, some Christians are being enticed back into sinful ways as a “dog returns to his own vomit.” Read 2 Peter 2:20-22.

For them, prayer—the connection to Father and the spiritual realm—is broken.

FOCUS
Determined people of prayer abide in Jesus (the Word) every moment, every day. They know who they are and are pressing in to fulfill their assignment: Prayer and walking in the Spirit. They live in two realms.

Why pray for the lost?
Jesus shed His blood and gave His life for you and me to be saved. That blood is on the mercy seat in heaven and continues to speak.
(See Hebrews 12:24 & 9:12)

What does the blood say?
“Man is redeemed!”

That’s right. Unsaved family members, unsaved neighbors, unsaved co-workers have been redeemed by Jesus’ blood.

“Well, why aren’t they saved?”
God has set the rule: Each man has the right to choose.

THE CALL TO PRAY
This is exactly the point of why God has called us.

Unsaved, rebellious mankind needs prayer, someone who will give of his heart to intercede for those who are blatantly disobedient and blinded to truth by the deceptions of a liar and thief. ( 2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Saul of Tarsus was vehemently against Jesus Christ and all of His followers. Certainly prayer was going up for him.

What happened? Jesus met Saul while he was on his way to do great harm to Believers in Damascus:

“Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ “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.’ 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.’” (See Acts 9:1-9)

RELIGIOUS TRADITION
Saul is a picture of mankind under the black cloak of deception. He did not know who Jesus was even though he had studied the Old Testament scriptures under Gamaliel.

LOVE FOR THE LOST
The Church was praying for Saul of Taurus. This kind of love with perseverance is not resident in the heart of natural man. We only experience love for the lost through Jesus.
It’s His love in our hearts that pleads for the redemption of man. There is no greater love than His love.

A TWO EDGED SWORD
As The Church sends out prayers for the lost and for our enemies, something is returning into our hearts — Christ ... in you the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

This is that...which the re-born Apostle said:
“... that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:27)

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This is that...

2/2/2018

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This is that...2.2.18
What’s the cure for hopelessness?

Hope!

“Well, how can I have hope if I’m already hopeless?
I’m just at the end of my rope...all my hopes have faded away.”

Many people confuse hope with wishing.
They are wishing for a certain thing to happen, something they really really want. Eventually they wear themselves out. Remember the famous nursery rhythm “I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight?” These are words that carry no spiritual power but rather are empty idle words.

FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
(1 Corinthians 13:13)

Faith, hope, and love are foundational to everything we do and have in our lives.
When all three of these living spiritual forces are correctly in place, a Believer will go far beyond a ho hum, mediocre life.

Faith is a spiritual substance that our Father used when He spoke the worlds into existence. (Hebrews 11:1-3) But before He spoke, Father had an earnest desire for the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

If Father didn’t begin with hope, His faith would have been dormant.

Hope is like the blueprint that faith needs to produce the desired end result.
It is intense, earnest expectation for something. Hope gives faith the picture.
Bible hope always comes as a result of hearing and believing God’s Word or promise.

Hope (intense expectation) is the bridge that faith travels on to bring God’s promise to pass.

Example: You need healing. You heard that Jesus Christ took your sins, grief, sickness, sorrow, pain, lack, poverty—and by His stripes you were healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Your spirit takes hold of that promise and says, “That’s mine! Jesus died to give me health and life!”

The blueprint or earnest expectation is released. You see yourself going about free and healthy. You believe you received. You praise God!

Faith is the substance of what you hoped for.
Hope has its root in the promises of God...not “hopin and a wishin” for something to change. Worldly hope is like a balloon full of hot air with no destination—empty of substance!

Why?
It did not originate from God’s Word so it is not spiritual, but carnal. (See Romans 8:5-8)

THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE
God is love. (1 John 4:8)
All things originate in and from Him.
When God said “Let there be light,” there was light! Love infused faith with life substance which hope desired to see. Faith works through love. (Galatians 5:6)
If love leaves faith...it puts a kink in the system. Love God, love others...forgive quickly.

If you’re hopeless... you are probably Word-less.
Most likely circumstances have taken you over and your thoughts are running around like a herd of wild mustangs. Hope is an anchor to the soul. (Hebrews 6:19) The anchor is produced by God’s Word!

If you’re too much into worldly living and spending no time in fellowship with God in His Word, you are going to eventually become like the world...hopeless, without the anointing of God, without His Word, wondering...

“God where are you?”

This is that... which long-term backsliders can expect.
“But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Instead, take your medicine: Read Joshua 1:5-9 every morning for 21 days.

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