God and His Word are One

Transcription

1 God and His Word are One Let s read from Mark 11: Jesus had just cursed a fig tree, and it dried up from the roots, and when the disciples saw it, they said, Master, the tree that thou curseth hath withered away. And Jesus said: Have faith in God. Now, that s where we have to have our faith focused: in God and His Word, because God and His Word are inseparable. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. God sent His Word, 1 John ch. 1. Everything was made by God; as He spoke, it came into existence. Because God and His Word are one, when you ve got God s Word on the matter, you ve got God s will on the matter. So, find out what the Word says! Get into those promises. So, Jesus went on to say here: For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Well, God and His Word are one, just like you and your word are one. If a person s a liar, it s because they don t keep their word! God, in the beginning created everything on this earth with His Word; the world was framed by the Word of God (Hebrews 11:3). God gave us His Word. He wants us to believe His Word. As Christians, we believe God s Word above everything else. It s always first, no matter how things may appear or seem. This is because we re not results-oriented people we re Word oriented people! And thank God the Word brings results! But, sometimes, people adopt the idea that if they prayed for some dear person, and that person didn t get healed, then it s not always God s will to heal. Doing that means you are basing your beliefs on results, and not on the Word of God. The Word says, He Himself bare our sins, took our infirmities and by His stripes, we are healed.

2 No matter who you re praying for, if it s me or anyone else, it doesn t matter whether you see the results or not. You still have to go by what the Word says. We need to realize that we need to get into the Word and study to show ourselves approved: 2 Timothy 2:15: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. God gave us His Word so we could know what His will is for our life, and God gave us His Word so we could use it against the devil. I ve often taught about Matthew ch. 4 and Luke ch. 4, and you will see how Jesus took the Word and spoke it against the devil. Imagine if Jesus didn t have God s Word memorized and wasn t able to quote it, or if He wasn t connected to the Holy Spirit to have the Holy Spirit bring it back to His remembrance... But, thank God, He was connected to the Holy Spirit, and He did know the Word, so He was able to resist the devil and get the devil to flee! And, Satan has to flee if we ll take God s Word and use it. 1 John 5:18: We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. When we get born again, we re not to sin, just as Jesus never sinned. Jesus was born in this world by the Father God, and the virgin birth. The Holy Spirit caused Mary to conceive and have this miracle. Well, when we get born again by receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we re not to sin. We re admonished in these gospel letters not to sin, but if we do, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, our Lord, the righteous one who was a propitiation for our sin. And, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness (1 John1:9). The point is that if you are free of sin, the wicked one won t be able to touch you. When if first heard that scripture, I thought, I want that! I don t want Satan touching me, and you don t, either. You don t want anyone touching your children, either. And God is our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. God becomes your Father once you become born again through receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and He doesn t want Satan touching you! God warns us about the devil and tells us to resist the devil. In Ephesians 4:27, He tells us, neither give place to the devil. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. So, we re not to allow Satan to touch us. We ve got the 91 st Psalm, the devil s been defeated, we have the Name of Jesus, and greater is He that is in us

3 than he that is in the world we ve got God s Word- and we re not to sin! So, the next time you re tempted to sin, and you think that there is no way in the world you can resist it, ask yourself if you want Satan to touch you! Look what Satan did to Job when he touched him! Look what he did to Adam and Eve! When Adam and Eve sinned, it cost them their spiritual and physical lives! And when Job sinned by offering the same sacrifices though fear, Satan came in and took his children. We re not putting these people down- everybody has sinned, except Jesus, He s the only one who has ever lived a perfect life, but this is how Satan is able to get in. You have the armor of God on, and it s there to protect you. And we want to keep that armor up by walking in love, by living by faith and obeying God. We have supernatural protection in our armor that quenches all the fiery darts of Satan. I grew up with sickness and disease, poverty and lack. When I got born again and heard scriptures like 1 Peter 2:24, Galatians 3:13,14, John 10:10 and Matthew 8:17, and how Jesus resisted the devil and the devil left Him, and that if we sin not, the devil touches us not, I said, Praise the Lord, I want this! The devil never touched Jesus until Jesus laid His life down, in spite of trying to kill Him many times. The devil was unable to touch Jesus. Jesus never sinned, He always walked in love, He always obeyed His Father God. Yet, Jesus was very bold and said some things that were not very complimentary, or flattering, the way we think of things today. He told some people they were of their father the devil. Would you tell your friends that? Jesus was inspired of the Holy Spirit to say it. He called people hypocrites; He made a whip and ran everybody out of the temple! He was inspired by God and Jesus only did what He saw His Father do. Then, when Jesus hung on that cross, He bore the wrath of God and our chastisement and our curse was laid upon Him (our sins sickness, diseases, poverty and lack). You want to get your life in the place that Satan can t do anything to you. If he already has, just quote scriptures and run him out of there. You may wonder if there is another way well, this is the only way I know of. And it s the best way, because the Word way is always God s way. When you hear the Word address a problem you ve got, don t wonder if there is another way. 1 John 5:9,10: If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. You want to go by the witness of God, which is the Word. When I first got the Word about tithing, I had some people in my life who weren t in agreement with me tithing, like relatives and my accountant. They wanted to set me straight that I couldn t afford anything in my life, let alone giving some church this money! I just realized those

4 people didn t know what I knew and God said in Malachi 3:10-12: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. I started tithing the night I got born again. I tithed what I got from collecting soda cans, and that tithe was $.35. I took it to the church I was going to, hoping to drop it off without anyone seeing me. I was unemployed and living with other people. I went in the church and the pastor saw me! I was so embarrassed because it was so little. But I kept on tithing and giving to the gospel, and I kept quoting scriptures and believing God for my increase. Finally, I got a miracle job and was able to tithe and give much more. So one night long after that, during a service, the pastor was receiving the offering, and he reached under the podium and pulled out that envelope I had given him with my $.35 offering, and he said, Now, I ve been watching a young man who got saved, and one day he brought his tithe to the church and it was only $.35. He held up that envelope. And, I thought that if he brought that by, God is going to trust him with much more. And I just want you to know what he has done to help our television ministry. Well, years have passed and one day, I had the opportunity to go back to that church where I got saved. They now had a new pastor, and he asked me to get up and receive the offering. So, I got up to do it. I didn t know most of those people. I knew the pastor, because he used to be the associate. I told them I had attended the old church before this new one had been built, and the offerings of the old church helped to build this new one. I told them the story of my $.35 offering, and said, I want you to know your giving is helping to reach someone like me, and now I m in New York City, reaching it with the Word of faith. I had no idea what I d be doing some day, so you never know what your offering is going to do to help God build His kingdom. And today, when you give, God may reach another person and call them into the ministry, and they may reach thousands and untold millions of people, and maybe billions with the ministry that God uses them in. So when you give today, realize there is a whole lot more in this seed than in the return that you see. How about all the unseen things that are going on? When I dropped off that $.35 tithe, I had no idea that by helping the television ministry of that pastor, someday I d be on television, living in New York City, traveling around the world, preaching the gospel, reaching people whose lives are being touched by the power of God-

5 You see, when you give what God tells you to give, God multiplies it in many ways, and it brings thanksgiving unto God (2 Corinthians 9:11,12). What God is able to do with your offering! He multiplies it back like He did the loaves and fishes! Do you need a financial miracle in your life? I did. I was doing the Word that I knew to do, but it got rough. This test was trying to take me down, but by staying faithful to do God s Word and by tithing and never quitting, God was able to come through. Don t listen to people telling you not to tithe. You ve got that witness of man, but the witness of God in the Word is greater! You can t take Malachi out of the Bible! Tithing was before the law, during the law and after! Hebrews 7:8: And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. You want Jesus to receive your tithe and offering. He s your high priest. And He s touched by it when you give; He knows that all I had was $.35 He saw that, and He blessed me! God was able to do something. I didn t know that down the road there was this miracle job for me in my trade that was beyond my ability and talents. I had to believe God to get that job, and then, I had to believe God every day to do my job and for favor on my job! I didn t know that some of the guys who worked for me would get born again, spirit filled, and one even got a new eye through stepping out in faith and giving all he had in an offering. You just never know. Peter in Luke 5 had a fishing business and he let Jesus use his boat to minister. Then, after Peter had fished all night long without catching any fish Jesus told him to launch out in the deep for a catch, and Peter did. Even though Peter had worked all night long without catching anything, he told Jesus, Nevertheless, at Your word I ll let down the net, and thank God, he did! He filled both ships full of fish. Well, that s what we re to do: say to the Lord, At Thy Word, and do it. So then, Peter left all he had to follow Jesus and today, we know about Peter and what he did for God. We have it recorded in the Bible about Peter, who denied the Lord, repented and went on to do great things, even his own shadow passed over people and they were healed through the power of God.

6 Then in the book of Acts, years after the apostles left all to follow Jesus, people laid their goods down at the apostles feet. Do you suppose the devil was around that day? He d probably been telling Peter, Now, you left all to follow Jesus, and where is your hundredfold return? Where is the blessing Jesus said you d get? God will move on your heart through His Word concerning what He wants you to do, then you will get the witness of man that may contradict the Word, but stay with the Word and God will get you through. Had I eaten my seed back when I had only that $.35 tithe, I d still be living in poverty. Do you need a financial miracle today? Did the brook dry up? Well, first of all, tithe. Give God a dime out of every dollar, whether you get money from your job or for your birthday, or even from coupons with anything that comes to you, make sure you always put God first. And, giving and tithing is one way we can always put God first. I ve proven out Malachi 3: Corinthians 16:1,2: Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. Your mind may be talking to you, as well as your circumstances and other people, but you have God s Word, which is greater. And stay with it, whether it looks like it is working or not. Stay with it and pass the test! You ll be glad you did! Someday your flesh is going to be glad that you tithed. It may drag its heels for a while, but God has done many miracles for me through tithing. Start today and don t wait. If you support my ministry with your tithe, I ll stand with you and pray for you daily. Prove God s Word out yourself. If God can t meet your needs on this earth, there will be no way He can get you to heaven. Write me or call our ministry for this tithing scripture card, and I ll send it to you. God bless! Remember, God wishes above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers (3 John 2). Your Word of faith pastor, Pastor Jesse Rich

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