Genesis 12:13 (NLT)

 “The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 

 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” Isn’t it amazing that God would say, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.” God’s heart has always been toward His chosen people Israel.

We have tried here at LIFE CHURCH Assembly of God to focus our attention on blessing and praying for Israel. Why? The simple answer is that God has told us in His Word to do so and we are trying to obedient to Him. We want the blessings of God to be upon us and upon our church so we pray for Israel every time we meet together. We believe one of the reasons God sustained us through the great recession wass because of our love and prayers for the Jewish people.

So what is God’s goal or purpose for the children of Israel and for us, the Gentiles?  Ephesians 2:14 (NLT) “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” God’s goal is that none should perish but that all would come to repentance and find LIFE!  God wants Jews and Gentiles to Live in Freedom Everyday!

What's Up?

Pastor Rick, you have preached so many sermons on the baptism in the Holy Spirit in the last few months...What’s up?  Let’s cut through the chase and get directly to the point.  There are so many benefits to being baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire but I believe one takes precedence over all the others.  Jesus said in Matthew that He came to seek and to save those who were lost.  When He gave us the Great Commission He gave us a mandate to go into all the world and reach and teach the lost.

That is definitely an impossible task without some kind of supernatural intervention to enable us to accomplish what He has called us to do.  He told His disciples to go and tarry in Jerusalem until they were endued with power.  Power to do what?  Acts 1:8 (NKJV)  “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." We have to receive this power to accomplish His will for the lost being saved. We must obey His mandate!

So what happens when we get filled with His Spirit and power?  The same thing that happened to the apostles and the early church.  Acts 2:47 (NKJV)  “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”  As the disciples continued to walk in the Spirit look what happened:  Acts 6:7 (NKJV)   “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.”  The point is this...souls are added to the church and then multiplied!  Wow!  

All of us, if we are honest...

... with ourselves, have weaknesses and even sins that easily harass us.  As I am writing this I am watching a hawk try to dry it wings while sitting on a fence.  A pesky mockingbird does not think the hawk should be resting or drying out so he feels it necessary to fly at him over and over.  What is that thing in your life where the enemy is attacking you and constantly harassing you so you cannot rest in the Lord?

Maybe you have trouble loving someone...been there, done that, and have the

t-shirt.  Has life sucked out your joy and you are having trouble coping with one day at a time?  Peace is far from you because of trouble in the family or the events coming on our world.  You have no self-control when it comes to saying “no” to the temptation of the enemy or “yes” in your obedience to Jesus.  What are we to do?

In Galatians 5:22-23 the Apostle Paul says:  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol. Against such there is no law.”  As we seek God and are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will provide everything we need for life and godliness!  Again Paul says Galatians 5:16 NKJV “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”  Be filled with the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and you will Live In Freedom Everyday!  

"Everything continues in a state of rest...

... unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it."   Isaac Newton

In other words...we will continue just as we are unless there is a force that compels us to change.  What would that force be in the life of a believer...obviously it would be the power of the Holy Spirit!  If there is anything lacking in the church today, it would be the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

The disciples had the greatest teacher, the greatest preacher, the greatest prophet, and the greatest role model of them all.  Yet, they could not live for God without the power of the Holy Spirit.  They heard Jesus’ teaching and watched Him perform miracles but when push came to shove they could not stand with Him!  They all ran, fleeing from their Lord and those coming to crucify Him. All of them eventually went back to their previous life until they an encounter with Holy Spirit!

After they were filled with the Holy Spirit what was said of them?  Acts 17:6 (NKJV) "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” Jesus, please let us be filled with the Holy Spirit and turn our world upside down and let us walk in LIFE!

In Congress, July 4, 1776...

... this declaration was published: THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. It said: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

1. The first of these unalienable rights is life.

John 10:10 (NKJV)

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.  

2. The second unalienable right that they sought after was liberty.

John 20:3031 (NKJV)

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. '  

3.  The third unalienable right they stood in was the pursuit of happiness!

1 Tim 6:12 (NKJV)

12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 

As we celebrate our independence let us not forget our dependence on Jesus for life, liberty, and our happiness!