(January 13, 2012)
Prayer House News!
It’s Friday the 13th. Aren’t you happy that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world? I was very pleased with RPM on Wednesday. We had over 80 people show up for a prayer meeting. Now that’s exciting! We are going to move to the 100 people mark soon.
============================
Devotional!
In the book of Luke there was a group of people who had been out doing spiritual battle.
Luke 10:17 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." So if the 70 returned with this girl named joy – that would make a group of 71. They come back and they’re very excited about the power they have over demons. They found this new power and it was capturing their hearts. Look at how Jesus responds to them about this new discovery.
Luke 10:18-19 And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. (19) "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.
The 70 come back and say they have all of this power and their ability to perform miracles, but Jesus basically says, “Big Deal! You wanna take about spiritual battle,I was there for the big one, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, in fact I’m the one who pushed him. I’ve seen more battles than you have understood were going on. Plus I’m the one who has given you the authority to trample on serpents and to do all these things. You’re impressed with power? If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t even have power” Jesus wasn’t putting down their new found power – he was trying to get them to see that what they just experienced should be the norm for the life of the spirit filled believer – but not something they worship or even rejoice in.
Luke 10:20 "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."
Again Jesus brings it back to Himself. They’re all taken up with the power they have to do spiritual battle so Jesus says, “If you are going to rejoice about something – rejoice over the fact that you are I are going to spend eternity together. Rejoice over the face you’re your name is recorded in heaven.” There’s an imbalance in what we are taken up with – we seek power and try to make Jesus prove himself through the exercise of that power while forgetting the truly critical issue – our salvation – our eternity with Him. When we are taken up with the power we have over the enemy, like the 71 were, then things get out of perspective and the tendency is to no longer make Christ our pursuit but rather power and miracles.
A pursuit of miracles over Christ can lead to yet another problem. We can actually end up hurting the kingdom more than helping it.
Now, back to Matthew 12 look at what Jesus continues to address of the 70 who rejoiced more in their power than in him. He is referring to the demons they found out they could exercise.
Matthew 12:43 "Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it.
There is power in the name of Jesus. The ungodly can even use the name of Jesus and accomplish certain things. Here it says that even the adulterous generation has the ability to deliver someone by using the name of Jesus. Because the adulterous generation seeks power more than Jesus Christ, they can take that power and do the work of God by casting out a demon, but because they are adulterous and Christ is not the first love of their lives, they do not have the ability to create a hunger or thirst for Christ in the ones they just set free.
Matthew 12:44 "Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.
(45) "Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."
When a demon is cast out it looks for someplace else to dwell. If it cannot find another place it goes back to see the place where it once was. When it comes back, if it finds that house clean and swept, but not filled up with the presence of Christ, it comes back 7 times worse. Subsequently a man formerly delivered could worse off than before he was delivered because those who delivered him (the 70 rejoicing over power) cannot create a hunger for Jesus in their life because they lack it themselves. Our disciples become what we are.
There is another incident I want us to look at in Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. (22) "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' (23) "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
Jesus says many will fall into this category of claiming to know him without a real relationship. This sounds like a bunch of Pentecostals. We prophesied in your name, we cast out demons in your name; we even did many miracles in your name. Yet Jesus says, “Prophesying, casting out demons, and doing miracles, has very little to do with having a relationship with me.” Each one of those acts can be found in the scriptures being performed by people without any relationship with Jesus. You can prophesy without being baptized in the Holy Spirit. They did it all through the OT. This can also be referring to false prophets. There are plenty of those in the bible also. We see the sorcerers performing miracles in the OT also. Simon was a magician in the NT called the Great Power of God because of how he could wow the people with what appeared to be miracles. The fact that these things were done is not the issue. The issue in Matthew 7 is that they were claiming to know Jesus personally and their proof of that was the signs and wonders they performed.
Jesus was not impressed at all with what they performed. When we get to heaven we are not going to find that our entrance into heaven has anything to do with the miracles we performed but rather whether or not we obeyed the word. Did you surrender your heart to that Word which became flesh, Jesus? If you are going to rejoice in anything – rejoice that your name is recorded in heaven.
===========================
Medication: A Merry Heart
STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM
________________________________________________________________________________
Q1. In which battle id Napoleon die?
* his last battle
Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
* at the bottom of the page
Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?
* liquid
Q4. What is the main reason for divorce?
* marriage
Q5. What is the main reason for failure?
* exams
Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?
* Lunch & dinner
Q7. What looks like half an apple?
* The other half
Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
* Wet
Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?
* No problem, he sleeps at night.
Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
* You will never find an elephant that has only one hand..
Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ?
* Very large hands
Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
* No time at all, the wall is already built.
Q13. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
* Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.
Prayer House News!
It’s Friday the 13th. Aren’t you happy that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world? I was very pleased with RPM on Wednesday. We had over 80 people show up for a prayer meeting. Now that’s exciting! We are going to move to the 100 people mark soon.
============================
Devotional!
In the book of Luke there was a group of people who had been out doing spiritual battle.
Luke 10:17 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." So if the 70 returned with this girl named joy – that would make a group of 71. They come back and they’re very excited about the power they have over demons. They found this new power and it was capturing their hearts. Look at how Jesus responds to them about this new discovery.
Luke 10:18-19 And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. (19) "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.
The 70 come back and say they have all of this power and their ability to perform miracles, but Jesus basically says, “Big Deal! You wanna take about spiritual battle,I was there for the big one, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, in fact I’m the one who pushed him. I’ve seen more battles than you have understood were going on. Plus I’m the one who has given you the authority to trample on serpents and to do all these things. You’re impressed with power? If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t even have power” Jesus wasn’t putting down their new found power – he was trying to get them to see that what they just experienced should be the norm for the life of the spirit filled believer – but not something they worship or even rejoice in.
Luke 10:20 "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."
Again Jesus brings it back to Himself. They’re all taken up with the power they have to do spiritual battle so Jesus says, “If you are going to rejoice about something – rejoice over the fact that you are I are going to spend eternity together. Rejoice over the face you’re your name is recorded in heaven.” There’s an imbalance in what we are taken up with – we seek power and try to make Jesus prove himself through the exercise of that power while forgetting the truly critical issue – our salvation – our eternity with Him. When we are taken up with the power we have over the enemy, like the 71 were, then things get out of perspective and the tendency is to no longer make Christ our pursuit but rather power and miracles.
A pursuit of miracles over Christ can lead to yet another problem. We can actually end up hurting the kingdom more than helping it.
Now, back to Matthew 12 look at what Jesus continues to address of the 70 who rejoiced more in their power than in him. He is referring to the demons they found out they could exercise.
Matthew 12:43 "Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it.
There is power in the name of Jesus. The ungodly can even use the name of Jesus and accomplish certain things. Here it says that even the adulterous generation has the ability to deliver someone by using the name of Jesus. Because the adulterous generation seeks power more than Jesus Christ, they can take that power and do the work of God by casting out a demon, but because they are adulterous and Christ is not the first love of their lives, they do not have the ability to create a hunger or thirst for Christ in the ones they just set free.
Matthew 12:44 "Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.
(45) "Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."
When a demon is cast out it looks for someplace else to dwell. If it cannot find another place it goes back to see the place where it once was. When it comes back, if it finds that house clean and swept, but not filled up with the presence of Christ, it comes back 7 times worse. Subsequently a man formerly delivered could worse off than before he was delivered because those who delivered him (the 70 rejoicing over power) cannot create a hunger for Jesus in their life because they lack it themselves. Our disciples become what we are.
There is another incident I want us to look at in Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. (22) "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' (23) "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
Jesus says many will fall into this category of claiming to know him without a real relationship. This sounds like a bunch of Pentecostals. We prophesied in your name, we cast out demons in your name; we even did many miracles in your name. Yet Jesus says, “Prophesying, casting out demons, and doing miracles, has very little to do with having a relationship with me.” Each one of those acts can be found in the scriptures being performed by people without any relationship with Jesus. You can prophesy without being baptized in the Holy Spirit. They did it all through the OT. This can also be referring to false prophets. There are plenty of those in the bible also. We see the sorcerers performing miracles in the OT also. Simon was a magician in the NT called the Great Power of God because of how he could wow the people with what appeared to be miracles. The fact that these things were done is not the issue. The issue in Matthew 7 is that they were claiming to know Jesus personally and their proof of that was the signs and wonders they performed.
Jesus was not impressed at all with what they performed. When we get to heaven we are not going to find that our entrance into heaven has anything to do with the miracles we performed but rather whether or not we obeyed the word. Did you surrender your heart to that Word which became flesh, Jesus? If you are going to rejoice in anything – rejoice that your name is recorded in heaven.
===========================
Medication: A Merry Heart
STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM
________________________________________________________________________________
Q1. In which battle id Napoleon die?
* his last battle
Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
* at the bottom of the page
Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?
* liquid
Q4. What is the main reason for divorce?
* marriage
Q5. What is the main reason for failure?
* exams
Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?
* Lunch & dinner
Q7. What looks like half an apple?
* The other half
Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
* Wet
Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?
* No problem, he sleeps at night.
Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
* You will never find an elephant that has only one hand..
Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ?
* Very large hands
Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
* No time at all, the wall is already built.
Q13. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
* Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.
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