Moving On Up!

Moving On Up!

• Joshua 1:1 (MSG)
• Joshua 1:2 (MSG)
• Joshua 1:3 (MSG)
• Joshua 1:4 (MSG)
• Joshua 1:5 (MSG)
• Joshua 1:6 (MSG)
• Joshua 1:7 (MSG)
• Joshua 1:8 (MSG)
• Joshua 1:9 (MSG)

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Joshua was prepared for the promised land by God's Presence for the best institution for learning is Mount. Sinai University, and the greatest qualifier for God's promises is the degree of His presence we consume. It is what we do while we are waiting for the fulfillment of what He promises that will determine if it ever comes to pass.

As a waiter in a restaurant your responsibility is to serve the people in your designated area, assuring that they receive what they are asking for in a timely manner. As God's waiters we are called to serve Him, meeting the needs of those who are in the designated area He has assigned us, if we serve them well, we will be promoted to a place of greater service.

Our service increases because of those who we serve. What God has promised is connected to the spiritual growth of His people. It is not that God is holding back what He has promised, no, He is waiting for us to do our part in preparing those who He has chosen. We must learn to become community oriented rather than individualistic. What God has for us we cannot maintain ourselves, as we grow the team, our inheritance increases.

As kingdom leaders it is not about who can serve us but who we can serve. In helping others we help ourselves, for we all have the same designation. We can't think that we are the "all wise one" that has the complete puzzle figured out. Each person has a piece to offer and together it all begins to fall in place. 

Our job is to trust in God, gaining our strength and courage from Him. He will then use us to lead others but we must assure we obey every command so we don't get off course, as Shepherds we will be held accountable for every lost sheep. 

The key to obedience is meditation. Placing the word of God before us night and day so that we can learn and make sure we put into practice everything that is in it. Every instruction we need is in the word, we must have a proper balance of the Word in it's entirety if we are going to remain upward living above the fall. 

Our faithful service to others will result in faithful service from others to us in return. As long as God is with us people will follow us in what we lead them to do. As long as our strength comes from God we can walk in courage that we will accomplish what He has said we will do.

Preparation, Promotion, Power Demonstration

Preparation, Promotion, Power Demonstration

• Matthew 4:1 (NLT)

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ARE YOU PREPARED
Most people don't like school, especially when it's test time, because doing well, entails working hard. Yet we don't really have a better choice, for our future work is limited to the education level and accomplishments we've acquired. That is why many of us are continuing education way into our adult years because we desire a more promising future?

We are never meant to plateau, the mountain top is Heaven, so until we get there, we have more climbing to endure. God will reveal just enough to us so while we take care of what lies before us, we can also prepare for what lies ahead.

It is nice that school doesn't last all day, and there are weekends, holidays, and snow days, (time off for kids but more work for us parents). Well in the school of life as a child of God we have been assigned a teacher and counselor, the Holy Spirit, and with Him class never ends. Just like our education system, the Holy Spirit tests us on what we have learned giving opportunity for promotion to take place.

2 TIMOTHY 2:5
Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.

TEST TIME
We will be tested whether we are ready or not. God knows our state of being, He tests us so that we know the state of our being.
In Matthew 4:1, Jesus is led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. The devil is the guinea pig the Holy Spirit uses to test us by trial. It is during temptation that we discover if we really believe, taking to heart the truth we have received.

DEFENSE LEADS TO OFFENSE
I love great defensive teams, so being from the Northwest is not the only reason I love the Seattle Seahawks. In the Super Bowl they were playing against the top ranked offense of all time. Yet whatever Denver tried to run on offense it went nowhere. Seattle dominated them throughout, forcing four turnovers leading to many of their offensive points, in which the game ended 43-8.

Jesus already established the Victory, and therefore we should be dominating the enemy, but it all depends on the ability we have to defend ourselves. We should run a defensive minded offense. Meaning we aren't out there demon hunting, but when he shows up, we our armed and ready, so when he attacks we counter, driving him back, for "Matthew 11:12 states "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."

THREE CATEGORIES OF TEMPTATION
Jesus our example and source of strength, responded in Matthew 4:4-10 with each temptation by a specific scripture that silenced the enemy. Jesus was tested on the three categories of temptation, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

THE LUST OF THE FLESH
The devil will go after our weakness, the place of need. Our Master's desire is that we have no more want as it says in Psalms 23. That Jesus, the living word, the bread of life, meets our every need. So until this becomes reality we can expect to struggle with temptation.

THE LUST OF THE EYES
This deals with what we want. We have dreams and desires that we want to see fulfilled. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, so we must submit our dreams and desires to Him. When we choose to take our life in our own hands yet desire God to bless us we are testing Him. It is like our kids when they suddenly think they can do what they want, yet still want our care and provision, we feel tested, and then have to teach them a lesson. We are the student, God is the Teacher, if we turn things around God will say okay have it your way and see how long you last.

THE PRIDE OF LIFE
This deals with our ambitions. Our God given talent, accomplishments, abilities can take us far. We can become great and adored by the masses like an idol. Yet all Glory is meant for God. He knows the heart, we can verbally give God glory as we see in award shows but He knows who is really in control. Many famous people have sold out to Satan and are just mere puppets for his lies to spread. We will continue to be fooled under the control of the enemy until we"worship The Lord our God and serve only him."

HOW WE PASS THE TEST
So the way we overcome temptation and pass the test is through applying the appropriate scripture. We will know we are promoted for we will have temporary relief from the enemy. As the bible says "resist the enemy, and he will flee from thee."

PROMOTION COMES FROM THE LORD
Doors just suddenly open. Opportunities arise, prophecy falls into place, promises come to pass but only after we have learned to overcome whatever we have been facing. If we feel stuck, no longer hearing God's voice we need to ask ourselves did we follow through with what He last said. God does not allow us to skip ahead, to be promoted when we are not yet ready. If we have to remain in the same grade year after year we will.

THE KEY IS REPENTANCE
We cannot preach what we have not lived. Repentance means to turn away from. Being sorrowful is not the same. We must out of our will choose to change before God can supernaturally transform us. God has called us to be change agents, but He won't anoint us to preach what we have not yet done.

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
As we truly change others recognize it. People are looking for those who they can follow. If we are true followers of Christ others will redirect their lives, commit themselves, and follow us, as we follow the Lord. People are drawn to the image of Christ, but yet don't even know it. Evangelism should not be difficult, few people can resist the bait of God's presence in our lives.

POWER DEMONSTRATION
Our call as leaders is to become greater servants, having more to offer others, for the kingdom of God to expand. As we are promoted we have more to give. Our knowledge has increased so more opportunities will arise to teach others. God will empower us with what is needed depending on who we serve, so if sickness is present, healing comes, if demon possession, deliverance comes. The proof of God's promotion lies in the change of character and power demonstrated from one's life.

APPLICATION
God wants to promote us, for "the fields are ripe but the laborers are few." But, first we must become better students of His word, and start passing the tests, overcoming temptation. He is not going to graduate us until we are ready. The earth is groaning and moaning for the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God. It is time we prioritize defense.

Breakthrough, Breakout!

Breakthrough, Breakout

• Genesis 38:27 (MSG)
• 2 Samuel 5:20 (MSG)
• 2 Samuel 5:21 (MSG)

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Do you know anyone that is a clean freak? Well, I wasn't born that way, but have become that way in certain aspects. See, one does not become a leader in the kingdom of God without first becoming a servant. As a young minister one of my responsibilities was to assure the floor was always clean. My Pastor at that time was very serious regarding the sanctuary being perfect, so I had to become intense about it since it was my responsibility. So because of this experience dirty rugs kind of bother me.

Have you ever tried to clean a rug and the vacuum was plugged up? It can be so difficult and time consuming to unplug the stuff stuck in the hose. I bought a more expensive vacuum hoping to avoid this and it's been even more difficult, especially unplugging Christmas tree pine needles. 

"God has called us to be holy as He is holy, for we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." He is serious about us having pure hearts and clean hands. When we have un confessed sin or un forgiveness in our hearts we are plugged up and Heaven can't flow through us. God is creating a new earth and we are His cleaning agents. But we must be cleaned out first. You can't clean a surface with a dirty rag. For the bible says, "Our righteousness is as dirty rags." 

As the church we must create a culture of transparency, where confession is a normal practice. For in James 5:16 it says "confess your sins among one another and you will be healed." It starts with leadership first setting the example and the people will then feel the freedom to do the same. The degree of God's manifest presence is determined by the degree of transparency in the lives of the people present at hand. 

See God works through His body which is a multi unit channel, one channel is only capable of so much, for we have all been given a measure of faith. So depending upon how open earth's channels are will determine the amount of Heaven's release. So before God can breakout into our communities we must first allow Him access to breakthrough within.

"This work is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit, says The Lord." The Word is the tool the Spirit uses to work. So I am going to use two passages of scripture that I believe the Holy Spirit will use to breakthrough and breakout. The first is in 2 Samuel.

David had finally become king of Israel. His biggest enemy was the Philistines, they personally knew what a mighty warrior he is, so before he could become strong and established they tried to strike against him, David's response was to inquire of The Lord?"

Which is something we must always learn to do before facing challenges.

2 Samuel 5:20-21
"The Lord said go up for I will give the Philistines into your hand." David defeated them and he said "The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters. Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim. They abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away."

David's natural rule is a shadow of our supernatural rule in Christ. Just as David wiped out the enemies of Israel so are we to wipe out the enemies of God. "Now our battle is not with flesh and blood but principalities, powers, rulers of spiritual darkness in high places...." "Our weapons are not carnal but spiritual for the pulling down of strongholds." 

Now that the Philistines witnessed the power of God they abandoned their idols for they recognized that God is above all. 

God wants to breakthrough our lives so He can breakout into our communities. Proving that He is Lord of all as people begin to cast down their idols. Before we can prove God is above all to non believers He must be Lord of all in our personal lives. 

Can we say today that Jesus is Lord? Have we surrendered all? 

God moves through His body, what we can experience individually depends somewhat on our spiritual condition corporately. God's gifts are without repentance so He can still heal and deliver, but what impacts a community the most is transformed lives, we the church being formed into the image of Jesus Christ, and each of us doing our part in the advancement of His kingdom.

Have you ever started watching a movie and thought this is not appropriate I shouldn't be watching it, but being intrigued you watched it anyway?

Well, the bible is full of stories that would not be appropriate if made into a movie. Well I'm going to share the rated "r" version of Genesis 38, the story of Judah and Tamar. 

Judah in rebellion left his family to live elsewhere so he can do his own thing. He married a Canaanite which in their family would be forbidden. Judah got a wife for his son Er named Tamar. Er, offended God, so God took his life. A widow in those times without a son was destitute for a woman's worth was in their offspring. So to be childless was disgraceful. So Judah had his son Onan sleep with Tamar, but since the child would not be his he made sure she did not get pregnant. Judah's next plan was for Tamar to live with him until his youngest child Shelah grew up. Judah felt this would end in tragedy as well so she moved in with her father. Tamar was told her father-in-law was nearby to shear his sheep. Knowing how he operates, she dressed up as a prostitute, he slept with her, and she became pregnant. It was told later to Judah that Tamar had become pregnant while being a prostitute. Judah said "bring her out here, and have her burnt up." She having Judah's possession told her Father in law I am pregnant by the person owning these things, which of course was him. Judah now said she is in the right I am in the wrong. Tamar while giving birth to twins had one child put his hand out first, but the other then popped himself out first, which Tamar called the son Perez which means "Breakout." Followed by the other son Zerah meaning Bright.

So what is the moral of the story.
Well we see in Matthew 1 the name Perez listed in the lineage of Jesus. Judah upon being exposed and found guilty gave room for Tamar to no longer live in shame and enjoy the delivery of her two sons.

God desires to birth Perez, He wants to breakout. What is prolonging delivery is unconfessed sin. Until we repent by openly confessing our sins in all humility, what God has spoken prophetically will continue to be delayed. 

But if this day we do not harden our hearts but obey the word of The Lord, a mighty breakthrough will transpire, and Jesus will breakout of our lives and His glory will shine bright, bringing forth a new day in South Jersey. No longer will this place be full of shame but God will use us to spread revival and transformation to the world. This region will no longer be a place people come to sin but rather it will fit it's destiny as a spiritual retreat center to help believers overcome sin and live victorious lives.