As the Scriptures say,"God has put them into a deep sleep.To this very day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear." Rom.11:8 NLT
For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep. And He has closed your eyes, the prophets; and your heads, the seers, He has covered and muffled. Isa. 29:10 AMP
But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. Deut 29:4 NIV
And he said, "Yes, go. But tell my people this: `You will hear my words, but you will not understand. You will see what I do, but you will not perceive its meaning.' Isa. 6:9 NLT
Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear. Jer. 5:21 NIV
"Son of man, you live among rebels who could see the truth if they wanted to, but they don't want to. They could hear me if they would listen, but they won't listen because they are rebellious. Ezek.12:2 NLT
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: " 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. Matt. 13:14 NIV
The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts--so their eyes cannot see,and their hearts cannot understand,and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them." John 12:40 NLT
Go to this people and say to them, You will indeed hear and hear with your ears but will not understand, and you will indeed look and look with your eyes but will not see [not perceive, have knowledge of or become acquainted with what you look at, at all]. Acts 28:26 AMP
Our disscusion today will be on Romans 11:8 and let us see how many references we have to people that do not listen. They do not see, they do not hear, and they do not care. Have they forgotten about our God? Why is that?
The devil led him ( Jesus ) up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. Luke 4:5-6 NIV
Now if the devil has the authority over all the kingdoms of the world, and anyone who does not have the spirit of God in them is more or less being blinded by Satan, lead by Satan, empowered by Satan, living by the direction of Satan, and having a deaf ear to the goodness of God. How do we save all these people from hell, and self destruction? How do we stop them from hurting, killing, stealing, and lying to the rest of mankind?
Beautiful river right in Downtown Hilo, where fresh water mixes with salt water, it is very amazing, and very clean.
This is why we must go out there and preach the word about Jesus, let people know about Jesus, but how do we get their attention, how do we get them to listen and to see, How do we keep them from being so blind. We are fighting a war against good verses evil and we have to get all the people together into one body, the body of Christ. Once we are all saved we will obtain the Holy Spirit in us, and then we are lead by the Spirit of God not the Spirit of Satan. So if we are lead by the Spirit of God then we will not live in fear, worry, hate, jealousy, and envy, we will have the power of God within us. But we are fighting so many other things, possessions, accomplishments, are just a few things of this world. We are living in a fake world, our love toward God is somewhere else. People are in love with their house or there car, or even there job, and hurt whoever they can to get to the top, or to be the best at there career. I have seen people lie and cheat, just to get a top position where they work. If something goes wrong each one blames the other, and most of the time the innocent one gets hurt, or the one that tells the truth, gets degraded or fired. I have seen people get fired because they did there job so well that they made all the other workers look lazy. We all have to stick together, it is one body and Jesus Christ is the head, and some may be a foot or a hand or a ear, we have to be satisfied with what God made us to be. If we don't have unity, or togetherness we will fall apart, and that is what is happening. People don't want to except being a toe or a finger nail. The world or the Devil has implanted into our minds to want more, the greed, the lust for power, everyone wants that power. If you have a lot of money, yes you might think you have power for now, what about later when you die, and you stand in front of almighty God and He asks you well what did you do with all the money you had? You spent it on your pleasures, and on yourselves, or you stocked it away living in fear of the future, or loosing it. How many people did you help yesterday with all that money, did you help any of the poor? Did you give that man some of your loose change when he asked and walked by you? Didn't you drive around in your flashy car and say look at me. Didn't you go out and wash and shine the chrome the other day, when you could have helped hand out food somewhere? Did you donate anything to a worthy cause? Did you help any of your family or friends? Did you bring your lonely helpless neighbor a bag of food, or a plant, or some flowers? Did you do something to make someone smile? Did you ever pick up a hitchhiker in your shiny new car?Did you invite a homeless person into your big beautiful house? Everything is about money today, and sooner or later there will not be any middle class anymore, all that will be left is the rich and the poor. See what the devil has created? See why being a part of the world is so bad?
My heart exults in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD,
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.
There is no one holy like the LORD,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
Boast no more so very proudly,
Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth;
For the LORD is a God of knowledge,
And with Him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are shattered,
But the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,
But those who were hungry cease to hunger.
Even the barren gives birth to seven,
But she who has many children languishes.
The LORD kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and raises up.
The LORD makes poor and rich;
He brings low, He also exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust,
He lifts the needy from the ash heap
To make them sit with nobles,
And inherit a seat of honor;
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S,
And He set the world on them.
He keeps the feet of His godly ones,
But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness;
For not by might shall a man prevail.
Those who contend with the LORD will be shattered;
Against them He will thunder in the heavens,
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
And He will give strength to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed.
1 Samuel 2: 1-10
Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? James 2:5 NIV
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Proverbs 31:8 NIV
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 1 Cor.8:9
I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be blessed. Psalm 37:25-26NIV
'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God. Lev. 19:9-10 NIV
Spiritual pride blinds us to our own faults and magnifies the faults of others. Only Christ breaks down the walls of prejudice, reconciles all believers to God, and unifies us in one body.
Satan's Temptations ar real and he is tring to get us to live his way, or our way, rather than God's way!
Because of our ignorance, we do not enjoy the benifits that God offers His children.
It is apparent to those of us who do battle against the kingdom of darkness on a regular basis that there are a lot of strongholds that need to be pulled down. I believe this should be a combined effort of the body of Christ with unity. Unfortunately a large portion of God’s people are not ready to join such an effort even if they wanted to. Their own spiritual lives would be held back in doing so. A movement to bring down demonic strongholds will not be accomplished with catchy phrases, cleaver programs or even spiritual performance. Time and time again Christians have good objectives, yet they have little strength on our society to change it. In fact this nation is becoming more and more ungodly. When it comes to the major issues of the day, the Christian voice is being ignored and even laughed at. Christians are accused of being intolerant and despised because we are sponsoring biblical values. There is an increasing anti-Christian response that is trying to convey the message that Christians are the enemy. We are portrayed as revolutionaries. God has called us to go out into the world and to bring about change. We are supposed to be change makers, salt and light to this world of darkness. How have the majority of Christians responded? They have gone about there business as usual. Satan has been very successful in sidetracking us from the path that God laid out for us. God’s people have become self centered and pleasure-seeking in their lifestyles. Christ has called us to take up our cross daily, but his voice has been drowned out by the multitude of temptations that surround us. Many are satisfied to carry the name of Christ and live life like the rest of the world. They are content with the way the world is, as long as they are not suffering. For others the task of changing the world is unthinkable or even disturbing. I am glad the disciples did not think like that.
Our Father, we pray that you will stimulate our hearts and minds, and move away the obstacles by which we have allowed ourselves to think we are overpowered and weakened and altered, broken hearted, lost, and troubled over this great worldly battle. Help us to understand that we would have no possibility of fighting in this battle if it wasn’t for the delivering work of the Lord Jesus who, as the stronger one, has come to bind the power of darkness. We thank you for the privilege of the glory and access into the kingdom of God, and a chance to stop fighting a negative and painful battle, which some think is already lost, and understand the fight of this battle is already won.
For just one day we can do anything we set our hearts on. So for this day only let us resolve to be unafraid of life, unafraid of death, unafraid to be happy, and agree to enjoy the beauty around us and believe only in the best of others. Just for today, let us live this day only. Let us forget yesterday and tomorrow, and not try to solve the whole problem of life in one motion. People are as happy as they make up there minds to be. We must decide to adjust ourselves to what is in the moment, our Lord, our family, our friends, our brothers and sisters, our spiritual journey, and our dedication and love toward others. To try to make the world to suit us is a big order. If we cannot have what we like, we should like what we have. So just for today, let us be agreeable, loving, compassionate, cheerful and kind, as always, no matter what is going through our own lives, may it be good or bad. Let us look our best, walk softly, praise people for what they do. And give thought, love, help and understanding for what they cannot do. We live in a world of suffering and misconceptions, we need to forget ourselves, and shine a light upon others. Let us all remember today, because Christ died yesterday, so we could have a tomorrow.
God Bless you all, for taking the time, and relighting a candle, that almost withered away.
Rev. Paul
Dearly beloved ,I wish to thank you for all the care and compassion of helping me, this church and ministry. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we all want to show our love to each other. That is our main purpose, during these times of the Christmas season we all want to express our love, each in our own way, we are all different. We know that our Lord Jesus is there with us, and the Holy Spirit is in us, but sometimes we do feel alone, we all suffer different pains, sorrows and confusion. We know our Father in heaven is looking down at us wanting to here from us, basically that is why he created us, so He could have fellowship, and be able to love others, and be able to help others like us, that ask him. Jesus is with us all the time and we know that He is in us, but he uses others to talk “for Him”. We all are in the spirit of giving and we all want to return the blessings that we have received, and possibly do more, or go that extra mile. As or world changes it begins to get harder and harder to return the gifts or the blessings that you yourself would like to give or send. Sometimes we can only send our words, hoping that at the other end they will understand. Everything belongs to God anyway, and it really doesn’t mater what we give, or how we express ourselves, we all are apart of Christ and our cares and feelings are well worshiped with thankfulness toward everyone. We just need to express our love to each other the best way we can, and usually the Spirit takes control for us in any case. Every heart, mind and soul is different, that is why there are so many members in the body of Christ, each has a different function, and each has a different gift, want or desire, or a special hope or dream. If we could all focus with unity for the love of God, He will do the rest, we are all going to spend eternity together and we all will be in mostly the same area, maybe we should concentrate on that concept now. We can’t even imagine what it will be like, we all have different pictures in our minds of what heaven and eternity would be similar to, and to be in the actual presence of God and to be able to sit a talk to Jesus and feel the outlook of intense rushes of pure love and peace. I guess that is what we all wait for. So as we are here we still at times ask for God to talk to us, and sometimes explain the burdens, or the loneliness or the pains that we see and suffer and watch and hear about others suffering in all different ways. We all have to be of one accord mainly like the apostles, focusing on sharing everything with each other, and not to see anyone go without. Just giving a smile and be able to express our joy, is a gift to another in itself. So I wish to thank you all for the gifts and prayers, and I pray for all of you that you find the key of direction to the love of one another, in the greatest way you can, during this season, through the Spirit of the Living God. Rev. Paul
Sunday, December 14th, 2003
Our First Sunday Service
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Isa. 6:10 KJV
