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The world is full of a variety of different people, some are sane, and others are questionable. It definitely makes our lives interesting but rarely are two people ever alike. There is one group of people that should stand out from everyone else. These people are called Christians and according to the world’s standard of classification, they are oddballs. Most of the world doesn’t understand the attitude of Christians so they call them oddballs. These oddballs are God’s children and the only way to understand them is to understand God Himself. They don’t usually come out and say it, but they think God is an oddball!
1 Peter 2:9 You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. The only view the world will ever have of Jesus is what they see in Christians. The world is full of depression, depravity and without hope, anyone who does not fit their mold is an oddball. They believe Christians are weird because they talk to someone and hear from someone they can’t even see. The world is limited to the five senses of their flesh, if they can’t see it or touch it then it doesn’t exist. The world abides in the kingdom of darkness, the only spiritual things they have contact with are devils and demons. They think they are free; the truth is the devil and demons have borrowed their bodies and souls. If you tell them the truth they will fight and defend the very thing that is seeking their lives. 1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural man receives not the things of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The natural man can never understand a spiritual man, he does not have the capability of fathoming spiritual truths. So, how does the natural man make the transition from darkness to light? Almost every time it begins with the example set by the Christian oddballs. People who have spent time in the presence of God Himself have a self confidence they wish they had. The Christians talk different, they are sure of themselves, and they don’t cuss nor curse. The Christians don’t act like citizens of this world, they seem to represent a kingdom where all their needs are supplied. True believers cannot be dissuaded or made to compromise their course, no matter what the world does they hold fast to their course. Jerry Savelle became a born-again believer and gave himself wholly to the Word of faith. By faith in his Lord, he began to prosper, and he would travel the world talking people into winning. His family and friends called him a “nut”, but he held fast to his course, and he prospered in the flesh. When his family and friends needed prayer or money, they called the “nut”, and he would help them. The very people who call us oddballs are watching us and when they can’t find the answers they need, they will seek us out. 1 Thessalonians 1:7 You became examples (models – patterns) to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. When the citizens of the world see a Christian, they should get a glimpse of Christ. For most of the sinners it will be the only place where they will have evidence of the presence of God. Christians don’t always have to preach to the lost, their lifestyle can be just a great witness. One day a man I recently met came to me and began to apologize for all his cussing around me. I quickly told him he had nothing to apologize for, I told him “Friend you never broke any laws”, but God heard every word you spoke and He’s keeping a record.
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Christians toss the word blessed around so much that it is not fully appreciated. We speak blessings over people, but we don’t expect anything positive to happen. The word bless has just become another catch phrase that no one expects anything from.
Psalm 5:12 The Lord will bless the righteous: He will crown them with favor like a shield. When God says He will bless people, those people must come to expect many good things to come into their lives. When you believe the Lord for a blessing, it is important to thank Him before and after you receive it. We must never take God for granted; He does not appreciate spoiled brats. The Lord will bless the righteous, but there were no righteous in the old covenant! So, who were these so-called righteous people God was blessing? Before Jesus went to the cross, anyone who obeyed God were called righteous. Abraham obeyed God and God considered him to be righteous. When Abraham died, he went to hell because He did not have the righteousness of God. Remember now, hell was divided into two parts by a great gulf, Abraham and all the other righteous were on the paradise side of hell. Galatians 3:9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. When God created Adam, the first thing He did was to bless him. God spoke the blessing: prosper, reproduce, fill the earth and take charge. Then God gave Adam every seed he would need to reproduce all his heart desired. When Adam disobeyed, he forfeited the blessing and then God gave it to Abraham because Abraham obeyed God. Abraham and Israel struggled to obey God because they had the nature of Adam’s father the devil. So, the Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son to die for the errors of all mankind. When a man receives Jesus as his Savior and Lord he becomes a new creature with a new nature. The New Testament saints have now become the righteousness of God and obeying is part of that new nature. Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits (rewards) even the Lord of our salvation. Can you believe this Scripture? You need to believe it because it belongs to the new covenant saints as well as the old covenant people. God cannot give us what we don’t believe Him for! Now, if you believe God with your new nature then you need to expect blessings every day of your life. Let me be the first to tell you, you should have so many blessings you cannot count them all every day. Don’t let the devil obscure your daily dose of blessings with his attempts to steal your joy. We must get something settled in our minds, God loves to bless his people, He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His people. Psalm 115:15 You are blessed of the Lord which made Heaven and earth. God made Heaven and earth as a habitation for all His people, He gave us His best because we are His kids. The devil came along and messed everything up, but he can’t keep our blessings from us. But we can keep him away from our blessings. God wants to bless all His people but most of His people are too humble to allow Him to be their Father. Jesus said, if you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give…. So let your Heavenly Father bless you and don’t put any limitations on Him. You can’t earn them; your righteousness is your ticket to all your Father wants to do for you. Some ministers teach that we must all tithe or deal with the curse. Others never mention the tithe, they just ask for your money. What does the Bible say about tithing?
Malachi 3:8-9 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me, in tithes and offerings. You are cursed because you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Keep in mind that we are in the old covenant here, the tithe was not about money, it was about obedience. When Adam bowed his knee to the devil in the Garden of Eden he released the curse into the earth. The curse brought lack, poverty, defeat, sickness, disease and death. God made a covenant with Abram, and it was ratified by obedience. Later, when God gave Moses the law it gave the Jews a knowledge of sin. God created a spiritual law to empower Israel. “To whom you yield yourselves to obey, you become his servant”. Whoever kept the law became a servant of Jehovah. God put tithing in the law to bless a servant of Jehovah. God put tithing in the law to bless His people. If they would tithe (obey), He would pour out His blessings on them. So, when they didn’t tithe, they did not obey, and God could not protect them from the curse because they were not His servants. Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. The new covenant Christian is redeemed from the curse, not because we tithe but because Jesus took our place. Did tithing end? No! In the book of Hebrews, the Apostle Paul says men who die are still receiving tithes in the Lord’s place. Men accept our tithes, but all the tithes belong to the Lord. Is it a sin to not tithe? No! If we are not commanded to tithe and it’s not a sin, why should we tithe? Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse and prove Me herewith, saith the Lord, that I will open the windows of Heaven and pour you out the blessing that you won’t have room to receive it all. Tithing is not a commandment but the reason for tithing still exists, God will lavish us with every aspect of His blessing. I got along well with God, and I was not tithing. But when I got the revelation, and I began to tithe I have never had so many blessings in my life. It remains that the tithe is not about money, it’s all about obedience and the promise is the same. The blessing is not limited to just money, it covers every aspect of our lives, that’s why we don’t have room for everything He will give us. When you begin to tithe you haven’t given anything yet that belongs to you! 2 Corinthians 9:6 He that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly; and he which sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Let every man sow his seed as he has purposed in his heart. This is a spiritual law; we will reap what we sow. If you’re a tither and a sower, God will protect your seed. He will rebuke the seed eater for your sake. A sower plants seed to gain a harvest; a giver is a sower, and he gives to get a harvest. Now remember tithing isn’t about money, it’s about obedience. What has God given us to obey? Bring all your tithes into the place where you are getting fed and I will open the windows of Heaven and pour you out so much of My blessing you will not have room for all of it. No one can make you tithe; no one can make you obey God, it’s your choice. I do not look into the books, I don’t know who tithes and gives, it’s none of my business. May God bless you. If a man is determined to have a successful life he will need to prioritize certain aspects of his life. I have had plenty of friends who were determined to party all their lives. They never seem to take any serious steps to make a better life for themselves. Most people are determined to deal with issues as they arise but invest no effort to improve their situations. There is one group of people that absolutely must make plans for their future, they are the Christians. People reap what they sow, and no one knows this better than believers.
Luke 10:39 Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and heard His Word. Luke 10:42 One thing is needful, and Mary chose that part. The most important thing to a Christian is the uncompromised Word of God. Man cannot survive on food alone; he needs every word of God. Praise, worship and fellowship are important but they’re not the most important. We can’t have good praise and worship without the Word, and we can’t have good fellowship without the Word. Jesus is the Word and the Word became flesh, you cannot separate God from His Word. No man can be a disciple of Christ apart from the Word; however, many attempt it. According to Jewish tradition Mary was a handmaiden and was expected to wait on the men who came to her home with Jesus. But Mary chose something she determined was far more important than waiting tables. Luke 4:4 It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God. If a man lives his entire life from the nutrition of the food, he eats he will grow old and die despite having eaten good food. The Word of God feeds the spirit of a man and without it his spirit will spend eternity with the unsaved man. The most important thing in this life is the Word of God, no man can live without it. The devil knows man must have God’s Word and so he offers man a “knockoff”, something that resembles the Word of God but is nothing more than religion. Religion sounds authentic and it even has some truth interwoven into it, but it cannot provide life. Religion will always elevate man into a place reserved only for God, so man becomes the interpreter and authority of God’s will. Most religions claim that no man can be saved without water baptism. Now only certain men are qualified to baptized so no one can be saved without the ceremony of another man. This kind of nonsense raises questions that must have been manufactured. What if a man in the far north wants to be saved and all the water is frozen? John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by Him (Word). This is one of those Scriptures that every believer must come to understand, or their theology will confuse everything they know about God. In the blessing there was God, He was a Father, Spirit and Word. In Bethlehem the Word became a man and He was called Jesus. When we study the Word, we are studying God Himself, if there be any compromise you will be presented a faction of God that man chose to create. God is just fine exactly as He is, He does not need any embellishment or Modification. Every believer must put God in His place if they are to know all His blessings. Where is God’s place? On the throne of our heart, a place of honor and dominion, He is the most important thing. Christians are very good at displaying their faith in a church service. Everyone is dressed well; we are standing next to people who have like precious faith. But for most believers their attitude of joy and peace expires when their faith is challenged by the affairs of this life. They enjoy a life of peace and contentment where they don’t have to contend for it. When the issues of everyday life begin to overwhelm them, their Christian label is replaced with citizen of the world. When they are under pressure, they forget about how great our Lord is, they utter words that sailors use every day. They don’t care what they say, and they don’t care who hears.
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. Many Christians believe that when you accept Jesus all your troubles are over. Actually, it’s just the opposite, when you become a believer you have more challenges because the devil hates what you have done. You have more problems, but your Lord and Savior gives you more answers for all those issues. If the devil can entice you to lose your temper you say things you will regret and you will do things that put you in agreement with the devil. Jesse Duplantis calls it a fit of carnality. 1 Peter 1:7 The trial of your faith, is much more precious than gold that perishes. If you know your enemy and you are made aware of his tactics you can prepare yourself for the day of His visitation. The devil is always out to catch you off guard, to catch you napping. Allow me to expose one of the devil’s most effective strategies. He will lay off your life for a season and let you think you have it made. And then when you are living the good life he shows up and attempts to get you to trust in your flesh. The Apostle Paul said we are not ignorant of his devices, evidently he didn’t mean all Christians. Many believers go from trial to trial and every time they allow themselves to be separated from their Lord and Savior. They blame people for what the devil has offered them and consequently they never get free. Ephesians 6:12 We wrestle not against people, but against principalities and against the demonic rulers of the darkness of this world. The Holy Spirit speaks plainly and warns us of who our enemy is, and He concludes by telling us we have power and authority over all the demonic forces. We cannot win a war with people because we don’t have authority over them! Permit me to explain why we wrestle with flesh and blood. Every man, woman and child have a different personality, some personalities are acceptable and pleasant, but others grate on you. People who have contrary characteristics are not our problem, we are the ones with a problem! Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. We must tolerate all men and if they are too obnoxious then limit your contact with them and avoid strife. Every person has a good trait that you can focus on. The devil loves to magnify the bad habits in all men, but we are not responsible to try and change anyone. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil is determined to lead you away from your Lord and the peace He died to give you. Your faith is greater than any trial the devil has planned for you. |
TEXT FOJCHURCH
TO 84576 OFFERING DECLARATION
Jesus had power to get wealth, He gave us the same power. He tithed and sowed seed, He took care of His disciples. He sent Peter to go fishing, the first fish had a mouth full of money. We are not limited to the natural way, we are anointed to have increase. |
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