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Keith Green - Oh Lord, You're Beautiful

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The divine birth.....

Way back in time....before anything....there was GOD.

And there was JESUS.

And there was the HOLY SPIRIT

The three of them are sitting around the most beautiful table you have ever seen..( eyes have not seen)

God the Father is speaking...He says: “I am, through you JESUS, and with the HOLY SPIRIT’S power,
going to make the most beautiful universe you have ever seen...it will hold the sun and the moon and millions of stars and galaxies
and other beautiful things”

And WE are then going to make beings....in our own image!

We will call them humans or mankind!"


God had already created angels, they lived in heaven with Him...

The Bible says there are so many angels, we cannot count them....

Angels are not people....people do not become angels when they die!

One of the most beautiful angels was called Lucifer......

He was in charge but he wanted more....he wanted to be god...

He loved the way all the other angels worshiped and adored God....he wanted that...

That meant he did not want to be obedient to God anymore....to be obedient to God is very important...the Bible tells us...
“Obedience is better than sacrifice”

So, because Lucifer was rebellious, that is called...sinful.....he could not stay in heaven, so he had to leave and one third of the angels left with him.

So, we read in Psalm 8 one of the angels asks God, “What is man, that You are mindful of him?”

Let’s try and imagine, just for a moment, that we can hear and see the angel’s response to what God has just done.

This awesome, mighty, sovereign GOD....has just created the universe out of nothing...He’s put the sun, the moon and the stars in their place...


this awesome God, now comes to this tiny speck, not much bigger than a peppercorn, in the scheme of things, EARTH....and makes, what seems to be a speck of dust....

into the shape of a human being....but what amazes the angel is how GOD is totally focussed on what he is doing!

The Bible tells us...”His thoughts towards us are precious...” Psalm 139

in seeing all this.... His thoughts towards us being precious, I think the angels maybe might have cried out,

“What is this...that You are so fondly affectionate towards?”

What is that tiny little thing...that is constantly on Your mind.....the total focus of Your plan?

Just think.......GOD created all the above.....just for you and me! Just so we could live on this speck....called earth...

The sun is just far enough away to keep us warm....any closer and we’d cook... any further....we’d freeze!

Then it happened....mankind followed the rebellious angel and disobeyed God......fell into sin.....

God said... "We need some one to redeem mankind....some one who is sinless.....

Some one who can repay the debt of sin.......He looked around the big round table...."


Jesus then looked at God, the Father and said...."I’ll go......I will pay the penalty for mankind.....I love them that much I will go to earth, be born as a human baby and restore them...bring them back into fellowship with us”

then He looked at the Holy Spirit and said.... “But I can’t go unless you come with me....You are the one with the power...”

The Holy Spirit said...."Right.....You go on ahead, and when the time is right....I’ll join you on earth.....”




The time had come......all was very quiet in Heaven.......

the angels were holding their breath.....

Jesus was walking down a long........ long corridor......the sides were lined with thousands and thousands of angels....you could have heard a pin drop....

Some mighty big doors opened.........Jesus kept walking........

one minute he was there.......the next he was gone........

The angels looked at each other........

They had a job to do too........they could not say anything till then, but now, they could shout it out!


They descended down to earth and sang and sang.....to shepherds in the fields tending their flocks by night....

Mary and Joseph were in a stable....a baby had just been born.....
Isaiah 9 v 6:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and his name shall be called Wondeful, Counsellor, The mighty God,The everlasting Father
The Prince of Peace.”


JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!
blessings...
Yaddy


Thursday, December 18, 2014

Luke chapter 1 starting from verse 5:

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

But, they did not have any children,, because Elizabeth was barren, and by now, they were both well past the age of ever having children!

As it happened, it was Zacharias’ turn, according to the custom of the priest's office, by lot, to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside, at the time of incense.

While inside, suddenly, there appeared to Zacharias, an angel of the Lord...who was standing on the right side of the altar of incense,

and when Zacharias saw him, he was scared, he was very frightened indeed..

But the angel said unto him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias: for your prayers have been answered; and your wife Elisabeth will give birth to a son, and you shall call him John.

And you shall both will be very happy; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

“For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”


But Zacharias said to the angel, “ How can I know you are telling me the truth? I am an old man, and my wife is well past child bearing age!”

Then the angel answering said unto him, “I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to tell you these glad tidings. And now, because you have not believed me and doubted me instead, you will not be able to speak...until the day all these things happen!”



Now, the people who were all waiting for Zacharias, outside, couldn’t understand why he took so long and when he finally did come out

he could not speak to them: so they thought that maybe he had seen a vision in the temple:..... he beckoned to them, but could not speak!!!

So, as soon as he had finished with all that was expected from him, he left to go back to his own house.

And true to the words of Gabriel..... Elisabeth conceived, and she decided to hide herself five months, because, she said,

“So has the Lord dealt with me, in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men".



So..... in the sixth month of Elizabeth's confinement, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin, who was engaged and betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel came in unto her, and said,

“Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”

But, when Mary saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and tried to think about what kind of a greeting this was!.

And the angel said unto her,

“Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, you shalt conceive in your womb, and give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end”.

Then said Mary to the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said to her,

“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, your cousin Elizabeth, she has also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word.

And the angel departed from her.

And Mary decided then, to go and visit her cousin Elizabeth, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.

And it came to pass, that, when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

And she spoke out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord’

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.



And Mary stayed with Elizabeth, about three months, and returned to her own house. Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.

And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her; and they were very happy with her.

And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they, the other people, wanted to call him Zacharias, after the name of his father. But his mother answered and said, Not so; he shall be called John.

And they said unto her, There is none of your family that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.

And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.



Then...as soon as he had written down the name John, his dumbness had gone and he praised and honoured the Lord. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.

And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be!

And the hand of the Lord was with him.
blessings:
Yaddy

Monday, December 8, 2014

Lovers of darkness......

My good friend, Dr. David R. Reagan, recently wrote an outstanding article titled, “How Did God Speak Through the Prophets.” He mentioned that the little known prophet, Micaiah, is one of his favorite prophets and he told the story about Micaiah, Ahab and Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:1-38).

What Dr. Reagan said is better than anything I can come up with, but his article left me with a thought that I want to try to expand on.

Syria had captured the large city of Ramoth-gilead from the Northern Kingdom called Israel and the wicked Israeli king Ahab wanted it back. He saw the opportunity to get it back when he the godly king Jehoshaphat visited him from the Southern Kingdom called Judah.

While they were talking Ahab asked Jehoshaphat if he would join him in a war against Syria to retake it. In essence, Jehoshaphat said he would, but he wanted Ahab to seek the will of the Lord first.

Ahab called about 400 prophets in (false prophets or prophets who thought their job was to tell the king what he wanted to hear) and they said, “Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.”

This sounded a little suspicious to king Jehoshaphat so he asked king Ahab, “Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might inquire of him?” Jehoshaphat wanted God’s opinion not man’s opinion. He wanted the truth whether he liked it or not.

King Ahab replied, “There is one man, Micaiah ...but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” King Jehoshaphat told king Ahab he shouldn’t say that and to satisfy the good king Jehoshaphat, Ahab sent for the prophet Micaiah.

While they were waiting for Micaiah to arrive, Ahab’s approximately 400 prophets assured him that the Lord would deliver Ramoth-gilead into his hands.

When Ahab’s servant reached Micaiah he told Micaiah what the other prophets said and urged him to “speak that which is good.” That is to say if you want to get along with the king, prophesy good things instead of bad things.

Micaiah’s response was, “As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.” His prophecy would be what the Lord says whether it is positive or negative. Skipping down to the end of the story for the sake of getting to the point, Micaiah said to Ahab:“I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd.” He also told Ahab, “the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.”

Four things: 1) Israel would be defeated, 2) Ahab would die, 3) his prophets were lying to him, and 4) God’s judgment was coming instead of God’s blessing.

Micaiah was slapped in the face by one of Ahab’s prophets and he was cast into prison to receive nothing but bread and water until Ahab’s return from the battlefield. Nevertheless, Ahab listened to his lying prophets, Israel was defeated, he was killed and his body was buried in Samaria.

Many people are like Ahab because they don’t want to hear negative prophecy even if it comes from the Lord and even if it is true. And many preachers are like the prophet that slapped Micaiah in the face because they are not preaching the whole counsel of God and they resent those
who are.

Paul told Timothy, “The time will come when they (most church members) will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears” (2 Tim. 4:3).

The time will come when many church members will not listen to everything that is in the Word of God. They will listen to a positive message, but they will not listen to a negative message. They will bring in preachers that say things that make them feel good, but they will not tolerate preachers that say things they don’t want to hear. They will love darkness more than the truth.

Prophecy Plus Ministries here
Daymond & Rachel Duck
daymond.duck@yahoo.com