A Wing and a Prayer: or Miricale in the Muck

Listen to the Sermon Now 

A thoughtful gift. This year I got my wife this I Pod Nano. I even had it engraved. Plus I downloaded her entire music library on this thing, it took me days. And I got her a Bible with her name on it. I did good. Yes, I am patting myself on the back, because I usually get her a gift card to Marshals which she like, but really has no meaning, or thought. Might as well give her cash. My response from my wife this year was great because she knew that I loved her enough to take some time and thought. God is the same way. He wants our love not our sacrifice.













We need tension in our life in order to fly. We are like the kite, no tension no flight.


1 Chronicles 28:9

 ^9-10 "And you, Solomon my son, get to know well your father's God; serve him with a whole heart and eager mind, for God examines every heart and sees through every motive. If you seek him, he'll make sure you find him, but if you abandon him, he'll leave you for good. Look sharp now! God has chosen you to build his holy house. Be brave, determined! And do it!"

1 Chronicles 28:20
David continued to address Solomon: "Take charge! Take heart! Don't be anxious or get discouraged. God, my God, is with you in this; he won't walk off and leave you in the lurch. He's at your side until every last detail is completed for conducting the worship of God. You have all the priests and Levites standing ready to pitch in, and skillful craftsmen and artisans of every kind ready to go to work. Both leaders and people are ready. Just say the word."

Job 22:21
"Give in to God, come to terms with him and everything will turn out just fine. Let him tell you what to do; take his words to heart. Come back to God Almighty and he'll rebuild your life. Clean house of everything evil. Relax your grip on your money and abandon your gold-plated luxury. God Almighty will be your treasure, more wealth than you can imagine.

Proverbs 2:1
[ Make Insight Your Priority ] Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life. Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding. That's right—if you make Insight your priority, and won't take no for an answer, Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt, Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you'll have come upon the Knowledge of God.

Proverbs 3:5
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. It's the child he loves that God corrects; a father's delight is behind all this.

Proverbs 20:5
Knowing what is right is like deep water in the heart; a wise person draws from the well within.

What I said on Sunday: Expecting Spiritual Healing

What I said on Sunday: Expecting Spiritual Healing

Expecting Spiritual Healing

When I was in college I spent a the summer traveling through the Mediterranean. A majority of my time I spent in Israel on an Archeological dig. While visiting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem I was approached by a orthodox rabbi who invited me to dinner.  Of course I excepted and he gave me directions to his house and pointed in the general direction. That evening I showed up early and invited one of my college friends to join me, Dwight. We showed up, were warmly greeted, but there was a little awkwardness. Then it dawned on me. I have olive complexion dark curly hair and my name is Joshua Kapchinsky. "He thinks I'm a Jew"!. My friend, Dwight Anderson is fair, red headed, blue eyed and as anglo/arian as you can look. We sat around the table with a number of young traveling Jews that the Rabbi had invited. The Rabbi said, "I've invited you all here to tell you about Orthodox Judaism and would like to get to know you all, let go around the table and introduce our selves and I expect that there will be a few surprises" (indicating that there was one that was unlike the others, the obvious red headed stepchild at the table.)



Urban Dictionary: red headed stepchild

A person or group treated without the favor of birthright. The boss treats this department like his red headed stepchildren. A child who is obviously not your own, a child who is treated worse than other children in the family I beat him like a red headed stepchild. With red hair being rare, a child born to non red headed parents was often assumed to be the child of an affair. Thus was treated badly, usually in the form of beatings. I'll beat you like a red headed stepchild.

It turned out that the dinner was more than just dinner, it was a special holiday Shavuot celebrating the day God gave the Torah to the people. This happen 50 days after the Exodus. In the Greek it's called Pentecost.
 

 

Acts 2, Day one of the Church, receives the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, the day God brought us all back together in a common language. A holy gathering as opposed to a holy scattering that he performed at Babel.

Act 8 Simon the Sorcerer and the Samaritans (wannabe Jews) who received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10 Peter's Vision and the Gentiles who receive the Holy Spirit

 ^9-13The next day as the three travelers were approaching the town, Peter went out on the balcony to pray. It was about noon. Peter got hungry and started thinking about lunch. While lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the skies open up. Something that looked like a huge blanket lowered by ropes at its four corners settled on the ground. Every kind of animal and reptile and bird you could think of was on it. Then a voice came: "Go to it, Peter—kill and eat."
 ¹⁴Peter said, "Oh, no, Lord. I've never so much as tasted food that was not kosher."
 ¹⁵The voice came a second time: "If God says it's okay, it's okay."
 ¹⁶This happened three times, and then the blanket was pulled back up into the skies.  

From this we know that Peter was a good Jew, if he had tasted bacon he would  not have argued with God. And because of this dream we can now eat things that are tasty; pig, shrimp, cheese burgers. But the dream was not about the unclean food, it was about the unclean Italians, the red heads.
  
^17-20As Peter, puzzled, sat there trying to figure out what it all meant, the men sent by Cornelius showed up at Simon's front door.

I once had a Jewish colleague who ate bacon on accident, I didn't say anything. Is that bad?  Maybe so, cause I was laughing on the inside.


 Peter goes to Cornelius's house
 The minute Peter came through the door, Cornelius was up on his feet greeting him—and then down on his face worshiping him! Peter pulled him up and said, "None of that—I'm a man and only a man, no different from you."
 ^27-29Talking things over, they went on into the house, where Cornelius introduced Peter to everyone who had come. Peter addressed them, "You know, I'm sure that this is highly irregular. Jews just don't do this—visit and relax with people of another race. But God has just shown me that no race is better than any other. So the minute I was sent for, I came, no questions asked. But now I'd like to know why you sent for me."
30-43 Basic Gospel message.
 ^44-46No sooner were these words out of Peter's mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners. The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on "outsider" non-Jews, but there it was—they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God.


God gave us three gifts:

• First the Law, Torah, Holy Scriptures.
• Second his Son; the ultimate gift that took away the transgressions of the world.
• Third the Holy Spirit, our counselor/comforter. The Holy spirit is the third gift from God. And has to work with the word or Scripture. 

There now are two Pentecosts: The day we received the Holy Scripture and the day we received the Holy Spirit.


Pentecost Sunday and the out pouring of the Holy Spirit transforms us and heals us spirtualy and empowers us suppernaturaly.  It's a gift available for all, the are no favorites, there are no red headed stepchildren .

The Benediction: I encouraged people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. And encouraged those that have been baptized to be conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit, He is skittish like a dove (not an original illustration). Can't walk to fast or to slow, ya might chase it off. Galatians 5: ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Do You Expect Your Prayers to be Effective?

James 5:16-17

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

EFFECTIVE PRAYER:

 
1.___Transparent: 

•  Do you talk to God as if He was a friend, spouce, conselor, sibling or parent? Or is our language NIV or King James when we pray? 
• Are we addicted to counsel? Who do we turn to first in our times of need? God or loved ones? 
• Ok to want and to ask for favor.

 




2._____Selfless  

• Every religion has a cross to bear or self denial. The Gospel has resurrection that must be lived out. Self has to die and must be reborn. 
• Areas in our livees must die, so that we can be reborn.
• Prov 27:²¹ The purity of silver and gold is tested
     by putting them in the fire;
  The purity of human hearts is tested
     by giving them a little fame.
  

3.____Know it's Authority: (See previous blogs on the Kingdom.)

 

 










4.___Indignant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhFbkfGYq90

• Be dogged  in prayer! Don't give up, don't give in. Insist on blessings and indignant towards the enemy, don't allow Him to steel, kill and destroy.
• 
  
  
  

  "If I don't take my prayers seriously, why should God?"

   

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. (3John 1:2 NASB)


That simple prayer discloses a profound truth. John tells us that both prosperity and good health flow from a prosperous soul. Every one of us hopes for prosperity and health. Perhaps we are closer to those things than we realize. Perhaps we should “attend to our own minds, and so proving what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2).

Prayer for impartation. (grace transferred).  God distributes gifts. Give God our failures and success.

Come before the Lord???? abandonment? Addicted to the counsel of others? Milk?

Baggage defines how we pray.
Can you feel a depressed person when they walk into the room?

The worst sin is unbelief.

The Key to the Kingdom: Your not gonna like this one.

Jesus sent out the 12 with all power. They did the "stuff". Then he set out the 72, they did the "stuff", Kingdom stuff. Luke 10. And they came back to report, to touch base, to reconnect to the source?

Luke 10- ¹⁸He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

We have been given all power to overcome the enemy.
The 72 were given all power to overcome the enemy, but questions where asked. What must we do? What is the work? John 6:25  He said that you had to eat his flesh, the 72 dance around that, kinda weird. Then he said, Ya got to drink my blood; he played the religious card. This was a "hard teaching" because eat flesh is ok, but drinking blood, any type of blood is not Kosher! The 72 could not do it, even though they had "heard" the word, seen the miracles from Jesus and even performed them or participated in Jesus's ministry themselves. They could not break with religion...  "I can't swallow that. I want to be "good" I want a better Life,  I want to turn from my wicked ways, I want to follow truth, but I just can't get this down, It's a hard teaching.

To drink the blood is a big deal. The blood is the life force. All cultures view blood the same way, our tradition (Jew/Christian) call for a "blood" sacrifice. Other cultures.....____________

Since we have started the series on the Kingdom Pastor, Jeffrey, Meko, Niran and myself have all danced around one major element, one very important issue, the key to the Kingdom: Repentance, "Repent, for the Kingdom of is Near", the Kingdom is conditional. It is the key to having the Kingdom in you! Repent means to turn and go the other way. Some of you are in this place because you have messed  up your life, and you're only hope is to turn around. John the Baptist whole ministry, His message was one of repentance (thats why he didn't want to baptize Jesus, because Jesus didn't need to repent of anything. John message was repentance to to make a way for a miracle. Jesus's ministry, His message was the Kingdom. You can turn from your wicked ways, the opposite of which is morality; Morality is not Jesus. You can turn from your your life of abuse; the opposite of which is righteousness (or justice), righteousness in not Jesus. You have been serving the devil, you need to head in the other direction so you head towards god (notice a small "g"). God is not God with out Jesus. Coming to terms with Jesus means we come to terms with his blood and drink it. His life force is in us, he is lord over our kingdom! You can repent towards morality, righteousness, justice, legalism, but you can't get that confuse with repenting towards Jesus and His blood. The Gate is narrow folks. Even his closest followers could not get through it because religion got  in the way, so don't feel bad.

Now here is the Kingdom side of things, the Kingdom is the reign and rule of Jesus here and now, it is God's supernatural power and presence lived out in everyday life. It's the Holy Spirit  breaking into your mundane humdrum life, it's Gods living active WORD being sown into your heart, it's God expressing himself. The Kingdom of this world, Satan and his forces are out to stop this and undo YOU. The enemy of God wants to kill steal and destroy, we give him power to do so...............We sin and say, "oops... sorry God" my bad. We fall into sexual morality and say, sorry God, but  you know how I am. "Oops I just crapped by pants again, you know me"  "We are a children of God who has fell asleep on this and has compromised; We've let our kids have their boyfriends and girlfriend spend the night and we've been "ok" with it, we have let the enemy into our own house through the portal of our TV's and computers, we let or rent satanic horror movies and watch porn ourselves. Blaa blaa blaa. And we wonder why we are not functioning in our gifts and that the Kingdom of God is not being fleshed out, why God is not there, why he is not expressing himself.

Jesus, in the Gospel of Mathew rebukes Bathesdia, because he gave his message and performed miracles, yet they did not believe and would not repent (Mathew 11:20). In the Gospel of Mark (8:22) he is begin led through Bathesdia and people want him to heal a blind man. Jesus leads the man out of the city and heals him on the other side of the city limits... Jesus can (is able), but will not do miracles in your life if you do not repent. But if you repent, you have to repent in the right direction, can you get it down?

The first word out of Jesus's mouth in his ministry is "REPENT, for the Kingdom of God is near"Are you repenting because you've screwed  your life up and you want it to get better, or are you repenting because you have offended a Holy God. Sackcloth and ashes verses, "ooops , my bad". Repentance is only the key to the Kingdom. If you can get  yourself to the point where you can swallow that blood then "you can do all things, because it is Christ in you".



^{Luke 23}Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. ²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)
 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from
heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.




John 6:25  Jesus the Bread of Life

The Kingdom and You: Sermon. May 1 & 2, 2010

One tangible political manifestation of the Kingdom of God in conflict with the Kingdom of the God's Enemy was the fall of Communism in Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union all aspects of life were controlled, most freedoms concerning free speech were prohibited; from religion to pornography. My father raised as a baby boomer was taught to fear the Soviets, yet when Communism fell, he was one of the first U.S. pastors in the country to freely preach the Gospel of Jesus (a Gospel of hope and freedom). He decided to "love his neighbor" Mathew 22:38-40 buys a plane ticket and does the uncomfortable. Going to the USSR was an impression in his heart that he could have chosen to ignore, but he didn't. The Fall of Communism was more that a political shift of power, it was a shift in the powers that we don't see. As soon as the soviet oppression was lifted and there was relative freedom, a small window that people could see hope through. The Gospel pored into the USSR through evangelical/charismatic pastors, missionaries and aid workers (the Russian orphans were starving at that time). But the children of God weren't the only ones busy; drugs, pornography, the occult, and organized crime also pored into the void. It was a classic example of what Pastor has been talking about, a "kingdom clash".
Pastor is in Russia right now, invited to witness a special ceremony.

One of the young Russian pastors he discipled and that we financially supported was honored with the position of Head Bishop of all the Charismatic/Pentecostal churches in Russia.
Eduard Grabovenko wanted to make sure that our Pastor was there!


The first miracle in the book of Mark was casting out of a evil spirit. Jesus begins to teach in the synagogue. His first sermon was interrupted by a demon possessed man.

"Have you come to destroy US? We didn’t expect you so soon, it’s not fair."

Exorcism was not new. The Rabbis did it too. Took forever, cost money, and they had to know the secret  word.  Jesus was quit and to the point. He was the secret word!!! Come on!!! This is why Mathew used Kingdom of Heaven for his Jewish audience

-Jesus choking the devil is the active word, word and deed. Or actually the word is the deed!

The Word: Rhema and Logos.  And your Heart

The Lord's utterance/saying remains forever” (1 Peter 1:25). Rhema "saying" in this context bears a different meaning than Logos "word".

Rhema: Some Pentecostal Christians view Rhema as the voice of the Holy Spirit as he speaks to the believer at the present moment. In this sense, the Christian should be guided by the Holy Spirit as he/she is guided through inner feelings, impressions, dreams, visions, and signs. God's Rhema, the direct words of God to the individual, can also be imparted through the words of others, such as a preacher in a worship service, or a friend who counsels them. In this sense, God's direct guidance can be determined by a variety of means. The test of the authenticity of a Rhema from God is simple... How does it compare to the whole of Scripture? Orthodoxy says that God will not speak a word that contradicts His written word, the Scriptures, so there is a built-in safeguard to prevent misinterpretation. Wikipedia


Parable of the sower. If you don't understand the seed it gets eaten. Keep as a concept and not put into practice. It's not removed from your mind, but from your heart. We live at a high level of theory but a low level of experience.
If I have "heard" gonna change the way I live.
Birds are Demons.

The Parable of the Sower is not just a salvation parable, it is a primary Kingdom parable, meaning that God's word or his seeds are still being sown in us believers. How is our soil? How is our heart. If God's word is sown in fertile soil the bird can't get to it and their are no weeds.

Heart has to be humble.
Take of what you have and serve, it will sink your your seed deeper and the birds can't get it.

You're in Heaven: Sermon on the Kingdom of God

This Seromon's Pod Cast

Mark 1:14-15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

Two weeks ago I preached on the Kingdom of God (or Heaven). The topic is one that most people don't understand. The idea that the Kingdom is not a place (heaven) or a people (the Church) but rather the reign and rule of Christ on Earth. Or God's power manifested through word and deed or reason and the supernatural (miracles).

1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

The illustration that I used (my wife's idea) was that the evil one (Satan) owned this round piece of real estate (earth) from the fall to the birth of Christ. The coming of Christ took Satan's rule from him by force and the cross was the legal binding document that evicted him; Satan got served. Now he is the bad tenant who is in the eviction process and his is trashing the place (all of creation) on his way out. The planet is no longer his, all authority has been give to Christ. Matthew 28:18 He now has the keys to the planet and demonstrates is authority by overcoming "nature", sickness, death, poverty, demons, politics, slavery and the like. The power of God is the rule of Christ it is the Kingdom here and "now". The reign is the "not yet" the reign will be the completion of the cross or when the sheriff comes to forcibly remove the bad tenant who has been trashing this place.

In the mean time we have been give the keys back. All authority has been given to us through Jesus. John 14:12 Satan has no more authority; except for what we give him!

Saturday May 1 and Sunday May 2, I will be preaching the follow up on this. We will look at how Jesus confronted the enemy of God in Mark 1 and how that should be our model. And if we follow that model we will have victory in our life that we could only pray or dream for. Real miracles folk!