I was so blessed by the word Friend Hubby preached yesterday from the book of Nehemiah and before the day was over, it had to be put to the test!
I don't believe in all my years of listening to Friend Hubby preach, that I have ever heard him preach from the book of Nehemiah. He has a "old" New Open Bible that has always blessed me in how it broke down the different types of opposition that Nehemiah incurred in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
1. Opposition through Ridicule [language or behavior intended to mock or humiliate, the act of deriding or treating with contempt].
2. Opposition through Threat of Attack [declaration of an intention or a determination to inflict harm on another].
3. Opposition through Discouragement [the expression of opposition and disapproval].
4. Opposition through Extortion [unjust exaction (as by the misuse of authority)].
5. Opposition through Compromise [an accommodation in which both sides make concessions].
6. Opposition through Slander [an abusive attack on a person's character or good name].
7. Opposition through Treachery [an act of deliberate betrayal of a trust].
I don't know about you, but I have experienced all of these at one time or another. Many of them through the same person. Friend Hubby preached about the necessity of a greater degree of discernment in the Body of Christ today. All that comes from God is good, but everything that "appears" good has not necessarily come from God. He preached today about the Valley of Ono. When the enemy tries to get you distracted from the purpose of God in your life, you tell that devil, "Oh, no!"
In this past year, I have been strengthened and encouraged by the ministry of Jonas Clark
who has exposed the characteristics of the Jezebel spirit running rampant in the church of America today. All of the examples of opposition that I listed above are arrows in Jezebel's quiver and she uses them skillfully.
I believe with all my heart we are living in the last days. The Lord is speaking to His called out ones and warning them of the attack of the enemy to come upon the people of God, those who are sold out to Him.
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'" Matthew 10:34-36
I am on a mission to route out unbelief in my heart. Do I believe the Word of the Lord from Genesis to Revelation. Are there parts of the Bible that I believe and parts that I wish weren't in there?
I am seeing a divide in the church today. There are many who are seeking the Hebraic roots of Christianity and rediscovering that our Savior was, in fact, Jewish. (duh!) We have for so long tried to make Him relative to our own culture (I have been in the great cathedrals of Europe and seen a blond haired, blue eyed Jesus, and I have been in a church in New Jersey that had a black Jesus with an Afro). The Father could have chosen to present Himself to the world through the Aztec, Mayans, Zulus, Cherokees, Vikings, or any group of people He wanted, but He chose to reveal Himself through the Jews.
"The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt." Deuteronomy 7:7-8
Through Jesus we have been grafted in! Praise God!
"Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." I Peter 2:10
Look at what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 11.
"If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
Does this mean we're supposed to become Jewish? No! THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE'RE SUPPOSED TO CONVERT TO JUDAISM!!!!!! If the Jews had always believed, we would have never had the opportunity to be grafted in. But if we ever want to really get to know someone (like a future spouse) we need to know where they came from. We need to know how they think and what makes them tick. It has a lot to do with how they were raised. Friend Hubby is from the east coast. It is a totally different culture from where I was raised in the midwest. To understand him, I had to learn about where he came from. For the longest time we had to come to a consensus about what to serve for Thanksgiving dinner. I was raised with mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. He was raised with baked macaroni and cheese and collard greens. He wins! LOL!
I want to KNOW Jesus. I want to know what idioms that He used in His teachings were unique to His culture, His surroundings. I want to sit on the mount with the others who listened to the Sermon on the Mount. I want to see it from what they were looking at. When John the Baptist told the people to REPENT [turn away from sin], what was He telling them to turn to??? The Law of Moses (not all the caveats that the Pharisees had put in - the fences around each law) but just the simple, plain words that the Father had given to teach us how to love Him). There was not New Testament, yet he was preparing them to meet the Lord. Isn't it also interesting that every Scripture Jesus used to come against Satan was in the book of Deuteronomy? We say, "I'm a New Testament Christian" yet we aren't even using the weapons Jesus used to fight the enemy! We are fighting a battle with only half an arsenal!
It is time to have a vendetta against the spirit of unbelief in our lives. Don't believe me? Think it doesn't take all that? Wake up!!!
Watch this Perry Stone video and tell me what you think.
