"HE HOLDS THE KEYS"

“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”

⁹ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

 

REVELATION 1

 

^{7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
    and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.}

^{8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”}

^{John’s Vision of Christ}

^{9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,  which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”}

 

^"JESUS"

^{12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,  and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man,dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.  The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.  In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.}

^{17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.}


Matthew 16:19

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”


Dear precious believer: Have you sent to heaven a child from your womb, or a mother who bore you? Has your father gone home to the Father of Lights, or a sister who now stands in the presence of Him, who you  prayed with, even wept with, while here on earth?

What has seized faith, hope and love in you this morning? We can speak of ten thousand stories, and each will remind us, that without a Saviour we are a people lost in our troubles,trials and tribulations, and sins.

Shout for joy, this Easter season! Death has been defeated, Jesus is risen and we have life everlasting! He holds the keys, and gives them to you and to me!

I saw;
^{someone like a son of man,dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.}



Hallelujah !!!!!!!!   He is Risen!!!!!!!

James 3

 

 HORSES,SHIPS AND THE TONGUE

  Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ^{8 8} But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Have you ever had a deep regret concerning words that came out of your mouth, and those words set the whole course of your life on fire? First know if convicted by the Holy Spirit, you must repent, and not let condemnation keep you in the prison of your mind.  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.  (Romans 8:1). Conviction is from the Holy Spirit, condemnation is not. Amen!!!

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

 

⁸ But the human tongue can be tamed by no man.  Who then can help us? 

 

 

 

Acts 2

Other Tongues

 

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

 

Tongues of Fire

 

Hallelujah!!!!  Believer our answer is in the Holy Sprit Himself!  When His tongue of fire rest upon you, His Words will be in your mouth, words of praise, blessings and exhaltation! It says; all of them, began to spesk in other tongues. God be praised!  We have available to us other tongues to bridle forever the tongue that so often sets the course of our life on fire.

 

Holy Spirit give me your tongue of fire today, consume my tongue of flesh. Let me begin this moment the total surrender of my tongue, in order to  set the world around me on fire for the glory of God, then on fire for the corruption of my flesh. Amen

 

Lord this is my prayer this morning, and I ask you to free my brothers as well with this truth..Amen

 

 

 Wrestle With God

 

GENESIS 32

 

 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon

"JACOB WAS LEFT ALONE".   THERE ARE TIMES WE MUST REMOVE OURSELVES FROM THOSE AROUND US. THE TIMES WHEN GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO A PLACE  IN YOUR WALK WITH HIM TO BE ALONE. THIS PLACE WILL CHANGE THE COURSE YOU ARE PRESENTLY ON. IT IS THE PLACE WHERE THE CRY OF THE INNER MAN BECOMES; "NOT MY WILL, BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE". IT IS A NAME CHANGER; "NOW YOUR NAME WILL NO LONGER BE". IT IS THE PLACE APPOINTED BY GOD HIMSELF, IN ORDER TO COMFORT THOSE THAT HOLD THE VISION OF THE MISSION. HE KNOWS THAT NOTHING ELSE WILL SATISFY THIS WARRIOR, UNTIL HE CAN SAY; "TODAY I HAVE SEEN GOD FACE TO FACE".

IS THAT YOU? THEN COME AWAY MY BELOVED. "WHEN YOU SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART THEN YOU WILL FIND ME".  SELAH....

Gethsemane

³⁶ Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. ⁴¹ “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴² He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

⁴³ When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

⁴⁵ Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!

Ephesians 5:14

 

¹⁴ This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

"BUILD AN ALTAR"

NOAH

1. Genesis 8:20
   Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it

ABRAM

1. Genesis 12:7
   
   The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
2. Genesis 12:8
   From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

ISAAC

1. Genesis 26:25
   
   Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.
2. Genesis 35:7
   There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

MOSES

Exodus 17:15

Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.

Exodus 24:4
Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel

JACOB

There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.

Genesis 33:20  El Elohe Israel can mean El is the God of Israel or mighty is the God

Deuteronomy 27:4-7

JOSHUA

 

 And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. ⁵ Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. ⁶ Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ⁷ Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God.

 

Judges 6:26

 

GIDEON

Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second^[b] bull as a burnt offering.”

 

DEAR PRECIOUS BELIEVER; IN TIMES OF CONFLICT, IN TIMES OF STRUGGLE; YOU NEED TO BUILD AN ALTAR. WHERE THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD IS THERE IS FREEDOM. 2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
ARE YOU BOUND IN FEAR, HAS THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS IN THE HEAVENLY REALM CONVINCED YOU ON SURRENDER AND DEFEAT ?

 

THEN BUILD AN ALTAR! 

 

Romans 12:1-2

A Living Sacrifice

 

PAUL

 

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms

 

 

Romans 8:31

[ More Than Conquerors ] What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

 

Romans 8:37

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

 

<sup>"NEVER LEAVE YOU"


5</sup> Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]


ARE YOU DEAR BELIEVER IN THE FIRE OF TRIALS,OR IN THE LIONS DEN?  THEN KNOW THIS WORD LOUDLY COMING TO YOU; "NEVER,..NEVER,...NEVER,..." WILL I LEAVE YOU!"

SELAH!

"REMEMBER LOTS WIFE"

LUKE 17
²⁶ And [just] as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the time of the Son of Man.

²⁷ [People] ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, right up to the day when Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸ So also [it was the same] as it was in the days of Lot. [People] ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;

²⁹ But on the [very] day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed [them] all.

³⁰ That is the way it will be on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

³¹ On that day let him who is on the housetop, with his belongings in the house, not come down [and go inside] to carry them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back.

 

 

³² Remember Lot’s wife!
 

GENESIS 19:26

²⁶ But [Lot’s] wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

 ³³ Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve and quicken it.

³⁴ I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.

³⁵ There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other will be left.

^36]Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.
³⁷ Then they asked Him, Where, Lord? He said to them, Wherever the dead body is, there will the vultures or eagles be gathered together.

1 THESSALONIANS 4

¹⁵ For this we declare to you by the Lord’s [own] word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede [into His presence] or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep [in Him^]in death].

¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first.

¹⁷ Then we, the living ones who remain [on the earth], For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God.  and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord!

¹⁸ Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words.

DEAR BELIEVER; ARE THESE THE LAST DAYS? WILL JESUS CHRIST SOON RETURN. NOAH AND LOT EXPERIENCED A MERCIFUL, LOVING GOD. WHO DECIDED THE CUP OF WICKEDNESS OF MAN WAS FULL TO THE BRIM, AND OVER FLOWING. THE STENCH RISING INTO THE NOSTRILS OF A HOLY GOD HIMSELF, IN BOTH STORIES LIFE WAS NORMAL. MAN ATE, MARRIED WERE GIVEN TO MARRIAGE. THEY SOLD,THEY PLANTED,THEY BUILT. YET THE REBELLION OF MEN AND HIS LOVE FOR THE CREATURE, RATHER THEN FOR THE CREATOR BECAME THE CHOSEN WAY OF LIFE IN THE HEART OF MAN. NO DOUBT THE SAME STENCH RISES IN THESE LAST DAYS UNTO A LOVINGLY HEAVENLY FATHER, WHO BY SENDING HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON TO DIE FOR OUR SINS, NOW WARNS FROM HEAVEN.

ROMANS 1

²¹ Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened.

²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves].

²³ And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin],

²⁵ Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it).


 right up to the day when Noah went into the ark,

 on the [very] day that Lot went out of Sodom,

 by the Lord’s [own] word,

 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God.

CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD; THE ARK IS READY, LOT HAS LEFT SODOM AND NOW A LOUD CRY FROM THE LORD HIMSELF. WHO WILL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN, IS SOON TO COME.  ARE YOU READY? IS THERE OIL IN YOUR LAMP?

COME LORD JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

^{"THE RAIN, THE FLOODS AND THE WIND."}

 

 Matthew 7

 

 ¹⁸ A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear excellent fruit [worthy of admiration].

¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

²⁰ Therefore, you will fully know them by their fruits.

²¹ Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.

²² Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name?

²³ And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].

²⁴ So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock.

²⁵ And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand.

²⁷ And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great and complete was the fall of it.

 

DEAR BELIEVER LETS US CONSIDER, "RAIN." RAIN COMES FROM ABOVE, AND FALLS DOWN UPON ALL MANKIND.  THE VERTICAL BATTLE.

 

THE RAIN 

THE VERTICAL BATTLE

 Matthew 5 :44   

 

He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].

Ephesians 6:12
For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

ROMANS 8

 

³⁷ Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.

 ³⁸ For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,
 ³⁹ Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

THE FLOOD

THE HORIZONTAL BATTLE

Isaiah 59:19

¹⁹ So [as the result of the Messiah’s intervention] they shall [reverently] fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight [for He will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the Lord drives].

Matthew 16:19

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.

 

THE WIND  

 

THE BATTLE FROM ALL DIRECTIONS

THE PERFECT STORM.


PSALMS 46

 

God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas,

 Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling and tumult. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her right early [at the dawn of the morning].

 

DEAR BELIEVER; WHY THE RAIN? WHY THE FLOOD? WHY THE WIND?

 

1 Peter 1:7

So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed