Faith Center Church

The twenty sixth chapter of Genesis the Bible tells a story of two men and their very different responses to what we will call, the Promised Land. Abraham experienced a famine in the early days of his life after having come to Canaan or the Promised Land. Abraham’s response to the famine was loading up the car, with all Sarah’s suitcases and heading for Egypt. Isaac had a completely different response to the circumstances. God said, “Don’t you go to Egypt, live in the land which I will tell you.” In verses three and four of chapter twenty six, God says, “Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendents I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham, your Father. And I will make your descendents multiply as the stars of the heaven; I will give you your descendents all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Thus God passes on to Isaac the blessing of his father. Don’t be fooled, God is true to His promises, what He says; He will bring it to pass. (Genesis 26:1-5)

Let’s bring this up to date, I think everyone would agree that our nation is in a mess. It is as though there is a famine in the land and the enemy wants to grind us to powder. If the story of Isaac tells us anything, it is this; God’s promise will never be thwarted or diminished because of a famine, because of men’s greed or because of political schemes. Remember this, Isaac stayed and sowed in an environment of famine and lack when there was no promise of a harvest. Isaac sowed, he sowed when the economy was in total devastation and with lack all around him, and Isaac became so prosperous that he was envied by the Philistines. He harvested a hundred fold in a time of economic crisis. “Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundred fold; and the Lord blessed him”. (Genesis 26:12) A hundred fold return means that he made up what was lost in a three year period and God is able to redeem you in your faithfulness.

In the history of our nation we never hear of the positive side of the great depression. What you never hear is the part about the millionaires created during that time. There is no more or no less money or wealth on the earth today than there was last year. It is just in different places. The difference between Israel and other people was a covenant with God. Read Genesis 15:18.

The second thing I noticed about Isaac is that he did not abandon the principle of sowing and reaping. With poverty all around Him, he became exceedingly rich. The economic climate of his day did not effect his determination to sow for a harvest. Isaac continued to take the faith way. He refused to focus on the problems and in doing so he walked right into the blessings of God. He was so blessed the even his enemies were afraid of him. It is so important to keep our focus on Jesus, upon the Word of God and refuse to be moved.

I heard someone say the other day; there are some people who have everything. Not me,  I don’t have.  I don’t have a care and I don’t want one. Phil 4:6 says, be anxious about nothing. There are two different kinds of care one is marrimna, the kind we cast upon Him and – mello, the care He has for us.

Listen to the words- affliction, aggravation, alarm, anguish, distress, encumbrance, fear, handicap, hindrance, hardship, oppression, pressure, sorrow, stew, strain, stress, sweat, tribulation, trouble, unhappiness, vexation, woe and worry. We cannot live with that kind of care. Cast that kind of care on Jesus. He knows exactly what to do with it. That kind of care will choke the Word and cause it to be unfruitful in your life.  So cast your care on Jesus. I think this year we need to go back to the depression for a lesson in economics. During the worst days of our nation’s history, there were men and women who were sowing and reaping a marvelous harvest. There are those who are hesitant to sow to their future, however, if you will allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in your giving, some of you will come out of this time, successful business men and women and some  will be elevated in places of employment far beyond expectations. I believe the Church will gain an entrepreneurial spirit that will change future generations as Isaac changed the generations that followed him. Expect good things this year!

Pastor Danny

“Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for You.” (New American Standard Bible) (1^st Peter 5:7)

God is more interested in love between the members of His family than in the infallibility of one’s opinions. Paul said; “don’t criticize or critique each other anymore.” (Romans 14:13 Living Bible) We must come to the decision at some point in our lives not to put any obstacle or stumbling block in the pathway of a brother or sister. In other words it is time to grow up.

Unjust and sometimes unloving criticism has been a characteristic sin of the saints of God in our day.  As people of God, let’s not be caught in that trap.  Remember the command from Jesus’ lips: “do not judge, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1-2) Let Jesus, the Lord of the church bring freedom by His Word from making judgments so easily and resolve not to put a stumbling block or cause a brother to fall, we will begin to see growth in our lives and relationships, in doing so, the Lord enables us to live in the fullness of His Spirit in a forgiving way!

Lovingly,

Pastor Danny

“A VOICE WAS HEARD IN HEAVEN, THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN IS CAST DOWN.” (Rev. 12:10-11)

The next verse explains how these saints overcame. First, their robes were washed in the blood of the Lamb and made white.  Second, they held to the Word of God and stuck to their testimony of Jesus.

They were committed to the blood of Jesus, the Word of God, and their testimony.  We too must be committed to the blood of Jesus Christ, we are washed, cleansed and made righteous by his blood. Our commitment to the Word of God brings the power of God into play, to regenerate and empower believers today. By His Word we are purified and made whole. Our lives, like theirs must be His, not ours.Therein lies the formula for casting down that old liar, satan, and bring about an overcoming lifestyle.

Pastor Danny

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shall make thy way prosperous, and then thou shall have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)

Meditation in the Word of God is the surest way I know to build a foundation for a victorious prayer life. There must be knowledge of the Word of God as well as a knowing in your spirit of the Word of God. There is another principle equally important, that is the use of the mouth. I believe the mouth was actually created to articulate the Word of God as we fellowship with our Father. A large part of the Bible consists of overlapping quotations, in other words, they were always repeating another person’s words, words inspired by the Holy Spirit.  They spoke them, they lived by them, it was the breath from heaven that their spirit man needed.  Example, Peter in Acts 2:16 quotes Joel 2:28-32. In first Peter 2:24 there is a direct correlation to Isaiah 53:4-5 that tells me the writers of the Bible kept their word level up. If we are to be successful in life, our word level must be, “always on the increase.”

Now, back to the subject of prayer, specificity is important, if you don’t have scripture to stand on you have real problems. It is always good to be specific when you pray or fellowship with God. Have the Word of God handy. Example – scriptures that speak of Healing, Peace and Blessing need to become a part of your vocabulary. A small concordance is very handy to have with you at all times, most bibles have a small concordance in the back. One thing demons particularly like to say to people is, “It may be not the will of God.” Devils were never known to be very smart, just persistent. Demons accuracy, when it comes to the Word of God, is somewhat lacking and distorted.

There is a simple text in the Bible found in Matthew 4:1-11. It recounts Jesus’ battle in the wilderness with the devil, (v: 4) he said, hey, Jesus you can turn stones into bread. His response was, man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God.  Now look at verse seven, the devil got it wrong again and Jesus said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God.  And (v:10) says,  Again the devil got it wrong, Jesus said, hey ugly get out of my way; it is written, God’s Word says, “thou shalt worship the Lord your God and Him only shalt thou serve."

Notice what happened next – The devil Left Him!

Pastor Danny

After Him was Shamgar rhe son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also delivered Israel. (Judges 3:31)

How would you like a name like Shamgar?   Well, he only got mentioned in two verses of the Bible.  However, confronted with 600 Philistines, he chose an ox goad, of all things, for a weapon and with the Lord’s help he killed the whole lot of them, to the saving of his country.

Shamgar is the representation of the spirit of faith and victory in a Christian’s life.  An ordinary guy taking a stand, he took events that came to him and by faith turned them into glorious victories.

Pastor Danny