A Body You Have Prepared for Me

God’s plan of love and restoration reveals Jesus, not a cool smiling Jesus with natural highlights from sun exposure, but the Jesus described by the prophet Isaiah. To the world we live in and the untrained ears of most modern day church attenders, the real Jesus is offensive. His words are offensive! Some of His words would exclude Him from the hospitality teams of most modern day churches.

No! God is the offended party! Humanity, God‘s creation has offended him, rejected His plan and rebelled against Him!

But he does have a plan and he has included man in that plan – – he has privileged us with the opportunity to work for him and work with him.

In a sense, He was offended and asked to leave the premises of his creation. But we as His people can welcome Him back one heart at a time, just stay with me as I work through this.

Genesis 1:26

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:28

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue (subjection)it, and have dominion (rule over it) over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Through deception, the dominion and authority that was given to man, was lost it in Adam:

Luke 4:5-8

Wait- what? How offensive is that? We are either going to walk in the authority that we have received in Jesus and give Him His glory, or we’re not serving Him, the way He intends.

5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

The whole physical creation is a test: the temporary is a test for eternity:

Matthew 25:14

The Parable of the Talents

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.

Adam’s life was a test, our life is a test I have given you my image. I have given you my dominion and authority. What will you do with the opportunity that I have given you?

—Stewardship—

Now God is on the outside of his creation so to speak. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying… He positioned himself this way, because his purpose and plan includes us. He chose us. He purposefully limits Himself in to partner with us in the creation He has given us authority over (Earth). He could’ve started over completely:

Gen 12:7-8

Genesis 8:20-21 and Noah built an altar and offered every clean beast, and it was sweet smelling savor—What are you doing here God?

1.  Flood – he needed a Noah. In order for his plan to continue.

2. Abraham – I will give you a land, make a nation out of you, I will bless all the nations of the earth.

3. Moses – I will destroy them and make a nation out of you

Exodus 32:8-14

• 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

11 But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

A land, a nation— a people for a purpose.

• God positioned on the outside

• God choosing to use humanity

• God sticking to his plan

These truths are elucidated or clarified in this scripture

Leviticus 25:23

Redemption of Property

“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.

• don’t sell my land – I have a plan.

• don’t mess up my covenant I made with Noah.

• don’t mess up my covenant I made with Abraham.

• don’t mess up my agreement with Moses– I almost destroyed you.

Don’t sell my land—it belongs to me but right now, we are strangers in the land together.

And then right there, in the fullness of time, in that land he told them not to sell God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law (Galatians 4:4)

Hebrews 10:4-10 NASB

4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats  to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

“SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,

BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; 6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO’  PLEASURE. 7 “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’” 8 After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Sacrifices and offerings in a whole burnt offerings for sin you have not desired nor have you taken pleasure in them?

What about the Sweet smelling, what about your food Lord…?

Numbers 29

Annual

Monthly

Weekly

Daily

The bread

The incense

Isaiah 1:18

Can you see his glorious presence? His name is Jesus – he saves his people from their sins. His name is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is holy and lifted up

Isaiah 6 I see the Lord high and lifted up. He is magnified. He is glorified. Heaven is giving him his glory. The angels are giving him his glory. They are crying to him right now Church. They are saying holy holy holy.

When God Let's Man Have His Way

Romans 1:16-18 ESV

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Before we talk about people suppressing the truth and its results, let take a look at the importance of embracing truth:

1. The Psalmist reveals that truth leads to the presence of God…

Psalms 43:3

O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

Psalms 24:3-4

3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

2. Truth in a human heart brings God pleasure… thou desirest truth ESV delight…Strong’s pleasure

Psalms 51:6-7

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

The Lord’s eyes aren’t blind. He doesn’t need glasses to see into a human heart. He has a spiritual microscope that He uses to examine the intricacies of the human heart. You need help with your heart. I need help with my heart.

After his sin with Bathsheba, King David writes a song and sings…You search my heart. You have a way of dealing with me. if it’s truth you want in my heart to lead me up your holy hill, I’m in need of your help. Take that sop of blood and smear it all over my heart, wash me and I will be whiter than snow.

Jesus is ultimately the fulfillment of truth. Conversion brings truth into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. If we will allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth, we will find ourselves on the holy hill. In the presence of God being led by His Spirit.

3. Truth in  heart of a believer is an expensive …

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Romans 1:16-18

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Romans 1:22-32

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Through the ages unrighteous men have influenced society, have made man god and have now said to us, “You are god, you are who you want to be, you do what you want to do. We reject God, we reject His word, we reject His truth.

Listen very closely… it’s important that you understand what I am about to say. We are watching the degradation of society unveil before our eyes. What we see so far out in the open is nothing compared to what they do in their secret chambers. But you must understand that if you— suppress the truth of God in your life, the wrath of God will be revealed from heaven in your life also. This is a spiritual truth. It cannot be avoided. This wrath is different than the wrath that will occur as described in the book of revelation.

This is wrath is what happens to humans when God allows them to have their way in their own hearts. Darkness overtakes them, sin overwhelms them, they find themselves doing things they never imagined they could or would do. The guilt begins to pile up on them.

But good news, good news, good news—truth is only a whisper away!

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud,

A reprobate mind is one that has been rejected by God.

boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Proverbs 29:27

An unjust man is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked.

Proverbs 29:27

An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.

2 Corinthians 6:14

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

1 John 2:20 CSB

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.

1 John 2:21

I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

A Vineyard and the Inheritance: Part 1

1 Kings 21

Jezebel is a foreigner/ she is outsider to the Israelites, which are God’s people on the earth. She enters into the kingdom bringing her ways and beliefs which are against the ways of God. She is a spiritual intruder and she wants to affect God’s plan by introducing her ways into God’s people.

God’s whole plan on the earth hinges on having a people that carry His truth, His image, and His glory upon the earth. It’s because of His love and His grace that He created us to be part of His plans. He did it because He is love and there is no better place for love than within a family unit—God wants an eternal family.

He wants to have a relationship with us. So He created this physical realm as a place for the physical to exist, but the physical journey is a test, and the response in the physical, has a direct impact on the spiritual/ eternal inheritance that He has planned for His children.

In Adam, God gave man power and authority over the physical realm. This was God’s creation and He entrusted its well being to Adam. The spirit of the serpent was already in existence, and like Jezebel in the story, his plan was to intrude. Whether this fallen angel, as a spiritual being possessed the serpent or transmuted into the image of a serpent, I do not know and don’t really care. All I know is that he was a spiritual creation that had rebelled against God at a time somewhere in the past. He was not content as a creation of God and instead wanted to be above God, and so he rebelled against God. Through his rebellion, he brought about his own spiritual death and now, he sees Adam and this new creation. He sees Adam’s authority and he wants it, so he takes on the form of the physical enters, so he can steal the spiritual. He failed his test and now he wants Adam and us to fail ours. Snake analogy from last pm.

Flesh and blood cannot and will not inherit the kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:50); therefore, we will be tested in the physical before entering into the eternal.

So the story has a setting, a physical place where a spiritual battle is taking place—like a garden, a vineyard, a church, a workplace, a home, a family. And then a spiritual intruder disguised in a physical body with plans to steal, kill and destroy.

And the only way that it can enter and cause trouble is if the will in the natural gives permission to the demonic in the spiritual and Adam does, and Adam brings in death, chaos, confusion and rebellion into the narrative of God. The serpent was an outsider, looking for a way into the plan of God. The serpent is always looking for a way into the plan of God and Jezebel is the opening of the serpent’s intrusion into God’s kingdom on earth during this time of Israel’s history. We must remain vigilant:

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

God has a plan for the human race and He is looking for people that will be His people and help Him bring His plan to fruition. There will be opposition, there will be tribulation, but praise God, He is worthy of it all. For from you are all things and to you are all things. You deserve the glory….

We’ve talked enough about Jezebel recently. She isn’t the topic of this message. But she, like the serpent is the intruder on the outside given permission to come on the inside to cause trouble in the kingdom.

The topic of this message is Naboth’s inheritance. God has a plan for His people. His people are His family. According to the New Testament, the son’s of God have received an inheritance.

Matthew 21:33-41 is a good parable to describe what I mean by inheritance and the intrusion by evil to steal it. READ

The direct context is that God entrusted Israel with His vineyard, but religion killed the Son and tried to steal His inheritance. The serpent will use Jezebel, false prophets, Pharisees, false doctrine, the enticements of the world…whatever he can use to steal the inheritance and to spoil the harvest of God.

If you’re saved this morning, you have protection from the deception Satan plans. If you’re truly saved, you’ve experienced God’s entry into your physical realm. He spoke and you responded and invited Him in. He is there now and wants to protect you from the intrusion of the enemy.

Something happened in your heart and like Jesus told Nicodemus, you may not know where a specific breeze originated from but you can feel it’s effects, so it is when a person is regenerated, when a person is truly cleansed by the washing of regeneration and their life is transformed, it is the result of a supernatural move of the Holy Spirit.

Titus 3:5

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains:

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away:

If this person continues to grow in truth, and protects the presence of God and God’s will for their lives, the spiritual transformation will be manifest outwardly by the fruit of the Spirit being produced in their lives. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, faith, self control, patience, kindness, … these are outward, physical manifestations of a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. In our new life with Christ, the word says that we’ve been healed, delivered, set free, sanctified. The blood of Jesus cleanses us and makes us a completely new person.

That is really my message this morning. As new creations in Christ, we have received an inheritance of promises. These promises include the future, but they are also true for today. It’s important that we understand that Jesus came to restore to us what Adam lost in the fall to Satan.

This is important! Just as Ahab wants to steal Naboth‘s vineyard and inheritance, Satan wants to steal the inheritance of the saints. He wants to make a deal and if that doesn’t work Jezebel through seduction or violence will try to steal. They want to steal God’s plan for the church and they want to steal, God’s plan for our individual lives. Satan wants to offer Christian a deal. He wants you to serve yourself and trade in your inheritance, exchange what you want in place of the Lord’s plan for your life.

Both Naboth’s name and his home town have spiritual significance

Naboth= fruits

Jezreel= sown of God

To be sown of God means that God planted the seed. This means that the land was God’s, that Naboth was called by God to bear or bring forth fruit for God, and in the story, Ahab wants to take from Naboth what belongs to him. Look at Naboth’s response:

1 Kings 21:3

And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. REPEAT

The land is very important to God. There is a scripture in Leviticus where God tells His people not to sell the land:

Leviticus 25:23

The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

There is quite a statement being made here.

1. The land is God’s and His people Israel are instructed not to sell it.

2. He explains to them that they are fellow strangers and travelers in the land with Him.

3. While the land belongs to God, He refers to Himself as a stranger

4. The context is God created it and gave it to Adam. Adam lost it, and now God, finding others that will trust and obey His word, is taking it back one piece at a time. His creating the nation of Israel was a plot of land that He used as territory to produce an inheritance through Jesus and says, “Do not sell my land.”

5. The land He is giving them a land has been invaded by inhabitants that were polluting it with their occult practices, and it’s still going on today. He is sending them in to conquer and take over control of the land Leviticus 18:25-27.

6. Adam allowed a deceptive lie to bring darkness into the realm that God had given Him to have authority over. The result of Adam’s decision not only caused a personal problem with sin, but it also brought sin into the land

7. Now, thousands of years later, God is giving land back to His people Israel and He is saying, “Right now, we are strangers together in our own land [it’s bigger than this. It’s bigger than Israel. It’s the whole world, the whole Earth, but it starts here with Israel, it starts here with Naboth’s vineyard, it starts here with Shammah’s pea patch (2 Samuel 23:11), it starts here with your house and family, it starts here with this church and anyone willing to join us in this area and hopefully we will be able to help other churches see it also,  but we’re taking it back one piece at a time, one step at a time. God would say, “You have to trust me. I have a plan. Don’t sell the land. The land is mine. I’m taking back what belongs to me, and I’m allowing you, my people, to work with me, while I’m taking it back.” But you can’t let the snake into the garden and you can’t let Jezebel into the kingdom.

8. Now, Ahab wants Naboth to do what Adam did. Ahab wants Naboth’s vineyard, he wants Naboth’s fruits, he wants Naboth’s inheritance, but Naboth’s said: 1 Kings 21:3 And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee

• Adam gave Satan a foothold  through disobedience

• Ahab gave Jezebel a foothold when he transgressed the written word of God and married an unbeliever.

• Paul said don’t give place to the devil, which means a foothold to the devil

Satan infiltrated God‘s kingdom, but God is reclaiming it all through the lives of His people.

His plan includes partnering with people that He has given authority and dominion on the earth to occupy until He comes. When you, as a born again believer with the Spirit of God in you, believe God and pray God’s will, it has power on earth. When you, a Spirit filled believer work with God by planting seeds of truth on earth, it has the power of heaven behind it, it’s going to bring a harvest, you don’t have to see it, you just need to believe it. Story of what Stephen told me

I believe that true Christianity is us walking with God and reclaiming the land, advancing the Kingdom of God, learning His word, believing His word and doing His word. If Jesus said:

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Then that is what we believe, teach and do

If Jesus said:

Luke 10:19-20

19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Then that is what we believe, teach and do

If Jesus said:

Mark 16:15-19

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Teach it, believe it, do it

God created Adam and Eve in the image and likeness of God. And God told them to reproduce after their own kind and to have dominion over the earth and to spread His glory over the earth. Sin may have changed man’s image (Genesis 5:3), but it didn’t change God’s plan. Sin may have caused them to lose their authority and stripped them naked of God’s glory. But Jesus gives believers His glory (JN 17). Sin may have left them banished outside the presence of God in the darkness of night, but God has a plan of grace, and He’s looking for a people that will finish the race.

He started showing us the plan by clothing Adam and Eve with the skins of an innocent animal:

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God created the earth for Adam to reproduce and replenish the earth with the image and glory of God. Satan offered light and life but his lie brought death and darkness. Now, with the power that he’s taken from Adam, he fills the earth with his plans. Then comes Jesus:

John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

READ John 1:1-13

And conclude w/ the Luke 19:11 parable