Church of the Word Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Ephesians 5:17-20 tells us to not be unwise. (The Greek language used a double negative for emphasis.) We are to understand what the will of God is. If you do the will of God, you will not have to focus on trying to be holy. We are to make melody in our hearts to the Lord at all times. How do we do that? We do it by being filled with the Holy Spirit. Prayer is a lifestyle. It is being with the Lord all the time, dialoguing with Him. We are to give thanks to Him. Prayer is like a rudder. Your tongue is a rudder, because you go where your words take you. In 1 Samuel 1 we see the result of a praying mother. Before Samuel was conceived, Hannah prayed and made a vow to the Lord. Although the priest thought she was drunk, she was praying in the Spirit (1:9-16). Why did Israel transition from prophet to king? Israel prayed for a king. Why? Because there was no one praying for what came after Samuel. Hannah prayed a selfless prayer, praying by the Spirit's leading. Apostle Dale shared about his mother praying for his salvation and his praying with his grandmother for a Russian believer. Prayers are never lost. God collects them and pours them out. Prayer directs destiny and directs us into the will of God. Do not live in a house that prayer has not built. Apostle Dale related about meeting a Ukrainian four-star general, who did not look good in a report, but when Apostle Dale would pray, this general would keep coming up. He asked, "Lord, what about him?" We need to trust the Holy Spirit in prayer. God sends you divine appointments. Apostle Dale met a Muslim in Crimea and after about three hours of talking with him about Jesus, the other man said, "I believe god (God) sent you to me." Look for God. When you have divine appointments, do not let them go. Keep in touch with them. Before Apostle Dale and Teri moved to Moscow, he met a Russian pastor from Moscow in Tulsa. God put them together. Dale asked the Lord to give him an idea for a gift for him when they were in Moscow, and He told him to get a book on Ronald Reagan. It was exactly what the Russian pastor wanted. Prayer will open doors. Galatians 4:19 says that Paul labored in birth pains until Christ was formed in the Galatian believers. Praying is giving birth to salvation and to people being established in the faith. The character of Christ is formed in prayer.

Pastor Sydney shared his heart about what is happening in this country and what is our responsibility. The Constitution is the highest authority in our government. The role of judges is to uphold the law, not to make it. What is our role? We need to pray and vote for just judges. If someone is attacking you, turn the other cheek, but if there is an attack against your family or others, be prepared to protect them. Be armed. You have the Holy Spirit in you. Pray in the Spirit. Surrender is different from being overpowered. Jesus told His disciples to get swords in the Garden of Gethsemane. Raise your kids to respect authority and to love justice and truth. Justice is not the same as getting even or getting revenge. Justice has to do with what is right. Our families should raise a generation that loves truth. In one generation we can change a nation. Bring changes. Rise up and change this nation. People who blame others will not change, do not take responsibility, and are not in faith. Do not blame your spouse. Do not blame groups in society, political or otherwise. Bring righteousness back to this nation. Pray and walk it out. Faith activates works.

Our marriages should reflect Christ and the church. When Satan attacks marriages, he is trying to destroy Christ and the church. Even if you had a broken marriage, you can walk in victory. Look to God to fulfill what you need in your marriage. Ephesians 5:25-33 tells how marriage should look: a husband should wash the wife and family in the washing of water by the Word and love his own wife like he cares for his own body. Each one of us is valuable to God. God gave His Son for me. Psalm 49:7-8 and 1 Peter 1:18-19 tell us that nothing and no one can redeem us; only Christ and His blood could and did. We make a big mistake when we do not value what God values and honors. People are what are most important to God. We are to treat others, such as our spouses, as though they are extremely precious. Stay anchored in love. First Peter 3:3-4 says that our beauty comes from our inner being, the hidden person of the heart. What God values is a gentle and quiet spirit. Satan tries to devalue whatever God values. Be careful not to let Satan lure you into devaluing what God values, even in a joking way. It takes away the other person's life. Satan tries to get you to devalue and even despise your spouse in your mind. Take control over your mind and see your spouse as God does. 1 Peter 3:7 says for the husband to give honor to the wife as being equal heirs of equal value. Do you value your spouse? We are not to judge (James 4:11 and Romans 2:1). The people in Jesus' hometown did not value Jesus (Matthew 13:54-58) because they judged Him after the flesh. We need to judge according to the Spirit. Call out to the deep, good things in the other person.

You are significant to this body of believers, and you are important to the plan of God. God planted you here, and you are to bloom and grow here. We have to agree with the way God does things. He thinks good things about you. John 10:10 says that God is good, and He only does good things. Satan is bad and only does bad things. Psalm 103:1-5 reminds us to not forget God's benefits, such as forgiveness of our iniquities and healing of our diseases. Is the blood of Jesus enough to forgive you of all your sins? We should not be under condemnation. God convicts because He loves us, but Satan condemns. Satan wants to take away the Word of faith and God in you. He knows the blood of Jesus defeated him, but he does not want you to know it. Greater is He who is in you. You will have a fight with Satan, when you agree with God's Word. The three most important things to do are 1) be born again, 2) be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and 3) (Romans 12:1, 2) and be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Think like the Father. Be a participator and give God glory every day. The kingdom is in you (Romans 14:17). Righteousness, joy, and peace are in you. Do not waste His blood. Do not fellowship with demons by complaining and murmuring. The Greater One lives in you. You are an atmosphere-changer. Take Jesus wherever you go. You touch people in your sphere of influence who need Jesus. You kids and others are watching you. You have what you need for victory. Karen shared her goals at the beginning of the year to hear God more clearly and to be more like Jesus. God convicted her of something that she needed to lay on the altar. God told her that He is most interested in her journey to reach her goal. Every day He encourages her (and us) in righteousness, joy, and peace. God told her He would teach her how to reach her goals, that it would be full of adjustments, and that she would learn by her mistakes. God is interested in our learning how to keep what we receive from Him, whether it is healing or something we knew He wanted us to do. Allow Him to teach you how to do what you need by His Word. Truth moves facts; facts are subject to change. The Word is forever settled in heaven. Your circumstances have to change according to the Word. He has delivered us from destruction (Psalm 103:4). He has crowned us with loving kindness and tender mercies. We represent Him. He satisfies our mouths with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagles. Eat live food in the natural and let your words be speaking life. When we complain, we fuel the enemy. Instead, speak out loud the Word. Every time you confess weakness, disease, or failure you magnify the enemy above the Father, and you destroy your confidence in the Word. Do not have two confessions: one that is assenting to the Word and a different one that confesses pain, etc. That second confession nullifies the first. The fight of faith is to gain mastery over your confession. Satan does not know what you think, but he does hear what you say. Scriptures: 2 Corinthians4:13 (I believe, therefore I spoke.); Psalm 118:17 (I shall live and not die and declare the works of the Lord.); Romans 4:17 (Call those things that be not as though they were.); Psalm 91:12 (God is my refuge.); James 4:7 (Submit to God; resist (speak against) Satan, and he must flee.). Our tool of victory is our mouths. Talk more out loud My Word. God looks over His Word to perform it.

1 Corinthians 13. Husbands and wives, remember and do these four things: 1) The answer to every question in your marriage can be answered by Christ and the church. 2) New Covenant Christians have one law: the law of love (John 13:34-35). We are to love one another as Christ loved us. He loved us by giving His life. What is love? It is a choice, an act of your will. Choose to act in love. You can love someone, but still get feelings of hate or whatever. What is not love? It is not a feeling, but it produces feelings. It is not sex, but sex can be an expression of love. All the other gifts work by the better way, which is love (1 Corinthians 12:31). You can speak and pray in tongues, but without love, it is like a noise (1 Corinthians 13:1). You can have strong faith, but without love, it does not work. Love in the home should reflect Christ and the church. GOD IS LOVE. FAITH WORKS BY LOVE. If your faith is not working, check out your love-walk. Love suffers long, is kind, does not envy, and does not fail. It means I will endure with you, act properly toward you. 3) Giving. The greatest expression of love is giving. A person who loves forgoes their own comfort for that of the other person. Love is not conceited, does not behave improperly, does not seek its own, and rejoices in what is right. It is not about who is right, but what is right. Discern when to keep your mouth shut. Love never gives up, because God is love. Hope is expectation with pleasure. Love is the gateway to God. There is no defense against love, which means that Satan is powerless against love. Love is a commandment and a spiritual force. You give access for someone when you walk in love toward them.

We are part of a heavenly kingdom. Being homesick means a longing for something that is familiar or is a part of you but is missing and nothing else can replace it. Is there anything in you that is replacing God's kingdom in you? God does not want us to be lukewarm or distracted so that we lose our homesickness for heaven. We are vessels to be used for God and His kingdom here. We can have heaven here because we have Jesus in us. Are we homesick, or are we comfortable? Live a lifestyle that puts you out of your comfort zone. If you are homesick, it is harder to sin and to fall away from God. Matthew 6:19-24 tells us to lay up our treasure in heaven. Your eye is the lamp of the body. You can not serve God and deceit, money, and riches. Pursue God over success. Now is not the time to be comfortable. The times Christ was the most opposed were the times His ministry was the most powerful. The church is not the church it is supposed to be. Christians must be homesick. When the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah were taken over, there was a time of revival when Josiah brought out the books of the Law and tore down the idols of the false gods. There were some people from that time who wanted to serve God and to know His Word, such as Daniel. He and numerous other intelligent men who served God were taken by King Nebuchadnezzar to be trained. The purpose was to brainwash them with worldly knowledge, and lead them away from God. This would cause the other Jews to be led astray, too. This did not happen because one man, Daniel, did not go with the plan. He went with godliness, and the king's heart was changed. If you give your life to Jesus, the light in you will not die. How do other people see you? Lukewarm; beating them over the head with the Bible? Show people you truly care about them. Let God's love radiate in you. The Holy Spirit in you changes the atmosphere in a room. Do they know you as a citizen of God's kingdom? Can they recognize you by your fruit? Why would people want to be in church if the church is like the world? We are to profess the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:9-11 says that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. If you are comfortable, you will not want to change and make a stand against the antichrist. Why are so many pastors preaching about marriage? God wants people to see unconditional love. True marriage is to see the true church. In Acts they sold everything to provide the needs in the community. What is mine is yours. They showed unconditional, godly love. How do we do that? By the Holy Spirit in us. He is our empowerment. Be obedient to the Holy Spirit, and give up comfort to be homesick. Remind yourself who you are in Christ everyday. God loves you.

Pastor Sydney read Ephesians 2. We are members of God's household. He dwells in each one of us. Resurrection is a now reality. He is alive in me. Karen Burrows' sermon message: Colossians 1:12-14 says that God takes us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. Jesus was the firstborn of many sons. I am of God. We are called to be a testimony of God (Colossians 1:25-28). He made known the mystery, which is Christ in me, the hope of glory. The Jehovah Witnesses do not believe that Jesus came into our my flesh. Galatians 2:20 also notes that Christ lives in me. He gave His life for me. We are to behold the new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Think upon the resurrection power that is in you. Walk in the Spirit of truth. Romans 6:11; Romans 8:37. Are you still thinking the old thoughts? Satan wants to know if you know he is defeated. You are a child of God. Renew your mind (Romans 12:1-2). God is pleased with you because of the righteousness of Christ in you. I present my body as a living sacrifice. My Father is God. Do not think like the world, but change the way you think. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Discern between good and wrong thoughts. You can come against temptation like Jesus did, by declaring what the Word says. To do that you need to know the Word (Joshua 1:8). Get into the Word everyday. The Body of Christ needs to rise up in the resurrection power. We are all valuable pieces of a puzzle. The love of God is in our hearts. He was long-suffering, and so can you be. You are seated in a place of authority. Ephesians 1 tells us that God has blessed us with spiritual blessings. You are adopted and accepted. Adopted children are taken in at a higher level of love. We are loved by the Father. We are in relationship with God. He lives in us. We are delivered from the power of the enemy. The devil has nothing over us (Ephesians 6:12). We have the authority and power. We pray the will of the Father. Successful prayer is saying to the Father what is in the Word. Speak the word that addresses your problem. Symptoms are a lie from hell. Present the truth to the Father and agree with the Word. Declare: I am coming out of this! Debt? Repent and speak the Word. Make the word a vital reality in your life. The more you sow, the more you become like the image of God. He has given us the right to be the children of God. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Believe and do it.

Hebrews 6:12 "that you do not become slothful, but follow those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Apostle Dale told of being 23 years old and speaking to a group of influential Christians in Washington, D. C. The Lord told him to speak on Hebrews 6:12, and he told the group, "Stop following parked cars." There was a handicapped woman at the meeting. She felt something happening in her body and when Dale told her to do something she could not do before, she bent over, and everyone was amazed. She had had a metal rod in her back. A homosexual man was delivered, and another man was filled with the Spirit. Be a follower, but ask yourself, "Who am I following?" Do not be slothful, lazy, living without motivation. The source of a lack of motivation is caused by not following or by whom you are or are not following. If you lack self-motivation, stick close to someone who has it. Not everyone is a leader. You can tell a lot about people by the books they read, whom they associate with, and whom they are following. If you are not evangelizing anyone, you are not following Jesus. Focus on Him. Be a follower of Jesus. Follow people who get results. Following means obedience and conformity. If you want a greater prayer life, get close to someone who prays with results. Be like Elisha with Elijah. Joshua was in the background with Moses. You inherit something when you are a descendant; you are following someone. You did not work for what you inherit, but you followed the person. God is not into the styles and fads of the church. Do not follow fads. Patience is the ability to stay constant under pressure. Fads change. Do not keep looking for the "new thing". Find people who are full of faith and patience. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. If faith is not in what you are doing, it does not please God and others. You are healed to heal and blessed to be a blessing.

In Luke 17:12-19 we read of ten lepers who cried out to Jesus. They yelled, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest, and as they went, they were cleansed. "Cleansed" here means cauterized; their wounds were cauterized, burned to close the wounds up. It was stopping the disease. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, glorified God and worshiped and thanked Jesus, and he was a Samaritan. If He told them to go to the priest, why would He not expect them to keep on going? The others were healed. The one who was healed realized Who was responsible for his healing. Jesus did not say they others were not healed. They were, and they still did not glorify God. Are we glorifying God when He blesses and heals us? He was made whole (sozo), which means wholeness, health, soundness, salvation. The praise secret is to glorify the Lord. Be the one out of the ten. The first key of worship is to turn back and remember and write down what God has done for you. Turn back to Jesus. The second secret is to use a LOUD voice, use your mouth to praise the Lord ALOUD! Glorifying God is not listening to worship music or watching other people worship Him. Use your own mouth and praise Him. The man who was healed used a loud voice at Jesus' feet. You cannot doubt and shout at the same time. Apostle Dale told of rescuing Gene Olon after he was beaten up in Romania and twenty-five percent of his brain was dead. The atmosphere when he was with him was so heavy, but the breakthrough came when he praised the Lord. In Luke 18:38-43 a blind man cried out to Jesus, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Did you notice both the lepers and the blind man greeted Him similarly and pleaded for mercy, not for healing? Apostle Dale told of a time he needed money to pay for the motel room when he was in sales and how God came through for him. Apostle Dale worship the Lord and praised Him aloud. Worship is not music. It comes out of your heart. Glorify God. Sickness never glorifies God. Worship is an act of your heart.

In our marriages we can get caught up in the moment, but we need to ask ourselves, "How important is this?", especially in the light of eternity. The role of the husband is to be the love enforcer, and the wife is to be his helper. (Ephesians 5:22-28) There are four things to remember and to do that will answer every question about marriage. Pastor Syd was able to teach about two of these. #1) How we should relate to one another is love, as Christ loved the church (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:2). Love is more important than faith. #2) There is one law under the New Covenant, and that is, as believers, to love one another (Matthew 22:35-39; Romans 13:8-10; 1 John 3:23-24; John 13:34). Believe in the name of Jesus Christ and love one another just as He has loved you, even more than you love yourself. Jesus laid down His life. The sign that you are a believer is how you honor and prefer others. Love your enemies. Home should not be a place to flesh out. If you do not want to be "fleshy", renew your mind as soon as you get up in the morning. Love is a choice. You choose to love, even when you feel hate. We were Christ's enemy, but He chose to love us. Choose to love. The feelings will come. Love is not a feeling. Sex is not love. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:3-8). You can choose to walk in love. Do not act like you feel, but base yourself on the Word.