Light of the Nations' Foursquare Church in Denver Podcast

Over 2000 years ago Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey and the people laid down their coats and palm branches to cover the ground and they shouted “Hosanna.” But what they were shouting is different than what we shout today. What they were saying was a plea to be saved. But when we say it, He has already saved us. For us it is a declaration! It is important to realize which side of the cross you are on.

The kingdom of God is advancing! 

Whatever you are looking for, you will find. Even in the midst of the worst desert God will provide what you need. Philippians 4:8 says “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Our country is going through some struggles. If you are looking for bad things, you will find them. And if you are looking for good things, you will find them. Even in the darkness, the light is shining brighter. I am filled with hope because the Kingdom of God is expanding.

In John chapter 7 it tells us that during most of Jesus ministry His brothers rejected Him. He was completely misunderstood by His blood relatives. Since He went through it, He can lead us out of it.

Adam and Eve rejected God. He was their father and they broke the family relationship. Ever since then, brokenness has been part of families around the world. Except Jesus came from an unbroken family to reestablish what family is and to reclaim what Adam and Eve had given up. During His ministry he said some pretty radical things about family. Because the more broken something is, the more radical the fix needs to be.

Whoever Jesus says He is, has to become our foundation, because He is the embodiment of our Father. In Matthew 12:46-50 Jesus shifts the whole definition of family. When we become Christians, family changes. We used to know the family rules but when Jesus came He changed the rules of what family looks like. Is Jesus giving permission to dishonor parents? NO! He is redefining what family is.

When Jesus says “who are my mother and brothers and sisters?”, He is not downgrading his loyalty to them. Rather He is upgrading His loyalty to someone else, God the Father! If He is upgrading His loyalty to the Father, what should we be doing?

What is the role of a bridge? Connection! The bridge is there to help connect two sides easily. Maybe it is a river or a ravine. 

Sin and disobedience put a barrier between humans and God. Man is lost because of sin. Man is living far from God. But God is full of grace and mercy. So even with this barrier, God continued to love man. No matter who you are, Jesus loves you. We must stay away from sin so that we can attract the glory of God.

God has made a way for us to approach Him. It is Jesus. Only through Jesus precious blood can we come close. Christ took our place at the cross. But we rejected Him. But for everyone who believes in His name, He gave them the power to be the children of God.

People are living without Christ in their lives. When you don’t have Christ, you are lost!

There are two verbs by which you can be saved. To receive and to believe. Have you ever done the two verbs in your life? Many people believe in God but they never receive Him as their Lord and Savior. If you are in that category, you are not a son of God. Christ wants to rule in your life. He wants to live in you.

The bridge is there for everybody, but there is a condition. You have to believe and receive. 

Life is in the Son and whoever has the Son has life but whoever does not have the Son does not have life.

The time to give your life to Christ is now. Not tomorrow. Because You don’t know when your life may end. Then it is too late. 

Installation of Loth Lanongo as an elder of our church. This is very important in the life of our church. Elders help guide the pastor and the congregation in prayer and counseling. In this episode, Pastor Andy spends some time discussing elders and talking especially about Loth.

Joshua was told by the Lord to be bold and be strong. And very courageous. Be careful to obey all of the law that Moses gave you. 

If you obey the law, you will be successful. Keep the law on your lips. Meditate on it day and night. Speak it. 

Achan hid treasure that he stole from Jericho. God had said they were to destroy everything and not loot. When Israel got to Ai, they were defeated. Humiliated. So after prayer and investigation, Achan’s sin was discovered and he and everything he had, including his family, had to be destroyed.

 In chapter 8, God had a new message for Joshua. Really the same message he had all along. Don’t be afraid. God is with you. Sema usiogope.

Fear is a terrible prison. It keeps you in bondage.

 Whatever challenge you are facing, God is already there for you. Do not be afraid.

 You must do what the Lord has commanded. God tells you what he wants you to do and you need to follow.

 Joshua built an altar to commemorate the victory at the second battle of Ai. He built it according to the instructions that Moses laid out in the law. Gather stones and build it. Don’t cut or break the stones. Just use what you have. This is how God works with us. He takes all of our past experiences, the good and the bad, and puts them together into something better than what we would ever see. All of the little pieces fit together just right.

 God wants you to come to him as you are. Just come. You don’t need to become perfect to come to church. That part will be taken care of by God. Satan wants you to stop coming to church. God just wants you to come.

 We also need to know the rules. We get those from God’s word. He is very clear. And we need to teach them to each other and to the children. Both the rules and the blessings. The blessings and the curses. We also need to teach them how to pray. 

A very short message following the annual business meeting of the church. The importance of tithing is discussed. 

The city of Jericho was destroyed and the people were instructed to not take anything for themselves. No looting! Looting was the norm after a battle at that time. But God said “NO!” It was forbidden. Many of the soldiers didn’t like that.

Achan saw some things in one of the houses that he wanted to keep. He decided that it would not hurt and no one would know. That day Achan become the enemy of Israel and God and himself. God knew this but held off on punishment. The next city was Ai.

At Ai the army of Israel was defeated. It should have been an easy victory but God wanted to get their attention.

God wants us to move forward. But only if we are moving with Him. If we are not moving with Him, we must repent!

God told Joshua that He would be with him but only if he obeyed. God says that we must not take that which belongs to Him. Achan had disobeyed and stolen that which the Lord said was his. This is like not tithing. Don’t withhold your tithe! Tithing unleashes God’s blessing in your life.

In the case of Achan, he and his whole family had to die to pay for this sin. When you sin, you impact everyone. The answer is to turn from your sin and repent. There is hope and salvation through Jesus! Jesus will take the punishment for you if you repent and accept Him.

If someone says something three times it means it is very important. God is not holy three times. He is holy more than three times. Three times is not enough for Him! He is holy so much we can’t even say it. But jewish people say it three times. Even Jesus on the cross said “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” That is how serious it was. 
When we talk about holiness we talk about seriousness. But let’s talk about a joke. In a joke there is nothing serious. Some people don’t like jokes. So why is Pastor Fils putting these two opposite things together? Sometimes jokes cross the line and bring bad things. So some people don’t like jokes. 
Paul tells Ephesians to be careful and not cross the line. So what is Pastor Fils doing when the Bible tells us not to do it, putting the two words together?
A word from God is holy, but the reaction of a man can make it a joke. An angel comes to Gideon and calls him “mighty warrior.” Gideon says, “What are you talking about?” God’s word is holy but to man sometimes it sounds like a joke. When Lazarus was dead, Jesus told Martha to take him where you put him. That is holy. But Martha said he had been dead for many days and thought Jesus was joking. 
God is telling us things but how are you taking it? You can keep it holy or make it a joke. It can look like a joke, but if it is coming from God you should think of it as holy. That is when you will see a miracle. 
In Joshua 6 God gives specific instructions on how to take Jericho. But the instructions sound like a joke. March around the city for six days with seven priests with trumpets. It is hard to take these instructions seriously. But they came from God so they must be serious. Imagine what the defenders of the city thought when they saw the Israelites following the instructions. But the miracle happened just like God had said. 
Perhaps the most important part was praising God at the end with a shout. Praise Him when you have nothing left. Praise Him when you are tired.  
We need to obey God no matter what He tells us to do. God has a plan and it will only work when you obey. The first step is to come to Jesus.

 | We need to take this land for the Lord. Denver is not going to give up its people for nothing. Moses is dead. God has told Joshua to be bold and strong. He was to take the nation of Israel across the Jordan river. The Jordan was about a mile wide and was in flood stage. God told Joshua to just walk in to the river. The priests were terrified. But the water stopped flowing upstream a mile or more and two million people were able to cross on dry ground. God want us to take the land. It will require us to be bold and strong. We will encounter resistance. But God will be with us and we won’t be alone. This is what God told the people they had to do to take the land. 
1.       Get circumcised. (WHAT?!?) What does that have to do with winning the battle. 
2.       Have a Passover. 
What is God asking of us? 
1.       Have communion together. 
2.       Have prayer together. 
3.       Have praise and worship together. 
You won’t see the real battle on the news. The real battle is in your neighborhood and even in your mind and in your heart. We are never going to conquer the spiritual forces surrounding us unless we are submitted to Jesus Christ. We are not trying to kill the enemy, we are trying to bring them to Jesus. We need to have circumcised hearts. Let’s look at our lives to see if there are things that need to be cut off so that we can be holy. We should also practice the communion in our homes. 

How can we see God as a bigger God. Send up bigger prayers. Move from listening and knowing to doing. Putting your faith into action and making it your own.

People who strengthen their faith are those who actually put it into practice. You don’t have to be perfect. It is ok to fail when you step out in faith. Your faith, your story grows anyway. God wants your story to be heard. There are a lot of people in this church who have powerful stories.

With our faith are we actually practicing or are we just learning. Learning is good but doing is better. When you act on your faith, it opens a door and encourages others to start thinking about acting on their faith. And actually doing it!

What are we building our faith on? Sand or rock? We should have limitless faith because God is a limitless God. 

It should be exciting to be a Christion. We server a powerful God! He is always amazing us and others. 

How can we put our faith into action today. We should pray that God will strengthen us and encourage and guide us. We need to believe that God is a great big powerful God. We need to see God alive in our lives. We need to pray that fear will not stop us from stepping out and putting our faith into action!

Joshua and all of the people were on one side of the Jordan River. On the other side lay the Promised Land. The river was at flood stage. It was flowing fast and wide. It’s going to take a lot of miracles to get the people across. But God said “Be bold!”

You have to be careful not to go out ahead of God. Wait for His timing. Then be bold.

When we are going to do something big for God we need to let God go ahead. We need to watch God. Keep your eyes on God. Don’t be discouraged or afraid.

You also need to purify your heart. God insists that our hearts are pure when He works with us.

Next, you must take action. Do as God directs. Step out in faith. It may be scary but this is where the boldness comes in.

Finally, God wants us to remember when He acts. Remember when He performs miracles. Start a Miracle Journal.