Receiving "THE" WORD vs. "A" Word - Identity

INTRODUCTION

It's been a very mixed season but mostly good because God is always good. Yet I have encountered confusion, manifestations of dreams and visions, miracles, open doors, and great overall blessings from God. He has truly been amazing to me. However, for various reasons I will not get into here and now, it has been too long since I posted on this blog. Therefore, I must apologize to all of those who consistently read and are encouraged by the word of the Lord to and through me in the form of these blog posts. He is good. I must mention that although I have not blogged in a while, it does not mean He has not been speaking. He speaks all the time to you and to me - if we have ears to hear. Yet, it is up to us to stop, listen, and let His Word change us. Finally, by way of explanation, there has just been too much happening to stop and blog about it. But folks, make no mistake, we have a great God and He is mighty and able to do anything impossible for man. I cannot say enough about His awesome character and loving nature. HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE!!!!

I'd like to share what the Lord shared with me while I was streaming a sermon from Time Square Church in New York City, a strong Bible-believing, miracles-are-for-today, God-honoring church in the heart of Manhattan. The message today was quite appropriate for the times in which we live: "The Oldest Trick in the Book." Although, this post is not specifically about the rich message through pastor William Carroll, an associate pastor at TSC, it is about what I heard in my heart that applies to me and I am sure you, too, during the message. You can get the sermons at http://www.tscnyc.org/ . Today's is already posted. Remember that the enemy's primary tactics are ones of diversion. He uses anything to get us to walk in something parallel, yet not quite, what God had in mind when He created us. Oh, it may be satisfactory in the short-term but it will fall tremendously short of what the Lord had for us. Many have passed onto glory not having accomplished the full extent of His will for them here on earth.

THE WORD vs. A WORD

What the Lord was saying to me - because there is a voice within the voice. That means every pastor, leader, or minister should be so yielded that we hear the Lord's voice within the minister's voice. Many refer to this as the anointing and it is how the Good Shepherd is able to feed all of His sheep, through an under-shepherd or directly, with the word we each need for our individual lives. I call it receiving THE WORD and not just A word. Anyone can give you A word either from the Bible or another source. However, only those connected to the Vine, Jesus Christ, can give you THE WORD.

While the sermon was a wonderful one about God's loving us and drawing that love out of us toward Him, the keys to combat "the oldest trick in the book," and so much more,  I was hearing the voice within the voice. That's because this message was clearly coming from a vessel who is submitted and therefore saturated in His love. It was truly rich!

Yet, for me it went a bit further. God was speaking more truth within this framework of His love and the pastor's message. That is proof that this sermon was THE Word due to its multidimensional nature, which brought application to other areas of the Word to impact our daily lives.

THE WORD AND OUR IDENTITY

The Oldest Trick in the Book is to attack our commitment and revelation about our identity, and believing that we are whom He said we are. [The pastor share this as well] And I remembered in Matthew 4:6, where the enemy initiated a questioning of Jesus' identity.

That's why I say this sermon, for me, was really addressing our identity in Christ and how the enemy tries to make us doubt it. Remember he told Jesus - as he tried to out-maneuver Him - "If you are the Son of God..." Matthew 4:6. IF???

         MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD; GIVEN A MANDATE TO RULE

Friends, we know that enemy is nothing but a copier; he can create nothing - at least anything good.  In the very beginning when God made earth, He told us who we were and we certainly knew Whose we were. God first told us our identity in Genesis 1:26.

This is who we are: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God not only made mankind in His own image, as in just like Him, He gave us charge over every other thing on the earth. Of course that is not the end of the story but we will leave it there for now.

       INTIMACY WITH GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

God is the One who used the If statement to point out identity when in Numbers 12:6

Then He said,

“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
⁷ Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
⁸ I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”

Shocking! We know that God came, and stayed, near in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But even in the Old Testament we see that God had servants (the Prophets, also see Amos 3:7 - "Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.") and friends (this ref. to Moses).

Notice what gave Moses even more access to God in friendship than your average prophets and servant, his faithfulness to God. We know Moses was not perfect and without fault, yet God counted His faith above his faults (the same as He does for those of us who are in Jesus). Given a choice I would take friend over servant any day and that is what we have through Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

       INTIMACY AND FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Not only did not offer friendship through faith in the Old Testament to fathers of the faith such as Abraham and Moses but in the New Testament, when God came near to all humanity, not just the Jews, in the form of Jesus Christ, He offered friendship to all. In
John 15:15, He says -

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Now, because of John 3:16, anyone who chooses, can be a friend of God and it's still offered through faith in the One who made the Way to the Father, Jesus Christ, and He still received us through faith regardless of our faults. Notice I did not say sin, because sin will continue to separate us from God until it is confessed and therefore forgiven. Therefore you sin from the past and present can be forgiven and you receive a release and justification from them. Not so for future sin as that would nullify the whole Gospel of repentance and forgiveness, the very foundation of the Christian faith. So be careful (and read and memorize if you can, Hebrews 10:26 to the end.)   

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

This is a season where we need to receive "THE Word" of God and not only "A word..." from God. Most churches in America have "A word" not necessarily "THE Word" for God - grab a Scripture, book quote, throw it out there with some anecdotes and application and call it a day. Not so with THE Word. THE WORD is the NOW word. A word could be legitimate but we live in a time when we need THE WORD of the Lord. THE WORD will equip us to meet the challenges we NOW face. It is great to have both but most important to have THE NOW WORD.

Crucial to note: Only one who is intimately connected to the Vine, Jesus Christ will have THE NOW Word of God. A Word will be generally applicable, but THE WORD will be specifically applicable. Our NOW God speaks in specifics. Be discerning.

CONCLUSION

This is my takeaway and what the Lord ministered to me that I share with you in addition to the richness of what was shared by Pastor William Carroll of TSC.

What is our multidimensional God speaking to your heart today? Listen. He is equipping you for the upcoming week.

GOD BLESS YOU.