LET US ENTER HIS REST!

"LET US ENTER HIS REST!

December 27, 2009 Sunday Morning 11:00 am

"TEXT: Hebrews 4:1-13


INTRO: We live in a very harried world today! The word "rest" is almost missing from our vocabulary! I hear all the time people talking about trying to get some "rest". The frantic lifestyle we live today has crept into the spiritual realm also, we can have frantic activity spiritually and fail to enter into God’srest! It is possible to acknowledge God and fail to enter into His rest, it happened to Israel in the wilderness, and it can happen to us today too.

The only way to enter God’s rest is through faith in His Word and obedience tothat Word...failure to obey God’s word will leave us unrested!

We are living in a time when we blame everything around us for our restlessness and losses, but it may be time that we examine the real reason for our lack of rest...our own avoidance of obedience to God’s Word!

PROP SENT: The Bible teaches us that we can fail to enter into God’s rest if we failto obey His word, that the lack of obedience is a lack of faith...which leads to a lack of rest!

I. A RESTFUL LIFE! 4:1-10

A. Rewards 4:1
1. God has always promised a "rest" to those who want it!
a. Even in the Old Testament there was a rest in God possible, unfortunately, as the preceding verses indicate, Israel failed to findthis "rest" of God’s!b. How tragic that they missed the most important "rest" God had to offer.

2. But this "rest" remains for anyone today who might want it!
a. It is not a physical rest that God is speaking of here, it is a spiritual rest!b. This promise has been available for a long time, and will continue to be available until Jesus comes back again.

3. For those who want "rest", it is available, and the writer will describe herehow we go about finding it.
a. God’s rest comes from faith in God’s Word...which leads to obedience!b. notice the end of chapter 3:19... "So we see that they (Israel) were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." (which led to their disobedience - there is a direct connection between REAL faith and obedience!)
"Those who believe in the Holy Scriptures are bound to observe its teachings. Those who do not are to be bound by its consequences."

4. The rewards are great, the consequences for failure to obey are also great!
a. Those who call themselves "Christians" but fail to live according to God’s Word will not enter God’s rest!b. Israel’s sufferings were the result of their own disobedience and lack offaith in God’s Word even though God was present in the very midst oftheir camp by the fire by night and the cloud by day!c. God’s rest is available, but only through faith and obedience to His Word!

B. Reckless! 4:2-10

1.The messages from God can be of no value if they are not received by faith...and receiving them by faith implies obedience to that Word!
a. disobedience is a form of unbelief!
b. This was Israel’s constant problem in the desert, they heard God’s Wordthrough His servant Moses, but they did not have enough faith in it to obey it, hence the consequences that they never entered into God’s rest!

2. Israel loved the miracles and the displays of God’s power, but they did not obey God’s Word and thus they forfeited the most important rest God had to offer them!
a. If they failed to enter God’s rest even with God’s presence in their midst and the miracles, so can we!b. They were reckless with God and their own lives....they failed to see that disobedience could lead to bad consequences later on!

ILLUS: If you’ve ever been to Yellowstone National Park, you were probably given a piece of paper by a ranger at the park entrance. On it in big letters was the warning "Do Not Feed the Bears." You no sooner drive into the heart of the park, however, than you see people feeding the bears. When I first saw this I asked a ranger about it. "Sir," he answered, "you have only a small part of the picture." He described how the park service personnel in the fall and winter have to carry away the bodies of dead bears -- bears who have lost their ability to fend for food. That’s what’s happening to us.


3. Too many people who call themselves Christians today live this way!
a. They are reckless with God’s Word!
b. They can raise hands in worship, or praise God for miracles, but they donot live in obedience to God’s Word, in some cases they openly mock God’s Word and it’s teachings!...and then they wonder why their livesare anything but "rested" in God!

4. One cannot say they have faith in God without also having faith in His Word, and one cannot say he has faith in the Word of God if he is not willing to obey it!
a. When we bypass God’s Word it doesn’t matter how we feel about God,we are living reckless lives! 4:6b. To ignore God’s Word is to put your spiritual life in jeopardy, it won’tmatter how many verses of the Bible you know by heart, how manypowerful experiences you had at the altar, or how intense you can singGospel choruses...you will not find God’s rest without obedience to HisWord!

(1. This is what Israel’s example teaches us here!

(2. They ran toward miracles, but away from God’s Word and the result was that they self-destructed!

ILLUS: Several years ago, newspapers told how a new Navy jet fighter shot itself down. Flying at supersonic speed, it ran into cannon shells it had fired only a few seconds before. The jet was traveling too fast! You are also traveling too fast, if you don’t have time to worship God in regular church services, if you don’t have time to read the Bible, if you don’t have time to pray. If you’re neglecting any of these, you’re probably traveling too fast to hear the sound of God’s voice. You can’t tell whether you are in the center of His will. Better slow down before, like the jet, you shoot yourself down.

5. There are too many reckless people who call themselves "Christians" todayin the Church....we can make the same mistake as Israel did, hence the warning in Heb. 4:1 is real!

I. A RESTFUL LABOR 4:11-13

A. Requirements! 4:11

1. The language here is strange and ironic in a sense: "Let us LABOR therefore to enter that rest." (KJV)
a. Ironic in the sense that we must "make every effort" (NIV) or "labor" (KJV) to enter into this rest!b. The idea here means simply that we do have choices: to obey the Wordof God by faith, or disobey it through unbelief!c. Obedience to God’s Word can bring us into God’s rest, disobedience will leave us outside without rest!

2. It is simply not enough to just be willing to get saved but then not live bythe Word of God!

ILLUS: It is not difficult in our world to get a person interested in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness. -- A Long Obedience In the Same Direction

3. The Christian life does not consist in just the altar call experience...it isalso the lifestyle of obedience to the Word of God by faith that matters!
a. Too many people are willing to embrace Jesus so they can get to heaven, but they don’t want to hear what the Bible teaches about theirsinful lifestyle that requires changes!b. Obedience however is a requirement or there can be no rest for the wicked!

4. It is this "LABORING" to obey God’s Word that brings us into spiritual health and restfulness!
a. This is a daily taskb. If we truly have faith in God’s Word we will follow it!c. Just as there is no shortcuts to good physical health, there can be noneto good spiritual health!
The Bible teaches that a regular course of good spiritual exercise is highly beneficial to the health of our soul. It shows us that sin is effectively warded off in a person who is walking in the light, one who is obeying Jesus each day. On the other hand, disobedience or following the path of least resistance, cools down a person’s spiritual temperature. Fellowship is neglected. Sin is neither confessed nor forsaken. The result is a lukewarm or cold Christian who is not taking advantage of the kind of defenses necessary to fight spiritual infection where it exists.

5. There was only Joshua and Caleb that had entered into God’s rest, the only two to believe God’s Word and obey it, the rest of that generation died in the wilderness having failed to ever enter God’s rest although they had God’s presence in their camp and His miracles on their journey!
a. The only difference was obedience!b. Many times this is still the only difference of why one Christian doeswell and another is always struggling and void of rest!c. This is God’s requirement for His rest...

B. Revelation 4:12-13

1. Notice how this paragraph ends...with the Word of God again in the focus!
a. It is that Word of God that ultimately impacts the quality of our spiritual life in the here and now as well as the then and there!b. The Word of God is foundational to our spiritual health, it must havepriority in our life, this is done by obedience to its teachings!

2. There is nothing else on Earth that can do what the Word of God can do!
a. It is alive and active....it can pierce through anything!b. All attempts to disregard God’s Word will end up in failure...and we cannot hide our sins which is nothing more than disobedience to HisWord!c. The Word of God has the power to change everything....and only it canbring rest!

3. How tragic that an entire generation wandered through a desert simply because they failed to enter into God’s rest by faith and obedience to HisWord!

a. yet we could have an entire generation do the same thing today!...or an individual!b. We must be people of the Word, not people of the World!c. If we are to really know God’s rest in our souls, we must have faith in God and His Word....and obey it!

4. How rested are you????

CONCLUSION: Though Israel was called "God’s people" and though they had seen miracles and God’s great power, they failed to enter God’s rest! Failure to enter was because of their failure to believe God’s Word, which led to disobedience..the result:

NO REST! The same can happen today too...obedience is the evidence of faith, which leads to rest! How restful is your life?


Prophet Antonio Schroeder
"Kingdom Tabernacle Ministry International"

http://www.ktmiGlobal.tk/

I CAME TOO FAR TO SURRENDER MY ANOINTING "When the Tomb becomes a Womb"

I CAME TOO FAR TO SURRENDER MY ANOINTING!
"When the Tomb becomes a Womb"

December 6, 2009 Sunday Morning 11:00 am

Kings 19 1-18

According to 1Kings 17:1

Elijah was one of the inhabitants of Gilead


1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

The point is: He was one of the people, he was one of us, in other words he was in the same mess as everybody else, he was surrounded by the same problems, the same sinful circumstances. He was in it, but he wasn’t a part of it.


This is very important: Because Israel’s spiritual condition was at an all time low, from generation to generation each successive king had taken the nation deeper into sin and farther away from God.

Finally it says that Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him, and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the Kings of Israel that were before him.


But here stands Elijah alone against this flood of ungodliness, and perversion.Have you ever felt like you’re all alone?


You’re the only one trying to do right, You’re the only one who is standing for righteousness.
You’re the only one on your job
You’re the only one in your family
You’re the only one on your street, In your town.


Maybe God forbid (even in your church) you’re the only one who is really trying to Live a pure and holy and separated life.


Tell Your neighbor (I’ve got good news) It only takes one.*It only took One David to get rid of Goliath

*It only took one Moses to Lead 1-3 million people out of bondage
*It only took one Ezekial to turn a dry bone yard into a mighty army


I just want to tell you: You can make the difference on your job, in your family, in your city, in your church, In your world.


Tell your neighbor: I can change it


The devil goes to great lengths to try to convince us that one person could never make a difference, but the devil is a liar. “No matter how dark it gets one light changes everything.


Jesus said: Ye are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.The only way that darkness can win is for the light to refuse to shine.


Grab your neighbors hand and shake it real good and tell them: Just turn the light on.


Elijah was no push over prophet Elijah knew the power of God, (through his ministry the dead were raised, the widow of Zarephath went into supernatural provision and was sustained through the famine.

He had a debt destroying, dead raising, prosperity producing anointing


He was bold as a lion and mean as a bear, (he was a mans man, he was no weekend warrior).
“ He stood alone” against a wicked king, and his wicked wife, and entire religious system that had turned against God.

1. I know a lot of people that can stand as long as they got someone to lean on,
2. as long as people are backing them up,
3. someone patting them on the back encouraging them.But if you are ever going to do any real kingdom work, you might as well know (Sometimes you will have to stand alone).Paul the apostle said:

2Ti 4:16 At my first answer (no man stood with me, but all men forsook me:) I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

Tell your neighbor: I’m learning to stand

I want your help, I appreciate your help, I enjoy your pats on the back, I am grateful for your blessing and your encouragement, but I don’t have to have it.

1. At some point you have to be able to stand on your own two feet:
2. You got to be able to praise when nobody else is praising, dance when nobody else is dancing.
3. Pray when nobody else is praying,
4. You got to be able to preach to yourself and get happy off your own preaching.When David looked around and couldn’t get anyone to pat him on the back or speak an encouraging word to him.

He preached to himself!!!Elijah was a man who knew how to stand: But in our text we find Elijah in a Cave.

The Cave is a place of hiding:
Jos 10:16 But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.
Jos 10:17 And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found hid in a cave at Makkedah.

It’s where you go when you want to be alone!

The Cave is a place of Separation, Isolation!

When there is a strong attack against you the devil plead to the father to touch your skin causing things to be Isolate from you, and also cause you to with draw from others,

The Cave is a place of Depression:
One of the greatest signs of being in a cave is the spirit of depression,
Depression: is not just an attitude or a feeling (Depression is a Spirit)Isaiah calls it (The Spirit of Heaviness)

Isa 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Depression Heaviness = -somewhat dark 5, darkish 1, wax dim dull, colourless, be dark, faint Fear, sorrow, grief, feelings of hopelessness and dejection (to feel low)

The Cave is a place of Fear:
1Ki 18:4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
These One hundred prophets were hiding in a cave for fear of Jezebel Fear is the opposite of faith (Faith mobilizes, fear paralyzes)

Fear: is believing more in what the devil says than what God has saidFear is more than just a bad feeling (Fear is a Spirit) It is alive

2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Obediah Fed them with bread and water;

This tells me that The cave is a place of meager existence: In the cave it seems like everything comes in small doses, like your being given just enough to keep you alive, but not enough to make you enjoy life.

Everything is in rations:

The cave is a spiritual reality (You may never in your life walk into a natural cave but at some point in your faith walk you will experience a cave).

A cave is a spiritual condition:

*You can be rich and be in a cave
*You can be surrounded by people and be in a cave
*You can be anointed and still be in a cave
*You can be a pastor and be in a cave
*You can be a prophet and be in a cave

You can cast out devils on Sunday and be in the cave on Monday

No one is exempt from the cave!!!!!

The Cave is a place of death:

Ge 23:9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.

Ge 23:19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

1. Everybody won’t know what I’m talking about, but somebody knows what it feels like to be in a cave,
2. Somebody knows what it feels like, to feel isolated and alone.
3. Somebody knows what it feels like to run as hard and fast as you can and feel like you haven’t moved, you haven’t made any progress at all.

*You have to really strain your eyes to see anything good ahead of you.
*Your fighting feelings of discouragement (You haven’t seen the manifestation of your promise)
*You’ve been faithful to God, but it seems like nothings happening.
*Your situations is trying to make you question if you’re even anointed at all.
*It seem’s like you can’t hardly even feel God
*It’s like every good thing that should be coming to you, is coming through a straw.

The Great the Mighty, the awesome Prophet

The Man of God ( Found himself in a Cave)

1 Ki 19:9-10 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

1. Notice Elijah’s Language ( I have been)Not I am, not I will be (but I have been)
In otherwords Elijah is saying: I’m done, I’m through, I’m finished, I came here to die..

*The (Cave) is the place where (Dreams die),

- it is the place where visions expire,

- it is the place where passion and enthusiasm and desire surrender to apathy and indifference and hopelessness.
- It’s the place where fear reigns and doubt robs the heart of any expectation of better things.

Yes even the great Prophet found himself in a cave (A Tomb) The end

But tell your neighbor: i'm Coming Out Of This With More POWER

Elijah Found himself in a cave (afraid of Jezebel, running for his life, wallowing in self pity, mad at God and mad at his people) mad at everybody and everything. Ready to give up, throw in the towel

But Something Happened ( The Lord Passed by his way)

I just wander is there any body in this place who is glad the Lord passed by your way?

1. You went from one bad relationship to another to another, but then the Lord passed by.
2. You were doing your own thing, didn’t care about yourself or any body else, but the Lord passed by.
3. You were doing the church thing, fooling yourself and everyone around you, but then the Lord passed by.
4. You were lying in a hospital bed with the doctors shaking their heads, but then the Lord passed by.
5. You were standing in front of a judge facing a prison sentence, but the Lord passed by.

*Slap your neighbor high five and tell them: I don’t know about you, but I’m glad the Lord passed by my way.

There was wind, Earthquake, FireBut it wasn’t the wind-It wasn’t the earthquake-It wasn’t the fire

(It was the still small voice of God)

It was the word of God
One word from God turned his tomb into a womb!

One word from God and the Old prophet came out with a New anointing!

-The Old prophet came out with a New Vision

-The Old prophet came with a New Fire

I Just came by to tell somebody today (You’re coming out)

The tomb is your womb - You Birthing Out Somethng!

1. Somebody’s on the verge of a New Revelation of the glory and power of God
2. Somebody’s on the verge of a new level of anointing
3. Somebody’s getting ready to see the greatest manifestation of the power of God you’ve ever seen in your family, in your finances, in your ministry

*Situations has tried to push you into a cave and roll the stone over the door, and call it your tomb -The place where it ends

You’ve heard the Apostle say and you’ve heard me say, that One word from God can change your world

But let me take it even one step Farther

(One letter from God can change your world)The only difference between a tomb and a womb is ONE LETTER

I came today to make a small correction and turn the T Into a W and tell you the devil spelled it wrongIt’s not a tomb it’s a womb and I’m Coming out

IT'S NOT YOUR ENDING BUT YOUR NEW BEGINNING!

Touch 3 People and tell them I’m Coming Out.

1. Yeah I know I went in depressed but I’m coming out dancing

2. I went in fearful and afraid, but I’m coming out full of faith and power.
3. I went in empty but I’m coming out full

-I went in thinking it was over, but I’m coming out knowing it’s just getting started.
-I went in to get away from Jezebel, but I’m coming out to get rid of Jezebel.
-I went in to surrender my anointing, but I’m coming out to distribute my anointing.
Tell your neighbor It’s not a Tomb, it’s a Womb and I’m coming out.

One word from God turned a tomb, into a womb and Elijah was born again

-He came out slinging Oil;
-He was anointed from his head to his toes
-He was a man on fire
-He was a man with a mission
-He was a man with a Vision



The fear of Jezebel was gone, Elijah was no longer looking back, but now he was consumed with taking this anointing to the next generation.

I came to tell somebody: And it’s not the End it’s just the Beginning

I’m talking to somebody who needs a new beginning.

When Elijah came out of that cave he came out with a new vision, he came out a generational vision.

He knew he couldn’t die, there was something he had to impart to the next generation.

When he came out of that cave he came out with a double anointing,

(You say “How do you know he came out with a double anointing?”

Because he conferred a double portion on Elisha, and you can only give what you have.

I CAME TOO FAR TO SURRENDER MY ANOINTING!

Prophet Antonio Schroeder

"Kingdom Tabernacle Ministry International"

www.KtmiGlobal.tk