WWJD*

We have seen the letters "WWJD" before. They mean "What Would Jesus Do?" With our nation rushing towards judgment, and Christians entering into divisive arguments, even sometimes condoning violence so long as it gets the results desired, the question, "What would Jesus do?" becomes more important now than ever before. How does Jesus impact the world? How does He view those who believe in Him, and what does He expect their responses to the world to be? First, it is by Jesus that all things were created: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (Jn. 1:1-5). John told us here the same thing that is revealed in the Hebrew language of Genesis 1:1, translated into English as "In the beginning, God...". However, in Hebrew, it is written "Bareshiet Elohim (Aleph-Tav)". Aleph-Tav is also how Jesus identified Himself in Revelation 1:8 as "...Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End...". John wrote above that in Jesus was zoe life, supernatural life, abundant life, the God-kind of life. This life is light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overpower it. John the Baptist witnessed that Jesus was the true Light that came into the world, and He lights every man who comes into the world (Jn. 1:8-9). Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh for us to receive (Jn. 1:14). Many of His own did not receive Jesus, but to those who did, He gave them power to become sons of God (Jn. 1:11-12). Those who did, and do receive Jesus are then born not by the will of men, but by the will of God (v. 13). Jesus was not just a teacher, or a good man, but He is with God, He is God, and He cannot be separated from God. Those who receive Him as such become spiritually reborn, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, a religious leader who came to speak with Jesus only at night so he wouldn't be seen by others (Jn. 1:1-2). Nicodemus is one of those who identified Jesus as a teacher, a rabbi, whom, Nicodemus concedes, must be with God because of the miracles Jesus performed. Jesus told Nicodemus that he must understand more than that. Nicodemus must be born again, or he won't see the kingdom of God (v. 3). Jesus makes no doubt that there is a difference between those of the flesh, and those of the Spirit of God: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." (Jn. 3:5-7). Those who have received Jesus are born again of the Spirit of God. There is to be a difference between those born of the flesh, and those born of the Spirit, between those who are sons of men, and those who are given the power by Jesus to become sons of God. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save it, and whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Jn. 3:16-17). However, there are those who condemn themselves. They are the ones who love darkness instead of the Light sent into the world, because their deeds are evil. Jesus said: "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." (v. 20). Today in this country, we see this as lawlessness abounds everywhere we look. Those who do truth, however, Jesus said, come to the light giving evidence that their deeds are done in God (v. 21). Jesus again differentiates between those in the world and those who are part of the kingdom of God in the Beatitudes. Here He teaches how those of the Spirit of God interact with the world in a life changing way. Jesus said that those who are pure in heart will see God. Those who are peacemakers, rather than dividers, are the children of God. However, we continually see those who fight one another, claiming to be believers, each claiming the righteousness of their own positions. Jesus continued in the Gospel of Matthew to call us salt and light in the earth, not hiding who we are, and what we believe, but letting our light shine, and our salt cleanse and purify (v. 13-16). Part of this is to love your enemies, to bless those who curse you, and pray for them that persecute you or abuse you (v. 43-47). Jesus concluded: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (v. 48). We are not supposed to be like the world, but like our Father. As we also see today, there are so many divisions by race and ethnicity in the world, and, unfortunately, also in the church. What would Jesus have us to do? Should we be fanning the flames of racial division? The early church faced the problem head on. The apostles and believers in Jerusalem, who were Jewish believers, were shocked to hear that Gentiles were being preached the Gospel, and they questioned Peter as to why he was doing this. Peter told them of his experiences - he received a vision from heaven that told him that the "unclean" were now "clean". He had preached in a Gentile's home, and before he could even finish preaching the Gospel, the Holy Spirit fell and filled all in the house. God was showing no partiality, and was allowing no exclusion, regarding who was to receive the Gospel, salvation, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The leaders of the church in Jerusalem had to admit: "...God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." (Acts 11:1-18). All who have prepared their hearts to receive, may receive. Not only was the church to include Gentiles, but those of different races also (Acts 13:1). Simeon, called Niger, or Black, was one of the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch. He was one of those leaders who laid hands on Saul (Paul) and Barnabas and released them into ministry (v. 2-4). It was of this church at Antioch, full of believers of diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, that believers were first called "Christians", or "Christ-like ones". The Book of Revelation identifies those who were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb are "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on earth." (Rev. 5:9-10). They were clothed in white robes, having come out of great tribulation. They made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-14). It is not assured that believers will not experience tribulation. Jesus instructed us to pray in order to be accounted worthy to escape those things which are coming on the earth. It is time for the church to stand up for what is righteous. It is time to be what Jesus calls us to be. He has not called us to be like the world, but like our Father in heaven. The disturbing things we see occurring in the world, in our nation, can be laid directly at the church's feet. God's Word said, "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chron. 7:14). What would Jesus do? Jesus is not looking for the world to change, but for us to change, and be those who are born of the Spirit of God. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 11/21/21 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and endtimeschool.com.

First Become Humble*

The Good Samaritan

 

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

2 Chron. 7:14

As I have discussed in many previous messages, our nation needs the healing that is found in the above chapter and verse from 2 Chronicles. The responsibility and call is to God's people, who are called by His name. The first thing mentioned above, in order to turn a nation's sickness into healing, is for God's people to humble themselves. However, rather than being an age of humility, this era has instead become one associated with pride. Pride has become connected with everything, including things which are against the Word of God. Pride on both sides of the racial divide is threatening to tear our nation apart. It is even more important then, for God's people to understand the need to be humble, but, unfortunately, I have not seen this in practice across the Body of Christ. Scripture teaches the value that God places upon the humble heart:

"...ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time....Submit yourselves therefor to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you" 

                                                                        1 Pet. 5:5-6. and James 4:6-7, 10

The Word also tells us that pride is associated with destruction, not healing:

"A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit." Pr. 29:23

The prophets also revealed the spiritual power and blessing of humility:

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."  Isa. 57:15

God's promise is to dwell among His people, to tabernacle in their midst, restoring the relationship He had in the beginning with Adam in the Garden, through Jesus, His Son. This requires a humble and contrite heart in His people. He has shown us what is good, "...and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"  Mic. 6:8

We have seen very little justice and mercy. Those who are wounded, downtrodden, disregarded for racial or ethnic reasons, and even those just going about innocent activities, are being targeted and murdered. Sean Stevenson, my son, was a murder victim in Missoula, Montana, under mysterious circumstances. No answers are forthcoming from the authorities in regard to his murder. Each week, more victims are sadly added to the list, and there is no justice, no mercy, no humility, and certainly no repentance.

Jesus taught a parable, which we call the parable of the good Samaritan, in answer to a lawyer who was challenging Him about how to inherit eternal life (Lk. 10:25-37). Since the questioner was a lawyer, the Lord asked him to answer his own question based upon the Law of Moses. The lawyer answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus told the lawyer that this was the correct answer to his own question. Then the lawyer wanting to justify himself for not observing the Law he just quoted, asked, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus told the lawyer that there once was a man who, while traveling, had been viciously attacked by thieves and left on the road, half dead. Both a priest and a Levite saw him on the road, and passed by him, even crossing to the other side of the road to avoid him. Then a Samaritan came along the road. We know that Samaritans were considered ethnic "half-breeds", and religious heretics by the Jews. They were held in contempt, and were not to be associated with. Yet when the Samaritan man saw the wounded victim laying in the road, he ministered to his wounds with bandages, oil, and wine. The Samaritan picked the victim up, and took him on his beast to an inn, where he continued to take care of him. When the Samaritan had to leave, he paid the innkeeper to continue to care for the man, and promised to pay the innkeeper if there were more charges incurred in the care of this stranger. Jesus then asked the lawyer, which of the men was the neighbor to the wounded man, and the lawyer had to answer that it was the Samaritan, the one who had shown mercy to the wounded man. Jesus instructed the lawyer to "Go and do thou likewise."

Many people, even people who are "religious", and people of faith, find it easier to remove themselves, and not get involved in the face of injustice, or when confronted by uneasy situations, perhaps involving people not held in esteem for various reasons. However, Jesus made clear that the ones who do the Word and will of God embrace justice, mercy and humility concerning their relationship with all others. The inheritance of everlasting life is based upon these things. Where are the Samaritans today, who are willing to align themselves with the downtrodden?

It is not pride, but humility that fulfills the Word of God, and brings healing to our land.

 

*The above is based upon the 6/28/20 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson. 

To Contact/Submit prayer requests/Support the ministry/Order the book, "NAZAH-White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling", and to help us get out the message, to contribute to the Book of Remembrance for Sean Stevenson:

Dr. Kenneth Stevenson
P.O. Box 154221
Waco, TX  76705

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

http://endtimeschool.com/

everlastingcovenant@ymail.com

To watch/hear Dr. Stevenson's complete message:

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

Sermon.net/EverlastingCovenant
 

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.
 

Dr. Stevenson's newest book is now available:

  

To order "NAZAH": https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8     http://endtimeschool.com/ 

 

 



                                                                   Sean Stevenson

 

Who and Where Are The People of God?*

 

In the middle of a pandemic, we are also seeing that this nation is being torn apart by many divisions, especially racial and ethnic divisions. Even the Church is often divided along racial lines. Jesus warned that racial animosity would rise as a sign of the last days before His return (Mt. 24:7, "kingdom" in this verse being the Greek word ethnos). However, His final instructions to His disciples, called The Great Commission, never divided the Gospel of Salvation along racial and ethnic lines, but included all ethnicities:

"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 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 ("aion" meaning: age, period of time, forever)...".
                                                                                                           Mt. 28:18-20

Seeing these signs and these divisions all around us, we should not be surprised, but we should be doing. The LORD has clearly told us what we should be "doing" in these challenging times which were foretold by God:

"If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, of if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually."  2 Chron. 7:13-16

God is addressing His people, above. He has chosen and sanctified this house. We are the chosen and sanctified (by the blood of the Lamb of God) temple, or house, of the Holy Spirit. Our land needs the healing of God, so where are God's people? These verses above are a key for the hope for us, and for our nation.

Our nation was founded in and by the Word of God, but we have forgotten it, and we have rejected it, and we are being destroyed because of that. God warned His people through the prophet Hosea of the consequences of rejecting His Word:

"...because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn...Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame."  Hosea 4:1-7 (excerpt)

Where are the people of God? Instead of seeing the healing that follows the repentance of God's people (2 Chron. 7:14), we are seeing instead the destruction that comes when God's people have forgotten and rejected His knowledge (Hos. 4:6).

Who are the people whom God calls "my people" in 2 Chron. 7:14? Are we even able to recognize them, if they don't look like us? Revelation talks about those in heaven who have been redeemed. His people are praising the Lamb, proclaiming:
"...for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God king and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."  Rev. 5:9-10
There is no racial nor ethnic preference in the kingdom of God.
The fragrances of the saints prayers fill golden vials in heaven (v. 8). Those who are God's people pray.

Again in another place in Revelation, it is revealed to us that the people of God are a great multitude, beyond number, "of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues...clothed in white robes" who praise the salvation of God, and the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-10). One of the elders in heaven asks John, the Revelator, "What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?" (v. 13). The elder tells John that this multitude came out of great tribulation. They washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. By this they stand before the throne of God, serving Him continually in His temple. The One who sits on the throne dwells among them. The Lamb, Himself, feeds them and leads them to living fountains of water, and there, God personally ministers to them (v. 14-17).
Scripture further describes those whom God calls, "my people". The Apostle Paul wrote that they are ones who present themselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. They are those who are not conformed to this world, but are transformed by the renewing of their minds (washed in the water of the Word of God), showing forth to others through their lives what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. Though they are individual members, they are one body in Christ (Rom. 12:1-5).
These are who the people of God are, and this is where they are.
                                                                                                                              

*The above is based upon the 6/14/20 message to the Church from Dr. Kenneth Stevenson. 

To Contact/Submit prayer requests/Support the ministry/Order the book, "NAZAH-White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling", and to help us get out the message, to contribute to the Book of Remembrance for Sean Stevenson:

Dr. Kenneth Stevenson
P.O. Box 154221
Waco, TX  76705

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

http://endtimeschool.com/

everlastingcovenant@ymail.com

To watch/hear Dr. Stevenson's complete message:

https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8

Sermon.net/EverlastingCovenant
 

Prayer of Salvation for all who desire to receive Jesus as their Savior: Lord Jesus, I desire to know You, and to know Your salvation. I believe that You died for me, and that You were resurrected for me. Forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, change me, fill me with Your righteousness. Inscribe my name in the Lamb's book of life. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, so that I can learn the truth of Your Word and ways, and be strengthened in my walk all the days of my life. You are the hope of my life, and You are my eternal life. I place my trust in You, Lord, for myself, and my whole household. Use me to do the will of the heavenly Father, Who sent You, in Whose name You came. In Your name, and in thanks and praise I pray, Amen.
 

Dr. Stevenson's newest book is now available:

  

To order "NAZAH": https://twitter.com/everlastingcov8     http://endtimeschool.com/ 

 

 



                                                                   Sean Stevenson