Category Archives: Online House Church
Am I an Offense to God Tom Goka
Am I an Offense to God?
I. Offense, in a biblical sense, is a stumbling block, an hinderance, interference, opposition, in the way.
A. Speaking in terms of believers getting in the way of God
B. Can be seen as an adversary or opposition to God’s will
C. Not talking about the heathen or unbeliever or enemy of God
II. Solomon became an offense
A. What do we think about when we think about King Solomon?
1. David’s son and choice for his throne;
2. God visited twice, and first time offered Solomon anything
3. Solomon asked and received wisdom from God
4. Author of a psalms; most of Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Song of Solomon
5. Built first Temple
6. Blessed and anointed by God
B. In Deut 17, God instructs Israel on requirements for their kings
1. Not to multiply the number of horses nor go to Egypt for horses
2. Not to multiply number of wives
3. Keep and read daily the word of God
C. Solomon failed to keep all 3 (1 King 10: 28 – 11: 10)
D. 1 Kings 11: married foreign wives from people God told Israelites to avoid; loved those wives; they turned his heart from the Lord to foreign gods
E. Got in way of God keeping the nation Israel as a single country
F. Opposed God by building temples for foreign gods
G. Contributed to shortcomings of his son, Rehoboam as king.
III. Interesting that Solomon wrote several verses of wisdom that address the very problem of being an offense to God
A. God made man righteous (upright, virtuous) but man sought out schemes, devious paths (Eccl 7: 28)
B. There is a way that seems right to a man, but it leads to death (Prov 14: 12)
C. The way of a fool is right in the fool’s eyes (Prov 12: 15)
D. Out of the heart comes the issues of life (Prov 4: 23) and with diligence, keep your heart
IV. In Matt 16, we find Peter being an offense to God
A. We learn in verses 16-19, that Peter has a revelation from the Father, receives praise from Jesus, and is blessed by Jesus.
B. Yet, when Jesus reveals God’s plan for His suffering, death, and resurrection, Peter rebukes Jesus (verses 21-22)
C. Jesus ‘s response (verses 23-28)
1. Get behind me satan (one who opposes, obstructs, interferes)
2. Not mindful of God; mindful of the things of man
3. fail to deny self (verse 24)
4. desire is to save your life/lifestyle (verse 25)
V. Many times, the words ‘heart’ and ‘mind’ are used in scriptures to refer to the inner self, the emotions or the rationale of man, i.e. soul
A. Soul (or mind of carnal man) is emnity (hostile opposition) with God (Rom 8:6-7; James 4:4)
B. Cares of the world choke the Word of God in our hearts, preventing it from being fruitful (Matt 13: 22)
C. Out of heart comes what defiles us (Mark 7: 20-23)
D. Out of our hearts springs issues of life (Prov 4: 23)
E. Our soulish response to the blessings, anointings, revelations, intimacy of God often serves to oppose or be an offense to God.
VI. So we could be an offense to God, even when (or especially after) we have had a revelation or blessing or anointing from God, if we fail to be diligent keeping our heart/mind (soul)
A. Take heed to yourself, less your heart be weighed down …cares of this life (Luke 21: 34)
B. Prov 4: 23 keep your heart with all diligence
C. Renew your mind (Rom 12: 2)
D. Set your mind on things above (Col 3: 2)
1. Be anxious for nothing (Phil 4: 6)
2. through prayer, supplications, thanksgiving commune with God
3. focus on the true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, (Phil 4: 8)
4. meditate on that part that has virute, is praiseworthy
E. understand the will of God (Eph 5: 17)
Touch of the Havenly Call
Roy Cypher Isaiah 6
Touch of the Havenly Call
Isaiah 6 (AMP)
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [in a vision] the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the [most holy part of the] temple.
Isaiah 6 (AMP)
2 Above Him seraphim (heavenly beings) stood; each one had six wings:
with two wings he covered his face, with two wings he covered his feet,
and with two wings he flew. 3 And one called out to another, saying,
“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is filled with His glory.”
Isaiah 6 (AMP)
4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out,
and the temple was filling with smoke.
Isaiah 6 (AMP)
5 Then I said,
“Woe is me! For I am ruined,
Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Isaiah 6 (AMP)
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Listen carefully, this has touched your lips; your wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] is taken away and your sin atoned for and forgiven.”
Isaiah 6 (AMP)
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Isaiah 6 (AMP)
9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on listening, but do not understand;
Keep on looking, but do not comprehend.’
10
“Make the heart of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,
“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
And houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
12
The Lord has removed [His] people far away,
And there are many deserted places in the midst of the land.
13
“And though a tenth [of the people] remain in the land,
It will again be subject to destruction [consumed and burned],
Like a massive terebinth tree or like an oak
Whose stump remains when it is chopped down.
The holy seed [the elect remnant] is its stump [the substance of Israel].”
John 12:41 (AMP)
Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke about Him.
Matthew 13:14-15 ( NASB)
14 And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘You shall keep on listening, but shall not understand;
And you shall keep on looking, but shall not perceive;
15 For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their heart, and return,
And I would heal them.’
Luke 8:10 (NKJV)
And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,
but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’
John 12:40(NKJV)
New King James Version
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”
Isaiah 52:1(NKJV)
52 Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
Shall no longer come to you.
The Fear Of The Lord
Psalm 100
1.Lift up a great shout of joy to the lord!
Go ahead and do it, everyone, everywhere! 2. As you serve him, be glad and worship him.
Sing your way into his presence with joy! 3. And realize what this really means-we have the
the privilege of worshiping the Lord our God. For he is our Creator and we belong to him. We are the people of his pleasure. 4. You can pass through his open gates with the password of praise. Come right into his presence with thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to him. And affectionately bless his beautiful name! 5. For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you. He’s so loving that it will amaze you-so kind that it will astound you! And he is famous for his faithfulness toward all. Everyone knows our God can be trusted, for he keeps his promises to every generation!
WHY FEAR THE LORD
The reasons for fearing God are·found in the different meaning of the “fear of the Lord” as I have just
described. A1though there are different types of fear,
part of our respect and awe is in the knowledge of his wrath and power. It’s al1 connected.
How will fearing God affect our lives? The fear of the
Lord is far more than Bib-Ucal teaching, principle, or idea. It is ref·evant to our daily lives in many ways.
WE BECOME OBEDIENT {Ps 112:1) Ps 119:63, Ecc12:13 Ps 36:1-4
WE TEACH OUR CHILDREN Dt 4:10; 6:1-2, 6-9, Ps 1:1-6
WE GROW IN SANCTl”FICTION Jn 17:17, Pr 3:7; 8:13;
16:6, Pr 10:19, EccS:2, 6-7 Ps 19:9
WE WORSHIP WHOLE-HEARTEDLY Ps 22:23, Ps 22:25,
Rev 14:6-7
THERE IS A PROMISED REWARD Pr 22:4, Pr 14:26-27, Ps 34:9; 111:5, Pr 10: 27, fee 8:12-13
WE GAIN A HUMBLE CONFIDENCE Act 9:31, Ps 33:18-19, 1John 4:18
Psalm 100
1.Lift up a great shout of joy to the lord!
Go ahead and do it-everyone, everywhere! 2.
As you serve him, be glad and worship him.
Sing your way into his presence with joy! 3. And
realize what this really means- we have the
privilege of worshiping the Lord our God. For he
is our Creator and we belong to him. We are
the people of his pleasure. 4. You can pass
through his open gates with the password of
praise. Come right into his presence with
thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to
him. And affectionately bless his beautiful
name! 5. For the Lord is always good and ready
to receive you. He’s so loving that it will amaze
you- so kind that it will astound you! And he is
famous for his faithfulness toward all. Everyone
knows our God can be trusted, for he keeps his
promises to every generation!
WHY FEAR THE LORD
The reasons for fearing God are·found in the different
meaning of the “fear of the Lord” as I have just
described. A1though there are different types of fear,
part of our respect and awe is in the knowledge of his
wrath and power. It’s al1 connected.
How will fearing God affect our lives? The fear of the
Lord is far more than a Bib-Ucal teaching, principle or idea.
It is ref·evant to our daily lives in many ways.
WE BECOME OBEDIENT {Ps 112:1) Ps 119:63, Ecc12:13 Ps
36:1-4
WE TEACH OUR CH.ILDREN Dt 4:10; 6:1-2, 6-9, Ps 1:1-6
WE GROW IN SANCTl”FICATION Jn 17:17, Pr 3:7; 8:13;
16:6, Pr 10:19, EccS:2, 6-7 Ps 19:9
WE WORSHIP WHOLE-HEARTEDLY Ps 22:23, Ps 22:25,
Rev 14:6-7
THERE IS A PROMISED REWARD
WE GAIN A HUMBLE CONFIDENCE Act 9:31, Ps 33:18-19,
1John 4:18
What does it mean to fear the Lord?
1. God is loving & just: We must recognize that God is loving,
merciful and forgiving; but He also is holy, just and
righteous. Knowing God and understanding His character.
READ Pr 2:1-5 Passion. So in this sense, fearing the Lord is
to appreciate His character .So I see this as a personal
awareness of the awesome and majestic sovere·ignty of
God.
2. Fear of the lord can produce awe:
Fearing the Lord means to be in reverent AWE of His
holiness(the meaning of AWE= amazement, astonishment, or
wonder and also being dumbfounded this word only appears 3
times in the NT Luke 4:31-35 Luke 5:1-11 and Acts 3: 9-10
3. The Fear of the Lord can produce faith: True fear of the
Lord causes be.lievers to place their ta·ith and trust ·in Him
alone for salvation. (Ps 115:11) Lk 1:50 Ps 103:11; 130:4,
and spiritual salvation (Ps 85:9}
Here fearing God means to be moved to belief and trust.
4. God IS ANGRY ABOUT SIN:
This type of fear is to be afraid, especially if you are caught on
the wrong side of God’s justice. (Ps 76:7-8) Ge 3:8-10, Dt 9:19,
Heb 10:31
The Lake House
On June 11th CORT hosted the Zoom house Church meeting from Like Christ Ministry’s Lake House in OK and the Holy Spirit showed up and showed off.
Our Gang the glory of God
Diamond Muganzo Kenya my people
Pentecost Sunday 2021 with Larry Craddick
Act 4
5 The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.
6 Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John,
Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest.
7 They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,
“Rulers and elders of our people,
9 are we being questioned today
because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man?
Do you want to know how he was healed?
10 Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that
he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,
the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.
11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
16 “What should we do with these men?” they asked each other.
“We can’t deny that they have performed a miraculous sign,
and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it
17 But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to
speak to anyone in Jesus’ name again.”
18 So they called the apostles back in and commanded them never again to speak or teach in
the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John replied,
“Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?
20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”
21 The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t
know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God
22 for this miraculous sign—the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years.
27 “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas,
Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against
Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed.
28 But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.
29 And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in
preaching your word.
30 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done
through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After this prayer, the meeting place shook,
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.
Then they preached the word of God with boldness.
2 Corinthians 7: (NIV)
1 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from
everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Getting to Know our God
I. What?
We don’t know God as He wants us to know Him. He is more than what we knew about Him when we first had an encounter with Him. He is more than an encounter; more than an experience; more than an anointing; more than a ministry; more than what we know about Him today. We need to be about Getting to Know our God!
II. Why?
A. Getting is in the present tense, a process of acquiring or achieve that is not completed
B. God wants to reveal Himself to us, becoming more intimate the more we seek Him
C. Job realized this after claiming what he knew about God in his ordeal (Job 42: 5), and Paul, zealous for God and educated about God learned that he did not know God when knocked off his horse (Acts 9: 5)
D. In ministering, do we use testimony of others to demonstrate a character of God or one of our own? In some instances He becomes the Lord, some else’s God, and not our God. Saul, in his prideful disobedience was chasten by God through Samuel. Suddenly, to Saul, God became Samuel’s God rather than Saul’s. (1 Sam 15: 30)
E. Moses spoke to God in burning bush; experienced the power of God; was a vessel of God for deliverance of His people; spoke to God face to face; and yet wanted more of God (Exod 33:18).
F. Should we be any less in our desire to know God
G. Many times God reveals a new identity to us in our times of trials; could we be missing this opportunity.
III. When?
A. God reveals more about Himself to us when He sees we need it
B. Exod 6: 2-3: God was El Shaddai (Almighty God) to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob but YHWH to Moses
C. Acts 9: 4-5: Jesus reveals Himself to Saul as Saul was kicking against will of God
D. Throughout the Bible we can find situations where God’s identity is revealed to man. In our testimonies, does it include times when God was our Jehovah Shalom or Jehovah Rapha or Jehovah Tsedkenu or El Saddai or Elohim?
IV. Who?
GOD will do it.
As an illustration, let us peruse Genesis. Keep in mind that Genesis is a narrative book, with a narrator talking to us, sometimes quoting people and God, and other times relating to us the situations. Moses, to whom God revealed Himself as I AM that I AM and YHWH, is the author, ie narrator, of the first 5 books of our Old Testament. Translators have tried to communicate the God’s name (YHWH or Jehovah), written in capital letters (LORD or GOD) to distinguish this from titles or identity (Adonai – Lord) or (Elohyim – God)
A. Genesis 1: God is Elohyim (which is plural of Elah or El) supporting God as FAther, Son, and Spirit. Here Elohyim is the Always existing God of creation.
B. Genesis 2: As God works to establish man and a relationship with man, He is YHWH God or Jehovah Elohyim
C. Genesis 3: Our LORD God, Jehovah Elohyim, is referred to as only Elohyim by the serpent.
D. Genesis 4: Eve attribute her first child, Cain, as from YHWH; yet, when Seth is born, she calls HIM, only Elohyim. At the end of the chapter, though, man seeks YHWH.
E. Genesis 5 & 6: Enoch and Noah walk with Elohyim
F. Genesis 7: 16: Noah obeyed Elohyim but it was YHWH that closed them up in the ark
G. Genesis 14: 18: Melchezidek exposes God as El Elyon – God most high; the supremecy of our God
H. Genesis 15: 2, 8: Adonai, a title of respect or honor (not unlike our reference to a judge as ‘your honor’) that is used for both man (Sarah used it for Abraham Gen 18: 12) and for God. When used for God, most often in combination with YHWH (Lord GOD – Adonai Jehovah).
I. Genesis 16: 13: Hagar, pregnant with Ishmael, flees the harsh treatment of Sarai. No evidence that she sought or even knew the God of her Master, Abraham. Yet, God comes and speaks to her about her situation. He is El Roi (the God who sees – in our situation or trial when we don’t even seek Him)
J. Genesis 17: 1: God introduces Himself as El Shaddai (see II.B. above) or God Almighty. It is worth noting the Shaddai is of feminine gender referring to the many breasted God, as in the ultimate nurturer who sees and understands need and is also capable of meeting those needs in a timely fashion
K. Genesis 18: 25: Abraham is negotiating for sparing of Lot’s life as God is in route to destroy Sodom and Gomorrha. He recognizes that God has the ultimate decision and refers to God as the Judge (Shaphat
L. Genesis 21: 33: Abraham and Abimelek make peace at Beersheba and Abrahm calls God El Olam (Everlasting God)
M. Genesis 22: 14: God provides the sacrifice to take Isaac’s place on the altar. God is Jehovah Jireh (YHWH provideth)
N. Genesis 31: 13: God informs Jacob that He is the God of the house of God (Bethel) that Jacob named for the presence of the Lord was there.
O. Genesis 49: 24: Jacob is blessing all his children; he comes to Joseph and explains that Joseph will be strong, but the strength will be from the Mighty One (Abir); who is also the shepherd (Ra ah) and the stone or rock (Eben).
V. Where?
A. in your life and in mine
B. through your testimony and through mine
C. In our current situation
D. Andre Crouch wrote song ‘Through it All,’ where through it all, I’ve learned to trust in God, to depend upon the Lord. The third verse is relevant for us today.
I thank God for the mountains; I thank Him for the valleys;
I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.
For if I never had a problem, I’d never know my God could solve them,
I’d never know what faith in God can do.
E. Do not miss what God is revealing about Himself to you today…keep Getting to Know our God
Suffering of Jesus Christ
I. Sometimes we have lost the awe and appreciation of Jesus’ sufferings because we have seen the movies; participated in the pageants and plays; heard the sermons; taught the lessons; and read the scriptures. Further, it is easy, after a long walk with God and involvement in ministry, to seek the new and ignore or forget the basics.
A. Jesus faced Travail in the spirit; Torment in the soul; and Trauma to the flesh
B. Less we let another holy week pass with indifference, I thought it would be good to spend a few moments revisiting Jesus Christ’s Suffering
1. To perhaps renew our appreciation
2. To perhaps cause us to delve into a passage
3. To refresh our memory of the scriptures apart from movies and plays.
II. Let us begin with Isaiah 52: 14; 53: 2-9
A. Visage & form marred more than any man
B. Despised and rejected by man and we did not esteem Him
C. We reckoned Him stricken and afflicted, as if He deserved it
D. Yet, HE has borne our griefs; carried our sorrows; was smitten by God; wounded for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities; chastised for our peace; LORD laid our iniquity upon HIM; was imprisoned and judged to be cut off from the living.
E. These He did without opening His mouth; like a lamb led to slaughter