Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1, 7, 11; 1 Corinthians 14. Today’s problem in the church is not a lack of knowledge about the gifts of the Spirit but the absence of the them. The Holy Spirit distributes to each one as He wills. Just because He used you one way one time, don’t limit Him to only using you in that gift. We should desire to prophesy, because prophecy edifies the whole church. All of the gifts should be done, decently and in order. Prophesying is a commandment (14:1). Your brothers and sisters in the body of Christ are your “safety net” for prophesying. They will help teach and affirm you. Just as hearing and hearing the Word is the only way to get faith, prophesying is the only way to edify the church. We are to covet the best gift, which is the gift that you need at the time. When we gather for a church service, we should come in full, so that God can use us. Churches need an interpreter, who is like a moderator. Learn to allow the Holy Spirit to use you, but be humble enough to understand that He may use someone else instead of you. Desire the prophetic anointing.

Text: John 12:20-21. The Greeks were coming to worship at the feast, but they had to stand outside, so they talked to Philip as a connection saying, “We would see Jesus.” We can ask the Holy Spirit to open your loved ones’ eyes that they may see Jesus (Psalm 119:18). The gospel is hidden to the lost (2 Corinthians 4:3-6). Why can’t people receive the gospel? Satan, the god of this age has blinded their eyes, and the gospel is veiled to them. Satan is the god of this worldly system and of those under his rule. Jesus is the ruler of the earth. There are only two groups: the children of light and the children of darkness. Satan has representatives on earth. Jesus never lacked power over the devil. If He would have wiped out the devil, He would also have wiped out all of Satan’s people. Jesus wants the harvest. Let’s turn on the light. People need to be exposed to the light, so that they can make a choice. Saul saw Jesus, and Jesus told him that he was to be a witness to open they eyes of the lost, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God,that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus (Acts 26:13-18). How can you pray for your unsaved loved ones? Pray that they would see and for God to open their eyes. Pray that the devil wouldn’t blind their eyes. We are witnesses to open the eyes of the lost. Satan tries to make people think that God is against them, or that there is not a God. People are already forgiven (2 Corinthians 5:19), but Satan blinds people so they can’t receive. Why don’t people receive their inheritance (verse 18)? Again, it’s because the devil has blinded their eyes. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son (Colossians 1:9-13). You have a purpose in life. God can restore you to His purposes in an instant. He redeems the time.

Texts: James 1:21; Romans 12:1-2. God wants His Word engrafted in us, so that we become one with the Word for the saving of our soul. We present ourselves to God. We are not to be conformed to the world, but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. How does this happen? The world forms a framework of how we look at things, but we can change that by becoming Word-minded. You can change your thinking by thinking, responding, seeing, and reacting as God thinks, responds, sees, and reacts by desiring and meditating on the Word (Psalm 1:1-3). If you want change, get into things that will change you. Everyone meditates, either positively or negatively (worrying). How do you see things? What’s your mindset toward reading and memorizing the Bible? You can create your own desires by renewing your mind. How can you create a desire or control your desires? One way you can control your desire is by perceptions (Proverbs 18:1). Before you can desire something, you must know about it. Your perception could be negative or positive. Run to the Bible and find out what will set you free. Secondly, pay attention to your desire and study the positive. Instead of studying about cancer, study the Scriptures about healing. Thirdly, conception takes place when you change your thinking and do not even remember the way you used to think. For example, instead of thinking poverty thoughts, you think according to prosperity. You must delight in the Word (Psalm 1:2).

Text: John 7:14-17. God sent Jesus, and Jesus sent you. God wants you to live out your purpose. The issue is man’s willingness to obey God’s will. You will not know God’s will until you are willing to obey, so you must consecrate yourself to do His will first, and then He will reveal His will for you. God waits for your consecration first, and you must obey first. Once you are willing, He will give you His ability. Saul thought he was serving God, but Satan had deceived him by leading him in the opposite direction of God’s will. (Caution: Satan tries to do that to us, too.) When Saul met Jesus in Acts 9:3-5, he recognized Jesus as his Lord, his King, his Ruler. We are God’s slaves, and He is our Lord. God wants people’s eyes to be open to Him and to their purpose in Him (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). You are saved when you confess Jesus is Lord in your life and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Jesus is alive. Are you willing to obey Him, or are you afraid to step into His plan for you? The issue is that He is Lord. Lordship is salvation.

To be wise, obey the Word of God (Matthew 7:24-28). Storms and problems come to everyone, but you can measure your life by your victories. Prepare before the storms by acting on the Word. Search the Scriptures and seek honor from God and not from man (John 5:39-40, 44-47). Put Jesus first in your life. Miracles don’t cause people to repent and have faith (Luke 16:19-31), but hearing the Word does. You need to hear and obey the Word (Romans 10:16-17). Build faith on the priority of the Word. Our experiences should lead people to the Word to get faith. Meditate on the Word day and night (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2-3). Martha was rebellious because she wouldn’t put a priority on the Word. In Matthew 8:6-8 the centurion showed faith when he said, “Speak the Word only.” Jesus said in Mark 5:35-36 to only believe. Don’t add to the Word. Don’t do things because the devil manipulates you based on fear or convinces you that your prayers didn’t work. Guard your heart (Proverbs 4:20-23). Your faith will overcome the world. Praying in unbelief is worse than profanity. Speak the Word only.

Text: Philippians 4:6-8. How can the peace of God keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus? God is interested in you, spirit, soul, and body. Your physical body affects your mind and that affects your spirit. Your thought-life has a bearing on your spiritual life. The peace of God comes after you think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. You can filter the thoughts that you are meditating on. What is the priority in your thoughts? Is it going to benefit you? Apply the filter of Philippians 4:6-8 to what you are thinking. What is the pattern in your thought-life? If that pattern is negative, cut it out! Write down what you think about before you go to bed, and then write down what you think about when you wake up. Those are the thoughts you are meditating on. You can wake up with thoughts of peace, joy, holiness, victory, and prosperity. How? Your mouth controls what you think. Think on what is true, honest… In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 we are told to cast down imaginations and to bring into captivity every thought. Your thinking is not your identity; it’s an activity. Your filter is: #1 What is the priority in my thought-life? What is important for me to be thinking on now? The Word should be your importance. What does it say about my thoughts? #2 What is my focus? You can’t stop thinking about something by not thinking about it. You need to replace it with another positive thought- the Word of God. Focus with your mouth by speaking it aloud. #3 See what your patterns of thinking are. How do I interpret what I see? Tear down imaginations and strongholds in your life and think the Word and victory.

Texts: Psalm 107:20; John 6:63; Hebrews 4:12, 1, 2. The Spirit gives life, and the words that God speaks to us are life. His Word is living, active, powerful, and sharp. The Word of God gets into the heart of man and divides spirit and soul. You can find out who you are based on the Word of God. If you try to figure out your past, you will not live up to the glory of your future. Speaking the Word to people can change their lives. (Listen as Pastor Dale shares various testimonies of this truth.) You do not want to miss one promise God has for you. The Word has to be mixed with faith. God is sovereign (all-powerful). You can be bold if you know you are right (Philippians 1:20-24), and if you’re wrong, be bold to change. Choose life. Mix faith with what you hear. Choose to live. Choose to prosper. Choose to have a good marriage. Choose not to fear. Mark 4:14-15 tells us that the Word is seed, and the devil comes to steal the Word right after you hear and receive it. Why? He does not want you to get truth, because the Word is your answer. Endure and do not let go of your faith. The Gospel should benefit you.

Text: Romans 12:1, 2.One time when Pastor Dale was in Russia, he prayed for a woman whose leg was gangrenous. He didn’t know it at the time, but she was going to have it amputated the next day. When he laid hands on her, he didn’t feel anything, but the next day her leg was as normal as the other one. Last night there weren’t many people here, but God healed people. God set us up with intent. Sometimes we need to be away from unbelief. Some things you need to flee, such as sexual sin, and some things you need to resist. Sometimes Jesus cleared a room from unbelief. There is something about corporate faith. You need to realize you are a believer. Present yourself before God. Get rid of the spectator mentality because of condemnation. You are a Christian, a devil-defying participator. We do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Condemnation needs to be dealt with in the minds of people, because it makes people feel that God is against them. If you have a mindset of condemnation, you can’t hear what God is saying. While he was in Russia, a pastor stole his church (in PA) from him. He was convicted by the Spirit’s telling him that no one can steal what you give. Teri confirmed what the Lord told Pastor Dale. When they met with the other pastor, that man became angrier and angrier, and he didn’t even hear Pastor Dale say that he was giving him the church. It wasn’t until his wife told him to shut up and that he was giving the church to him that his countenance changed. Condemnation puts you in a negative view, and you’ll judge everyone else negatively. Second Corinthians 5:19-21 says that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors for Christ and should be reconciled to God. For He made Jesus to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. God is not imputing our trespasses against us. If you have a negative view, you won’t hear the Word. His grace is sufficient for you. Men died for that grace. A negative attitude toward yourself brings defeat. Get into the Spirit. We do not war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,  casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Don’t try to war by using your flesh. The first stronghold you need to pull down is condemnation. How do you cast down strongholds? You replace the stronghold with a Word thought and then erect the foundations of righteousness.

Hebrews 11:1-6. When you value spiritual things and the Word of God, your priorities will line up. Faith becomes easier when you value the things of God. Faith and understanding are two separate things. Faith is a spiritual process, not an intellectual one like understanding. Believing (faith) is in your heart and probably won’t make sense. The visible has its origins in the invisible. Truth always trumps facts, and what is spiritual overrides the natural. It is impossible to please God without faith, and we must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We believe in His presence even more than His existence. In Mark 5:25-27 the woman with the issue of blood risked her life to go to Jesus for healing, based on what she heard about Him. That’s where her faith came from, and hearing the Word is where our faith comes from, too. It comes from communing with the Living Word. What she heard brought her to action and changed her. IF FAITH DOESN’T BRING YOU TO ACTION, IT IS NOT FAITH AT ALL. The woman had no other options. WHEN YOU PUT VALUE IN THE RIGHT PLACE, IT WILL CHANGE YOUR PRIORITIES, AND THEY WILL LINE UP. Proverbs 2:1-5 tells us to seek and cry out for God. The awe-inspiring presence of God will give you the fear of the Lord. What is the fear of the Lord? It is putting the right value in the things of God above the things of life. Faith is not repeating words but is sitting with Jesus. Don’t let the issue of faith condemn you. Recognize faith in your life. There’s no difference in healing warts and cancer, except our fear. God is not afraid of cancer or any disease. Use the faith that you already have to come to Him, speak to the disease, or to respond to an altar call. FAITH WILL DRAW YOU TO GOD. God does not teach us with bad things. The woman with the issue of blood again risked her life when she fell at Jesus’ feet, telling Him the truth. You can stake your life on the Word of God.

(This was the first Sunday morning service at the Landisville Church.) Texts: 1 John 3:1-4; 4:1-4; 2 Corinthians 4:16). God loves us so much He calls us the children of God. People in the world can’t understand spiritual things until they are born-again. As we move farther away from the world and closer to a supernatural, spiritual life, supernatural things should become the norm. Revelation is a good thing: every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord. When you see Jesus, He changes you. Learn to love people, especially other believers. You can know the Spirit of God, because every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. He has come and does come in human flesh- that means in your flesh. False religions can’t believe that Jesus can come into our human flesh. The inward man is renewed daily. The Greater One lives in you. You are full of God. We don’t look at things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen. Speak the Word boldly.

Text: Hebrews 11:1, 6. You can apply your faith to anything you do not see but which is promised in the Word. We should be like Jesus. That means that we should please God with our faith. In Mark 9:23 Jesus told the father of the child who had seizures: “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” In Matthew 9:29 Jesus told the blind men, “According to your faith let it be to you.” Where you are in life is a measure of your faith. We must speak the Word (Romans 10:8-17) and have it in our hearts. You were saved by speaking the Word after hearing the Word. You cannot make someone else receive salvation. You have to receive salvation (John 1:12). Your faith cannot rise above your knowledge of the Word. God loves everyone equally. Jesus healed all who came to Him. The faith that you used to get saved is the same faith that you can use to be healed. Faith does not come by miracles or praying or reading. It comes by hearing the Word of God. Have you run out of faith? You have to stir up your salvation. You cannot live off of thirty-year old steak or a thirty-year old experience. The Word in Romans 10:17 is “Rhema”, the spoken Word. You do not have a faith problem, but you have a “Word” problem. Get into the Word. The carnal mind is enmity with God, so if you are fighting a habit or a lust, double-up on your Word intake. Experiences of the past are not faith. Faith is now. Do not think that you would believe if you saw a miracle or an angel, because faith does not come that way. They cannot save people or give people faith.

Texts: Luke 5:15-26; Hebrews 11:1-3. The people in Luke’s Scripture came to hear first and then to be healed. The power of God was there to heal, but the one who was healed was the one who showed his faith when his friends lowered him through a roof to reach Jesus. You can see faith, and it works. Jesus told the blind men, “According to your faith be it unto you.” Faith puts the priority on the living Word of God. Faith brings God into the now. Faith is the substance (reality) of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. You need hope for your healing or for your prosperity first, but do not confuse hope for faith. Make sure that you are not parroting what someone else has said when you are “confessing” or “professing” your faith. If you are wavering or in doubt, do not even think you will receive anything from the LORD (James 1:3-6). If you are in hope and not in faith, or your faith is wavering, get more Word in you (Romans 10:17). Faith is a measure of God’s faithfulness. We can be confident in Him and believe what we have heard God say. We can believe God’s report (Isaiah 53:1). Locate your faith. Am I in hope or in faith? Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14). Hold fast to your profession of faith (Hebrews 10:23).