Rivers Of Living Waters

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is called Rivers Of Living Water. Let’s turn to John 7:37-39, On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So let’s turn to the scriptures that Jesus was referring to: 

Isa 12:1-6,  And in that day you will say: O Lord, I will praise You; though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation. And in that day you will say: Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst! Also Isa 44:3&4, For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses. 

Let’s turn to John 4:5-14,  So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give Me a drink. For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. The woman said to Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Verses 21-26,  Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.  The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. In John chapter 6 Jesus said that He is the Bread of God that came down from Heaven and gave life unto the world. Unless we eat of His flesh and drink of His Blood we have no life in us. He said whoever eats my flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. When we hear of Jesus’ sacrifice of His flesh for our sins; His great suffering on the Cross for us, and His Blood that was shed to wash us and cleanse us from all iniquity, and we receive His words, (they are Spirit and they are life), and repent of our sins and believe Him, coming to Him as unto a living Stone, despised and rejected of men, but chosen of God and precious, we also will be built up in Him and established in Him. The Apostle Peter said, Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are baptized into His death, burial, and resurrection; crucified with Him; a new creature in Him; old things are passed away; behold all things are made new in Him. Then He will baptize us in the Holy Spirit. When God sent Peter to Cornelius’ house, and he began to preach the Gospel to them, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who were gathered together, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. They believed the Words of life which Peter was speaking and they were saved, and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. Jesus baptized them in the Holy Spirit, and rivers of living water came into their spirits and flowed out of their mouths. Let’s turn there, Acts 10:1-48; I love this story, There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. This is very important that we understand this: he feared God, and he was devout, and he gave to the Jewish people, and he prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius! And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, lord? So he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, (notice he had a devout soldier working for him), from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean. And a voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has cleansed you must not call common.  This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate. And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. While Peter thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius, and said, Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come? And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you. Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day Peter went away with them, and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, Stand up; I myself am also a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. Then he said to them, You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me? So Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you. So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God. Then Peter opened his mouth and said: In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.   Do you fear Him?   Do you work righteousness?   The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— that Word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the Word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. 

Jesus said to the woman at the well, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give Me to drink, you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water. Are you thirsty? Have you believed in Jesus Christ, and yet you are still thirsty? Perhaps you were told that you received the Holy Spirit when you were baptized in water, as many have been taught. Be honest with yourself. Do you have rivers of living water flowing in your innermost being and out of your mouth? Is there life in your words? Is the Holy Spirit leading you every day and manifesting through you to minister life to others? It is the Spirit that gives life. Jesus said, the Words that I speak, they are Spirit and they are life; the flesh profits nothing. It is through the Holy Spirit that you will overcome your flesh. He will lead you every day, if you will yield to Him, and you will overcome. It starts with being filled with the Spirit every day. The Scripture says, Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus said, God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. So it is the Word of God, revealed to your heart by the Holy Spirit, coming forth out of your mouth by the Spirit, that will minister life to you and to others, and your words will be acceptable to God. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. The Holy Spirit will lead you in prayer to build yourself up on your most holy faith praying in tongues. He will intercede in you and through you for yourself and for others. And Jesus will lead you in warfare by the Spirit against the powers of darkness that have you and your loved one bound up. Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice and they follow Me. We hear Him by the Holy Spirit, and He leads us by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I will not leave you alone. When I go to the Father I will send you another comforter: the Spirit of Truth, and He will be with you always. He said, I will come to you. He said, Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.

 My Father’s House

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. God bless every one of you that is listening; every one that is reading; the Lord bless you! Today’s program is called, My Father’s House. Let’s turn to John 2:13-25, Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. 

And He said to those who sold doves, Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise! Then His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your House has eaten Me up. Jesus cleansed the Temple. In Luke 19:46 Jesus said, It is written, My House is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Jesus is zealous for His House, the Father’s House; He said, Make not my Father’s House a house of merchandise. Look at Jesus’ ministry: Did He sell books? Did He sell anything? Did He ever ask for money, or tell anyone how to give to His ministry? That’s all you have to do: just look at Jesus’ ministry! The Scripture says that some of the women who followed Him gave into His ministry. It says that Judas Iscariot, a thief, kept the money bag. Do you think that Jesus was at all concerned about money? He said, Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Jesus had twelve disciples, plus a large group of people that followed Him; did they lack anything? Let’s turn to Mat 15:29-39, Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way. Then His disciples said to Him, Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude? Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you have? And they said, Seven, and a few little fish. So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala. Chapter 16, verses 5-12, Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. So we see here that all the people, when they needed food, God provided it through Him by a great miracle, not just once, but twice. 

Let’s turn to Mat 6:19-34, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I’m reminded of when Jesus said, Give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven. 

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. In the King James Version it says, Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Those that followed Jesus lacked nothing. If He has called you, and you are following Him, you too will lack nothing, if you will keep His Words and truly follow Him to do the will of the Father. But if you have personal ambition and pride working in you, you will be tempted to get involved in things that He is not leading you into, where you will incur financial burdens that he never intended for you to bear. That’s how many ministers of God end up with buildings and programs, and all kinds of merchandise for sale; they have all kinds of ways to raise money, but Jesus is not there. Their zeal is not for their Father’s House, but rather for their own house. That’s the problem. God doesn’t need your buildings, your programs, your books or your CDs.  Jesus stood on a hill one day, and power was coming out of Him and healing all the thousands of people that were around Him. 

He had just spent the whole night before in prayer to His Father, and He had just chosen His twelve disciples. If we are called to minister, what do we have to minister but what Jesus gives us to minister as we follow Him. He said, Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. He sends you by His Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel: God’s sacrifice of His Son on the Cross for our sins, and it is the Spirit that gives life. He gives you His Words to speak by His Spirit, and they are life to those who can receive them. 

What do we have that we have not received? And why do we boast as though we had not received them? If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man ministers, let him do it as of the ability that God gives, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. I’m going to say that again: unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. If you are building the house, your labor is in vain. He will build His House. He is building a Holy House: a habitation of God through the Spirit: the Father’s House.  Eph 2:19-22, Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. John 14:1-6, Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Jesus is the only way to the Father. 

The Father’s House is not a house of merchandise. It is a House of Prayer for all Nations. Wicked men have made it a den of thieves. They steal from God’s people who come there to pray and worship Him. Jesus said, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing. The sheep’s clothing is the Word of God. They speak the Word of God; they appear to be ministers of God, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Let’s turn to 2 Pet 2:1-3 ,  But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 

And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. Verses 18-22, For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. If you are one of these wicked men, who have brought people into bondage in order to get their money, for you to live in luxury, while they labor and struggle to provide it for you, these Words are written to you: For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to his own vomit, and, a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire. Are we seeking to honor the Father? Or are we seeking our own honor? God has promised that those that honor Him, He will honor. Those that seek their own honor will be ashamed. Make not My Father’s House a house of merchandise. 

Interpretation of a message in tongues:

I am God Almighty. Those of you who are listening to My servant Rob this day, Give heed to these Words: Make not My House a house of merchandise! I Am the God of all flesh; My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all Nations, but you have made it a den of thieves!, you wicked men that do not fear Me, but seek your own honor and your own pleasure, and seek to have riches at the expense of My Gospel; at the expense of My Word being preached in Spirit and in truth; of my worship, My pure worship, coming forth through My saints; you wicked men I will judge, and you will perish if you do not repent! I call to you this day, repent!; turn from your wicked ways!; stop selling your merchandise in My House, says the Lord!

 Our Fellowship

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. This is Rob Haymes. Today’s program is called Our Fellowship. Let’s turn to 1 John 1:1-10, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. Psalm 32:1-6,  Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. People like to quote those first two verses, and they tend to leave out the last part of verse 2: and in whose spirit there is no deceit, and they say, Our sins are covered; our sins are forgiven; God does not impute our sins to us. They say that. And they fail to continue to read the following verses: verse 3, When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him. So what is going on in the Church nowadays? What is the problem in the Church nowadays? Many people can recognize that the Church is no longer, for the most part, not every church, that the church is no longer what it used to be. I can remember myself going to church, when I first got saved in the 1970’s, you could go to church and the Holy Spirit would be present; Jesus would be there. Now many people are lonely and depressed and they go to the internet to find something to comfort them; to find something to entertain them, and many times they end up defiled. Then when they come together they oppress one another. Let’s turn to Isa 3:1-12, For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. and I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 

And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable. This is going on right now. It’s going on in the world, of course, but it’s also going on in the Church of Jesus Christ. Let’s go down to verse 9, The show of their countenance witnesses against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 

So this is happening right now: instead of going to the Word of God; instead of delighting in the Word of God, many Christians are totally involved with the internet every day. They go to many sights on the internet that are defiling. It may start out looking at  videos about puppies and kittens, animals and birds, interesting people and situations, and beautiful places; things that do not appear evil, but they end up in more and more evil; more and more defiled, and they come together with this worldliness and uncleanness in their hearts. Jesus said, It’s not that which goes in the mouth that defiles a man, but it’s that which comes out of the mouth that defiles a man. For what comes out of his mouth is what's in his heart. So as we expose ourselves to worldly things and things that are unclean, those things are in our hearts, and when we come together and start talking, those things come out of our mouth. So if, instead, we spend time in the Word of God, with the Holy Spirit instructing us and teaching us and revealing His Word to us; we are built up in the Word of God, and when we come together we build one another up. Conversely, when we spend time involved with evil things, and we come together, we tear one another down.

Do we really want to be a part of the first resurrection? Let’s look at what the Apostle Paul said, in Phil 3:7-11, But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Remember what we read earlier in 1 John 1:5-9, This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So our true fellowship is with the Father and with His Son in the light. And when we do that; when we come together in the light, the Blood of Jesus will cleanse us. The light will expose anything that needs to be cleansed, and as we humble ourselves and confess our sins, the Blood of Jesus will cleanse us, and we have true fellowship. The only way we have true fellowship is with the Father and with His Son and with one another, because we are the Body of Christ; we are the Temple of the Living God! And when we come together in Him we have true fellowship. 

We can’t be fellowshipping in Him if we are continuing in darkness. So you can come together and you can smile and you can act happy and you can preach a message and you can play music, and all of these things, but even your worship is defiled. If you have that defilement in you; if you have unconfessed sin and it’s on you, and you worship God, your worship is not acceptable to Him. First you must go to your brother or sister that you sinned against, and confess your sin to them and to God. Then He will forgive you and cleanse you, and you can go on with a clear conscience and worship Him in Spirit and in truth, and you can have true fellowship. Like the Apostle Paul, if we want to be a part of that first resurrection, when Jesus Christ returns for His people and the dead in Christ shall rise, and along with those that are alive, we shall all be changed and conformed to His image, we must continue in the faith and not be moved away from the hope of the Gospel, and we must continue to purify ourselves, even as He is pure. 1 John 3:1-3, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. How do we purify ourselves? The Apostle Peter said, Purify your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit; continuing in His Word. If we continue in His Word with the Holy Spirit, every day, when we read the Bible; just sitting down and humbling ourselves before God; if the Holy Spirit brings up a sin, confessing it, and humbling ourselves before God and asking Him to teach us by His Spirit, He will reveal His Word to us, and He will also lead us to do it, to do what He is revealing to us; to walk it out in our lives. That’s continuing in His Word, and Jesus said if we do that we will be His disciples indeed, and we will know the truth and the truth will make us free. Amen!

What do we want? Will we pay the price? The Scripture says, He that seeks after righteousness shall be filled. Let’s turn to 1 Pet 2:1-5, Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The Scripture says, Come out from among them and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will be a Father unto you. Instead of going to the internet, go to the Scriptures! Humble yourself before God and repent, and ask Him to bless you in His Word. His Word is a wonderful treasure, as He reveals it to you by His Spirit! Put down your flesh through the Spirit and the Word of God, and build up your spirit. Purify your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit. In John 6 Jesus said, Does this offend you? What and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life. As the Holy Spirit reveals His Word unto you, it is life to you!

Contrariwise, as you yield to the lusts of your flesh, and expose yourself to evil things, those things minister death to you. If you are having trouble turning away from the evil things, you can come before the Lord, to His throne of grace and ask Him for grace to help you in your time of need. If you are sincere He will answer. He will check you out to see how sincere you really are. But if you will continue to love Him, and hang on to Him, and say to Him like Jacob did, I won’t let you go until you answer me, until you bless me, He loves that!, He will respond. Keep praying! Don’t faint! God can do anything, if we will believe Him! Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Interpretation of a message in tongues:

I am God Almighty! Listen to my servant Rob this day. You who are listening, hearken to him. For I have put my Words in his mouth this day to warn you! My people that call upon the name of my Son, turn back to Me! Turn back to Me! You who have turned aside to follow evil; you who are indulging yourselves in evil things, Repent! Turn back to Me and be cleansed by the Blood of My Son! Be washed! Be purged! Be purified! For I am coming soon! I am sending My Son! He is coming in the clouds, with great power, with great glory, and only those who have purified themselves will be accepted of Him. Turn back to Me with all your heart and I will receive you to myself says the Lord.

 The Will Of The Father

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is called The Will Of The Father. Let’s turn to Mat 7:21-27, Jesus said, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!  Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. Let’s go to John 8:25-36, Then they said to Him, Who are You? And Jesus said to them, Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him. They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. As He spoke these Words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, You will be made free? Jesus answered them, Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Let’s turn to John 14:15-27, If you love Me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My Words; and the Word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 15:4-14, Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. Jesus said, I only do what I see My Father doing, and I only say what I hear My Father saying. And the Apostle John said, If any man says that he abides in Jesus, let him walk as He walked.

Rom 6:1-18, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 

Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this,  do we know this?,  that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Rom 8:1-8,  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.   Verses 12-17, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 1 Cor 6:9-11, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Verse 19&20, Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. We are bought with a price; we are bought; we’ve been purchased from among the dead, those who were dead in trespasses and sins, we were dead in our sins, and we’ve been bought with the precious Blood of the Lamb of God. Therefore we must glorify Him in our body! Thank you Lord.

2 Tim 3:1-5, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! The love of self, the love of money, the love of pleasure, if this is our heart, then it is impossible to do the will of the Father. So, because we don’t want God to send us to hell, we find a form of religious practice that convinces us that we are OK. We see in Mat 7, that even people who have done many powerful works can practice iniquity. They have not fully surrendered to Jesus and been truly crucified with Him. They still hang on to certain pleasures and evil things that they love, and they find a false prophet who will tell them they are OK. Even if we are this way, there is hope! If we will humble ourselves before God and before His Word, and come to Him in true repentance, telling Him the truth that He already knows about ourselves, and ask Him to deliver us from all the evil in our lives; ask Him to change us and correct us, He will do it if we are sincere. 

But, if in our heart we want to hang on to any idol or unclean thing, it will not happen. 

God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows in his life, that will he also reap. We must seek Him with all our heart. If we truly love God, then there is nothing in our life that we want to keep if it comes between us and Him. As in almost every message that the Lord has given me, we see here that the love of God is the key. If we love Him we will keep His Words, and we love Him because He first loved us, and sent His beloved Son to be a living sacrifice for our sins on the Cross at Calvary. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, Jesus said, and you are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. It is the ones who love the Father that will find a way to do His will. They will learn to hate every evil way in their life and will turn away from it through repentance. In order for you to overcome the world, the flesh, and the Devil, you need everything that the Father has given you through the sacrifice of His Son. You need His righteousness, His grace, His love, His power, His holiness, His Word and His Spirit, His provision, His fellowship, and His truth and light. They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. They are crucified with Christ, nevertheless they live, yet not them, but Christ lives in them, and the life that they live they live by faith in the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them. Does Christ really live in you? Or are you walking in your flesh, fulfilling the desires of your flesh and your mind? Are you denying yourself every day, as Jesus said, taking up your cross and following Him as He leads you by His Holy Spirit? Are you doing your own will, or are you doing the will of the Father? If you are willing you can do the will of the Father. Turn now and acknowledge your rebellion and self-will to Him; ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit and to give you grace to yield to His Spirit every day as He leads you to follow Jesus, walk in His words, and do the will of the Father. Come and fall upon this Stone that the builders rejected, and be broken and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. 

 Love Intercedes

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is called Love Intercedes. Let’s turn to Gen 18:1-5, This is talking about Abraham, Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant. They said, Do as you have said.  Let’s turn to verses 16-33, Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken of him. And the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know. Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? So the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. Then Abraham answered and said, Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five? So He said, If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it. And he spoke to Him yet again and said, Suppose there should be forty found there?  So He said, I will not do it for the sake of forty. Then he said, Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there? So He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. And he said, Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there? So He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty. Then he said, Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there? And He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of ten. So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place. Gen 19:15&16, When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. Verses 23-29, The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. So we see here how Abraham interceded for Lot, and how God remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah when He destroyed those cities. 

Now let’s turn to Exodus 32, and we’ll see how Moses interceded for Israel. Verses 1-14, Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt! So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the Lord said to Moses, Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt! And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the Earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever. 

So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain. Let’s go to verses 30-35, Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin. So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. Chapter 33:1-6, Then the Lord said to Moses, Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To your descendants I will give it. 

And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people. And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you. So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. Verses 12-23, Then Moses said to the Lord, See, You say to me, Bring up this people. But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight. Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people. 

And He said, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Then he said to Him, If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. So the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name. And he said, Please, show me Your glory. Then He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But He said, You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live. And the Lord said, Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen. Chapter 34, verses 5-9, Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance. 

Also, in the Book of Daniel, chapter 9, verses 1-19, Daniel interceded for Israel and for Jerusalem: In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion of faces, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 

And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 

Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly! O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name. And the Lord heard his prayer, and sent the angel Gabriel to show him and give him understanding of the things yet to come, and of His great salvation through the sacrifice of His beloved Son Jesus. In Isaiah 53, Isaiah prophesied of Him:  Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. 

Abraham loved God. Everywhere he went he built altars and worshiped God. Abraham loved God, and God loved him, and He blessed him. Abraham loved his nephew Lot, and he made intercession for him before the Lord. And God remembered Abraham, when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain, and He brought Lot out and spared his life, and his daughters’ lives. Moses loved God and God loved him, and he found grace in His sight. God communed with Moses face to face. Moses loved God, and he loved Israel, and he interceded boldly before God, and saved Israel from being destroyed by God’s wrath because of their great sins against Him. Daniel loved God, and God loved him, and he interceded for Jerusalem, and for Israel His people. God responded by revealing to Daniel His plan of salvation through His beloved Son Jesus, Israel’s Messiah. The Father loves us, and He sent His Son Jesus, 2000 years ago to live as a man in this evil world, and be tempted in every way, yet without sin, and to intercede for all of us by offering Himself as the spotless Lamb of God on the Cross at Calvary for the atonement for all our sins. Jesus loves the Father and the Father loves Him, and He loved us, and He gave Himself for us to save us from our sins and from the wrath of God to come, and to bring us into eternal life with Him and the Father. When Jesus was on the Cross, being greatly tormented and in great agony and pain, He prayed and He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 

Now, what about us? Will we love the Father? Will we love His Son? Jesus said, Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Will we lay down our lives for Him who laid down His life for us? Will we give ourselves to love one another, and to intercede for others, as the Lord leads us? Jesus said, If a man loves Me he will keep My Words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. If we are loved by the Father we can come boldly to His throne of grace, loving Him and fearing Him, to intercede for those who are in any trouble, and He will respond according to His will. If we love them we will intercede for them, and God will hear our prayer and respond. Don’t faint! Keep praying and interceding, even when nothing seems to be happening for a long time; keep believing and praying and God will answer; His way, in His time, and He will be glorified. Always remember to give Him glory and thanksgiving for every prayer that He answers. God bless you and strengthen you in all your prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks!

 The Days Of Noah

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus.

Today we’re going to talk about The Days Of Noah and the days of Lot. Let’s turn to Luke 17:20-37. So Jesus was speaking: Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, See here! or See there! For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you. Then He said to the disciples, The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, Look here! or Look there! Do not go after them or follow them. For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left. And they answered and said to Him, Where, Lord? So He said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Let’s turn to Genesis chapter 6 and read about the days of Noah. Verses 5-13, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the Earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the Earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The Earth also was corrupt before God, and the Earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the Earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the Earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the Earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the Earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. Chapter 7, verse 1, Then the Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.

Gen 18:20-33, When God visited Abraham in the plains of Mamre: And the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know. Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 

Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? So the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. Verse 31, And he said, Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there? So He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty. Then he said, Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there? And He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.  

So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place. Chapter 19, verses 1-17, Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will spend the night in the open square. But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally. This is talking about homosexual fornication. So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! This is talking about the whole city! The whole city came out against them, both old and young. Verse 8, See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back! Then they said, This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them. So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. Verse 15-17, When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed. Verse 23-29, The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. How important it is that a person intercedes for someone; so important! Abraham interceded for Lot, and God remembered Abraham when He brought Lot out of Sodom. So it was Abraham’s intercession that saved Lot’s life. So how important it is that we pray for others in this wicked generation!

2Pe 2:1-22, But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 

By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked, for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 

Verse 19, While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to his own vomit, and, a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire. 

And so we are in the days of Noah, and likewise, in the days of Lot. Our nation has become as Sodom and Gomorrah. The things that are going on in this nation are a great vexation to the soul of every righteous person, even as in the days of Lot; for that righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds: even the willful slaughtering of innocent babies in the womb, the perverse preaching and teaching of young children in the schools, teaching homosexuality and transgenderism, and utter perversion and confusion to little children, rampant, aggressive homosexuality, and corruption on every level. And so are we on the verge of the revealing of the Antichrist and the great tribulation.  As it is written in Dan 8:23,  And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences will stand up. The abomination of desolation is upon us. The great tribulation will soon come to pass, and after three and one half years, Jesus will be returning in the clouds of Heaven. Mat 24:29-31,  Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now is the time to seek the Lord, while He may be found. If we have this hope in us, of Jesus’ returning, and the first resurrection of the saints of God in Christ, now is the time to be purifying ourselves, even as He is pure; to separate ourselves from all this gross evil in the Earth. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the Temple of God with idols? For you are the Temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. How easy it is, in this hour, with cell phones and computers, and all kinds of media and technology, to touch what is unclean; to look upon that which is evil. The scripture says, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. Therefore having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Holiness, without which no man will see the Lord.