You Have Purpose

By Tony V. Hammack

Abundant Life Today Media
	Podcast: Play in New Window | Download To watch the video, click here.

These notes are best when used in conjunction with the audio or video.
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

The Vision of Jubilee Family Church is to
*Win
*Consolidate
*Disciple
*Send

But this vision can further be simplified to
*Win Souls and Make Disciples

How much time did Jesus spend on soul winning in the modern sense of the word?  Culturally, Jesus had a tremendous advantage over the modern day discipler.  It was the highest honor, to be called, in the Jewish culture, by a Rabbi.

Very little of Jesus ministry was spent trying to reason with people to become saved.  I actually don’t know of one single instance.

John 6:44
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

The signs and wonders that were manifesting in Jesus' ministry and the ministry of the early church as recorded in scripture did an excellent job of drawing people to hear the teaching from the ministry.

I would argue that there is not a program man can devise that could rival what God has planned for his Church.  Rather, the majority of Jesus' time and focus was on raising up his disciples.

Another cultural hurdle we have to deal with is the concept of the Hebrew educational model in the middle of a Greek imprinted culture. 

I would challenge the idea that we’re here today to only learn something.  I believe we’re here today to become something.  Yes, this in some ways involves learning, but it’s much more than that.  We are here to be renewed and invigorated by a Holy Spirit that loves and challenges; guides and empowers.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

I believe the gospel transcends culture.  Should we change our methods away from what Jesus did in order to accommodate cultural changes?  Some things may not be sacred and we can adjust.   However, some things may be sacred and we mustn't change them.  I believe having real relationships with real people is a sacred component to fulfilling the great commission.  To me the great commission should not be changed or altered.  It must be obeyed.

Matthew 28-18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We have delegated authority to accomplish the mission.  The mission is to make disciples.

My challenge to you today is, who are you teaching to obey everything the Lord Jesus has taught you?  Can you envision a church where everyone in the room has a new believer or two they are helping raise up to become a fruit bearing follow of the Lord?

I believe this is what Jesus meant when he told us that we were to be fruitful.

John 15:5
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Your Purpose
Why didn’t Jesus “beam you up” after you came to saving faith in the Lord Jesus?  I believe he left you here to bear fruit in the form of reaching people and helping with their spiritual maturity until they are ready to do for another what you have done for them.

I believe not only is this the reason the Church exists it’s also the reason you exist.  This is your purpose. Now it can be articulated in different ways but I believe it’s central and of utmost importance to spend time developing other people for the Lord.

What are the only things that last for all eternity?  It’s the souls of men and women.  When everything passes away we’ll have the Word of God and the souls of people.  Relationships with one another should be the highest priority in our lives; on a very similar level with our own relationship with God.

Mark 12:28-31
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[f] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”

I think the best way we can love one another is to lead one another to a closer walk with the Lord Jesus.

A Word of Caution
I admonish you to pursue relationships with a few people that you can pour your life into.  Pray first about who this is and remember…

Matthew 7:6
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs.  If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Let’s make 2012 the year when our mission statement comes off the wall, enters our hearts and becomes a reality.  It doesn’t do any good on the wall if it doesn’t really happen in our lives.

Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) and Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) If you can't be with us in person please visit via internet video on Jubilee T.V.
If you live in Batesville please tune into KBAP 88.1 FM to listen to contemporary worship music.
Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501

(870) 793-9124





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The Jesus Vaccine

By Tony V. Hammack

Abundant Life Today Media
	Podcast: Play in New Window | Download To watch the video, click here.

 
Introduction:
In praying and preparing for today’s message I want to consider a few different possibilities before I get into the direction I want to take things.   I have to take a principled stand at times that I realize may not make me very popular with some people.   As a man of God, I choose to obey God rather than the pressure of some people.

The first direction is the direction people have commented on to me. Being injected with a fresh dose of Jesus causing us know him, feel him, and obey him.   Kind of like a shot of life.

The second direction I’d like to take today’s message is to say that I believe in some senses of the word a little Jesus may be better than no Jesus at all but I don’t believe this is the best option, hence the message today.   It’s not an either or proposition.   You don’t have to settle for a powerless Jesus.

So this takes us to today’s message the way I originally intended to share it with you.

Thesis: Jesus, when misrepresented, will cause a deception which predisposes the person to rejection of the real Jesus.

Body:
A vaccination is a really amazing concept that has almost eradicated several very damaging diseases from many parts of the world.   Not everyone is “pro vaccination” and I’d encourage you to do some research for yourself regarding this subject.

A Vaccination consists of a dead virus or a dead part of a virus that’s been blended up with some protein and sometimes mercury.   This makes up the vaccination.   What it does is it causes your body to react to the virus like it’s alive.   This reaction causes antibodies to rise up and elevate preventing the real infection from ever afflicting the person in the future.

Sometimes people say, “Once you get chicken pox, you’ll never get it again.”   This is because the chicken pox virus activates the antibodies in the person causing a resistance to the viral attack again.

Antibodies in your system will prevent you from getting the same cold 2x’s but the cold virus mutates rapidly enough to fool your immune system frequently.

I wanted to lay a little groundwork about virus' and now talk about what I think could be one of the biggest enemies to revival in America today.  I believe it's a Church that thinks it’s in revival or it doesn’t need revival.   I’ve often wondered why some camps of Christianity call a series of meetings that last 3 or 4 days a revival?

When I think of revival I think of sweeping spiritual and social changes, many come to know the Lord, drug dealers repent, bars close, sin is repented of, people are called into the ministry, the saints of God reconcile hurts, etc.






Also, when I think of revival I don’t think I can schedule it in.   I think I can pray for it to happen, believe and declare it but God ultimately initiates revival through his people.

Matthew 23:15
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

I’m sure these were very troubling words to the Pharisees.   My point is that not everyone that thinks they are doing God’s work is actually doing it.

The biggest enemy of Jesus’s earthly ministry was not the prostitutes, tax collectors, Romans or sinners.   It was the religious establishment that wanted to maintain their status quo.   These human systems with their origins in the law were the biggest enemy of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that one of the ideologies of the last days is there will be a people that have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof. (2 Timothy 3:5)

I believe we’ve been in the last days since the ascension of Jesus and I also believe that today in our time there are people that have a form of Godliness but deny the power.

I operate from a position that the Church of Jesus Christ in the United States of America is not O.K.   I believe it needs to be awakened to become the powerful, holy and influential Bride she once was!

How do you convince people that the Jesus that lives in them is powerless to do anything in the world?  Teach them that miracles have ceased!

Power manifestations are dependent on faith and it seems to be difficult for most to walk in a faith that produces manifestations of God so a new “normal” is created and everyone goes along with it. This new “normal” is very similar to the world system so it comes naturally for people. It can be justified because it can be packaged in a very appealing message.

2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Numbers seem to be another justification for presenting a powerless gospel.   Salvation is segmented away from the other kingdom expressions. People in these systems will often say, “Salvation is the greatest miracle!”  They are right and it would be even better if they had some of those “lesser” miracles operating around them but they don’t.

Mark 2:9
Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?

I want to make the point that some have an image of the Jesus that lives in them as powerless.   The Jesus that lives in Heaven can do anything but the Jesus that lives in the Church is very weak.  

I find this to be an error of the worst kind.   This image of a powerless Jesus living in his Church will not only make the person faithless in many areas but it will also prevent the real Jesus from finding an expression through that believer.

Another pet peave of mine is when the saints of God call themselves sinners.   This plays nicely with the whole weak Jesus living in his church concept.

John 9:16
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” but others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?”  So they were divided.

Embracing a lifestyle of sin is not the way a Christian should see themselves.   They should see themselves as saved, righteous and holy prepared for every good work.

My main point is that when people have been injected with a Jesus that is powerless or dead they will repel the real Jesus!

What I mean by that is this, this message will really tick certain people off.   Instead of them saying, “Gee, Hammack is right!  We should believe that Jesus lives in us and wants to do great things through us.”, they’ll think, “I wish that guy would shut his mouth.”

Jesus was not a “nice” guy. Many in the Church today are “nicer” than Jesus was.   He was very polarizing and I believe if Jesus lives in us we also will be polarizing.

Luke 6:26
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.


Religion is the biggest enemy of the living Jesus.   If the devil can get you into a system that isn’t relationally centered on the Jesus Christ of the Bible you will repel the powerful Jesus.   You’ll think he’s something foreign and resist what he wants to do in you and through you. You may even draw conclusions that things described in the Bible as being a manifestation of the Holy Spirit are actually from Satan himself.  Ridiculous, but many very intelligent, trained and well intentioned Christian leaders proclaim this error.  God help them. 

While in Africa I noticed there were many miracles that happened and I concluded that “Jesus was Alive” in his Church.   Yes, he’s a alive in the heavens but he should also be alive in the people of God.

Conclusion:
Have you been vaccinated against the living Jesus?   If you think you have, please spend time studying the New Testament.   No matter what anyone has told you, the Word of God is the final rule for faith and practice.

Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) and Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) If you can't be with us in person please visit via internet video on Jubilee T.V.

If you live in Batesville please tune into KBAP 88.1 FM to listen to contemporary worship music.
Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501

(870) 793-9124

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In Christ, Christ In

By Tony V. Hammack

Abundant Life Today Media
	Podcast: Play in New Window | Download To watch the video, click here.

These notes are best when used in conjunction with the audio or video.

John 14:20
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

I’ve heard myself tell several people this week what matters is that you know who Christ is, in you, and who you are in Christ. This is in relationship to walking in the authority of Jesus.
This relates specifically to deliverance and healing. When Jesus ministered in either one of these areas he used authority.

Many don’t seem to care if they don’t minister in these ways. If that’s you, this message today will be irrelevant. However, if you’d like to minster in a way beyond anything humanly duplicatable this message is for you!
Let’s bring focus to some areas today
1. If you don’t have a clear picture of Jesus…
2. If you don’t have a clear picture of Jesus in you…
3. If you don’t have a clear picture of yourself dying to self and losing yourself in Christ …

…you won’t express the Kingdom of God through your life in authority.
A Clear picture of Jesus
Jesus Christ is the perfect representation of God, doing everything with perfect obedience. Jesus Christ took authority over unclean spirits and diseases. These were considered components of the kingdom of darkness and needed to be dispossessed as evidence that the kingdom of God had come. Jesus knew where he stood in relationship to death, sickness and demons. Because he understood his position he dealt with these issues accordingly.

There is nothing the enemy would like more than to facilitate a mis-representation of the Lord Jesus in the minds of people. We must allow the Scriptures alone to define for us who Jesus was and is.

Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Hebrews 4:15
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

Mark 1:27
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”

Luke 11:20
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

John 10:30
I and my Father are one.
Jesus in You
1 John 4:4
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Colossians 1:26,27
the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

John 15:4
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.


The things I’m sharing with you today are in the Bible but they have come to the forefront in my mind because of the Holy Spirit! Therefore not everyone will have these subjects on the forefront of their minds. However the significance of this subject can not be dismissed, minimized or ignored in favor of some other methodologies to reach a lost, hurting and dying world.
Deep Things of God
1 Corinthians 2:9-11
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”[b]— the things God has prepared for those who love him—10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

John 14:26
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
The Spirit guides us into all the Truth
John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
We must lose ourselves in Christ

John 3:30
He must become greater; I must become less.”

Mark 8:34
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 6:11
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

When we see clearly the supremacy of Christ it becomes much easier to loose ourselves, our dignity, our selfishness. We need to clearly see Christ for who he is, realizing he lives in us creating for us a way to minister in healing and deliverance using his deputized authority. When we do this the Kingdom of God is established in the Earth!


Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) and Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) If you can't be with us in person please visit via internet video on Jubilee T.V.
If you live in Batesville please tune into KBAP 88.1 FM to listen to contemporary worship music.

Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501

(870) 793-9124

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What God Can't Do

A Consideration of God’s Sovereignty

By Tony V. Hammack

Abundant Life Today Media
	Podcast: Play in New Window | Download To watch the video, click here.

These notes are best when used in conjunction with the audio or video.

Things Contradictory to the Nature of God;
*for God to lie
*to sin
*to die


God cannot lie
Numbers 23:19
“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

1 Samuel 15:29
“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”

Malachi 3:6
“For I am the Lord, I do not change.”

Romans 3:4
“Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.”

Titus 1:2
“In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.”

Hebrews 6:18
“It is impossible for God to lie.”

James 1:17-18
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

God cannot sin
James 1:12-13
that God is not tempted by sin, nor does God use sin to tempt anyone else.

Psalm 92:15
“To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

God’s Sovereignty
God is an omnipotent being who can do anything that is logically possible and is consistent with his other attributes.

God prioritizes His word above His name
Psalm 138:2 (NKJV)
2 I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

In the Bible the name of a person is inclusive of their character so what God is saying here is that His activity in the Earth is bound by His character and even more than His character, He’s bound by His own word. (Because He can’t lie!)

God has exalted His word above His character. In this next example, we’ll see how God’s character includes justice and a need to judge sin. However, His word has limited His own character in the area of judgment.

Genesis 9:15-17
15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

So now a question can be posed. Can God destroy all life on the world again with a flood?

Yes and No. Yes he can, but he never will so in some ways the answer is no.

Well, if it were possible for God to lie, he could destroy the world again with a flood. So technically if God could lie He’s definitely got the power to unleash a flood again, however, He’s chosen not, and said so, therefore in some senses of the word God cannot do this now.

We’ve learned so far that God can’t lie, He can’t change His nature, He can’t die and He can’t flood the world again destroying all life.

God is bound to His character and His word. If He says it will be a certain way; it’s that way.

Some say God is in control of everything that goes on in the world. Others say that Satan is the God of this world. I would like to make the argument that mankind is in delegated control of the Earth. The battle for control of the Earth is being fought in the hearts of men.

If you’re going to say God is in control of everything that goes on, you’re saying God allows, by not intervening, some very ungodly things to go on.

• Starvation of Children
• Murder
• Rape
• Injustice

If Satan is in control how can there be any good in the world?

2 Cor. 4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Amos 3:7
Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
Why?

Does God need or desire to flow through mankind? Can it happen if a prophet doesn’t declare it?

Spiritual Authority
It would seem that God prefers to operate through human beings on the Earth (save Judgment) when He intervenes in the affairs of mankind.

Ephesians 1:18-23
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

When the eyes of our hearts are enlightened we

• Know the hope to which He has called us
• Know the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
• Walk in the revelation of his incomparably great resurrection power and dominion establishing power for us who believe.

I believe there are many in the Body of Christ who do not have their eyes open to the glorious inheritance they have in the saints!

• The hope we’ve been called to
• Hope of the resurrection of the dead
• Hope of a victorious life
• Glorious Inheritance
  

Matthew 25:34
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

Hebrews 9:15
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Don’t sell your inheritance with immorality or Godlessness

Hebrews 12:16
See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.

Walking in Divine Authority

At first glance Ephesians 1:18-23 may seem like it’s all about the Lord Jesus and His positional authority. However, the way the passage is laid out, it ties the body to the head or the Church (you and I) to Jesus. So because Jesus has this authority, so does the believer. You have to believe!

Ephesians 2:6
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Conclusion
Jesus Christ, the second Adam, has overcome the enemy and thus re-established authority for the Church to exercise over the remaining dominions of darkness on the Earth.

Let’s pray, declare, decree and work so the Kingdom of God will be expressed on Earth as it is in Heaven!

Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) and Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) If you can't be with us in person please visit via internet video on Jubilee T.V.
If you live in Batesville please tune into KBAP 88.1 FM to listen to contemporary worship music.

Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501

(870) 793-9124

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Good Friday

By Tony V. Hammack

What Christians celebrate as Good Friday is the celebration of the most important event in human history. Jesus Christ, died on the cross for the sins of mankind. Not only did he make payment for sin, redeeming all humanity who would come to him in faith, but he defeated the spiritual forces of wickedness ranged against mankind. Check out Colossians 2:15 from the Amplified Bible... [God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].

So you're telling me that God "disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us?"  Yes that's exactly what the Word of God is saying.  So why do Christian people say, "The Devil has been attacking me?"  Great question... I believe they say that because they don't really know what Christ has done for them.  Because they don't know, they are walking in spiritual ignorance to the victory Christ has won!  Unfortunately for these believers the victory will not be realized as long as they continue to submit to the defeated devil/principalities/powers ranged against us.  When the believer in Christ rises up, equipped with the revelation that at the Cross, Jesus defeated all the spiritual enemies of the believer, he/she will walk in total victory!  Enjoy the victory Jesus provided for you at the cross on this Good Friday, giving all the glory to Christ for the victory he has won.  Please make an effort to worship Christ this Resurrection Sunday.

Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:15 AM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) and Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM (Central Standard Time U.S.A.) If you can't be with us in person please visit via internet video on Jubilee T.V.
If you live in Batesville please tune into KBAP 88.1 FM to listen to contemporary worship music.
Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501

(870) 793-9124

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