The Same God 

 Hebrews 13:8

⁸ Jesus Christ the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever.

Matthew 21:19-21

¹⁹ And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away.

²⁰ And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!

²¹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

Doubt Brings Forth Death.

Doubt will stop the miracles of God.

Faith Brings forth Life.

Faith brings forth life and Miracles in our lives.

Mark 11:20

And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.

You see God created them to produce fruit, and here is one thing you may not know about the fig tree, it is one of the few trees that was created to produce fruit even before it bares leaves on the tree. So in this instance we note that Jesus saw the fig tree from afar off, he could see the tree had produced leaves so His expectation of that tree was to now find fruit but in this case, the fig tree had produced it's indicating that it was a fruit bearing tree but when Jesus approached He saw no fruit.

This Fig tree was created to produce.

To bring forth fruit.

To be what God created it to be.

Therefore, because it was not producing Jesus removed the life support system.

What happened here?

1) The fig tree was not doing what it was created to do.  It gave all indication that it was bearing fruit but in reality it was useless and bare.

This is where the church is today, we represent ourselves as the glorious church of Jesus Christ, but yet in so many ways we are just like this fig tree, we are not producing any of the fruit that Jesus created and birthed through the disciples and the early church.

That same church that was birthed on the day of Pentecost,  as they waited in the upper room, as the fire and power of the Holy Ghost filled every one, and from that day forward they were bold, faithfilled, miracle working, kingdom preaching representatives of Jesus Christ who became faithful even unto death to take this gospel around the world.

My friend God has not changed!!!  The same way He birthed the church that day, is the same church He is expecting to come back for.

Now, let's look at what happens to the fig tree after Jesus cursed it.

2) Death Begins:

When Jesus cursed the tree,  and immediatley after He spoke it, the process of death began as we see, when the very next day as Jesus and the disciples were returning, they saw the fig tree completely dead, withered from the root.

 This brings us to the next point:

 Will Jesus find faith still in His church?

Will He find the same church created on the day of pentecost to be the same church upon His return?

The answer is found in the 7 letters to the 7 church's in the book of Revelation.   

This is not our message today but if you study those letters you will see in representation every single downfall that is trending in today's modern day church's.

But my friends this does not have to be so, and as we move forward in this message I hope to stir up our faith, I pray for God to restore our hunger for Him and all that He has for us, my prayer is that we see our bareness and repent and seek God to restore us, to help us produce the fruit of the early church and become all He has called us to be.

When Jesus spoke of finding faith on earth at the time of His return, it is clear that it is this faith, the one delivered by the Apostles, that He is looking for, not any substitute which may use His name, but deny His message and most importantly deny His power.

Today we find this faith under attack from all sides as the prophecies in the book of Revelations said it

would be.



 Luke 18:7-8

⁷ And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?⁸ I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

I’m not talking about salvation faith. I’m talking about the faith the Disciples walked in.

Romans 10:17

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 12:3

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

2 Corinthians 5:7

(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Faith mentioned in the bible.

·         Old Testament (56)

·         New Testament (280)

Isaiah 53:5

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

So much took place on the day of Jesus’s suffering, So much took place when Jesus hung on the cross. So much took place during his resurrection.

Faith is the agent, or the catalyst, used to activate the miracles of God.

Hebrews 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Acts 1:1

Luke’s Introduction:

1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

² Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

Jesus Ascends to Heaven

³ To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

⁴ And, being assembled with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

⁵ For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

⁶ When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

⁷ And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

⁸ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

⁹ And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

¹⁰ And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

¹¹ Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Now the church as it stands today has lost it’s ability to believe God for the miraculous, but this did not happen over night, NO!!! the enemy has lulled us asleep in all of our comforts, and while we have slept He has little by little drained the anointing and the power of the Holy Ghost, because we have become so self centered and self seeking in that we have made it more about us than God.   But the eyes of the Lord have not been closed and today He is looking for a remnant of hungry, faithful, believers that He wants to raise up in this hour.

A remnant is a piece of something.  Not the whole thing.

NOUN

1.      a small remaining quantity of something.

synonyms:

remains · remainder · leftovers · leavings · residue · rest · stub · butt · end · tail end 

People hate the word Remnant.

You want to to know why?

Do you?

Because if you do, I may be going to hurt some feelings here but I’m going to swim against the current anyway.

The church today does not want to sacrifice. 

Sacrifice their time, their talent, nothing.

We are caught up in our own selfish desires, our own ways.

We have become comfortable and blessed and think we have need of nothing.

Some are willing to give God a Sunday Morning and maybe a Wednesday night, if possible, but we do not want to give God anything that is going to cost us something.... 

We are living in the days of Noah.

Matthew 24:37

³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

³⁸ For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

³⁹ And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Friend it's going to cost us something!!! 

If we desire to be all God has called us to be it is going to cost us!!!

It will cost us Time in prayer, it will cost us time in His word,

it will cost us dedication and faithfulness to the things of God.

We must go hard after after the things of God as we let the things of this world pass us by.....

We are to be the remnant of Jesus Christ.

We are the product of Jesus Christ.

We have got to get out of our own head, away from our own feelings, away from our own ways of thinking and get back to believing God and trusting God.

We have convinced ourselves that the things Jesus did while he was here was only for that time, and the things the disciples did after the baptism of the holy Ghost was only for that time.

God is looking for a Remnant of people that really want a last day revival.

Not talk about it, but really seeking God for it.

I know many peoples spirit want it but their flesh is denying it and unfortunately our spirit is weak and winning over to our flesh because we are feeding our flesh more than we are feeding our spirit.

We are living in the days of Noah and the church of today has become the church of the Laodicea.

Revelation 3:17

¹⁴ And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

¹⁵ I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

¹⁶ So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

¹⁷ Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knows not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

Can I remind you of Hebrews 13: 8.

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday, today and Forever, My God does not change. If we can only get out of the way and let God be God.

Mark 16:14-20

¹⁴ Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

¹⁵ And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

¹⁶ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

¹⁷ And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.

¹⁸ They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

¹⁹ So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

²⁰ And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Acts 2:3

¹And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:42

⁴² And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

⁴³ And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

⁴⁴ And all that believed were together and had all things common.

⁴⁵ And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

⁴⁶ And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

⁴⁷ Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

After the day of Pentecost, Or the filling of the Holy Ghost

Peter preached to 3000 and they got saved.

The Lame Man was Healed.

The Bible says the Apostles did many miracles, and many were saved and added to the church daily.

Jesus said greater things Shall you do, if He said it then that is exactly what He is expecting to birth in these last days.

When Jesus died for us, he entrusted everything he did to the church, we are that church!!!  He is calling us to be that same church today, we can no longer turn a deaf ear to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

I pray He does not find us like that fig tree, falling short of all He has called us to be.  

The Disciples were a remnant!!!

There will be a remnant of the faithful, annointed, powerful church!!!

The first will be last and the last shall be first!!! 

It will be a repreat of the same church, with the same miraculous power and annointing of the first church.

My question to you and me and all who will read and understand this message,

WILL IT BE YOU ???