PASTOR DARRYL BAKER

Psalms 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path..

Years ago, I had the opportunity to go down into a mine shaft that was quite deep. We took some very bright lights to find our way down into the inner part of this mine. We reached a point where there was no longer any light coming from the entrance of the shaft. We turned off all our lights. Surrounded by pitch darkness, you could not even see your hand before your face. You become completely disoriented and lose all sense of direction. I felt completely lost and had no idea which direction to go. Then we turned on the lights and headed back to the entrance. It was a great feeling to have that light to lead us, and to eventually see light coming from the entrance of that mine.

God’s Word has so many benefits to our life, and here in the above verse we find more truth of how it can help us in this life we are living. God’s Word is a lamp to walk by, and it will illuminate the path we are to focus on ahead of us. Like the lights we were carrying in that mine shaft, they made it possible for us to navigate each step we were taking going through that darkness. God’s Word will help you each and every day, giving you the daily steps to take as you are walking through this dark world.

Not only will it help you with every step you are to take, but it will also illuminate to you the very future of what God has for you ahead as you learn of all He has already planned for your life. This is another reason why living in God’s Word is so important living in this world filled with darkness. With God’s Word you will not become disoriented, nor be overtaken by the darkness. Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. Live in God’s Word and you can walk in the light and walk free from darkness.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Hebrews 12:24
You have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant between God and humanity, and to His sprinkled blood, which speaks a greater word than the blood of Abel crying out from the earth.

The blood of Abel cries out for vengeance, but the blood of Jesus speaks victory to you and me. Six times Jesus shed blood from the time He was in the garden of Gethsemane to the cross, and each time He was obtaining victory for us. These are the six times His blood was shed.

1. (Luke 22:44) – He sweat drops of blood giving us victory over the human will.
2. (John 19:1) – He was scourged giving us victory for our bodily healing.
3. (John 19:2) – A crown of thorns was forced upon His head giving us victory over every wrong thought.
4. (John 19:18) – Crucified, nails in His hands giving us victory over all sinful acts.
5. Nails in His feet giving us victory over all the powers of darkness, trampling them under our feet.
6. (John 19:34) – They pierced His side near His heart and blood flowed out giving us victory over the old human nature, providing us with a new heart (spirit man).

Revelation 12:11 – And they overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony, and they did not love their
lives to the death.

To walk in the victory His shed blood has provided for us, we must understand what we have been given each time His blood was shed. Then we must testify, declaring that we already have what His blood provided for faith calls those things that be not as though they were. As we do, we walk in what His blood is declaring we have been given as a child of God.

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Isaiah 9:6
A child will be born for us. A son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. He will be named: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The birth of our Savior provided for the rebirth of the human spirit, and in doing so made the way for man to be reunited with God. In providing a way for us to come back into relationship with the Father, He has also reunited us with the very nature of our God. Isaiah describes this in the above verse, for who He is, we now have access to. Once we have been born again that door is open, we can now step into relationship with Him, and through that relationship we can receive all He has to offer us.

He is the Wonderful Counselor. One translation says He is an Extraordinary Strategist. There is nothing you will face in this life that God cannot give you the answer to. James tells us if you lack true understanding of anything, ask of God in faith and you will receive. He is also the Mighty God. The word refers to a warrior, a champion. God has never been defeated. When you walk by faith with your God neither will you.

He is the Everlasting Father. He wants to Father us, helping us in every area of our life. Romans teaches us for those who are led by God, they will be Fathered by Him. He is also the Prince of Peace. The word for peace means to be complete. It includes health, prosperity, safety, and harmony with God. He is the One who completes us. So, receive all He is through relationship with Him, for our King has come!

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Matthew 2:11-12
11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

HONORING OUR KING – PART 3
As we have seen in the first two parts of honoring our King, the wise men represent our lives when we come to Jesus. They first worshiped Him, which is when we bow down and surrender our lives to Jesus receiving salvation. But then they gave Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which we to are to give Him, and when we do like the wise men we will not “go back they way we came”, for we will live a completely changed life.

The gold we have seen represented our faith in His Word. When we choose His will over ours, we give Him our gold by putting our trust in Him. The frankincense we give is our fellowship through prayer, as we learned that this was used in the altar of incense, and the same time the priest attended that altar the people were praying. The last element of myrrh they gave having known the prophecies about Jesus they acknowledged Him dying for us, for myrrh was used to preserve the body in burial. How then do we offer our myrrh to Him.

Romans 12:1-2 tells us we are to present our bodies unto God, and we are not to be conformed to the world but transformed by the renewing of our minds. Doing so we become spirit ruled and not flesh ruled, giving Jesus our myrrh by acknowledging the old nature of sin is dead. Two things are needed to do this. First, we must see our body not as an enemy, but as a vessel God can now use for His purpose. Second, we need to renew our minds to see that we are now in union with Jesus, one spirit with Him. Doing these two things is how we present our myrrh to Him, and when we present our faith, fellowship, and follow in union with Him, our lives will never be the same.

Want to hear the entire teaching. Just go to: https://cffchurch.com/media/series/3vs2888/honoring-our-king

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Matthew 2:11-12
11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

HONORING OUR KING – PART 2
As we began to see yesterday, the wise men coming to Jesus represent us coming to Him receiving salvation, and then offering our gold, frankincense, and myrrh which will change the way we live, no longer returning to our old fleshly ruled lifestyle. The gold we offer Jesus as we discovered yesterday is when we walk by faith, putting our trust in Jesus as our King, and therefore doing what He has told us as revealed in Luke 6:46-48. As Jesus said if we acknowledge Him as Lord (our King of kings), we will do what He says, and that is faith. So every time we choose His will over our own, we offer Him our gold.

Next the wise men gave Jesus frankincense. This was used as a part of the incense that was burned in the temple where only the priest could go. That altar of incense was attended to by the priest daily. This gift recognized Jesus’ priestly ministry as the One who would provide us access to God. Scripture reveals that altar of incense represented the prayers of God’s people (Psalm 141:1-2). When the priest was attending to the altar in the temple the people were outside praying unto God.

Jesus our High Priest has now given us direct access to the Father as we can now come boldly to His throne everyday (Hebrews 4:14-16). Our frankincense is our fellowship with God through prayer. God desires our fellowship. Prayer is simply talking to God, which includes us listening to Him. We offer our frankincense to Him through fellowshipping with God through prayer. This like our gold given to Him (our faith), will change the way we live. Take time daily to offer our King your frankincense by daily fellowshipping with Him.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas

Matthew 2:11-12
11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

HONORING OUR KING – PART 1
A powerful truth about the wise men coming to Jesus is seen in why they had come and what happened afterward. It is a picture of our salvation. The first thing they did when coming to Jesus was to worship Him. The word worship means to bow the knee in a sign of surrender. This represents when we come to Jesus and surrender our lives to Him receiving the new life He offers to us.

After that they presented to Him their gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We too can present what these represent in our lives to Jesus. Then they returned “another” way. As we present these three things to Jesus, we don’t go back to our old way of living, but can now as scripture teaches walk in newness of life. So let’s look at these three areas of our life together. The first gift they offered was the gold. In the days of Jesus, gold was always given to a king, one acknowledge as having authority.

We give our gold to Jesus acknowledging He is now our King, the One with supreme authority in our lives by living a life of faith, which is simply trusting Him. 1 Peter 1:7 tells us genuine faith is more precious than gold. If we recognize Jesus as supreme in authority over our life, we simply do what He says showing we trust Him, and that is faith. Jesus said in Luke 6:46-48 if we call Him Lord we hear what He says and then do it. One who does builds their life on a rock, and when storms come you won’t be shaken for you walk by faith. Offer Him your gold and you can begin to see your life forever changed.

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Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

The word for law here means a governing principle or power. Before Christ we were under the power of sin and death (separated from the God-kind of life). But in Christ Jesus we now have the governing power of the Spirit of life, which is translated as a life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, and blessed. The old nature of sin leading to death has been removed. As you receive a new spirit within you, your spirit now has residing in it the Spirit of God Himself. His Spirit is where this “Zoe” life comes from.

To walk in this new Zoe life within us we must as Paul states a few verses after this, get our mind focused on the spirit man, and not on the flesh. Simply put, we must renew our mind to see ourselves through our new spirit, in union with Christ. You renew your mind to this union by looking at the in Him, in Christ, in Whom scriptures in the New Testament that reveal this new you. If we will start getting this new view on life from the spirit man united with Christ, and we follow the leading of the inward man, we will experience the freedom we have been given from the rule of sin and death.

When we follow the leading of our spirit, we are being led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit man. We need to listen to what our spirit is leading us to do. Our conscience is the voice of our new spirit man. When you have an inward peace within you are in agreement with God, but when you have an agitation within your spirit, you are not following after the Holy Spirit. Follow this inward witness and start seeing yourself for who you really are, a spirit who is one with Christ. As you do you will experience the governing power of the Spirit of life over you, and walk free from the power of sin and death.

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Romans 3:27
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.

Faith is a spiritual law. The reference in the above verse to the word “law” means that which is established. For example, there is the law of lift, which was established by God and has always been in existence here on earth. Man did not invent it, so he cannot take credit for the law of lift. God created this law. Once man began to understand this law and how it works, he was able to make use of this law to our advantage.

To try and explain this law in simple terms, when an “airfoil” (wing of a plane) goes through the “air” it redirects and “forces” the air to follow a path that goes downward. This change in direction causes a downward force applied to the air. This results in the air causing an upward force on the airfoil (wing), and that creates lift. It works whenever these elements are applied. So it is with faith. Faith is a spiritual law and therefore it always works. It is not something we take credit for because we did not create it, God did. Our part, like the law of lift, is to figure out what it takes to see this law work.

Faith has three elements that when combined works, just like the air, airfoil, and the force created causes lift. Faith believes in the heart, not the head, faith speaks in line with that belief, and then faith acts upon that belief. When applied faith always works, for it is a spiritual law. We never boast about faith, because we did not create the law of faith, God did. Our part is to believe in the heart, which comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God; to speak in line with that belief, and then to act upon what we are fully convinced of in our heart, turning our faith loose. When we do, just like the law of lift, we will see faith work.

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Romans 8:1
THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

Once you are born again there is no condemnation for the believer who does not denounce Jesus Christ. The word condemnation is defined as a damnatory sentence or judgement of guilt. The reason we are free from condemnation is because the old sinful man within has been done away with and we are made new. Jesus on the cross not only bore our sin, but He also bore the punishment our sin deserved.

This is why in Isaiah’s prophecy about Jesus he said that Jesus was stricken and smitten of God. Jesus, after His death on the cross, went into hell itself paying the full price for our sin, and the judgement that is to come for the sin of man. So, the damnation (separation from God) that man deserved has been taken away for those who receive Christ as their Savior. When we sin as a believer we will feel convicted for what we have done so we know to turn from sin, but condemnation is the enemy trying to convince you to pull away from God.

Satan does this by getting us to focus on seeing ourselves through the old fleshly man on the outside so we will feel condemned. But if we see what God sees, our new spirit man on the inside, and we choose to not live according to the flesh but live in accordance with this new nature within us, we will not feel condemned for we will see our new nature. Become spirit conscious and spirit led, governed by your new nature, and you will not fall prey to feeling condemned.

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John 14:13-14
13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

In the verse right before this Jesus had declared that those who believe in Him could do what He Himself had done. In these above two verses many think this is referring to making a request to God, but in fact that is not what these verses actually say. The word “ask” here in the original Greek language means to make a demand. In John 16:23-24 Jesus teaches us about asking the Father in prayer for answers we need. Here in John 14, He is revealing how we can do what Jesus did.

We are not making a demand of Jesus nor the Father for anything, as these scriptures do not say anything about directing this demand to them. When you look at Jesus’ example of what He did, He never prayed to the Father when dealing with the works of satan. Jesus simply used His authority and demanded change. He demanded sickness and disease to go. He demanded demons to leave. When it comes to dealing with the works of satan you don’t pray to the Father, you use your God-given authority and demand it to go.

We do this by using the name of Jesus. Notice Jesus said whatever you ask (demand) in my name, I will do it. When you use the name of Jesus and demand the works of our enemy to go, it’s the same as if Jesus is right there Himself, and therefore it will be done. This is because of our union with Him. We are one spirit with the Lord. What God has already done for us through Christ we don’t ask Him to do, we go and enforce His victory by demanding the works of satan to go in Jesus name, because we are one with Him.

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Christian Faith Fellowship – Ponder Texas