GIG249 The Ministry of Bethesda
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: How do we bring the healing that we need and that the world today needs so desperately? The example of healing at Bethesda is a lesson for all of us to apply. When Christ asks us, “Do you wish to be healed?” Our answer needs to be an emphatic, “Yes!” And not, “We are waiting for someone to carry us.” Christ is the source of our healing. He is always willing. And we pick up our own bed and walk in what He has provided. Show Notes: During the first church service of Bethesda Ministries and the ordination of Silas as pastor, a...
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GIG248 Remembering our Dear Brother, Pope Francis
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: On the death of Pope Francis, we must do more than reflect on his legacy. We must be in intercession for the selection of the new Pope because this will impact how the entire Body of Christ moves forward. Let us pray by the Spirit to create the Pope who will not only continue what Pope Francis started, but will break new ground in our oneness, our functioning by the Spirit, and our connection with the Jewish people. Show Notes: As the Catholic Church remembers Pope Francis, we also remember our connection with him and with Catholics...
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GIG247 Christ Given His Kingdom, Daniel 7:14
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: After a vision of men turning away from evil because of the force of the Kingdom of God in the spirit realm, Gary laid out a burden for greater effectiveness in our prayers to see real change happen in the earth. Our meditation should be something that connects with the Kingdom of God that we have already received and then manifests the power of God in the earth from within us. Show Notes: Daniel saw the Son of Man come up to God from where He was given “dominion, glory, and a kingdom.” He saw this before Christ ascended to the...
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GIG246 This Is the Day
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: The book of Zechariah records the specific day on which Zechariah’s prophecy was voiced. This emphasizes the significance of this prophecy and how much we should be expecting God to fulfill His Word in our day. We look eagerly for the fulfillment of these promises of God’s blessings on Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. This is the day they come to pass. Show Notes: The prophecy of Zechariah is one of the greatest messianic prophecies that we have. And in Zechariah 1:7, we are given the exact day when that prophecy came. The significance...
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GIG245 I Stand at the Door and Knock
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: The Lord begged the church in Laodicea to open the door to Him, so He could dine with them. This need to dine with God does not make sense to our Christian thinking. But it makes total sense in the Hebraic context of making a covenant over a meal. God is knocking on the door of the Church in this day. And regardless of how far removed we are from Him, if we open the door, He will make a covenant with us to bring us into everything He has promised. Show Notes: The Laodicean church was a lost church, having fallen away from God. Yet...
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GIG244 The Difficulties of Deliverance
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: At the Passover God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt to bring them into the land He had promised their fathers. But their focus was on the difficulties that this deliverance meant to the life they had adapted to. Moving from our present age into God’s Kingdom can also feel like a disruption to the life we are comfortable with in this world. Our focus must be on His Kingdom and not on the difficulties of deliverance. Show Notes: Passover celebrates the deliverance of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. When they first heard that the Lord had come...
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GIG243 Christian Persecution
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: Christianity is suffering tribulation today even if we as individuals feel unaffected by it. We need to be one with our fellow Christians who are suffering and be praying for them. Let us not be fearful of what satan might do to us because Christ defeated him at the cross. Even if we must face death ourselves, we overcome satan by simply exercising Christ’s victory. Show Notes: The Lord said to the church in Smyrna, “I know your tribulation and your poverty.” Just as God knew then what the Christians in Smyrna were suffering, He is aware of what Christians...
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GIG242 Religion or Relationship?
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: The religion of their day prevented many from receiving Christ when He appeared in the flesh. Religion is no different in our day. Religion tends to establish orthodox interpretations about God rather than lead us into a relationship with God. However, the promise is that we will all know the Lord. And we need to honestly deal with that which prevents us from knowing Him, even if it is our own religious thinking. Show Notes: It is important to understand the degree to which our lack of awareness is based on our religious upbringing. Religious orthodoxy encourages...
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GIG241 Will You Be Aware?
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Web Description: The Scriptures warn us that just as we are unaware of a thief at night, we could be unaware of the Lord’s appearing. Perhaps the greatest problem we face is not the circumstances in the world but our own unawareness of God. It is imperative that we seek the Lord for a greater awareness and understanding of what He is saying and doing today. Show Notes: A characteristic of the end-time is the unawareness on people. We see this in the flood of anti-Semitism that is moving through the world today and even sweeping through many churches. What enables the anti-Semitism...
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GIG240 Purim—How God Works Deliverance
Growing In God with Gary Hargrave
Growing In God Podcast Web Description: In the story of Esther, the king was not personally involved in delivering the Jews from the destruction imposed by Haman. However, his signet ring in the hand of Mordecai gave Mordecai all the king’s authority and power to deliver the Jews as if he were the king himself. Likewise through the name of Yeshua (Jesus), we have been given the signet ring of God Himself. Let us accept who we are as His instruments and use His authority and power to bring Christ’s deliverance to the earth. Show Notes: In the story of Esther, King Ahasuerus gave...
info_outlineGrowing In God Podcast
Web Description: The Lord begged the church in Laodicea to open the door to Him, so He could dine with them. This need to dine with God does not make sense to our Christian thinking. But it makes total sense in the Hebraic context of making a covenant over a meal. God is knocking on the door of the Church in this day. And regardless of how far removed we are from Him, if we open the door, He will make a covenant with us to bring us into everything He has promised.
Show Notes: The Laodicean church was a lost church, having fallen away from God. Yet Laodicea received one of the greatest opportunities offered to any church mentioned in Revelation. No matter what their violations were or how far they had fallen, Christ was knocking at their door asking to come in. Like Laodicea our nation has moved far away from God. But the opportunity remains the same. Christ is standing at the door knocking because He wants to be let back into our lives and our society. No matter how great the violations have been, He wants to meet with us again.
He wants us to come in and dine with Him. This is what happens when we open the door to the Lord. He sits down with us, and we have a meal together. Why is that important? It was during meals that covenants and agreements were made. For the covenant at Sinai, God instructed Moses to bring the elders of Israel up the mountain where they had a meal together with the Lord. Christ declared a new covenant in His blood at a Passover meal with His disciples.
Along with God coming back into our lives, He wants to make a new agreement, in other words, a new covenant with us. Even though we have strayed far away from Him like the church in Laodicea, God wants to make a new agreement with us to walk with Him. As Christians we have failed God just as Israel failed Him at Sinai. But God already knows we are going to fail. The point is that He is always there knocking on the door of our hearts, and we can let Him in. We can let Him make a new covenant with each of us to write His Word on our hearts and lead us into a greater oneness with Him.
Key Verses:
• Revelation 3:20. “If anyone … opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him.”
• 1 Corinthians 11:23–26. “He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood.’”
• Exodus 24:3–11. “They saw God, and they ate and drank.”
• Jeremiah 31:31–34. “I will make a new covenant.”
• Romans 8:3. “What the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did.”
Quotes:
• “When Christ is standing at the door knocking, He's not just planning to come in to us and abide with us. He's saying, ‘I’m going to dine with you.’ And I believe He's pointing to the fact that there will be a new covenant that will be made.”
• “Christ is saying, ‘Look, I'm standing at the door and knocking.’ He is not talking to Israel here. In the book of Revelation, in chapter 3, He's talking to a church. He's talking to the Christians saying, ‘You guys have really failed Me in this. But I'm not rejecting you, just as I'm not rejecting Israel.’”
• “As Christ knew the Father when He was here, I believe there is more for us. And I believe that there is a meal that's waiting—a time of dining with Christ where He will bring an impartation to us that will be a new knowledge, a new understanding of Him, and a new way of walking with Him and the Father.”
Takeaways:
1. In Revelation 3, we read Christ saying to Laodicea, “I stand at the door and knock; if anyone … opens the door, I will … dine with him.” Why would the Lord want to dine with us? We can understand that when we understand that covenants were made during a meal. God wants to make a covenant with us.
2. Christians have used the new covenant as a means of anti-Semitism, claiming that God rejected Israel because they failed the covenant at Sinai. But in the new covenant promised to Judah and Israel, God promises to accept them in spite of their failure. Laodicea represents the failure of Christians, but Christ also wanted to make a new covenant with them.
3. The promise of the new covenant is that we will all know Him, from the least to the greatest. But we are still being taught about God by someone else or by the history of religion or doctrine. We need to open the door to Him and receive from Him a new impartation of knowing the Father.