Faith Producers International Podcast

GOD DOES NOT TEMPT ANYONE    The original sin of Adam and Eve seems to set a standard for others to follow. Two things stand out that have been identifiable throughout history. Number one, I am a victim.  Number two, it wasn't my fault it was yours. Listen to Adam as God is confronting him in the garden. "He said, "This woman you gave me, she caused me to sin." Our society today has certainly taken that to new heights. Everybody is a victim, and it's not their fault—everything from the government, climate change, the Republicans, the Democrats, and the preacher. Of course, we tend to blame God when we mess up. Some say God knew what I was going to do, so why didn't he stop it? It was probably God who tempted me to see if I would fail. Just to set the record straight. The book of James 1:13 tells us, "God does not tempt us with evil. But every man or woman is tempted by their desires." Because that is true, we must focus on the Holy Spirit's work within our soul and thought life. If we don't take control throu

I WILL WATCH OVER WHAT I HAVE PLANTED   As I was preparing myself for my night, watch and a good nights sleep, I heard the voice of the Lord that said,” I will watch over what I have planted.” Then I realized that the spirit of God was not talking about himself, he was talking about me. An uncomfortable portion of the Christian community depends on God to do everything for them. Most of us in our early days of prayer spent our time directing God to go do this or do that. Somehow our prayers sounded like a traffic cop directing traffic in a busy intersection. However, when we begin to understand what happened at the cross in the resurrection, we know that we are now coal laborers with our heavenly father. When Jesus ascended to the father, he said he would send the Holy Spirit who would be your helper. Many of us may think that the Holy Spirit helps us in our personal life only with problems and pressures. I believe the scriptures clearly tell us that the responsibility for this earth, and the way it functions

WE CAME FROM ABOVE, AND CHRIST TOOK US HOME   If I wanted to capture the mission of Jesus to earth in simple terms, I would call it. Gods rescue mission. The fathers plan from the beginning was to have created sons and daughters in his image. I like to refer to them as gods imagers. Because Janice is 126 tells us that's what God intended when he created mankind that he would make them in his image. So you and I are imagers. However, you know the story Adam got sidetracked, and he followed his own way, and the whole human race followed behind him. Gods, imagers on earth became captive to another master. Matthew the fourth chapter, says that they were in darkness and bound up all their lives. That's when a great light came, and begin to illuminate the world around them, and leave them out in the freedom. Jesus lead a rescue team into this earth. Ephesians 4 describes it that he descended to the Earth from heavenly places. Then it tells us that he ascended and lead the captives that he had rescued in triumphant

JESUS IS NOT THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD-YOU ARE As shocking as that may sound to the ear of the religious Christian, in all reality, it's true. When God said to the sons of God around him at the time, let us make man in our image, and let him have dominion multiply and fill the whole earth. It could only mean one thing: we are created with God's DNA in the very core of our spirit.  The scriptures tell us that God is light. So buy that deduction you and I have been made in his image. We must be light also. Even our modern scientific technology can detect you and me emanating the light from our bodies. However, let's see that in the spiritual sense. Jesus said in John 8:12 I am the light of the world, and those who embrace me will experience life-giving light, and they will never walk in darkness. Jesus told us in John 9:5 that as long as I am with you, my life is the light that pierces the world's darkness. In Philippians 2:15, the passion Bible tells us, for then you will be seen as innocent faultless and pure ch

WHY THE APOSTLE PAUL DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW ANYONE AFTER THE FLESH? Some would consider Paul's statement to be one of a hermit, or at best, a mystic who wanted to live in a cave. However, both of those thoughts are not true because Paul knew what it would take to make the bridge between Jesus, the man, and Jesus, the Christ, the son of God. In the book of Ephesians 3:3, Paul makes the statement. This wonderful mystery, which I briefly described, was given to me by divine revelation so that whenever you read it, you will be able to understand my revelation and insight into the secret mystery of the Messiah. The Holy Spirit knew that if Paul had gone directly to Jerusalem, after his supernatural experience, on the road to Damascus, he would've learned and been trained in the outward expressions of Jesus, the man. If the New Testament church were anything like today's church, they would've taken Paul to all the hotspots and pointed out where Jesus healed the sick. He would've met Jesus, his mother, and his brothers

THE UNIVERSITY OF ANGELS-AND EVERYONE IS A PROFESSOR I love Angels. As a matter of fact, I love everything that has to do with God's world. I love angels because God loves angels. I love angels because they have been created by the same God who created me. That makes us a unique family because we have the same father. However, I am also aware that even the angels remind us that we don't worship them because they have been given to us as ministering spirits to bring us to our destiny. In reality, we are the professors at the University of Angels. The Scriptures tell us nothing: angels are baffled at the grace of God toward former rebels that he has brought back into the family. How could that be? That those who betrayed him were now back at the top tier of authority in the kingdom of God? First, Peter 1:12 tells us that the angels are curious about this because they look into and study our lives to see what it means to have. This kind of grace is given to us. You and I are living examples of a mystery that has

IN THE STORM HOLD TIGHT TO THE PROMISES   I love the sunshine and hate the rain. Whoa, what am I saying I live in the north west where we have four seasons in the year. We have two days of spring four days of summer and attempt at a decent fall in a long, dark winter. Well, of course I'm exaggerating but not much. We used to tell everyone it rained all the time and Northwest just to keep them away. Put the secret got out that the storm clouds that rolled in brought rain, and the rain brought luscious green hills and rushing rivers. So you see without the storm clouds, we would live in a barren land. Show me years ago our church here was visited by some brothers from Arizona. The thing they complained about was, they couldn't see the hills. Our hills are green, and filled with trees. Their hills are brown, and filled with dead grass and such.. Jesus told us storms would come. He referred to them as trouble.. However, he was clear about the fact that he would never leave us in the trouble, but he would take us

SEALED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT UNTIL WE EXPERIENCE COMPLETE FREEDOM How much of the word of God do we, as believers, really believe? I'm speaking about the general body, including myself, at times, as I have learned to walk by faith and not by sight. Most of what we know comes from our mentors, those who raised us in the gospel. Like a natural family, the spiritual family passes on its excellent and bad traits.  We learned how to pray by watching our elders pray around the altar, especially in the early days when we did the same. We have learned to worship and sing the songs of praise because we watched others do it and followed after them. So I ask you again, how much of the word of God do you believe? You can tell how much we believe. By the way, we pray and the way we worship.  If you're still begging or asking God to do something for you, you may need to dig a little deeper into the revelation that God gave to Paul in the book of Ephesians. If you're still worshiping in your public services, hoping God shows u

OPEN DOORS, OPEN HEAVENS   The 10th chapter of John is an amazing revelation of Jesus as the door to eternity and heaven's glory. The Passion Bible says it this way in the ninth verse. (Jesus said) I am the gateway; to enter through me is to experience life, freedom, and satisfaction.   Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark of night because of his reputation as a spiritual leader. When he asked Jesus how he did the miracles, Jesus told him that to understand, you have to have a new spirit and be born from above. Being a religious man, steeped in the traditions of the elders, Nicodemus could not catch the depth of what Jesus was teaching him that night. Jesus was talking about entering another world, a doorway that you can enter by faith through his name. When that takes place, you are reborn from above. Because of that, you can understand spiritual mysteries and walk in the lord's ways. As believers in Jesus Christ, we face many doors on our journey, all of which will open by the same action of faith that the f

KEEP GOD ON THE THRONE AND JESUS AS THE DOOR   How far can we go with the revelation and insight that we get from dreams or prophetic words that we receive from the Lord? What is the rule of thumb, as they say, to judge whether we are hearing from God or having a vain imagination? Most often, someone will answer that question with this statement. If it's not in the Bible, it's not true, so we must throw that revelation away. As we have this thought today, let's keep in mind that most of what we do in life is not in the Bible, at least in the detail that some say we need.  For instance, there is no chapter and verse for who you will marry or what job you should take next. When I was pastorimg with my Father in Sacramento as a teenage preacher I was challenged by a Hyper spiritual teenager that I shouldn't drive a car because Jesus didn't drive a car. OK, you've got the point. Some things have the principles in the Bible but not the exact details.  Concerning dreams and prophecies, let's also keep in mind that

IDENTIFY THE THIEF AND GET IT ALL BACK   Among the many lessons I've learned while walking with Christ is that this experience is multifaceted. Nothing in the spiritual world is built or works on a set of principles you can carry in your notebook and pull out when needed.  The Christian Life and the mysteries of this beautiful, supernatural world are like the computer. It's all there, ready to go, except you need a password to make it happen. The key or password is not simply faith or belief. If that were the case, anyone could manipulate their own Life by training themselves to believe. The key to Christian Life is believing in Christ, his finished work on the cross, and his resurrection. When that happens, you step into his world and become joined with his Life, so when you identify a thief, you have the authority to get it all back. We tend to want a formula of faith that we can use without a relationship with our Father in heaven. Remember, Jesus did nothing but what he saw his Father doing. This Christia

HAVING A HEAVENLY CONVERSATION WITH JESUS   Some years ago, while traveling through the East Coast in ministry, we visited Williamsburg, Virginia. Williamsburg is one of our history's essential places where our forefathers gathered and formed our early America. They have replicated or restored the old town to look like it did in the 1700s. All of the workers in town are dressed appropriately for the age they represent, so it turns out to be a fascinating and fun place to be. At one point, our tour guide pointed to a second story on a building across the street. She said those who gathered would go there after dinner and have a good conversation. I thought to myself, what would it be like to converse with the type of men with the wisdom and intelligence to form the first nation of freedom in history? Then, I added several other people I would like to have a good conversation with. People of renown, inventors, preachers, etc. Then, I was brought to the meeting that Nicodemus and Jesus had in John three. Nicodem

DO YOU TRUST HOLY SPIRIT AS MUCH AS GPS?   Guidance is the main issue of life. From our earliest memories, someone is trying to tell us where to go and what to do. Obviously, in a well-structured home that God placed you in, your mother and father are the first instructors. They tell me that young children learn what they will do 95% of the time in the first five years as they grow older. They also say that training happens at their mother's knee. In the early Jewish tradition, the young sons were trained by their mother until they were seven, and then their father took over to teach them a trade they would do for life. So guidance is a big deal in the life of the believer, you, and those who have given themselves to Jesus Christ. Yet, in all of the years I have pastored, the most repetitive question I got is," What do you think God has in store for me." Or a variation of the same question concerning life's journey. Learning to hear the voice of Holy Spirit, and trusting to be obedient to what you hear is a m

YOU DON'T DRINK POND WATER   Jesus said, If you drink from Jacobs well, you'll be thirsty again, but if anyone drinks the living water I give them, they will never be thirsty again. For when you drink the water I give you, it becomes a gushing fountain of the Holy Spirit, flooding you with endless life! ( John 4:14) p/b This may shock you when I say that reading the Bible without the Spirit of God, anointing the words you read, is like drinking stale pond water. This is the reason they can use the Bible as a textbook in the universities without the results you would expect.  In other words, scripture reading only can become vain repetition. Believing faith is what turns that stale pond water into a living river that will give you endless life. You cannot act on the scriptures to obey them without the Holy Spirit, inspiration, and drawing you to the Father. This is the mystery of salvation and the grace of righteousness given to us freely. Unless the Holy Spirit speaks to you through those scriptures, you will

AND IT CAME TO PASS-THE SEASONS IN OUR LIVES   Happy New Year, everyone. Here we are in 2024, and we have no idea how we got here. It seems just like yesterday when much of the church was all concerned about Y2K and the end of things. The hotels were all sold out in and around Jerusalem, expecting Jesus to break through the Eastern gate. The secular world was concerned about the computer crash because of the change in the century date. Satellites were going to fall out of the sky. Elevators wouldn't work in the giant towers, and the stock market would crash because of the Computer failures. And yet here we are 24 years later, listening to the same rhetoric of doom and gloom and damnation, destruction, death, failure, and hopelessness. Brother, that sounds like good news. Not! The good news is that all of these have been seasons in your life to prepare you for the days ahead that God has promised and will fulfill. If you think the Holy Spirit will fail in doing what he has been commissioned from the Father, th

THE ALTERNATE WORLD WHERE YOUR SPIRIT DWELLS?   Forty-five years ago, I brought my young family to a small farming community 60 miles north of Seattle to pastor a fledgling church. Our town is in a valley nourished for centuries by river water overflowing and depositing an excellent rich soil. 95% of our industry is farming. We grow a wide variety of vegetables, including fruit trees and various grains. However, we are known Worldwide for our tulips.  For centuries, the nation of the Netherlands dominated and controlled the tulip industry. At one point in their history, at the height of a "tulip bubble," one bulb sold for the price of a house. With worldwide migration, some tulip growers found their way to our small valley. For the last three decades, we have been competitors to the Netherlands, sometimes passing their output of tulips. Every year in the month of Easter, 250,000 people drive our little country roads, taking pictures of tulips and buying sacks of bulbs to take home. The point of this trip down

SANTA CLAUSE VS SANTA JESUS- WILL THE REAL SANTA PLEASE STAND   HOW DO WE TELL THE REAL SANTA? ( Santa= righteous and holy) Both Santas are jolly. Both Santas love children. Both Santas give good gifts. Both Santas can fly. Both Santas have an expected return. Both Santas have people looking for their appearing. Both Santas have a massive group of servants. And both Santas love you unconditionally. Whoops- hold it a minute. If I remember right, Santa Claus will love you and give you gifts if you're nice. However, if you are naughty, heaven help you. And here's where Santa "Jesus" comes in. With the real Santa Jesus Christ, love is not conditional. Romans 8 declares that there is nothing that will cause Jesus to stop loving you. Plus- you received his love even before you loved him. Santa Claus never gave his life to redeem you from death. Jesus did! Santa Claus never rose from the dead to give you the gift of eternal life. Jesus did! Santa Claus never went to your heavenly Father to prepare a place for you to

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED   When you look back on your personal life and our national life, you recognize a number of nights that we could call "our night before" when everything changed. There's an old familiar statement we often make when we say, "It's always darkest before the dawn." What we mean by that is that before a miracle happens or our situation changes, we have plenty of opportunity to be in despair and fear. Each of us has memories of our turning points, soon good, some real good, and also some not so good—the night before you board the plane for your planned vacation to the Bahamas. Or the night before, you have to face the judge in the courthouse. These are the nights that you remember because it's in these times that your character and strengths are strengthened and formed. Look at Paul and Silas, as related in the Book of Acts, in jail at midnight. It was their night before God's miracle happened, and they were set free supernaturally. Take a snapshot of Peter as he's in c

JESUS CAME TO THE WHOLE WORLD AND FOUND ONE OUTCAST WOMAN   We just sailed through another Christmas season, celebrating the coming of the savior of the world as a baby in the manger. But there is a reason why the Bible does not record the adolescent years of Jesus, except for one episode, when he was 12 in the temple. We jump from that description of that young 12-year-old and the priest he interchanged with to a 30-year-old man walking up to John the Baptist to start his destiny God sent him to fulfill. As interesting as it may be to know the daily schedule of a five-year-old Jesus, the Holy Spirit excluded that on purpose so that we would focus on the main reason that God came in the flesh in the form of Jesus of Nazareth. John 3:16 tells us that God's only begotten son came to redeem the world and everything God created.  We spend the next three years watching Jesus through the eyes of the four gospels, healing the sick, raising the dead, and feeding the hungry. Jesus came to the whole world and found one

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED   When you look back on your personal life and our national life, you recognize a number of nights that we could call "our night before" when everything changed. There's an old familiar statement we often make when we say, "It's always darkest before the dawn." What we mean by that is that before a miracle happens or our situation changes, we have plenty of opportunity to be in despair and fear. Each of us has memories of our turning points, soon good, some real good, and also some not so good—the night before you board the plane for your planned vacation to the Bahamas. Or the night before, you have to face the judge in the courthouse. These are the nights that you remember because it's in these times that your character and strengths are strengthened and formed. Look at Paul and Silas, as related in the Book of Acts, in jail at midnight. It was their night before God's miracle happened, and they were set free supernaturally. Take a snapshot of Peter as he's in c