Faith – Holy Spirit Church

The Holy Spirit’s Voice

23 Dec 2024 by Rev. Sandy Leave a Comment

This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24.) Are we glad to be here this morning? Before we start today, let’s invite the Holy Spirit into this house of worship: Holy Spirit Sir, You are welcome here today. Fall afresh on us that we may come away refreshed in the word and with a new understanding of the work Lord Jesus would have us do to further the Kingdom of God.

When we speak about the Holy Spirit, we’re talking about the Spirit of God, literally the Spirit of God, and when we give our lives to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and the Holy Spirit—I’m searching for a way to say this—the Holy Spirit touches us when we invite Christ into our hearts, To be clear, it’s the Holy Spirit that has touched us. And once Christ is in our hearts, the Holy Spirit then lives inside us. The fact that the Holy Spirit does not have a voice is not because God didn’t give us the ability to speak in tongues. The fact that the Holy Spirit doesn’t have a voice in us once we receive Christ is solely because we have not yielded to the Holy Spirit. People often make the mistake of saying something like this, “Well, if God wanted me to have the ability to speak in tongues, then He would have given it to me.” Wrong. Rest assured, I myself made a similar mistake in judgement.

When blessed the Holy Spirit blessed me with faith in Christ, the pastor who led me to Christ Bill Bakkeby was after me to speak in tongues, and I didn’t fully understand what he was talking about. I thought that God would actually move my tongue. (He didn’t.) I thought God would move my tongue; I remember driving home one night after visiting the Bakkeby’s, and I was literally in my car at a stoplight in the dark with my mouth open, and much to my chagrin, nothing would happen. (Had anyone seen me, I would have looked like must have looked like a fool to the car next to me.) Then one day I was on the phone with Pastor Bakkeby, and I said to him, “Well, sometimes I speak to my cats, and I say things, and it’s just, nonsense.” Looking back, I’m not sure I used the word nonsense, but words, unintelligible words or silly things. I remember now: (I said, “Sometimes I speak to my cats. and it doesn’t make any sense.”) And so he said to me, “Well, pretend you’re talking to your cats.” And so I just opened my mouth, and I uttered some syllables: [Speaking in Tongues]. They didn’t sound like those, but I’ll give you an example: [Speaking in Tongues]. It was less complex than that, because I had just demonstrated the ability, and with time your syllables become more complex as your vocabulary increases. Pastor Bakkeby said, “Do that again. So I repeated myself: [Speaking in tongues]. Pastor Bakkeby wanted to make sure it wasn’t a one-time phenomenon. I was elated that I could now speak in tongues.

Speaking in tongues is the beginning of your journey into the Christian supernatural—when you yield to the Holy Spirit, you can speak in tongues. It is truly a blessing from God, because Satan can’t understand a word you’re saying when you speak in tongues. It’s called praying in the Spirit. Satan is utterly dumbfounded. He can stand right next to you perplexed and madder than heck. (Isn’t that a great place for Satan to be.) When you start speaking in tongues, Satan has no idea what you’ve just said, nor does he have any idea what the Almighty replied to you, Now, you’re going to say to me, “Great Sandy, I don’t have any idea what I just said either.” That may be true; however, you can interpret your own tongues, but that’s a lesson for another sermon, another time. The first time I tried to interpret my own tongues using a method taught by Richard Roberts, Oral Roberts’ son, I came up with “Hello God or God Hello.” Looking back on that momentous occasion, I believe I was just greeting God or He was just greeting me. That was years ago, and I have been so busy for the kingdom, I haven’t pursed self-interpretation. The important take-away is to understand that when you speak in tongues, you are in direct communication with God the Father. The Holy Spirit literally searches the mind of Christ. I’m almost quoting Prophet Robin D. Bullock as opposed to his wife, Pastor Robin R. Bullock, but I’m quoting in saying that the Holy Spirit searches the mind of Christ for the answer to your prayers. Imagine for a moment what is in the mind of Christ. Are we talking about the knowledge of a trillion supercomputers? More! After all, He created the world, all life, whether plant or animal, us and everything that surrounds us. Not only that, but every law that governs the operation of the whole kit and kaboodle.

Sometimes when you pray in the Spirit as it is known, you are just lifting praise to the Lord. Other times when you speak in tongues, you may be praying for someone in Afghanistan or Sri Lanka, or maybe your next-door neighbor or somebody who just had a car accident on a highway that you’re unfamiliar with a few states away from you. Your prayers—you are aligning your prayers with the wishes of God, trusting him with your prayers. And that’s a beautiful precept to grasp. Praying in tongues is true intimacy with God. You are in his mind, and He is in yours.

To more fully understand this idea, we must understand that we’re co-laborers with God on this earth. So, when people say things like “God is in control,” well that’s true. God is in control, but God is in control in heaven: He’s the pilot up there, we’re the co-pilot up there. (Think of the cockpit of an airplane.) While we’re here on the earth, during this time, we are the pilots and God is the co-pilot. In the Words of prophet Robin Bullock, “God is in control where God is put in control.” He’s the one who taught me the pilot-copilot analogy. I ask you to make that last statement a revelatory part of your understanding, so whenever you hear somebody say, “Well, God is in control,” make sure that you make them understand that “God is in control where God is put in control.” If we say, “God is in control,” that means every single thing that happens on this earth is ultimately His responsibility. Well, that conflicts 100% with the idea that “God Is Absolutely Good.” (Also a quotation from Robin D Bullock.) He wrote a book by that same title based upon a revelation that God imparted to him. For scriptural authority, let’s go to the first book of Genesis. You can read it for yourself, but let’s sum it up in the Words of the Almighty himself: ^“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31 AKJV) God who is absolutely good made everything and all of what He made was good.

I must introduce some of you to the radical idea that there must be no doubt in your mind that God is absolutely good. We can all agree that Satan is the father of lies, and Satan is absolutely evil. See John 8:44 in the AKJV: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Well, the converse of that verse is Robin’s statement “God is absolutely good.” And that means that there is no evil in God. God doesn’t say, “You know what, I’m going to trip Sandy today, because I think he needs to prove to Me that he can make it through that obstacle. He, God, doesn’t do that; He never does that. What a cruel God He would be if He did; wouldn’t you agree? Imagine if we had a friend, and again I’m loosely basing this on Robin Bullock’s teaching, but what if we had a friend and we were walking with that friend and suddenly for no discernable reason our friend stuck his foot out in front of us so that we would fall and hurt ourselves. Would we walk with him again? No. Trust him, No! We would not; if we walked with him again, we would be on our guard whenever he was around. Well, so keeping that thought in mind, how ludicrous is the idea that God is in control and responsible for everything that happens on the earth? All the bad? What about us? A criminal robs a bank, and you want to blame God? Back to our analogy: You can see Satan or one of his demons tripping you. Remember, Satan is the one that is the father of lies. He’s the author of all mischief, mayhem, malfeasance, and murder on this earth. He’s responsible for every single death on this earth. In a war, pestilence, famine, God does not kill people. People will often say, and again, I’m going to base this on Robin Bullock’s teachings, Let’s say, you have a funeral for someone who died, and then right after that members of that family come to Jesus. Well, you can’t say, “Well, it’s because it’s, you know, God, God took so-and-so in order to lead the rest of the family to Christ.” No, God did not do that. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He was the only one, was, is and forever will be the only one. Your friend was not one of the thieves on the cross. That’s totally wrong. The correct way to look at people coming to Christ after your friend’s death is that his friends and family were devastated by his death, their hearts were open, and they yielded to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit coming into them, and they gave their lives to Christ. They saw what happened to their friend, and they began to worry about their own eternal lives, their own journeys. So, I want to make this clear to you because there’s a lot of misinformation, and you really have to start to look at the Devil for the rascal that he is—capital D only to distinguish him from minor devils or demons—and the mayhem and the mischief that the Devil has caused in this earth. The Forever Loser, as Apostle Tim Sheets calls him, has us thinking backwards. We say things like, if there’s a tornado that takes out a house, we say, “Well, that was an act of God,” “No.” A ferry boat sinks in some port in a faraway land, “The sinking was an act of God!” “No.” Satan’s fingerprints are all over these two acts and billions, perhaps trillions or quadrillions of others. Only Satan and Elohim know the true number. Will there be justice for all these acts of evil? Yes, and this leads me to my next teaching.

Now we must make this distinction between Elohim and Jehovah. Elohim is God the Father. God Supreme. Jehovah is really a manifestation of Christ; He is God in His system of seed, plant and harvest. In other words, if I sow for good, then I’m going to reap good. If I bless people and I bless people, and I bless people. I visit hospitals; I visit the sick; I go to prisons; I send bibles into prisons; I help little old ladies cross the street. My life is totally composed of acts of selflessness, then, I’m sowing for good.

On the other hand, if I sow for evil; if in fact I am so far from The Lord that I don’t even recognize what I am doing, I am sowing for a bad harvest. Here are just a few examples of bad seeds: I mistreat my cat or dog. I’m cheating on my wife, or I’m cheating on my girlfriend, or I’m shacking up—I’ve lived with somebody but I’m not getting married. I haven’t brought the woman under a covenanted relationship with the Lord. Then, There is no marriage covenant blessed by God. When I go to raise a family with her, I’ll find out I have problems. (If I can even raise a family.) Perhaps I suddenly get into a car accident or a string of car accidents. Perhaps, I find I can’t keep a job. I mean, there are all these different ways people screw up. (Have you ever met someone whose life is just one calamity after another?) See, I’ve sown evil into my life. I’ve sown bad seed into the earth. So when that comes up, then it’s going to be harvested. Jehovah is the LORD L-O-R-D of harvest. Because of this, Satan has a perfect legal right. to come into my life and make things worse for me. This is a concept people don’t understand and they need to understand it.They need to understand this scripture and to live by it: Galatians 6:7-8: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

People are always, well I shouldn’t say always, and that’s another we precept have to worry about, be very careful when you use absolute words like always and never. Make sure you use them in the right context. If you say something like, “Things never work out for me,” then guess what? Things are never going to work out for you because you’ve declared to the universe, you’ve declared to the universe that you don’t have any luck, or God’s not in your life. Satan takes notes and he uses your own words against you in the Court of Heaven. God doesn’t sit there and say, “You know what? I want to make things hard for Sandy. I really want to make it tough on him, because he’s a slacker. He doesn’t say that. Sandy makes things tough on Sandy because he doesn’t follow God’s Ten Commandments, and he doesn’t sow blessings. He sows the opposite; He sows misery and grief, and he reaps a harvest of misery, grief and sometimes premature death, a harvest of evil. I’m just giving you a hypothetical example, but one that’s very important for us all to understand.

I hope this sermon has blessed you, and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me now or later on. My calling is as an evangelistic pastor, and I delight in leading people to Christ. I have met people who say who are lost because they don’t know Christ, but on top of that, they have no idea how to be saved. They think that just attending church will gain them a place in Heaven. If you are in this crowd, I’m going to help you understand what your responsibilities are. So, if you turn in your Bibles to Mark 16:15-18 These are the words of Jesus: ”…[H]e said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 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.” (AKJV)

These are the Master’s own words, Jesus’ own words, so let us take them to heart. So that’s Mark 16:15 through 18, if you’re taking notes. Then just to follow it up: “So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God.” Mark 16:19. Those were the last words he spoke to His disciples. He charged them to go and make disciples. “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.” (Mark 16:20)

We, my bothers and sisters in Christ, have work to do for the kingdom. So you’ll say to me, “That’s wonderful, but what do I do? What do I say? How do I do that?” Well then, of course, we move to Romans 10, 9 and 10. And here is the prescription, and what I recommend is read this yourself and make sure you understand it. You might want to read it in the English Standard version or a simpler wording just to imprint it in your mind. But I’ll read from the Authorized King James version. Romans 10:9-10: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart, thou shalt be saved. man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Now what I usually do if I meet somebody in the street and I’m not sure of their ability with the English language I’ll read definitely from a simpler version of this scripture. Basically you have to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that He— that is that the Father—rather raised Him from the dead that we might have eternal life. Now notice I said might and it’s not an absolute guarantee. If you say these words and you don’t believe them in your heart, then it’s a false confession. You must believe them in your heart, and let Christ come into your heart. You believe unto righteousness, as it says, and you confess out loud unto salvation. After the person has said this, what’s known as the sinner’s prayer, then I will ask them to pray a prayer. To me the prayer consecrates this act completely and I usually will say a prayer or something that says words along these lines. “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Cleanse me of all unrighteousness. Lead me on the straight and narrow path that leads to you, to salvation. Lord Jesus, Forgive me of my sins. I repent of my sins. Wash me clean of them. Pour out your precious lamb’s blood over me that I might be a holy and living sacrifice to your glory. Thank you. From this day forward, I give you my life. Take my life and do something with it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” Thank you. So once I have done that, now I think it’s important to add this prayer when you’re talking with someone whom you are leading to Christ, a prospective believer.

Now that they’ve given their life to Christ, Christ’s going to come into their heart, but they might say, “Well, what does He expect of me?” People often express a thought similar to this, “The 10 Commandments, they’re so hard; who can keep them all? I just can’t do it.” Well, as with any endeavor in which you want to succeed, you have to say that you can do it. You have to believe you can do it. A beautiful way of living your life is to take the word of Matthew 22:37-46 to heart. Consecrate them: “Jesus said unto them, again, the words of the master: “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart. And with all thy soul and with all thy mind, this is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets.”(AKJV) And this was in response to a question posed by one of the Pharisees. He was a lawyer, and he asked the question—the Bible infers he was tempting Jesus—so we know Satan was involved. “Master, which is the great commandment of the law?” He was expecting a recitation, and he got one. Thank you. As we ourselves live our lives, it’s much easier to follow the Ten Commandments if we keep these two commandments, I call them Jesus Two Commandments in our hearts. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self. Think of it. Think of it. This precept of the first two commandments obviating the others is something I learned from Pastor Bakkeby: If we love our neighbor as ourself, then we wouldn’t commit adultery and steal our neighbor’s wife, right? If we keep that commandment in mind—we love our neighbor as ourself—we don’t have to remember thou shalt not commit adultery because it’s covered by this commandment. And in addition it’s covered by the first commandment. If you love the Lord your God, and God is absolutely good, you’re not going to break any of the commandments because you don’t want to displease the Lord.

I hope this sermon has helped you to clarify things in your own mind as to just a little bit of what the Lord expects. If you have any questions, I’d certainly be glad to answer them, or if you want to talk further about what I’ve discussed here, I’m happy to do so by phone or by email. I want to wish you all a blessed day. Let us keep the Holy Spirit in our hearts and let us give Him a voice. Let us walk humbly with our God the Father and always have respect for our Lord Jesus Christ, for our neighbors and let us keep the Father in our hearts. In Jesus name, go in peace. Amen.

Scriptural Citations in this lesson:

Psalm 118:24
Genesis 1:31
John 8:44
Galatians 6:7-8
Mark 16:15-20
Romans 10:9-10
Matthew 22:37-46

Originally given November 17, 2024 at Servants’ Tabernacle Ministries from notes preached July 31, 2024.

Bridge to Destiny

21 Jun 2024 by Rev. Sandy Leave a Comment

Tuesday the 26^th of March 2024 will forever be etched in my memory as the day when the opening salvo in one of the greatest periods of spiritual warfare was fired by the enemy, Satan. At approximately 1:30 a.m., the Francis Scott Key bridge was destroyed when the container ship Dali—powerless and rudderless—crashed into and took out one of the main supports of the bridge. Thankfully, I had left New Jersey one day earlier and routinely used Interstate 895 and the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel during the day, so I was never in danger. I cannot imagine what traffic though the city of Baltimore is like without that key bridge.

From the moment I heard about this horrendous accident, my mind entertained thoughts that this was an intentional, terrorist act. Not only was this a vital bridge in the heavily travelled north-south Interstate 95 route, but it was also a symbolic bridge, one named after Francis Scott Key, the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, our national anthem, dare I say freedom’s anthem. It was a key bridge in more ways than one…. Then there is the name of the ship, Dali, registered in Singapore with its crew of 22. If the name of the bridge was symbolic, then might the ships name be also? As I drove south, I kept thinking about Dali. What did it mean? Perchance, might it be a Hindu word? An Indian dialect of some kind? Bingo.

Exodus 20:3 declares: “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.”¹ Hence, Hinduism is a false religion, the worship of a dead god, actually an ancient evil spirit. The god Shiva is the god who destroys. Turns out that Dali in Sanskrit means to split or to divide. Sanskrit is an ancient language associated with Hinduism. And what was the name of the bridge that was destroyed? The Frances Scott Key Bridge. Key. What scripture concerns keys? The verse Isaiah 22:22 came to mind as I reflected upon the word key:

And the key of the house of David
will I lay upon his shoulder;
so he shall open, and none shall shut;
and he shall shut, and none shall open.²

The modern day prophets such as Dutch Sheets and Robin D. Bullock have promised a revival, a reformation. See Mark 16:15-18 and Matthew 28:18-20. How can it begin in such turmoil? And yet, it must. What we have here is no less than the opening act in a period of intensified, spiritual warfare, make no mistake about it. Never forget John 10:10: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Do you think that any of the men who came to fill potholes on that bridge thought that they would lose their lives that night? Hard to think of a more routine occupation than filling potholes with macadam, day or night. You might have to worry about cars and trucks running you over, but a ship colliding with the bridge support? Can we say that most workers would think that might be a freak accident, one less probable than being struck by lightening while walking down the street. My heart goes out to the families of these workers and I asked Holy Spirit to comfort the families in their time of sorrow. I think too of the motorists who drove off the bridge. Plunging off the bridge in the dark, you might have a slim chance of surviving if it were summertime, but only if you could break a window or open a door as you sank, and there are all sorts of variables in how you might sink. Fear would certainly grip you and the water pressure and temperature this time of year would be against you. Most people couldn’t react fast enough, even if they were trained. Horrifying to think about. My question is did those who died know Christ?

You never know when your life will end, and for this reason you must be prepared as Matthew 24:43-44 advises us:

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

⁴³But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. ⁴⁴Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. ⁴⁵

If you haven’t made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, don’t wait. Someone once asked Johnathan Cahn how much time he had to give his heart to Christ. His reply, “One heartbeat.” Your life could literally end in an instant. Thankfully, the Bible gives us a great way through Paul’s writings in the Book of Romans, Chapter 10:9-10:

that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

If you speak these words aloud and believe them in your heart, you shall be saved. Simple, and yet millions of people sit in church this very day and will go to hell because they never knew that they needed to give their lives to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Are you one of them?

Prayer Life

25 Mar 2023 by Rev. Sandy Leave a Comment

As the song says, ”Are you prayin’ hard or hardly prayin'”?

Just curious. How much do you pray? How often? Daily? Whenever you get around to it, or maybe when someone you know, including perhaps yourself, is facing a crisis, such as impending surgery or a bad diagnosis of cancer? Someone might even ask you to pray for them—and you promise—only to be interrupted by the next task on your daily to-do list or maybe even a wave from a friend. I have found that the best time to pray when someone asks is right then, right in front of them, if possible. This way, Satan cannot distract you. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, the Apostle Paul encourages us to “pray without ceasing.” The word prayer is mentioned no less than 128 times in the Bible. The word worship 188 times and the word praise 259 times, just for comparison. Along with praise and worship, prayer is key to how we experience God and incorporate Him into our daily lives.

So, how is your life going these days? Did you get through Covid-19 without getting sick? Did you take the jab? Did you get sick anyway? I thought it was a vaccine. When I was growing up, vaccines prevented disease. In the case of small pox for instance, you were injected with dead form of pox virus—a close cousin to small pox—and you thus became immune to small pox. The Center for Disease Control changed the definition of a vaccine to reflect the fact that one could still get sick with Covid-19 even after getting the initial shot and boosters. Almost everyone whom I know who got the shot or shots later came down with Covid. Some more than once. So much for protection.

How’s your job? Is it challenging? Rewarding? Do you think you have a safe position? Love your boss? How about those co-workers? Do they respect you? Treat you well? In line for a raise? You could be stuck in a dead-end job without the possibility of promotion. The handwriting is on the wall….Or maybe you just lost your job. Fired. Phased out. Kicked upstairs.

How is your car or truck? Is it brand spanking new, or a over five or 10 years old, in need of paint parts or body work? In the county where I live, it’s not uncommon to see a lot of older cars and trucks that need work. I know people who have a few vehicles in various states of dilapidation. The struggle is always to get one of them running to go to work. Recently, I bought some tires for a friend. He was driving on tires that were less than safe. I was taught that at any one time you had approximately 20 square inches of tire between you and the road, and they had better be the best 20 inches of tire out there, because your life depends upon it.

How about your house, if you have one? Are you keeping up with your mortgage payments? Keeping up with repairs? If you rent, is rent easy or is it a struggle for you? Do you find yourself playing a form of musical chairs with the bills to make sure that you are never behind on your rent. Sometimes, you go without in one area of your life just to make ends meet. Maybe you spurge on something you know you cannot afford, just because you figure, “What the heck! I am so far behind anyway.

For you, whether it’s your health, your job, your car, your house or apartment, you feel like you’re always running behind. You never catch up, let alone get ahead. You look back on your life and often wonder: How did I get here? Why do I have to work so hard, just to see it all vanish in a never-ending cycle of bills and debts. The term debt slavery is one new to me. You might feel like a debt slave.

Let’s get back to your prayer life. Time to give it a booster shot. When you start your day—when you first get out of bed—what’s the first thing you do. Do you read scripture? Do you pray? I do. I try to pray and decree scripture for at least 15 minutes, sometimes at least a half an hour. I have my favorite scriptures, but also some suggested by Holy Spirit., even events from the day before. I start my day by saying, “Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, thank you for the blessings of today, the blessings of the days gone by and the blessings of the days yet to come.” (Thank you, Johnathan Cahn.) Then I say the Lord’s Prayer. After that, I As forgiveness for my sins, repent of my sins, and even ask the Lord Jesus to forgive me for actions on my part that I don’t necessarily recognize as sin. I start with a clean slate which I immediately fill with prayers for friends and family—decreeing the blood of Jesus over them and their families. You should try this if you’re not doing it already. Then I move to scriptures, beginning with Psalm 91.

Praying Psalm 91 daily confers divine protection over you. It is known as The Soldiers Psalm. It was made famous in World War I when an entire brigade, the 91st Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Expeditionary Army was advised by their commander to pray Psalm 91 daily. Miraculously suffering no casualties, they fought battles some of the toughest engagements of WWI: Chateau Thierry, Belle Wood, and the Argonne. Chalk one up for the Lord!

Praying Ephesians 6:10-20 is another form of divine protection. This scriptural passage is known as The Armor of God. Praying and decreeing this scripture over yourself every day suits you up for battle against the slings and arrows of The Enemy. You have both defensive and offensive weaponry: “the shield of faith,” “the breastplate of righteousness” and “the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Within this scriptural passage, God has equipped you will everything you need to go into spiritual battle against the devil and to come out victorious.

I have given you my prayers and my list of scriptures I pray each day. Since the Covid-19 lockdowns, I have suffered no colds, no flu, no Covid-19. The only vaccines I have had have been the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) flu shots, but not this year, and I am never going to get another vaccine in my life. After the Covid fiasco, I don’t trust big Pharma. I have traded my man-made assurance for divine protection. Divine protection.

Romans 8:2 is another gem, so short that you can memorize it and repeat it at will: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” When I am rushed, I will often just decree this verse over myself until I have the chance to pray or decree the others two.

We all should be praying 2 Chronicles 7:14 everyday. It’s a way of humbling ourselves before the Lord and asking him to forgive us and to heal our nation. I pray it every day. In fact, I consider myself part of the remnant of believers that have helped maintain America as a Christian nation during these turbulent times. I take this responsibility seriously.

It reads: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” I think Johnathan Cahn first introduced me to it during one of his gatherings in Washington, D. C.

Last but not least, I like to pray John 14:6:. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Indeed, it is the one verse I have placed on the back of my business card, which I always hand to people backwards, explaining to them that the back is more important than the front will ever be. It is my way of leaving them with Jesus. I may never see that person again, but they, if they keep my card will have one of the essential messages Jesus came to deliver. It is my way of planting a seed which may lead that person to explore the Bible and to give his or her life to Christ.

I could go on. I have so many scriptures that I like to pray and to decree. Find your own. Go through the Bible. See which scriptures resonate with you. There may be one in particular that defines your life. For me that scripture is Ezekiel 37. When I read Ezekiel 37, God for me became three dimensional. Look for another blog on just that subject.

Rev. Sandy

Cordial Greetings in the Name of our Risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

25 Mar 2023 by Rev. Sandy Leave a Comment

Welcome to the Holy Spirt Church Online Blog! Glad you stopped by. Hope you will stay and learn a little something about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Mario Murillo in his excellent book, Vessels of Fire and Glory tells how neglected the Holy Spirt feels. Mainline churches may catechistically repeat the Apostles Creed in which He is mentioned, but you had better not pray openly in tongues—either in an attempt to heal someone in the congregation or motivated rise from your pew to address the congregation. To do so is to invite the wrath of the pastor, maybe even be asked to hold your peace or not come back to that particular church. I know, because on at least one occasion, I was castigated by a pastor. In that case, I was attacked and told that I was bring Satan between us when I suggested that the pastor had the ability to pray in tongues. When I thought about naming my church, I chose the name Holy Spirit Church precisely because I wanted to pay homage to Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost as He is also known. After all Holy Spirit is one third of the Trinity.

Before I get too far, I want to pay tribute to a portion of the pastors and prophetic pastors who have helped me along my spiritual journey: First and foremost, Pastors Bill and Elaine Bakkeby who together led me to Christ back in 2012. Pastor Robin R. Bullock and Prophet Robin D. Bullock whose Church International online services I rarely ever miss. (I am behind a few.), Pastor Timothy V. Dixon, Johnathan Cahn, Jane Hamon, Johnny and Elizabeth Enlow, Dutch Sheets and his incomparable Give Him 15 daily posts, Tim Sheets and Oasis Church. Prophet Barry Wunsch, Amanda Grace, Hank Kunneman Kent Christmas, Kat Kerr. The late Kenneth E. Hagin and Lester Sumrall. I am deeply indebted to each of them for how they have fed me during these troubled times. If you should read my blog and think, “That reminds me of Robin Bullock, you’re probably right. I have tried wherever possible to give each of these people credit for his or her inspiration.

Rev. Sandy

Kindness

13 Oct 2022 by Rev. Sandy Leave a Comment

(published 3/25/2018

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”- Mark Twain

I routinely go up to the altar to pray in church after I have listened to Pastor Eddie’s sermon and as the congregation is signing the last hymn. I use the time to pray for family and friends, Pastor Eddie, and the congregation, as well as to confess sins and ask the Lord for forgiveness. Often, my confessions and prayers lead to tears, as they did today. I am not embarrassed about my frailty in the moment; it is cathartic. I let the Lord lead me, as I did this afternoon.

For the past few months, I have been walking up to the altar feeling an uncomfortable weakness in my legs, a result, I am sure, of my having sat too long—months at a time—and exercised too little, not daily as I should have. Others may not notice it, but I feel it most definitely. My footfalls are increasingly tentative. Time will tell if I can rebuild my strength. For now, I will leave the situation in the Lord’s hands.

As I was walking up to the altar this afternoon, a bright young lady—in all senses of the word— arose from one of the pews across the aisle with the same idea in mind that I had. For whatever reason, she wished to take my hand and to travel as a pair until it was time to kneel. At first, I was taken aback by this most unexpected gesture on her part, not knowing what to make of it. I knew it wasn’t a romantic gesture as much as a courtly one. Be that as it may, the epitome of kindness will forever be represented in my mind by her simple desire to take my hand at that moment. I will forever remember her smile and the contagious joy she radiated.

Sandman’s Fifth Rule of Chivalry: If pretty girl takes your hand, let her. (I’ll pass on the first four rules, as soon as I have written them down.)

Unbeknownst to her, I had wrestled with feelings of abject loneliness throughout the night, spinning in my bed from side to side all night long with Raleigh to the right of me and Georgia on a pedestal at the foot of my bed. Both cats, it seemed, were doing their level best to make sure that I knew they needed me. To be clear, this feeling wasn’t despondency, nor even close to what Pastor Eddie refers to as “the dark night of the soul.” I just have to feel, and if I do, I am going to feel with an intensity which scares most, but not me. I am glad I do. Feeling even profound sadness proves to me that I am still very much alive, and that I have a soul.Photo credit: salmon-negro/Shutterstock

As the day began, I honestly didn’t know how I was going to make it through church without falling asleep during the sermon—as I had embarrassingly done last week. Throughout the service, I sipped some iced tea, hoping the caffeine would provide enough of a lift to get me through to the end. Thankfully, our church secretary had asked me to read scripture, Mark 14: 32-42, and the fear of wanting to do it well also contributed to keeping me awake. (You can Google the scripture.)

I was struck by this beautiful young lady’s kindness toward me this afternoon, and I have thought about what she did ever since I left church. She made my day a happy and fulfilling one by shifting my focus. The first thing I wanted to do after church, if I had the chance, was to thank her, which I did.

How often do we go through our days so wrapped up in our own lives that we never stop to be kind to someone whom we don’t know or don’t know well enough? How often do we bless others with our words and actions?

Thank you, my dear friend, for bringing joy to my heart today.

Rev. Sandy

(Photo credit at op of page-holding hands: lightpost/Shutterstock)

What Does it Mean to Be a Christian?

13 Oct 2022 by Rev. Sandy Leave a Comment

(Published 8/11/2017)

This afternoon I rediscovered the draft of an old blog I wrote a long time ago. It began, “Tonight, I find myself asking the question: “What does it mean to be a Christian?” What quintessential belief does one have to hold in order to enjoy the right to call oneself Christian? Strange, but I’ve never really asked myself the question.” Now, I cannot stop thinking about it, especially as we live in an age when one’s appearance is valued so much more than one’s character.

First, I think you have to believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ. You have to believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God. You can’t just say, “I believe in what he believed in,” or “I follow his teachings and try to live by them.” To me, that’s not good enough. (Maybe for you, but not for me.) Not only was he a rabbi, a teacher, prophet, he could perform miracles, the first account of which appears in the Bible at John 2: 1-11, the story of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding:

Kings James Version, John 2:1-11
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

You have to embrace the miraculous. Jesus dealt in the supernatural. If you do not believe in the divinity of Christ, then to me, you’re not a true Christian. You still may endeavor to live by Christian principles as expressed in Jesus’ two commandments:

Matthew 22: 37-39
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

If you truly live by these principles, however, meaning you believe in God, and you love Him with all your heart, soul and mind, then you have to take it on faith that Jesus was His one and only son, the intercession between Himself and his creation, man. I cannot get involved in absolute proof that Jesus existed. I do not need to, because I have accepted through faith that he did exist and through faith that he performed miracles in my life and in the lives of others, and he continues to do so through this day. This point is where you lose a person who instantly becomes a Doubting Thomas:

John 20: 25″
But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

He or she wants proof and without faith, there is no proof. I would argue that faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, my faith, has shown me proof. Not that I looked for it, but here is my proof:

1. I believe Jesus put His hand on my shoulder to comfort me and give me strength and courage at my father’s funeral. (Even there, I had already acknowledged divinity to believe that He was behind me.
2. More recently, I believe that He met my friend Carol at her hospital window when she, who had lain bedridden, rose to walk to the window–where she died. Her last words, “It’s so beautiful!”
3. I have seen further evidence of his presence in my own life when I was dying of a septic infection: My last words to the surgeon who removed a toxic kidney stone from my kidney before I went under anesthesia, “May God guide your hand.” After I had recovered, my primary care physician told me he had been thoroughly impressed by the skill of the surgeon, that what the surgeon had done was “a one in a hundred shot,” retrieving the stone the first time he tried. How else is that possible, except by the guiding hand of the Lord? At the time, I said, “[m]ay God,” but as I grow in my understanding of the Bible, I perceive it was Jesus’ hand that healed me.

To be Christian then, one must fully embrace faith in a divine Jesus Christ. One must believe, first. Believing one must then strive to live by Jesus’ two commandments as expressed in Matthew 22: 37-39.

Rev. Sandy

Advice to My Daughter

13 Oct 2022 by Rev. Sandy Leave a Comment

(Published 6/17/2018)

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill

Happy Father’s Day to all! Thought I might write a little about my father, but perhaps that’s a book and not a blog….While the rest of the world is celebrating Father’s
Day, I have been thinking….

Not being a father, I don’t have a daughter, but if I did, and if I only had one thought with which I could leave her, it would probably be this: “Always remember: You are the prize. If a man doesn’t realize this, then he doesn’t need to be in your life.” Over the course of my wanderings in life, I’ve run into so many women who, for whatever reason, are broken, chronically broken-hearted, recovering from a series of horrendous relationships. To start, somehow, each one came away from her family with such low self-esteem. The very thought makes my head spin. All of them are beautiful, inside and out. Aside from a rocky start, many have found the wrong man along the way — some regrettably more than once — and each accordingly has suffered and is suffering mightily. Low self-esteem—unless one is vigilant—is like gout; it never really goes away and can flare up disablingly under the worst circumstances.

If I had her attention, I might go on to say this:

You are not ugly. You— darling one— are beautiful, so very beautiful! Your mother and I celebrated the day you came into this world. You are not a faddish cell phone to be carelessly tossed out at the earliest opportunity in favor of a newer, shinier, younger model. You’re not, forgive me, a what my father delicately referred to as “a lady of the evening,” —a woman who sleeps with a man for money, status or power — perhaps all three. Cherish your many God-given gifts and do not share them with just any man. Make a man prove himself to you, prove that he is worthy of your love, your time and your affection. You—dear one—are the gift. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

You are, quite simply, a divinely-inspired gift from God. He was proud of His creation when he made you, and he gave you to the world to be unwrapped as the precious gift that you are.

Honor your Father in heaven by the way that you behave. Glorify Him in the way you comport yourself, most especially, in your choice of a mate, and let your mate do the same with you. 1 Peter 4:11 Your mother and I will always be here for you, as long as God gives us breath and life. We have faith in you. You will make the right choices. When you are unsure seek, first and foremost, your Father’s counsel. His wisdom— ageless and unfaltering— will serve you well.

God bless you,

Rev. Sandy

Photo credit: David Porras/Shutterstock)

David and Goliath

16 Sep 2015 by Rev. Sandy 1 Comment

I feel that I am living in a time of manifest, engulfing evil. Not that I’ve studied him, but the Old Testament god Moloch comes to mind. Rampaging, burning everything in his path, mercilessly devouring sacrificed children. Daily in the Middle East, ISIS sacrifices Christian children, as well as those of other faiths. Yet the people in the West do not see it, or they simply turn their heads. We Americans, I would venture to say, are momentarily sun-blinded by our cell phones, our iPads, our Facebook friends. Every day, I ask, “Where is the outrage? Who stands against this in church?” At times, I feel like a voice screaming in the wilderness. I hear the trees move above me, their branches scraping the rushing wind, I even hear my own footfalls on the leaves. I walk the path God entreats, but where is my fellow man, my fellow Christian? When will he save his brother?

Tonight, I stood on a stile on south beach by the club, facing the southwest. The wind must have been blowing at least 25 to 30 knots. I thought of walking the beach around to the next beach access, but then I realized my cries for help, if such were uttered, would go unheard, die unanswered. My voice would carry only into the next breaking wave, then to be scattered with bits of blowing foam on the beach and into other turbulent breakers. As it was just twilight, I thought I would save my trek for a calmer day. Sound preparation in body, mind and spirit is the steel of valor.

I am thinking of one man in particular as I write this blog.

This, I reflect, is the year of cancer. Almost everyone whom I know has either had it, or has it, or is in the process of vanquishing it. One cruel, wily, often merciless opponent. Cancer killed my father and my best friend, Dusty. I never really understood the pain until my Aunt Jo Anne had suffered from metastatic breast cancer which resurfaced in her spine. She was brave, even on morphine, she was oh so brave. Like many who have endured radiation and chemotherapy, she had trouble eating. Food was tasteless to her and she, in particular, couldn’t stand the smell of turkey—too much like her chemotherapy said she, but she did love a tasty, tender filet mignon!

What of this cancer? This Dad killer, this Dusty killer? I pray about it. I pray for Jesus healing hands to rest upon the shoulders of those afflicted whom I know. I have even asked God if I could trade places with some of my friends, if I suspected they had it. When you love someone that much, you’ll give your life for them. I remember praying that prayer once for a girlfriend and minutes later almost choking on my lunch. It was as if God were testing me, saying, “Did you mean what you said? Never forget that I, Lord of all lords, King of all kings, can seize your life from you in an instant.”

As I think of this latest friend, a Marine’s marine and Vietnam vet who now struggles with Agent Orange-induced cancer, I am 700 miles away, powerless to help him. Many days I have pondered tactics: “What other treatments should he consider? What other courses of action? “When should I go to see him?” I have beseeched the Lord on his behalf, but no prayed-for-miracle has presented. The only thought I have over and over is this: “The Lord often saves his bravest warriors for his toughest battles.” If you knew my friend, you’d know this fits him to a T. I have seen this with my father, with Dusty, with Aunt Jo Anne, with Dana and many, many others. Some, like my dear friend Marie, have beaten cancer, this scoundrel, this wrecker of lives, at least three times. I have often wondered how she did it: Special DNA? Tough German stock? (Sorry P. C. zealots, you’ll find none of your free speech suicide pills here.) Bravest warriors? Toughest battles? I think back to the story of David. David and Goliath which I reread again today.

Goliath strode onto the battlefield supremely confident of his power, his prowess in battle. Heavily armored, he terrified the Israelites:
(King James Version,1 Samuel 17:11) When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
David came as a humble servant of the Lord:
(I Samuel 17:26) And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

For the Lord had prepared him well for this day, this battle, unpretentious shepherd though he was. The Lord had prepared him well. He had fought both a lion and a bear to free a purloined lamb from their clutches:
(1 Samuel 17:36) Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

David displayed the confidence of the Lord’s will with him such that Saul allowed him to go into battle to save the Israelites from certain slavery and servitude under the Philistines.
Think of it: the once mighty, now fearful king trusted the fate of his kingdom with a mere shepherd:
(1 Samuel 17:37)David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. David invoking the spirit of the Lord, together with his “sling” and his “five smooth stones” confronted Goliath using even the same language that Goliath had in describing what would be his end. In that instant, I can hear the subtext—David in effect saying, “I am your equal”:
(1 Samuel 17:45) I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

(1 Samuel 17:46)This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

So today, I think of my friend battling cancer and heart disease with “his sling” and his “five smooth stones,” the love and grace of the Lord, Jesus’ miraculous power to heal, which assured David victory against Goliath on the battlefield:

(1 Samuel 17:47)^The Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands. My friend must summon the same courage David drew upon if he is to be victorious. In this last valiant effort, twirling the sling of the might of the Lord above his head, he must draw upon the exquisite power of the Holy Spirit with steadfast aim to lead him to sure victory.

As I reflect upon the cancer that threatens to take my friend from me, the Iran nuclear deal’s passage in the Senate this afternoon, the murderous wrath of ISIS and even the anniversary of the 911 attacks here in the United States and abroad, I humbly ask the Lord to confer upon my great friend, and also upon me, the courage of David knowing :
(1 Samuel 17:47) …the battle is the Lord’s.”

Rev. Sandy