Genesis 9:6 says: “Whosoever sheds a man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of Yahveh He made man.” I want us to spend some time this morning pondering on this. I believe one of our greatest transgressions is that we don’t deal with each other like we are dealing with the image of Yahveh.
For you see, I can’t come to you, Sister Suzie, and get in your face and get ugly without insulting the Father, because you are created in His image. So what I am doing whenever I abuse you or mistreat you or in any way insult you? I am insulting the image of Yahveh. I am debasing and abusing the image of Yahveh. Now that’s potent. That ought to change the way you deal with one another. If we can just think about that before we open this “fire trap”– our mouth, it ought to change the way we talk, hadn’t it; and it ought to change the way we react to other people.One of our major problems this morning is that we don’t see things spiritually. We see things in a carnal way, in the physical realm, and we don’t see things spiritually. When I look over and see Wayne sitting in that pew, I see the physical presence of Wayne. I should look over there and see Wayne and see the image of Almighty Yahveh sitting in that pew. That should be burned and branded on my heart. If that is burned and branded on my heart, that’s going to change the way I deal with you, brother. It’s going to change the way I speak to you, it’s going to keep me from losing patience with you, or your losing patience with me. It’s a matter of understanding there is a spiritual way to see things. When we see things the way the Father reveals them to us; it changes the way we react.
I cannot change your actions. Listen to me. I cannot change even one action of yours. All I can change is my reaction to your action–that’s the only thing I have control over– my reaction to your action. So what must happen is that we have to come to a place where we refuse to react in a manner that is not respectful toward Yahveh when we deal with one another. In other words, I have to deal with you like I would deal with Yahveh. Now, if we did that, it would change lots of our actions, wouldn’t it? If we did that, it would change the way we talked about one another, wouldn’t it? There’s a place we come to where we need to understand that every time I speak to you, Sister Suzie, I have to speak to you as though I am speaking to Father Yahveh, because I am speaking to the image of Yahveh. Man was created in His image. We need to realize that if mankind was created in His image, of course we don’t know what Yahveh looks like, and it’s very unscriptural to think there would be a picture of Him–but if there were a picture of Him–if there were a picture of Almighty Yahveh on this wall and we took a knife or something and went up to it and just defaced that picture–that would be so disrespectful and so dishonoring to Him, wouldn’t it? Yet, don’t we do the same thing to one another with our mouths, with our actions, with our thoughts? Don’t we do the same thing? Don’t we deface the very IMAGE of Yahveh?
The Word says the man who loves to talk and loves the fruit of the tongue will live by that fruit. Now that’s scary, people! Did you ever listen to what you say and then understand that you’re going to have to live by that? Did you ever stop to think that you are going to give an account for every idle word spoken? That’s what The Word says. If you just run around jabbering and without thinking, what’s going to happen? What’s going to happen? People, it’s serious! Many times we don’t think about defaming somebody’s character before we talk about their behavior, or actions, or criticize or gossip against them. We certainly would if we knew that when we gossip about them, we are gossiping about Yahveh. Hmm-m?
If you slander a man, you slander Yahveh. Do you hear me? If you slander a man, you slander Yahveh. None of us in our right mind would be slanderous toward Father Yahveh. Who in their right mind would try to defame Yahveh? Yet, we do it to one another. How do we expect to get the Devil out of our life if we won’t stop defaming the Creator of Heaven and Earth created in His image? People, is this impacting you like it impacted me? It‘s just awesome! How do we expect the blessings of Yahveh to flourish among us when we defame the very image of Him all around us? It can’t happen! We must not shed innocent blood by our words. When we shed that innocent blood we are defacing and defiling the image of Yahveh! Look around at the murders that happen, and not only the murder of adults who get angry and fight–I‘m talking about the slaughter of children, the premeditated murder of abortion.
I went into the website this morning, and somebody had sent me an e-mail and said, “I visited your web site–visit mine.” I clicked onto the website address, opened it. It was impacting. I put a copy of the picture on the bulletin board in the hall. It is a picture of this little baby’s body here without an arm–the arm was in the forceps over here–and the head was pulled off and lying over there–it was an aborted child! It is awful some of the things we do through out the week and then go to church on Sunday and expect it to be over!
People, I’m telling you, the church has sat back and it has by its silence condoned the how horrible sins of our time. When I first came to this town, I was very active in getting churches to put up anti-abortion signs. I think that I was the first one who spoke at the first pro-life meeting here in Augusta. The most churches didn’t want to do it–it was too controversial! How can it be controversial? It is the Word of Almighty Yahveh! “thou shalt not commit murder.”
Now – following our train of thought–How would you like to be the one who pulled the head off the image of Almighty Yahveh!? I don’t know–there may be somebody in here this morning who has had an abortion, and if you have and have sought the Father’s forgiveness, then Blessed be The Name of Yahveh–you’ve been given forgiveness for that just like you have for everything else. I’m not condemning somebody who has had an abortion; you be forgiven for it or you can get past it. I am saying that there is a place that we need to go. That we need to understand — we’re not dealing with “an embryo,” or a “fetus” or a “piece of flesh”– we are dealing with the image of ALMIGHTY YAHVEH! And that makes it serious!
Go with me to II Corinthians, the fourth chapter, start reading at the fourth verse: “Those minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Messiah, who is the image of Yahveh, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but the Messiah, Yahshua (Jesus), the King, and ourselves and your bondservants for Yahshua’s sake. For it is Yahveh Who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of Yahveh in the face of Yahshua the Messiah.”
Whatever we do to men we do to the image of Yahveh! Yahshua said, “Whatever you do to one of these you do even so unto Me.” We see those words but do we do really think about it. I don’t think that in reality we do. Because Yahshuas said, “My Father and I are One.” If whatever I do to you, the image of Him, I do to Him. Then whatever I do to Him, I do to the Father, don’t I? We are not ready to follow that thought out, are we? Because if we follow it out, that changes the way we talk to people, changes the way we act towards people, and it certainly would cause us put on the brakes when we start to curse people. Paul said, “We do not come teaching in pride; we do not come teaching ourselves.” I think that’s what a lot of the ministries are about today–they are self-promoting. A person I talked to had been told that we were in bondage because we teach that you are not supposed to violate the Commandments. Funny?? It doesn’t compute at all, does it! GRACE! You get grace if you want to violate them!?
It is so important that we understand this morning that, in dealing with one another, we are dealing with the image of Almighty Yahveh! This is the way I put the Father’s precepts into my life: I rehearse them in my mind. When I get to thinking about something I’ve done wrong, I think about the Scripture that applies and meditate on it, and rehearse it in my mind. Every time I think about it, I roll it around in my heart, and say, “Father, I want this to be a part of me, because I don’t ever want to violate in this area again. I’ve done it too may times already, Father, and I don’t want to go wrong again.” So I think about it and I meditate on it, and I make it a point to run that Scripture, or the concept that deals with it, around in my heart continuously. By the time you run it around in your thoughts for a week or two, it‘s going to become a part of you. Then whenever you start to get ugly with someone it’s going to come to mind. Whoa! That’s the way you stop those things. Understand that every successful person rehearses his response before he has an opportunity to respond.
Know that what the Father called me to do is just exactly what I am doing this morning, and it is the reason I get in trouble many times. I do not believe for a moment that whenever we start gossiping about somebody that we realize that we are defaming the Name of Yahveh. I don’t think we aware of that, do you? The Father has called me to help you think about His ways. Guess what? Some people don’t like to be reminded or told to think about what they do and say–but it’s still true! When you say you want the Truth, you’ve got to want all of it, not just the part that makes you feel good and makes it easy on you, but all of it! Some of those truths are hard on us, aren’t they -hard on the flesh? You’ve got to get the flesh out of the way to make the change, so this is the reason Paul says, “We do not come teaching in pride. We do not teach ourselves. We teach some things that it is hard to put into place in your life, incorporate into your life, and some of the things we teach are not popular”. I can relate to that, but if what I teach is Truth, it’s life-delivering, it’s life-saving. We don’t come teaching in pride. We’re not trying to promote ourselves. We’re trying to bring you to the place to where you will operate in Father Yahveh’s Kingdom, knowing that He is not only Creator of Heaven and Earth, but He has placed His image all over the Earth. Every time the Devil sees you he sees the image of Father Yahveh. Father Yahveh hasn’t changed–He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Imagine for a minute – What if Father Yahveh were a gossip? What if when I went to Father Yahveh He defamed, and talked about, and told me everything everybody did? What if The Father said, “Well, you know so-and-so–he isn’t worth anything. What if Father Yahveh said, “Well, you know so-and-so–he’s always sinning, and he’s going to always be a sinner.” What chance would you have of ever making anything out of yourself? The Father is speaking that into being. Scripture tells us that our word are important and powerful, though not like the Father’s. His words are for edification instruction and reproof.
Why would we damage the image of Yahveh when Yahveh doesn’t do that to us? He gives us grace and gives us mercy and gives us words to build and live on. Why would we tear down the very image of something we are trying to help Him construct? The minds of this age have been blinded by the lust of the flesh. That is where the problem comes in. We all have our desires, our likes, and the things that we prefer. the flesh says if you don’t prefer what I prefer, you are messed up, and that’s all there is to it.
This starts young. As a little child you know that what you have is better than what anybody else has, and that attitude comes through in us as adults. What we believe and what we have and what we do is better than anybody else. That’s why you have denominations. I’ll use the Baptists as an example because that’s my background. A Baptist will tell you when you talk to one of these dear ones about what is wrong in the Ecclesia, they’ll tell you in a heartbeat– some of them won’t, because we have others here who have came out of a Baptist Church — “Well, I’m a Baptist and I believe like the Baptists and I’ll be a Baptist when I die.” I have one response when they say that–“Oh, I’m sorry.” They are in denominational bondage. Where is our love of the Truth? No one group has total Truth. There are all kinds of ways out there for us to get hung up. The point is, we are just as subject to being wrong as anybody else, and we probably do have some wrong understandings also. If we do, I HOPE AND PRAY that The Father will open them up for us, and give us the Truth. Shine the light of the Truth on them. Understand people, I am talking about the system and I not about the people in the system. It’s because the Father has rolled back the curtains on our minds and shined a light in to reveal to us truth, not of our own wisdom, not of our own intelligence, not even of our own diligence–it’s because the Father shown us the Truth we have. Did you not read where the Father hardened Pharaoh’s heart? If you have a soft heart toward Yahveh, it’s because the Father softened your heart. Blessed be the Name of Almighty Yahveh. It’s because He softened your heart. I believe He softened your heart because you sought Him and wanted to know–but make no mistake He softened your heart. You did not do that on your own, and you did not seek Him on your own, He drew you. You see, it’s not your works that you are doing–it’s His works that you are doing. Even then it’s not you who’s doing them, but it is Yahshua who lives in you who’s doing them–so you have nothing to brag about–you’re simply available. Go with me to the book of Yacob, but in the English it’s called James–Chapter 3 and the 10th verse. “Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and cursings. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter water from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? No spring yields both salt water and fresh water.”
Insane things are going on in “he church today–out of the same mouth comes blessings and cursings. If people don’t like the message, they leave, and they shop around until they find someone who gives a message that they do like. We sure are in a mess, aren’t we? We need to submit ourselves to Almighty Yahveh and do it His way, don’t we? Yes!
Preachers change the message to accommodate the people’s sin, and I think this is the greatest tragedy that there is today. The message gets changed so people won’t feel bad about their sins. It’s like when the Pro-Life movement first came to town here–there were many churches that wouldn’t put a sign up or wouldn’t stand up with them, because it was too controversial. Why? I had a pastor of one of the biggest churches here in town say to me, “Well, I’ve got people in my congregation who have had abortions or have financed, or pressed someone to get an abortion.” Wouldn’t it be better if they knew they had transgressed and committed an abomination before the Father so that they could get on their face and repent and get forgiveness for their sin? Wouldn’t that be nice, instead of just going on and making the same mistake over and over again, and having their heart hardened to The Word?
You see, the church has learned to accommodate sin! That is tragic! And somewhere, somebody has to stand up and give the Truth. Some might say, “Well, look how few are in here this morning.” Well, that’s all right–Yahshua had only twelve. Who knows, maybe Andrew will grow up and come out of here a fireball for Almighty Yahveh. Who knows what’s in the future? Who knows all the details of where the Father is doing? But listen, people, we have to have the Truth! The Word of Yahveh must be available in order to make the changes in our lives. I’m not going to pat you on the back and say, “Sin is O.K.” I’m not going to do it. When somebody asks me, “Don’t you think it’s alright if I do this or that or the other on the Sabbath?” I say, “Wait a minute–you know, first of all, if you think I am going to tell you it’s alright to sin–it’s not going to happen! I’ll tell you what the Word says–I’ll tell you what the Word says in Isaiah 58:13-14, that’s what I’ll tell you. And if you ask me something about the Commandments, I’m going to tell you what the Commandments say. I’m not authorized, I don’t have the authority to change that for you–to accommodate your flesh in that area. I don’t have that authority.” People don’t like the message, they leave, and they hunt for a place where they can like the message. And there are preachers out there all over the country who accommodate sinful man.
The epistle of James says, “Does the spring put forth fresh water and bitter water”? Now hopefully we will think about that in connection with our mouth. I want you to go one step further this morning. What kind of message does this Ecclesia bring forth? Do we speak the blessings of Almighty Yahveh and the Scriptures out of one side of our mouth and then go out from here in our lives and gossip, talk about, belittle, deride people until poison is coming out the other side of our mouth?
We can not only do that as a person, but we can also do that as an Ecclesia by having two different stories. Brothers and Sisters, there ought not be any salt water. No bitter water coming from here, it ought to be sweet water, the sweet water of the Gospel, the refreshing of the water of the Word. What we think about the truth of the Word doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whether we think it is too harsh or too easy. It simply doesn‘t matter what we think. It is the Word, it is the Mind of Yahveh. Can this Ecclesia speak the Truth of Yahveh and the lies of Satan from the same fountain? That bothers me. It bothers me when people ignore the Word and teach a false doctrine, because it is the doctrine of that denomination. They teach the traditions of men rather than the Commandments of Yahveh. There is a wide-spread plague of that in this country today; people speaking the traditions and philosophies rather than the Truth of Almighty Yahveh.
Can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine figs? If we are the planting of Almighty Yahveh, then we ought to be bringing forth the fruits of peace that Father Yahveh brings forth. We ought to be bringing forth the fruits of life that Father Yahveh brings forth. We ought to be peaceful, easy to get along with and not be harsh, angry, bitter, nor resentful all the time. We ought to have the love and mercy and fruits of righteousness hanging all over us. Know that we or you cannot be you the Father and not be working toward having the fruits of the Father. I’m not saying you’ve got to have a crop of fruit on your vine ready for harvest this morning, but I am saying that if you without fruit, you are not going to be happy with that condition. I believe every child of Almighty Yahveh, if he never heard another message in his life, after this morning, knowing about Yahshua, and hearing this message that we are talking about this morning, I believe it would make a difference in the way he lived the rest of his life if he took it to heart and believed it.
People, it’s not about what we think about the Word. It’s about what He thinks about it. It’s not about how we react to it; it’s about what He put down. It’s not about how we modified it or how the Church has modified it; it’s about how He set it down. It’s not the traditions of men; it’s about His Commandments! Because no spring, no spring, no spring gives both sweet and bitter water. How can we praise Yahveh and give the teachings of Yahveh one moment out of our mouth and then the next moment we are speaking curses to half the people we know? That’s refreshing water and bitter water. We ought not be talking about people, criticizing people, nor be cutting people down. There’s no spring that gives fresh and bitter water out of the same spring. We must, this morning, we must with mankind as we deal with Yahveh. I’m going to tell you that in some cases can put quite a crimp in your style. In some cases that it’s very difficult to do. You ask, “What about that old mossy-backed sinner who doesn’t have anything good to say about Yahveh?” Then talk about the error in what he’s saying but, please, don’t debase that man or woman, because they are created in the image of Yahveh. They are in the image of Yahveh, and we have to deal with them with honor and respect because they are the image of Yahveh. When we debase and defame them, we are debasing and defaming the image of Yahveh. So I ask you this morning: What kind of a fountain are you? What kind of a fountain are you? Do you bring forth sweet refreshing water so any one can come by and get a drink of refreshing sweet water? Or are you bringing forth salty bitter water that nobody can drink? What kind of a fountain are you? Are you bringing forth the life-giving Word of Yahveh or are you bringing forth traditions and ideas about it? Are you a fountain brings forth life, or are you a fountain that brings forth death? Are you giving life, or are you administering death?