Faith Producers International Podcast

A LIVING PICTURE OF JESUS CHRIST OUR RISEN LORD AND SAVIOR   So you want to see Jesus in the full manifestation of his glory? Then let's take a look at him through the eyes of John the revelator after the resurrection and Christ ascension to the father. After all, the last book in the Bible, the vision that John witnessed on the isle of Patmos, is called the Revelation of Jesus Christ. There's a great majority of the body of Christ that believe that the book of revelation is all about the antichrist, Gog and Magog ,and the final days of history. I've always thought it was a curious question why John, the revelator would send this message and vision to the churches of Asia. What would be so expedient about the churches hearing this message of something that was going to happen thousands of years in the future?. Also, the reading of this book, and this revelation was promised to bring them hope and encouragement, and a blessing from the Lord. I think it would be  something like calling the fire department with

WHO ARE YOU COMPLETING ON THIS JOURNEY OF FAITH?   Have you ever considered the cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews chapters 11 and 12 as personal in your walk of faith? In Hebrews 11, we have been given a list of men and women in the old covenant who walk by faith and hope in the future of God's promises. They lived in hope without receiving the fullness of what was promised them. In the first verse of chapter 12 of Hebrews, they are called witnesses or martyrs that surround us like a cloud. Then, the Scriptures tell us that we have a responsibility now that we live in the new covenant to fulfill their journey because of Christ's cross and resurrection. This idea of fulfilling the life and ministry of someone who has already stepped over into eternity is a powerful thought. The writer of Hebrews is first concerned about the shift from the old covenant to the new covenant. The old covenant saints could not be fulfilled because the cross and resurrection had not happened yet. However, they walked by faith

THE CHRISTMAS CACTUS   Hallelujah, we made it through Thanksgiving. Now, the next big hurdle to jump is the Christmas season. Everyone you know faces this season differently. Some great planners purchase gifts long before the season comes and stash them away for that big day.  My grandmother was like that. She had a couch in her front room with a compartment underneath, and all of us kids knew that was where the presents were for Christmas. And that was in the middle of summer. On the other hand, some wait until the last few days and then frantically rush around trying to figure out what Uncle John wants for Christmas. Well, some of that is in our DNA. We may be stuck with who we are because of our genes, etc. That's an opinion, not a fact. I stood next to a grand piano yesterday, looking at the Christmas cactus. The original was taken from a very old cactus. My mother had her grand piano passed on to my sister. You could call this the Esther cactus because it only blooms once a year at Christmas. The story o

THE PROPHETIC DREAM-HOW DOES IT WORK?   If your spiritual antennas are up, you will have noticed the rise of the mystic ministry in the nations of the world. For some believers, this would be brand new because of the need for teaching or revelation in the body of Christ at large. However, according to the definition of the word, the shocking reality to many who sit in church and listen to weekly sermons about God and the Holy Ghost is that they are mystics themselves. The dictionary tells us that a mystic is: "A person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity or absorption into the deity. Or who believes in the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect." Sitting in our comfortable church seats on Sunday morning and listening to the teaching of Jesus and our heavenly father, we are listening to mystical revelation beyond the intellect. The apostle Paul told us that the natural man cannot comprehend the things of the spiritual world. Why is that? To understand the myste

UPON THIS ROCK, WE BUILD   While listening to the recounting of our Thanksgiving memorial as a nation, these few thoughts dropped in my spirit that I want to share today about the founding of this great nation we live in. As our forefathers came to this land, several major miracles made the difference between success and failure. First, we are the only nation founded as a Christian nation based upon the laws of God and the Bible from its inception. We are the only nation where rulership is from the bottom up, not the top down. This is what our Bill of Rights and Constitution means: the people have a voice regarding who is in charge and who will lead us. Another central foundation stone in this nation is property rights, with a legal paper proving to the officials that we own this land we live on. Another unique thing was that each person could get involved in a free market, trading and making a profit for themselves. All these things were not true in the other nations the people came from. Yet God provided us

THE POWER AND PURPOSE OF A THANKFUL HEART   Have you ever considered the incredible wonder of the world's great orchestras when they gather fifty musicians and make music together? We call it music because it is coordinated, balanced, in tune, and on time. The second thing we notice is that they all focus on one person in front of them. We call the conductor.  As long as those fifty individuals exercise their talents on various instruments and follow the conductor, the crowd will cheer and go home, amazed at the genius of the conductor. When the natural man refers to staying in tune with the balance of the earth without realizing it, they are referring to a biblical foundational truth. Just like that great orchestra needs a conductor, everything that functions in the world we touch and see has a conductor that keeps it on time, in balance, and tune. That conductor is Jesus Christ.  The scriptures tell us that Jesus holds everything together by the word of his power. One of the most potent things that hindered

WHAT DOES GOD DO WITH YOUR PRAYERS?   There is $1 million waiting for you in the bank downtown with your name on it. To receive it, you must get off the couch, call a cab, and claim your fortune. If you received that notice from the bank, would you see if it was real? If, for no other reason, most of us will go for curiosity's sake alone. Yet we have had an invitation from the Bank of Heaven to invest our prayers for a far greater and more valuable reward than just $1 million. Jesus cried out loudly as he stood in the city's center and told the people that if they came to him, he would supply them with living water, and they would never thirst again; someone in a hot, dry country that would sound like a $1 million offer. However, as he made that declaration, many people walked by without even taking notice, too busy to have their lives changed forever. The whole human race has been invited to call on the name of the Lord and be saved. You and I, the believers, have been commissioned to pray to the Father in h

WHY DOES THE TRUTH SET US FREE?   In John 8:32, the Passion Bible says, "For if you embrace the truth, it will release true freedom into your lives." Over the past decades, philosophers and freethinkers have wondered about truth. Gathering in groups, they debate with the logic of their empty understanding, trying to find their concept of it. After the intellectuals exhaust themselves, they conclude that you have your truth, and I have mine. Let's leave it at that. Hence the confusion we live in today. And the darkness that has overcome this generation adds to the next one to come. You and I, as believers, understand when we speak of truth, we're not speaking of philosophy or the current theories of this age. We are talking of a person, Jesus Christ.  The only reason this nation that we call home has proven to be the greatest that history has ever recorded is that it Is connected to The prayer that was spoken over this land when the first pilgrims put their feet on the sands at Plymouth Rock, declaring that th

YOUR UNBREAKABLE MARRIAGE TO CHRIST   Tell me what church or theological stream you were raised in, and I'll tell you the level of anxiety you have about your salvation. That's a strange way to start a discussion of the most beautiful thing that could ever happen to us. To be born again by the blood of Jesus. God's dream from the beginning was always that he would bring us back into his family through Jesus Christ. This experience we have is called by many different names. One group of people would ask you if you've ever been saved. The next group would want to define it a little closer and ask if you've been born again. Some of our Baptist brothers call it "walking the aisle" or "shaking the hand of the preacher." Years ago, a missionary in the South Seas wrote about the natives, "running the trails with Jesus." So you see, there are different names and ideas about what we call conversion or being brought into the family of God. According to the apostle Paul, in Ephesians 5, Christ and the church (that's you

MOMENTARY MONARCHS AND OTHER DISAPPEARING TERRORS   In my youth, we sang a song in the church called "Turn your eyes upon Jesus." "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full, and his wonderful face and the things of the world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." That song captures the theme of my video tonight concerning the current situation of our nation and our society and how it's affecting Christians. I have often taught the principle that you will go toward or be influenced by what you look at. This is why media outlets and even our Internet are so controlling and damning to the soul of this nation.  We are being manipulated in so many ways. This younger generation is being ripped apart by what they look at and take into their souls. The evidence of that is the high rate of suicide that is happening among them.  They have been sold a lie about the future, and even themselves, convinced they are worthless.  Psalms 73 speaks of the same condition on the day this Psalm was written. Asaph

YOU ARE AS CLOSE TO THE FATHER AS YOU WANT TO BE   In the early days of our evangelistic travels, Arlis and I found ourselves on the East Coast of this great country. With a few days between commitments, we joined two of our best friends and headed for the Big Apple. New York City. Times Square. The Statue of Liberty. The Empire State Building. New York pizza. And at the end of the day, Broadway and the hit show Evita. What a whirlwind day that was, so much so it's still clear in my memory. As we stood in line at the ticket booth, I realized our limited finances as gospel ministers required us to purchase the ticket on the top balcony. As we were ascending the levels of balconies, I knew now why they called it the "nosebleed section." My eyes were younger then, but I still couldn't recognize the faces I was looking at on the stage below me. The sad point of this whole story is I wanted to be closer to the performers, but I couldn't afford the ticket. The good news is that the ticket has already been paid for

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT   My father was a 'sage,' and he always quoted something from the Proverbs of Solomon to support his wisdom. Our family established two repetitive habits we faithfully did all my young life. Throughout the day, my mother or father would read the Proverbs for that day. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, and most months have 31 days. Our apostle, dad's pastor, as a young man, taught us that spiritual activity. The second thing we did religiously was never take a trip in the car without quoting the 91st Psalm: "He that dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." "Remove your foot from your neighbor's house lest he become weary of you." I can't tell you how many times I've heard those proverbs quoted to me. They have saved me a lot of heartache over the years. It seems that Jesus had the same problem in Matthew 13. After having a very successful teaching time by the seashore, in the first part of Matthew 13, he decided to go home. As it tu

FIVE THINGS MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME   NUMBER ONE, SON, BE KIND AND FORGIVING. "And be kind one to another tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." The Scriptures tell us that you must show yourself friendly if you want friends. In so many words, it's telling us that kindness attracts people to you. Forgiveness toward others is the bedrock principle of Christian living; without it, you will crash and burn quickly. The scriptures tell us that if we forgive, we will be forgiven; if we don't forgive, we get bound up in our soul until we let forgiveness flow toward others.   NUMBER TWO. SHARE YOUR TOYS   Generosity is contagious in the Scriptures. They tell us that if we give to others, more will be given back to us by others. It goes on to say to us that the liberal soul will become fat. That's Bible talk for becoming prosperous. Something happens to the personality and the emotions of a person who clutches everything to himself. After a while, people shy away from person

WILD WHEAT AND ANGELS-WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH US?   Hidden secrets abound. The spirit of revelation is given, and we begin to see the kingdom of God develop before our eyes. Why does one person understand the mystery of God and the spiritual world while the one beside him doesn't? Is it a matter of intellect? Or is there a more profound spiritual truth that we may miss in this explanation? The Scriptures tell us God desires that all men and women be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Yet the Scriptures also say you cannot come to the Father unless the Holy Spirit draws you. If that sounds like a mystery, we have a good starting place for our discussion tonight. The 13th chapter of Matthew is one of the most remarkable sections of the teachings that Jesus gave us in the Gospels. Jesus was dealing with two distinct groups of people: the mass crowds that he taught by the seashore and his disciples that he taught in a private house. Matthew 13 contains his most famous parables: The Farmer and the

FRESH BREAD EVERY MORNING   The scent of fresh, glazed donuts wafts through the windows of our church on Sunday morning. Suddenly, I was hungry for one of those beautiful creations. Hurry up, get through with your sermon, Dad, I thought as I visualized one of those sticky, sweet, luscious glaze donuts in my hand. As far as I was concerned, church couldn't get over soon enough. All these years later, I can still see that donut shop across the street from the church and smell those fresh morsels of goodness they produce every morning. My buddy and I would stand outside the open door and watch them bake and dip those donuts, just hoping they would have pity on us and give us one.  The moment the spirit of God dropped that thought in my heart today about fresh bread every morning, I was instantly taken back to Long Beach, California, at 1800 E. Anaheim. And that wonderful donut shop. Three decades later, Arlis and I and our little boy Tony were in Wilmington, California, on a tremendous pastoral team led by my un

 I AM THE OLD OX- I FEAR NO EVIL   King David said in the Psalms that he was once a young man but now was old. In that time, he had never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. This was the observation of an old ox. During the Bible days, they would train a new ox in the discipline of pulling the plow. They would put that young 400-pound ox in the same yolk as a 2000-pound old ox. The old ox knew the system, understood the commands of the master, and was dedicated to the purpose that the master had in mind.  The young ox still had it in his mind to run and play. But now he was yoked to an old ox, much stronger than he. Now, instead of going, only the young ox had to do with the old ox was obeying the master's direction. This system of discipline continued until the young ox was trained to follow the direction of the master so that the job could be completed. I quoted David's Psalm when I was 20 years old, thinking that I had arrived at some plateau of wisdom, only to discover I was still t

DON'T ALLOW ANYTHING TO DIMINISH THE JESUS IN YOU   Some years ago, a man came to me in my dreams. Tapping on my forehead with his finger, his face very close to mine, speaking loudly, he said, Don't allow anything to diminish the Jesus you have right in there. Well, I paid attention, knowing that the Spirit of God was allowing that to happen to improve my sensitivity to Christ in me, the hope of glory. It's not unusual for us, current-day Christians, to consider ourselves more spiritual than the Israelites of old. We easily criticize how quickly they forgot the miracles of deliverance and supply that God gave them more than once. Yet, we find them complaining, criticizing their leaders, and even turning back to idols. For you and I to stay constantly aware of who we are and that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in you and I bodily takes daily exercise. When Paul referred to "dying daily," he referred to the sacrifice it takes to put down the old thinking and the religious view we formally carried. The Scri

I AM LISTENING TO HEAVENS CHATTER- AND IT'S ALL ABOUT VICTORY   In recent years, we have learned much about the ability of modern technology to listen to our communication systems. It can be a phone conversation or something we put out on the Internet. Some programs have been created to survey all types of communication and pick up certain words that would trigger investigations. When Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun, we could apply that truth to our age. We who are alive today have the same ability that the prophets of old enjoyed and listened to conversations through the power and grace of the Holy Ghost.  We all remember the story of the prophet who could hear the conversations in the enemy's planning room and would pass on that information to the king of Israel. In the World of believing saints today, many are listening to conversations on all levels through the Spirit of God. It is not uncommon for one of our well-known prophets to have mysteries and secrets revealed to them to stop it th

THEY WHISPER IN THE NIGHT-ANGELIC VISITATIONS   Be careful who you allow to speak into your ear. What you listen to will go into your spirit, and you will turn toward it. The Scriptures tell us to guard our heart, for out of it are the issues of life. When the heart is mentioned in the Scriptures, it refers to the very core of who we are. According to the word of God, words are the most significant influence that shapes and directs our lives. It's a common understanding that the purpose of sleep is to be refreshed and restored to our physical body. It gives our whole system time to re-group and even heal as we rest at night. However, the most significant purpose of that night's sleep is so that our soul and spirit are ministered to as well. Seeing that our spirit is the generator that keeps everything else on track, it's critical that we feed our spirit the right things for strength and wisdom. Among the many things that the angels have been commissioned to do, such as guards, guides, and defenders of the Sai

JESUS RIPPED THE HEAVENS OPEN WITH THE CROSS   I am suspicious of the school systems today on how much detail they give our students to our history and the development it took to get where we are.  How many of our youth, and even our adults, remember what the English Mag-na-car-ta was all about? In the year 1215, King John was forced by the land barons to sign a compact guaranteeing them more freedom, giving them the right to voice their opinions, etc. It was 100 years later when that compact went into force, changing the whole political and social climate in England. From the seed of that compact, we gained our freedom as an American nation and have enjoyed over 200 years of self-rule. What is part of the political confusion today is that a mass of our citizens have no idea what it means to be under the bondage of a dictator. The American experiment is one of a kind that has never happened in the history of the world. But another compact or covenant, signed and delivered, brought the entire world out of dark