Read The Bible by Reverend Christie Bature: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Reach out to somebody

A man squatted on the ground, opened the pack and shoved his dirty hands inside and ate with his hand

I just turned around to go and cry again. That's a human being in America

If you see how they were running to collect food, please reach out to somebody. You'll make a difference

Jesus found in the temple

Jesus disappeared on his father and mother. They thought he was with family members but couldn't find him, so they turned back to Jerusalem seeking him Luke 2:45

Luke 2:46

If I'm looking for you over a period of seven days, is there any day I will find you in the temple? David said yes Psalm 122:1

Jesus had been in the temple three days. I always wonder, did he eat? Who gave him food? Did he have money to buy food?

As an adult he spoke of food you do not know of John 4:32.

Did he enter into his dimension of God so that he did not need food, or did he eat physical food?

I saw homeless people in the heart of Manhattan and I wept. It's the same devil. He's no respecter of persons, cities or continents. Everywhere he wants to destroy human life

They found him in the temple, not just roaming around. He was both hearing them and asking them questions Luke 2:46

Don't shut down children's questions

Young people of different religions sit down on social media, arguing and rubbing minds about truth, asking questions

If you are a parent and you have a child that asks a lot of questions, don't shut them down. Use it

Tell them to ask you about the Bible so you can teach them about God. Use their inquisitiveness to teach them about life. Channel their questions

Don't be angry when your children ask questions that sound like blasphemy. Their minds are growing and expanding. They want to know

Instead of "Shut up, why are you asking that kind of question?", ask "Why do you think so?" If a child asks "Is God a woman?", ask why they think so.

You will hear how your child's mind is working

You are afraid of their questions because you don't know God for yourself. You have not answered some questions by yourself

Trust the Lord to put answers in your mouth. If you don't know, tell your child, "Give me a day or two, I'll answer that question for you"

Write the question down. Go and ask somebody, go to the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit, and then answer your child

Jesus was God but he was not afraid, arrogant or proud to listen

There are people who come to talk to you and you size them up and say "I'm better than this person, they cannot teach me anything." Be careful

Illustration: Saul and the donkeys

When Saul was about to connect with destiny, he was sent to look for donkeys 1 Samuel 9

He took a servant with him. After 3 days Saul said, "My father will be worrying about the donkeys now, let's go back"

The servant, who shouldn't know much, said "There is a prophet in this city, let's go and consult him."

Saul said, "If there is a prophet, I don't have any money, we didn't take any money"

The servant said, "I have money." The slave gave his master money

Don't underestimate people God brings around you. You don't know what they carry

That's how Saul contacted destiny. Otherwise Saul would have gone back

Logos and rhema

Luke 2:47

People say to me, "Reverend Christie, I love listening to you read the Bible because the Bible just comes."

As I read, I'm imagining, I'm calculating in my head, "maybe this happened, maybe that happened"

I have been reading this Bible by myself for almost 50 years. I became a Christian at the age of 10 and started reading it for myself.

Before then my parents read it when we did family prayer

If you have just started reading the Bible, stay with it. The more you stay with the word of God, the more the Holy Spirit exposes meanings behind the words you are reading

What you are reading is called logos, the letters. After you read logos, the Holy Spirit turns it into rhema

What is rhema? A revealed word. A word you can run with

Illustration: bitterness

I was bitter, and one day the Lord showed me a scripture Isaiah 26:3

He said to me, "Every portion of your heart that you reserve for bitterness, I cannot keep in peace." So I had to submit those parts that were bitter to the Lord

That day the logos came alive in my heart and became rhema. The moment it became rhema, bitterness left me

As you put the logos inside you, reading the word of God every day, one day it will rise up as rhema

Illustration: the visa

Every year I read through the Bible at least once. Sometimes I finish Proverbs twice, sometimes Psalms twice

One day I read a scripture Colossians 2:14

A few days later I went to the American embassy. Eight times in five years they turned me down. My children were schooling here and I couldn't come. Only their daddy could come

On the eighth time the person interviewing me said I was not qualified, and she would put a mark against my name. Every time I come to that embassy I will be turned down

The first thing that came up in my heart was fear. But the scripture I read a few days earlier jumped up in my heart

The Holy Spirit said to me, if the blood of Jesus can erase the eternal mark of damnation, is a mark or a note on a computer something it cannot erase?

That's how the word became rhema. I said to the person, give me my document, and I left

I applied a few days later and they gave me a date in less than two weeks. It was the first time they gave me a visa without asking me one question.

"Come back in two days and pick up your visa"

When you take the time to put the word of God inside, when you need it, it will rise up

When the enemy comes, the standard the Spirit of God raises is the word of God Isaiah 59:19

The world was created by the word. There's life in the word. You have to allow the life in it to begin to work for you

Keep putting the word in. If you say "I'm reading but I'm not understanding", don't worry. The Lord will quicken your spirit man. Your flesh man will catch up with your spirit man.

Just keep reading, just keep studying

If you are less than 30 years old, don't sit with King James alone, it will confuse you. Have King James, but also buy the Message translation, the Living Bible, the New English Bible

There are many Bibles in today's English that will help you understand scripture better

Read the Bible until it explains itself. It is the same Bible. You have sat with it and the Holy Spirit has quickened your understanding

Flip the coin on the devil

Philippians 4:4

The devil tries to bring bad things to happen to you so that you will not rejoice. You acknowledge the bad things and you rejoice anyway.

That is how you flip the coin on the devil

• Lord, help me to take in your word such that when people ask me, there will be sharpness in my answers.

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His parents were not impressed

Luke 2:48

I think they were amazed for many reasons

His parents were not impressed. They were upset and hurt

Mark 6:4

Illustration: pounding yam

We visited my husband's senior sister. I had preached at their convention about 15 years before. I went into the kitchen to help her, peeled the yam and put it on the fire

I said, "I don't know how to pound very well, but I can crush the yam for you so you can make it smooth." She said, "No, I cannot ask you to pound"

I laughed and said, "Auntie, the moment I come down from Reverend Christie, I am wife, I am mommy. My children don't care, they are hungry"

The great women of God, the reverend women, carry their own bags when they reach home. You sweep the ground yourself. There is no reverend at home

Why Mary and Joseph did not understand

If you are less than 40 years old, "wist ye not" in King James will completely confuse you.

It means: didn't you know that I had to be here dealing with the things of my Father? Luke 2:49

What jumps to my mind is this.

Joseph was told by the angel to take Mary as his wife even though she was pregnant, because what she carried was of the Holy Ghost, and what to name him Matthew 1:20-21

Mary was told the Spirit of the Most High would overshadow her and she would give birth to the King of kings and Lord of lords Luke 1:35

The shepherds came to them and said, "We saw this" Luke 2:8-20. The wise men came and said, "We saw this" Matthew 2:1-12. Mary kept these things in her heart

Joseph was told by the angel to take him to Egypt because they were trying to kill him, then bring him back when those who wanted to kill him had died Matthew 2:13, Matthew 2:19-20

They had all these encounters and yet did not have an understanding of what Jesus's assignment was Luke 2:50

They probably forgot what God had said to them

• Father Lord, don't let me misunderstand anything you say to me.
• Don't let the meaning or the imprint of anything you say to me go over my head.
• Help me to understand when you speak to me, and to keep the word and have it be alive so that I can remember to implement it as you have sent me.
• Don't let me forget anything you say to me. Don't let me forget. Don't let me ignore. Don't let me be ignorant.
• Don't let me hear a word coming from your mouth and then not have understanding.
• Let your Spirit quicken my understanding. Quicken my mind. Quicken my spirit, in Jesus name. Amen.

Be subject unto your leaders

Luke 2:51

Maybe now she remembered, "this is what God said to us"

I like how he went back with them to Nazareth. He didn't say, like Nehemiah, "I am busy, I cannot come down to you" Nehemiah 6:3

Jesus could have said, "I've already survived three days in the temple without you, I can survive on my own." But he was still a child who was not yet ready

Those who have recognized the calling of God on your life and are not sitting down to be taught, not sitting down to be discipled, not sitting down to grow muscle in the spirit

You want to jump out of excitement, you will die

You are not ready to carry the weight of the anointing until you have gone through training

Joshua could never have led the people of Israel unless he walked close with Moses. Elisha could not have done a good job until he served Elijah

When you keep hearing "sons of the prophets", what do you think that is? They have the prophetic upon them, they have the call upon them.

But they had to sit down under the prophet to be taught. Don't rush off

I sat under the man who ordained me for years. Some who started with me and didn't stay are not in ministry today. Some of them are not even Christians anymore. They backslid

Jesus went back with them because he knew, "I'm not ready yet. I know a lot, yes, but I need to be tutored, I need to be mentored"

If you are in ministry, who is your mentor? Are you too big, too astonished, to have a mentor?

Jesus did not go back and say, "Now that you remember what the Holy Spirit said to you, I am King of kings, so calm down Mary, calm down Joseph." No.

Be subject unto your leaders

Luke 2:52

Why did he increase? Because he respected his mother and father. He was subject unto them. Because he was obedient

This is the fruit of obedience. This is the reward of obedience

Who is the person that speaks and you sit down even when you don't agree with what they said? Who says "hold it there" and you do, even when you don't understand?

Who do you honor in this world that represents the voice of God over your life? This is my challenge to you

Who is your mentor?