Mercy or Judgement: Your choice!

God is so faithful. God loves moving through a group of people who receive the Holy Spirit and move forward by the power of the Holy Spirit. In my view, it's never been about great crowds because God wants to touch us uniquely all the time. In my opinion, the Lord is really working on the fruit of the Holy Spirit in people's lives and taking us into new realms of fruit production. It produces growth, it produces a harvest, and most importantly, rain produces fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I want to talk about the two attributes of the Holy Spirit. These two things are mercy and judgement through the power of God, because the scriptures are all about those two things, and I see grace as the enabling power of God through the release of the Holy Spirit to help us walk through issues of life that we face on a daily basis. The two attributes of the Holy Spirit, mercy and judgement, working at the same time throughout the Old Testament but, more importantly, in the New Testament. What was the greatest act of mercy we have ever seen? Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection on the third day were out of His mercy. Why was the Holy Spirit released on the day of Pentecost? Mercy.

God made the right choice in choosing who is ordained to be part of the kingdom of God. God saw us. He saw us on the day of Pentecost. He saw us at the beginning, He saw us at the end, and He saw us at every moment along the way, and how the Holy Spirit has been an extra drive that helps us along the way. I believe everyone is a story of mercy.

Recently I found myself in Chicago as the result of airline flight delays. I was walking and walking around the airport from one place to another looking for my lost bags and it seemed like for hours. In the natural I was getting a little frustrated and it did not seem like anything was going right. I have an understanding of why those things don't go right, and I know that we're all involved in spiritual warfare. I'm sure you've had things happen in your life that you didn't want to happen. And so, with those attributes of mercy and judgement, what will I do with the great challenge I was facing? How do I respond? Judgement? Which is part of the gospel, or will I respond with the element of mercy?

We're going to find out which is already obvious which one to walk in. But there is still a lot that must be done by the power of the Holy Spirit because, in our natural ability, we want to lash out at times. As a matter of fact, Jesus always prayed simple. The gospel is simple either you believe or you don't. There are spectacular promises that are made for prophetic people in the scriptures. The feast of Pentecost releases us into a new realm of glory, and I believe with you that there is a shift in the church. As a matter of fact, I really believe that the whole gospel shifted with the sacrifice of the cross.

So there are 195 countries in the world, and in the city of Chicago, there are millions of people. And so, when I was in Chicago I booked a hotel and upon arrival there, I found I had no toothbrush nor toothpaste to clean my teeth. In terms of money I had no Canadian or American money but all I had was Bulgarian money. I like to tip people because you never know what kind of day they have had or are having Afte calling the front desk they dispatched what I needed to my room. I then opened the door and gave the lady who brought these items a handful of Bulgarian money. She looked at it, and the greatest delight came to her face. She said, "I'm from Bulgaria." And I said, "God, you have a message in this for me and I heard the Lord saying to me, "The joy of the Lord is your strength here," and all these things are going to work out for good through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so I told her what I was called to do, which is to touch lives, and when you really think about it, that's what your calling is to do. It's doing that all for the Lord Jesus Christ. For all of us. We don't need to have a high IQ for this; you just have to be obedient to the power of the Holy Spirit.

But I want to talk about big mouths. God loves using big mouths. We're going to look at one of the most big mouths in scripture, Joseph, in the Old Testament. Gensis 37. But one of the scriptures I want you to look at is Psalms 105:17–19. And so, we are going to look at the book of Genesis, and there's so much in there, but I'm really looking at mercy and judgement. There is so much and is so deep between Genesis 37 and Genesis 45 that you can park there for almost the rest of your life to get what God is saying.

Joseph and his 11 or 12 brothers are all the offspring of Jacob. Jacob was a deceiver; he did not have his act together, but he loved God. Along come all the sons, and in every one of the sons, there is a tribe named after them in Israel. Joseph was highly favoured by his papa of Jacob, so much so that he gave him a coat of so many colours that he started to prance around. Why do I put it that way? because he has brothers and one sister, and they're seeing all of this, they're seeing what's going on, and they have a natural nature. Yes, they have a God nature, God is with them otherwise, why name each of them as the head of the tribe of Israel that will be used especially in the King of Kings who had the greatest realm of mercy? Joseph gets two dreams, and he becomes the greatest dream interpreter. Some of those dreams I couldn't even figure out.

One of the dreams is of shades of wheat bowing down to him, and somehow it happened to have the same amount of his brothers, and with his wisdom, which is probably the wisdom of God and he shares it with his dad, and his dad gets confused, not understanding what it all meant, but he puts it in his heart. Joseph gets another dream, and so this dream is the moon, the stars, and all these other things that are bowing down to him, and again he shares it with his brothers and with his dad. But I think all those brothers are getting upset, and I have a little bit of evidence to share. And so, he tells his brothers, all of them get together, and their first thought is to kill Joseph. Why? jealousy. So I believe the devil was working completely in that situation, and God was also completely in that situation. Both of them are working completely to achieve their objectives. Now what's God's objective at this moment? to get Messiah to the earth. And so the enemy is bombarding the brothers, but they're also bombarding Joseph. You and I get bombarded all the time. Sometimes, I just laugh at the face of the enemy, thinking I'm so stupid and think I don't know what's going on. The greater lives in me, and He told me that He has won. So rather than kill Joseph, the brothers decide that it might be a little bit too harsh and know they have a relationship with God, so maybe they'll just throw him in this pit and maybe sell him as a slave, and that way they don't feel so bad. That's how the brothers in the Bible admired Joseph but were influenced by the enemy, and how often do you think the enemy tried to abort the plan of having Christ on earth? every step along the way.

But here's another thing the kingdom of God is still advancing, but there's still that warfare that changes this place in our natural person and in our thoughts. Joseph was not an exception either. So he gets thrown in the pit, and so is slavery, but the Holy Spirit was at work, even He knows things. So Joseph was thrown into a pit at the age of 17. For 13 years, he was being bombarded, and he got thrown into prison. He met a couple of guys, and he interpreted their dreams and accurately knew the exact prophetic words that one was going to die and the other was going to restablish what he had before with Pharao. Here is one of the things he said "I've done nothing wrong." I love the way God works and how He does things. The Bible says "His ways are higher than our ways, and "His thoughts are higher than our thoughts". I want to leave this one with you. He is still bringing the kingdom of God to earth. The Second Coming is happening, and the end of the age is happening.

All those prophetic words about the antichrist and everything that hasn't been completed in scripture are still going to be achieved. through the power of the holy spirit through His power with total opposition There's other scripture that everything is being kept together by the power of Jesus Christ in Revelations of the Holy Spirit, but when that is removed from this earth, watch and see what is going to happen. It is partially hell visiting earth, and no matter what, that's how it's taking place.

Going back to Joseph, he had the subtle attitude to get even with his brothers. So all the nations surround him thinking they were all going to die because of famine. So Jacob gets this bright idea to go to Egypt and plead with them for grain. So he sends the brothers, and now he has another favorited son and his name is Benjamin .So the brothers show up and they had absolutely no idea who they would be dealing with and of course it's Joseph.

Joseph was a very wise man who starts to play funny little games and to punish his brothers for what happened to him. He knew that Benjamin, the youngest, was his dad's favourite, so he wants Benjamin to come to Egypt.

You might consider yourself one who may have had similar or possible parallel circumstances to Joseph. I know many of us have felt that we have been thrown in the pit just like Joseph and didn't deserve it. And maybe into slavery. But maybe you are desperate to be free, and maybe today is the day. Remember mercy and judgement.

Judgement was the characteristic of stories, characteristics of God to judge them and to fulfil the advancement of the kingdom of God. God understands. The crown of thorns when Christ had been whipped, scurried, and nailed to the cross doesn't sound like mercy, but it was His mercy extended for us. That sacrifice became our sacrifice, and that's where mercy enters. God's mercy triumphs always over judgment.

Is there judgment? Yes, but God's mercy through the Holy Spirit and the release of Pentacost, the mercy of heaven, is released, so we would go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. That the issues within us would not prevent us from advancing the kingdom of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So Joseph had this battle in his mind going on to kill all those who threw him in to the pit ot in some way punish them. Or should he just give them life because really that's what the wheat and the grain represented, life. To extend life to his family would take great mercy.

God, in His wisdom, looked down and saw humanity the humanity that would usher in the messiah to this earth. The Lord is determined is to use all these things for good. Mercy is the most important attribute, for starters. It says in the Bible, "Whatever you sow, you will reap." So, if I send judgment, I wonder what I will reap.

A seed of life of mercy, a seed of life, just like how that grain was a seed that Joseph sowed back into the lives of his brothers. This story is never ending and continues in our lives daily as we choose between mercy and judgment.

And so, the brothers get reconciled , and the whole family is reunited which is the ultimate work of the cross. Jacob can't even get over it all, and he wants Joseph to be there when he dies, and he releases the blessing on all the brothers. Isn't God good? the brothers took out their natural on Joseph and God said "Joseph, don't go against them". Joseph did nothing wrong other than some decisions he made but that could've been the will of God. Your mistake in life could've been the will of God. The Bible contains all the mysteries and secrets Which we have yet to see but will be fulfilled in the Lord’s perfect timing for our lives.

Answers will be forthcoming even some of the tough questions will be answered in HIS time. Joseph, in the end, made the right decision to give life to his brothers. Jesus and HIS sacrifice, is the greatest act of mercy, giving us eternal life his very own brothers and sisters through the Holy Spirit.

I think the Lord is releasing us from premature judgements because HE simply is not finished with you yet. In Psalms 105:17–19 it states: "He sent a man before them. Joseph, who was sold as a slave, They hurt his feet with fetters. He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him."

Remember it is the Lord who tested our resolve to walk with HIM in complete communion with the creator of the universe. We can increase every day through the power of the Holy Spirit because the Lord Jesus Christ is here. I love the words of Paul, where it says "Forget what lies behind and press on the call of the Lord Jesus Christ". Much love.