Quick update...

To all of you who have been visiting with us lately via the web and those that are being sent to our website via Olive Branch members, we welcome you. Due to a collision with the obvious, we have now seen that using our radio station technology and Skype is good way to bring the discipleship training and instruction that is the focus of Olive Branch Ministries to the greater body of Christ.

If you have come in the last few days to pick up our stream or to join us via Skype, we apologize for our apparent floundering with the technology. This "solution" snuck up us. We believe we have solved many of our issues in providing Skype access that is problem free. All the info you need is on our Skype page, but just as a reminder, our skype name is olivebranchonline.

We are planning on broadcasting live streams of some of our bible studies. At this point all we can offer is audio, though we believe we are one cable away from having a video solution. Please pray for us as we continue to hone our system. We need G-d's wisdom and care in this.

The best process that we have seen is that you connect with us via Skype so we know that you are watching and want to participate. This will allow us to put out a group contact when we are ready to start and then you can use the player to watch and listen. If you have questions, you can then post it via Skype or wait until the end when we will open up the speakers so the Skype audience can participate. One reason we can't at this point have the speakers on during the study is due to the feedback that occurs. Pray that we find a solution so that we can have live interaction.

God bless you all for coming. Shalom.

Pastor Llave

The Gift of the Spirit

One of the greatest debates surrounds this question, "How do I know when I am filled with the Spirit." With so many denominations having so many opinions and in some cases actual balanced approaches it is amazing to discover that most people have come to believe that the filling is some kind of other-worldly, super-spiritual, emotional vibration that overtakes you and you are transported into the realm of the giant-killing mega-Christian.

"Ok, class, for this exercise we go back to the basics"

In John 3, Jesus and Nicodemus are talking. Jesus says, "To see the kingdom, to understand the kingdom, to move in the kingdom, you must be born again." Look out sacred cows! Nicodemus already had covenant relationship. Nicodemus already understood the hebrew word Yeshua, which means salvation, which is the Hebrew name that the Isrealite "Jesus" had. He was expecting the messiah of Israel. He was even asking Jesus if he was really the one. So, was Jesus asking Nicodemus to come down to the alter and get saved? "If you know you are a sinner, come down to the alter and ask Jesus into your heart."

This passage is about the Spirit of God. It is about the fulfillment of the words of the prophets that the Lord would pour out His spirit upon all flesh in the last days. Nicodemus asks about the man and his role in delivering Israel from the oppression of Rome, Jesus introduces the Spirit instead, which, if you can see what Jesus is really saying, is the best way to discern whether Yeshua was really the one they were waiting for and what His Kingdom was going to accomplish. The key ingredient in the effort to see the kingdom is being "born again". It really was about expectations that were built upon promises that G-d had left to the fore-fathers of Isreal and it was about the birthing of the Holy Spirit who would make these expectations come to pass.

If the Kingdom is your focus then born again takes on a somewhat different view. Look at an infant. What do we train them in first? Simple obedience coupled with self control. Jesus on numerous occasions points out children as examples of the heart and mentality that must exist in any person that wants to walk in the Kingdom of God. Why? Because their "normal" attitude is to have simple availability to obedience and, if you know what your doing, can be trained in self-control. Jesus is our example in these two qualities. John 5:30, "I never do anything of myself, but what I hear from my Father, that is what I do." Obedience and Self-Control. Now look at Paul's writings. "Be filled with the Spirit!", "Walk in the Spirit!". Many can quote the gifts of the Spirit, "Love, joy, goodness, kindness, patience, and...Self Control!"

If you are beating yourself up about whether you can walk in the Spirit and do great things for God because you compare yourself to others who have declared that they are spiritual and do all these amazing things, I point to James 3. He said that the tongue is an unruly evil and it sets fires that can not be controlled. Oh the damage caused by the total inability to control the tongue and resist and rebuke those who can't. Being filled with the Spirit does not start with your ability to do signs and wonders. It starts with your ability to be obedient like a child and control yourself. A message that even Nicodemus needed to hear, and one that, if we are humble, should shake us to our foundation.

Shalom my fellow saints, pastor Llave

Jesus Gathers!

What can we say about gathering? The full purpose of the gospel is revealed in the statement that Jesus made, namely, that he would turn back from the 99 sheep already in the fold to find and gather up the one sheep that had lost it's way. No other idea more fully, or more visually, describes the vocation to which we have been called. The fullness of G-d's righteousness is revealed in His love and that love is revealed in the Messiah, who came to gather His people to Him. This was in fulfillment of various statements by the prophets. He would set the standard of gathering. He would set the standard that had already been established in the architectural vision of the Heavens of G-d.

When you then go and read Paul speaking to the Corinthian church, what do you find? A man who is speaking of the same reality. He speaks of laying a good foundation, that of Jesus and him crucified. This is introduced in 1 Corinthians 3 after revealing to the Corinth believers that they have two problems plaguing them. First they tend toward celebrity worship and second they have patterns of carnality because they have jealousy and strife. These behaviors cause this church to be entirely self-focused and not aware of the high vocation of gathering people to the gospel. Paul challenges them with their understanding of the Spirit and does not let up for almost two whole letters.

Why is this? Why does Paul so radically defend the integrity of the Spirit of G-d? Because there is nothing greater. If Jesus teaches in John 16 that the Spirit will lead you into all truth, which is really captured in the Word of God, does not this mean that man should find his fullness in listening to the Spirit of G-d. If G-d says that He loves with the balance of Mercy and Justice, would not the Spirit lead us to do the same? All G-d's people would say amen to that to be sure. However, Paul calls the Corinthians carnal! Speaking the words in eloquence but incapable of maintaining unity and gathering the wounded and shackled and defending the body of Christ from the invasion of darkness for the sake of G-d's holiness.

Are you a gatherer? How does your speech impact people? Are you a busybody? Consumed with other people's business and assessing their decisions for the sake of protecting your own view of life? Or are you holding up Luke 9:23, "If you desire to be my disciples, deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me." You can discern a true disciple because they approach the cross through Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for they shall inherit the Kingdom of G-d". This group has lost their life in the flow of the Kingdom and the gathering of souls. They stay close to the Spirit and the leading and power of His demonstration. They bare fruit in keeping with righteousness and never lose sight of the Crucifixion of Jesus or the new life he brought in the resurrection.

Consider your paths. Endeavor to keep the unity of the Body in the bond of peace!

Shalom. Pastor Llave.

Beaver Dams and The Word?

You might laugh at this title, but there is something to it. I was asking the Lord a question, "How does one come out of old patterns that were imbedded in the soul and mind over years of life on the earth?". I was doing so as I walked in the woods behind the house. We have this really amazing ecosystem that I would say most here in Atlanta don't even know about. It's main visual feature is a lake but it is actually fed by a small river and that river has a number of communities of beaver. The dam structure that I was standing by is about 200 yards long and it meanders across this entire lake. Below it is fresh water and small bushes and grass. Above it there is a war zone of fallen trees and others that are still standing out in the water like frozen skeletons. The water is fetid and has the unpleasant smell of death.

The contrast is rather striking every time I see it. Life below; death above. The Lord grabbed a hold of my spirit and told me to look at it carefully. So, I did. As I was observing He said, "What would it take to restore this location back to a forest and river ecosystem?" I said, "Well if you do it naturally I would guess the best method would be to raise up a storm that would dump a mighty rain that would wash down the river and bash the beaver's dam to pieces and at the same time clean out all the death in the waters. Then it would have the opportunity to regenerate without the influence of the beaver's mentality."

I was shocked. There, right in the middle of the forest God was able to confirm how valuable the washing of the water of the Word is. People go to counselors, psychologists, and doctors looking for every answer under the sun to fix what ails them. Christians do the same. But does not G-d Himself say over and over again that the Word of G-d is key to a healthy and blessed life? Paul said, "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." Is your life backed up behind a dam of indifference, rebellion, intellectualism, and mental religiosity? Be renewed in the spirit of your mind by flooding it with the Word G-d. Let His word create in you the reality of your resurrection here in this life. Let His word define for you the life of the Kingdom and the access you now have to His grace. Let His word define your present and future so that the contrast between them and your past is so start that people who circle your life will marvel at the goodness and mercy of G-d as they see the power of G-d's word clean and restore you to the image of the Messiah of Israel, the greatest image of righteousness!

Blessings to you all. Shalom. Pastor Llave

The Modern Christian and Fighting

Perhaps it is easy to proclaim that fighting is a pattern and condition of the Old Testament. Wars were the stuff of Ancient Israel and for the nations, not for Christians; not for the redeemed. We are taught that we are to turn the other cheek and let our enemies have power over us because that gives us the opportunity to be a "good" witness. I am not trying to take away from the admonition of Jesus to his disciples. He recognized that in Roman tradition to strike a man with your left hand was an offense for the Roman not for the one being hit. To say this was to say, there is a way that your behavior will bring shame to your enemy.

This doesn't take us away from what fighting really is. I speak mainly to the western version of Christianity where violence is eschewed as some kind of backwoods neanderthalic method of dealing with enemies. But in saying that, isn't the real confusion really about who the enemy is? Paul declared in the book of Ephesians that we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness....Why do we have to argue about the voracity of this statement? Why do we have to rationalize Paul's true narrative here? What do you think it was that John saw in Revelation 12:12-15? Do you believe that God cast satan out of heaven for his rebellion? Do you see that he was cast out and into the earth?

Another clue is the description of Adam's responsibility: "Subdue!" Why would Adam, who lived in a so called "perfect" garden, need to subdue anything at all? Would it not be conceivable to believe that, as Jesus said, "he saw the devil cast down to the earth like a bolt of lightening", and therefore the deceiver was already in the garden? Would it not also be conceivable that the serpent was borrowed as a communicator and that the effort to deceive Eve took some time? Look at Jesus in Matthew 4. Three temptations. Three decisive victories using the Word of God. But also the patience of a skilled attacker who is looking for weaknesses and has contingencies in case one method does not succeed. He is a lion, a hungry lion, who walks about, seeking whom he may devour! Cats by nature are patient hunters.

We underestimate our enemy and we underestimate our own capacity. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God suffers violence, which is to say that as God is communicating to people with the Spirit, both the message and the messengers are under constant attack because to hear G-d's communication is to get free of the very prison that the devil himself built: the prison of lies. The verse ends with this phrase, "but the violent take it by force." Is this physical violence? Not in the fist fight sort of way, but Paul declared that he buffets his body and makes it his slave. Why? Because he understood, as so many Christians seemingly do not, that the body, mind, and heart are the battleground for the spiritual war. He had to be aggressive to hear and he had to be aggressive to respond accurately, consistently, and honestly to each imagination that would come against him to resurrect the first Adam that had died on the cross. For Paul, this was a serious issue. He didn't want to lose a single ounce of that kingdom vision that he had owned for himself and he protected it with tenacity. Are you a fighter? KAB!

Pastor Llave

Look for our digital E-Booklet by Pastor Richard Weintraub called, "The Face of Deception" for a more detailed look at this issue. It will be online in the next couple of weeks.