Pastor Aaron Cordeiro
January 5, 2020 - W2001

“A 2020 Vision For Life”

The Issachar Anointing

Pastor Aaron Cordeiro

January 4 & 5, 2020

Happy New Year, Everyone!  Oregon is 30 degrees, so it’s great to be back in Hawaii!  

Today, we are starting a new series called The Issachar Anointing, understanding the times and the different seasons that we live in, trying to discern what God is up to in the midst of all the craziness of life, when everything seems to be falling apart—and the world is on a brink of war! How do we navigate our personal lives or around the nation or globe?  What do we do?

New Year is often known for a time of making resolutions and quick fixes for a temporary, feel good solutions—whether a diet or a correction. But I want us to look at it more than just that—A 20/20 Vision For Life anchor points that will always be there!  There will be moments in life when we experience severe storms or fog, so that we will not know which is up or down and which direction to take! These anchor points will give spiritual insights that we can come back to when we have no clue of what is going on!

During the rule of King David was a time of confusion, disunity, and war.  Tribes of Israel were gathering together and choosing sides, but Issachar, one of the 12 tribes of Israel, was sensitive to the things of the spirit and the kingdom of God, and...

1 Chronicles 12:32 NIV says, “Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”

Issachar means reward, compensation, benefit, or salary, and their lifestyle rewarded others.  Your sensitivity to God is like compensation to others because you’re able to know, sense, and discern the ways of God, seeing things that God sees, and value the things that God values.  When people come to you for advice, you give them godly wisdom; godly wisdom is like compensation of benefit to people—called The Issachar Anointing.

Luke 21:1-4 RSV says: “¹He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; ²and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. ³ And he said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; ⁴ for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had.”

Jesus focuses on the poor widow.  She put in two little copper coins.  To most people, two copper coins is nothing.  People are putting thousands of dollars into the offering.  Jesus stops and says that there is value in this—the value isn’t in the money; it’s in the heart! There is more value in the heart with which we do things than just about anything else in life.

It’s not about going through the motions but finding out what pleases the heart of God! Here are three spiritual insights to help you get clarity to 20/20 vision:   

1.  Get Back To The Heart Of God

What is the heart of God?  Simply put, God’s heart is good, it’s faithful, and reliable.  Even if we run afar, He’s always there.  His love never fails.  He’s loving, forgiving, always gives His best.  

John 3:16 KJV says: “For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son.”   

He gave everything with all His heart.  It’s the difference between doing something with all of your heart unto the Lord versus just going through the motions; it’s about getting back to the heart of God! We can lose heart in our marriage and distance ourselves to the point of divorce.  The goal is not just about getting back to marriage; it’s about getting back to God’s heart for your marriage.

Or your job.  Maybe your boss is giving you a hard time and you want to get out of there.  Don’t do it!  If you think back, God gave you that job and you work unto Him—not a lousy boss; put your heart back into it!  Who knows, maybe God is about to fire the boss and make you the boss!  How would you know if you get a bad attitude and quit?  It’s not about getting back to the job; it’s about getting back to the heart behind the job, serving God, the King of kings!

1 John 3:21-22 NIV says: “²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”

What pleases God’s heart?  What does He stop everything for, that we need to get back to?  A scripture in Revelation tells about a church in Ephesus that did many good things, but they lost heart!  

Revelation 2:2-4  NASB says: “² ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; ³ and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

If you’ve lost heart, you stopped dreaming God dreams for your life!  May I encourage you that the best thing that you can do is to get back to God’s heart! When we share God’s heart with others, we become a blessing rather than a beating to them, and a powerful, deep anointing happens called, The Issachar Anointing, and the love and the joy of the Lord instantly returns! 

2.  Get Back To The Peace Of God 

Colossians 3:15-16 NIV says: “¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

In studying this verse, I found that the word rule is a Greek word brabeuo which means a referee—it's saying, “Let the peace of Christ be a referee to your heart.”

The peace of God can be fragile! A quick glance at bad news: health issues arise, a run?in with a difficult personality, a financial situation is leaning; and you start to tolerate evil, bad behavior or bad thinking, or abnormal things in your home that affect your children and future, and your peace will leak right out!  Life is short.  Let peace rule!

If you have a wrong prescription for glasses, it will affect your eyesight.  Paul speaks to Timothy, his young protege about this, that the goal of life is not normalizing what is wrong but seeing clearly as God sees: 

1 Timothy 1:5 NIV says: “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

Paul is saying to Timothy life is all about God's love.  It comes from having a good conscience, making sure we're not violating the peace of God in our lives.  A sincere faith in the Greek is a word sine cera which means "without wax."  

In ancient days, vase makers would put the vase in the kiln and if the heat was too hot or too low, it would start to crack.  A good vase maker would throw those away and start all over again.  Once they get it perfect, they would stamp sine cera on the bottom.  The dishonest vase makers would put wax in cracks, polish, and sell it.  Later, the cracks would show up and there would be some unhappy buyers!  Paul is saying faith that's sincere is faith without wax! Returning to God's heart (the peace of God), allows Him to referee things in our life, not just glaze it over with dishonesty or say one thing and live another.  Everyone looks holy and nice and spiritual in church, but the cracks in our faith will always be revealed in relationships!

3.  Get Back To Healthy Relationships

John 15:8-10 NIV says: “⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. ⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

The goal this year should be to keep good relationships. I was complaining to my dad a bit about some disagreeable people, and he said, “You know, Aaron, I've come to a point in my life where I realize that if it weren't for God's grace, we'd all be done.  As Christians, especially leaders and pastors, we say, “God, use me.” And God sends a difficult person in your life, or a difficult staff member, or a difficult person to be a part of the community.  

“When God sticks that difficult person in your space, we have the choice to say, “Oh, God, don't use me, not this one,” or, “Okay, God, I do want to be used by you.” Maybe it's in this community that God will transform their life.  When God sticks that difficult person in your space, it may be that we, collectively, can help that person. That’s God’s heart! What if God is putting this person in our community, in our space, or in our circumstance so that he or she may receive The Issachar Anointing from someone like you.”  

Matthew 5:23-24 NIV says: “²³ Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

It's time to get back to God's heart, to the peace of God, and to healthy relationships. Just as Christ loved you and me, we should do the same! I want to finish with a letter that I received on New Year's Day:

"Dear Friends, 

“As I welcome in the new decade, I realize that none of us knows if this will be our last. Much can happen in the next 10 years, and we have not been notified by heaven what those events might be. So, first of all, though I cannot look forward with certainty, I can look back with deep confidence about the blessings of friends like you. I am ever so grateful for those that God puts in our lives to keep us from stumbling and losing hope along the way. Thank you.

"And similarly, I am always stunned by God's amazing grace. I recall the miracles I never saw coming, and even with those ever-present doubts, Jesus still gave us miracles we never deserved! So, I stand here eternally grateful for friends like you who, like Moses, held your hands up while the battles were being waged, and for His Grace that carried us this far. And now here we are at the beginning of another decade still alive. Thank you, Lord.

"But there's still much to be done, a harvest to be reaped, souls to be won, and forgiveness to be given. So, let's reenlist. Let's make this a sacred decade, and whatever comes our way, let's commit to either stay here strong, or go home in glory.  But in either case, let's re-up because our best days are yet to come! We're greater together!  Wayne Cordeiro.”

When you get close to the heart of God, you may not know what's coming up around the corner, but He does!  When we get close to His heart, when we get back to the peace of God, when we stick close to healthy relationships, the world can be going crazy around you, but you'll always be close to His heart.  It's a 20/20 vision for us. Very simple. We need simple things to come back to when life gets crazy.  Amen?

Study Questions

1.      What are things that you want to change in the new year?
2.      What keeps the peace of God in your life?
3.      Can you count on some good relationships? Explain.