Category: Sermon

Recordings; notes; and/or scripture references from the weekly sermons from the RCF pulpit.

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It’s a New Day

by Pastor Marie Esposito

Sing a new so; my new song is from Psalm 40:3+ Ps 119:117

A New Song.
A new song for a new day rises up in me.
Every time I think of how You breakthrough for me.
A new song for a new day comes to set me free.
With every breath, in every movement, I give You praise.

Break open your Word within me, ‘til Your Light shines out.
Break open your Word within me, ‘til I shout out loud.
With every breath, in every movement, I give You praise

Empower me to live each moment In the Light of your ways.
Empower me to live each moment In the Light of your grace
with every breath, in every movement; I give You praise

It’s a new day. Father whispered that to me several months ago and gave me this Word, this song; listen to His Voice for your new song, a fresh Word from heaven.

Isaiah 60 – Be radiant – GOD’S Calling you to Himself in a new way. Listen for His instruction and follow Him.

Isaiah 60:1: “Rise up in splendor and be radiant, for your light has dawned, and Yahweh’s glory now streams from you! 2: Look carefully! Darkness blankets the earth, and thick gloom covers the nations, but Yahweh arises upon you, and the brightness of his glory appears over you! 3: Nations will be attracted to your radiant light and kings to the sunrise glory of YOUR NEW DAY.
You have a new day and a new song.

My new song is from Psalm 40:1-3.
“I waited and waited and waited some more, patiently, knowing God would come through for me. Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry. He stooped down to lift me out of danger from the desolate pit I was in, out of the muddy mess I had fallen into. Now he’s lifted me up into a firm, secure place and steadied me while I walk along his ascending path. A new song for a new day rises up in me every time I think about how he breaks through for me! Ecstatic praise pours out of my mouth until everyone hears how God has set me free. Many will see his miracles; they’ll stand in awe of God and fall in love with him!”

“Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 TPT. We can Sing a new song, covered in His glory.

This New Covenant “glory” that covers us exceeds everything of the Old (2 Cor. 3:7–11), and we can be certain that God, in Christ, has made a complete provision for the well-being of our total person. It’s a new day.

Yahweh’s glory rises in our life from within, and that glory is activated, reclaimed, and released through faith.

God desires us to rise and shine in faith and with faith, which produces more faith and activates faith with increasing faith. As we do this, believing in Him, His glory rises upon us, and we shine even more. God sees faith in us; He sees Jesus in us and how we are acting and reacting, in the faith that Jesus multiplied to us, through our obedient response, to His Word. It is in that faith realm that He sees us shining. Fasten your faith in God alone, believing in His love, His faithfulness, and His Word.

I Peter 1:8

We want to live an ascended life in the realms of glory—the place where God reigns.

Glory – the splendor, holiness, and majesty of God. The word glory conveys a sense of heavy dignity. It is the very essence of His Divine Presence. IT’S JESUS.

Heb 1:3

Effulgence: the ability to shine brightly filled with radiant beauty and goodness.
Filled with Jesus. His glory is the manifested Presence of God on the earth. We carry this glory. This magnificent effulgence.       FORGIVEN.HEALED.RESTORED.EMPOWERED.

ADAM – US.

We continue on the path of righteousness, growing in a progression of faith by continually saying yes to the Holy Spirit until we are prepared and ready to receive the bridal garment of glory. This is the end of the journey on the earth for us to prepare and be ready to rule and reign with Him here, co-labor with Him, and return with Him to reign in the time of the Millennium. God is working this very position into our lives.
It’s a new day. Sing a new song of victory. It comes from Jesus.

Come to the table, and receive. Come to the table, and believe.

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Christmas: The Light Has Come

by Pastor Roy Esposito
  • John 1:4-5 “In Him was the life, and the life was the light of men.”
  • Life – ZOE – The principle of life
  • “The light of men” – Light that makes sense of human existence.
  • ”…not comprehend it” – The darkness is unreceptive to the light and doesn’t understand it; hence, it cannot control it.
  • Luke 2:10-11 – ”Good tidings of great joy” – The light is not only greater than the darkness; it will also outlast it and give us the ability to make sense of God’s purposes.
  • John the Baptist – a Prophetic voice sent to “prepare the way of the Lord.”
  • Luke 1:76-79 – Zacharias’ Rhema word over John.
  • 1 Corinthians 12:27 – “Now, you are the Body of Christ.”
  • Luke 1:80 – “The child grew and became strong in the Spirit and was in the desert till the day of his manifestation to Israel.”
  • A Present Word: The prophetic voice is honed, in the desert, before it’s revealed in God’s perfect timing.
  • Isaiah 60:1-5 “Arise, shine for your light has come….”
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Christ Our Peace – 4th Sunday of Advent – 19-Dec-2021

by Pastor Roy Esposito
  • Psalm 94:12-13(Mess) – He provides a “circle of quiet” within the clamor of evil.
  • Ephesians 2:14 – He, Himself is our PEACE.
  • Empathy – Getting a sense of another’s mind.
  • “Jesus’ gentleness toward sinners flows from His ability to read their hearts.” – PR
  • “Beyond the grumpiest poses and defense mechanisms, beyond their arrogance and airs, beyond their sneers and curses, Jesus saw little children who hadn’t been loved enough and had ceased growing because someone ceased believing in them.” – Brennan Manning
  • “Hostility and Estrangement” = “Enmity and Alienation”
  • Human Wisdom’s solution – Focus on circumstances.
  • True Wisdom – Focus on man’s estrangement from GOD.
  • Romans 5:1 – Jesus, our bridge back to God.
  • Luke 5:1-11 “Two Boats” – Freedom of choice.
  • Proverbs 18:10(TPT) God is a tower of strength for the lovers of God’s delight to run into.
  • James 4:1-2(TPT)
  • The “human way” has a foundation built on unredeemed and unrepentant hearts with lives lived in the ILLUSION of SELF-IMPORTANCE. 
  • These lack the humility necessary to ASK GOD for what they need.
  • Psalm 25:8 “Good and upright is the Lord who shows sinners the WAY.”
  • Ephesians 2:11-14(TPT) – “Our reconciling Peace is Jesus!”
  • Psalm 121:1-2 – “Our help comes from the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth.”
  • Philippians 3:20-21(TPT) – “We are a colony of heaven on earth….”
  • James 3:18 – The Peacemakers: Sowers of righteousness.
  • Matthew 5:9 – “Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS for they will be called the children of God.”
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Jesus Our Joy: 3rd Sunday of Advent

by Pastor Roy Esposito

– Advent – a time of reflection and anticipation 

– Luke 2:8-11  – ”Exceeding Joy.” 

– Happiness –  is subjective to your state of mind. It comes from outside yourself and depends on something “happening” that’s unexpected and pleasurable.

– Joy  – emanates from within and doesn’t rely on external circumstances.

– The message of exceeding joy was that it was now possible for people to be changed (transformed) from within.

– John 1:4 –  Jesus, the LIGHT of men – the Principle of LIFE  (Zoe) who brought enlightenment to mankind.  – The Transformational Connector to God the Father.

– Matthew 16: 25  – “For My Sake”  –  For the sake of the TRUTH

– SOUL CONTROL  – being bossed around by automatic emotional responses to circumstances

– Two Choices: 

 1. Keep control – Have to make every decision with incomplete info

 2. Give control to God and receive transformational promises of the New Covenant

– 2 Corinthians 3:6 –   The LAW kills – The SPIRIT gives life

– Luke 5:1-8  – Two Boats   – Our Way / His Way

– Romans 2:4 –  God’s KINDNESS leads to repentance

– 1 John 4:19 – We love Him b/c he first loved us

– 1 John 4:10  – True repentance is the result of a revelation of God’s unyielding love for us

– Romans 12:1-2 – Repentance occurs, transforming us as our minds are renewed

– Titus 2:11-12 – Grace is a teacher and leads people to repent

– Grace – Does not result in Superficial Behavior Modification but with Permanent Interior Heart Transformation

– “O Christ, my JOY.  Allow us the Joy of your presence that transcends the sorrows of our lives.”

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Jesus the Way: 2nd Week of Advent

We are in the season of Advent, celebrating the second Sunday, a celebration of Jesus- The Way.

This season is a time when we have an anticipation of His coming.

We have an expectancy of His Presence, 

much like when we sit at His feet in worship in our prayer closet, 

prepared. When we come together on Sunday, we wait for Him and expect His arrival. 

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

He is the Way to God. 

Jesus is the Light of the world. He lights the Way to God.

Some truths from John 14…

Jesus said:

Let not your heart be troubled… [The remedy for a troubled mind is to believe in Jesus as the Way. Christ is the sinner’s Way to the Father and heaven.]   

Jesus continues: where I go, you know, and the way you know.

Then Thomas says: Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?

Jesus replies, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). He is God manifest in the flesh- the very image and likeness of God.

The verse following is interesting:

John 14:7 -If you had known ME, you would have known My Father also, and from now on, you know Him and have seen Him.

In other words – If you had recognized me…my character, my design,

Who I am, the glorified Son of God…saw what I was doing…

Then Philip says, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.

Jesus replies He who has seen Me has seen the Father. The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in ME does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me…

Then He shares His Truth: His Way:

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and  My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words, and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent me. 

JESUS IS THE WAY TO THE FATHER AND THE FATHER’S LOVE. BELIEVE.

Then a few verses down in John 14, Jesus promises to send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in His name, and He will teach all things. He is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation…Who reveals the Christ to us and causes us to ‘know’  Him, His plans, and to know that we are “accepted in the Beloved.”

He loves us; we can love others with that same love.

John 16:2

The Holy Spirit of the Living God is the Teacher. The Spirit of God’s intention is not to help us in our personal mission but to press us into greater submission to God so that we can bear much fruit in the world and look like Jesus.

John 15: 9-11

Psalm 86:11

“When we read the book of Joshua, we learn the ways of God: 

how he moves us forward, how we triumph over our enemies, and how we do the impossible.”  TPT

We can read the gospels.

Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Light of the world, the Door, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection, and the Life, the True Vine, 

the WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.

He is the I AM – JEHOVAH SHAMMAH- I AM HERE.

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Our Hope in Christ: The First Week of Advent – 11/28/21

by Pastor Roy Esposito

Our Hope in Christ:
1st Week of ADVENT
by Roy Esposito

  • Advent – The Coming or Arrival
  • 2 Focuses – REMEMBERANCE and ANTICIPATION
  • Psalm 42:5 – “Hope In God”
  • “His Continence” – Abiding PRESENCE and His SALVATION
  • Psalm 43:5 – “Hope of MY continence” – A guaranteed Hope  that sustains LIFE
  • Lack of HOPE – Paralysis and effectual death
  • Relevancy – The spiritual battle for meaning
  • 1 Kings 10:1-13 – Queen of Sheba’s awe
  • Ecclesiastes 1: 14-18 – Solomons lack of HOPE
  • Matthew 7:16 – Known by our fruit and NOT by what we possess
  • Human Wisdom – Seeks to ACCUMULATE
  • Spiritual Wisdom requires DIMINISHMENT
  • “Shaping” – How human experiences are interpreted by the soul
  • Solomon put his hope in what he saw and what he possessed
  • They became his IDEALS – Ideals are IDOLIZED – Idols are WORSHIPPED
  • His Idol was SELF CONTAINMENT
  • Hebrews 6:10-12,19
  • Souls – “SOFT  WAX” on which IMPRINTS are made
  • Jesus – A NEW IMPRINT >>>> A NEW NATURE
  • Colossians 1:27 – “Christ within, the HOPE of glory.”
  • Glory (Heb- Kabud) The glory Jesus shared in the luminous brilliance of His Father
  • “Jesus is the power and wisdom and holiness of God almighty. No thought can contain Him; no word can express Him. He transcends all human concepts, considerations, and expectations.” –Brennan Manning
  • THIS is the inconceivable power of “Christ Within,” which IS our  HOPE!
  • Romans 8:24 – The HOPE through which we are SAVED
  • Romans 15:13(AMP) “May the God of your HOPE fill you with all joy and peace in believing….”

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Forget Not His Benefits

                             Forget Not His Benefits                 11-21-21

  • A False teaching:
    • The more we know about God, the more accountable we are for our failings
    • The more severe will be our punishment.
  • Truth: The closer we draw to God, the SAFER we become
  • Isaiah 53:4-5 – Jesus bore our chastisement – Rebuke, Reproval, Punishment
  • Hebrews 12:7 – NT chastisement:  (Greek)  Paideuo – “child-training,” a discipline that’s administered with love and never harshly
  • 2 Corinthians 12:7 – Paul’s “Thorn in the flesh” – not literal but an Irritant
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “A messenger of Satan.”
  • Numbers 33:55 – Israel’s enemies called “THORNS and Irritants.”
  • Acts 19:11-12 – Paul’s handkerchief healed the sick
  • Fear is NOT the Good News/Gospel
  • 1 John 4:18 – “Perfect love casts out all fear.”
  • Psalm 103:1-8 – “…Forget not His benefits.”
    1. Forgiveness
    2. Healing
    3. Redemption (Hebrew) Ga’al – to buy back something that was lost through helplessness, violence, or poverty
    4. Loving-kindness and mercy – personal love, attention, and care
    5. Fills my mouth with good things:  blessings, not curses
    6. Renews our youth – the vitality of the young
    7. Administers righteousness and justice when treated unfairly
    8. Slow to anger – hard for Him to get mad at us
  • Isaiah 53:3 – He is acquainted with your sorrows
  • Acquainted – He became INTIMATE with them and overcame them by the Light of His love.
  • Psalm 103:11-12(AMP) “As far as the east is from the west…”
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From This Side of the Cross

by Pastor Roy Esposito

  • David’s 3-Fold Anointings – King – Priest – Prophet
  • Psalm 32:1-2 – “Forgiven” – lifted off – “Imputed” – charged to an account
  • David prophesied of a time After the Cross when a person’s sins would not be charged to their account.
  • Romans 6:23 – The “wage” of sin: death – was fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the Cross
  • 1 John 2:1-2 – Our Advocate and the propitiation (appeasement) for our sin
  • 1 John 4:17 – “For as He is so are we in this world.”
  • Romans 6:15-16(TPT) – The revelation of the Cross’s produces MORE love, not LESS
  • The greater the love, the greater the strength we’ll have to break sin’s power over us. –PR
  • The “GOOD NEWS” – Psalms 32:1 – “Blessed is the man whom the Lord WILL NOT impute sin.”
  • John 8:32 – “This revelation of the Cross is the Truth that sets people FREE.” –PR
  • Staying on the “wrong side” of the Cross will keep us bound to the fear of God, our only true source of freedom. –PR
  • Devil’s tactic – Distort our understanding of scripture because he knows it is the book of our inheritance
  • He is a master illusionist who holds a Ph.D. in Lying
  • Matthew 24:11 – Jesus warns of false teachers and false prophets.
  • BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHOSE TEACHINGS YOU’RE LISTENING TO.

Hint: Check for the right ORTHOCARDIA – the right heart.

  • Leviticus 26:27-28 – Before the Cross
  • Colossians 2:13b-14 – After the Cross
  • Isaiah 53:4-5 “By His stripes, we are HEALED.”
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Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

  • 2 Tim 2;15 (KJV)     Study to be able to “Divide” the word of truth
  • Jack Hayford – “Dividing” – to rightly DISCERN scriptural truth by capturing the Spirit of the Word
  • The Cross – Transformational in human history: Where Love and Mercy superseded Law 
  • Orthodoxy – Correct Beliefs – Orthopraxy – Correct Practices – Orthocardia – Correct Heart
  • 1 Cor 13:1 (TPT) – all is noise without Love
  • Having correct beliefs and practices are not adequate for transformation
  • Matt 23:23 – The more important moral and spiritual matters: Justice (doing the right thing) – Mercy (kindness and mercy) – Faithfulness
  • All beliefs and practices must flow from hearts that are oriented towards God’s heart of love and mercy to contain transformative power.
  • Rom 6:14 – Governed by grace
  • 2 Kg 1:1-16 – Elijah calls down fire
  • “Many believers today live as though the Cross made NO difference; thus their hearts have not yet been fully converted.” – PR
  • Lk 9:55-56 — “You know not what manner of spirit you are of.” – Jesus
  • Jesus has come to destroy the works of the devil (1Jn 3:8) but also the works of our natural mindsets
  • Rom 8:31 – “God is FOR us!”
  • Dark Times: Not Punishments but Opportunities to cling to God more tightly and receive more Amazing Grace
  • Isa 59:19 – RCF’s banner “RESTORATION.” 
  • Jer 1:12 – He watches over His Word to perform it!
  • Jer 29:11-29 – His good plans for us
  • 1 Cor 13:8 – “Love never fails!”
  • Isa 58:12 – “Repairers of the Foundations of Faith – Restorers of Communities.”

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FOLLOW JESUS – Hear and Walk

In Genesis 3:8

Deep calls unto deep.

Mark 1:16-18 Come after Me and be My disciples, and I will make you become fishers of men. 18, And at once they left their nets and FOLLOWED  Him joining Him as disciples and siding with His party. 

Matt 16:24-25 – “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my FOLLOWER, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

We need to Walk in submissive independence in order to get lifted into the Spirit realm, enabled to walk with Him in the outworking of His purpose and will, maintaining His abiding Presence in our walk. The walk is an ascension.

I John 2:5-6

John 13:35- “for when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you are my true follower.” 

Eph 1:17-18-19 

One step at a time, we follow His footsteps and walk in His ways. 

You will hear a voice behind you saying: This is the way, walk ye in it. Is 30:21 

I John:  We walk in fellowship with Him and in fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin and unrighteousness. 

We’re eternally forgiven for our sins. Jesus died on the Cross to forgive us and give us new life. When we give Jesus rule and headship over our lives, it becomes a beautiful, intimate relationship. 

Our Confession of sin in our daily lives refreshes our present intimacy with the Holy Spirit as “we walk in the Spirit and do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” If we are committing an unknown sin, He will correct us because He loves us.

I shared last summer about walking a labyrinth and the fact that each step causes a different perspective of what we see—our viewpoint. 

Consider the labyrinth a bit differently as a picture indicative of each life experience as we walk and live guided by the Spirit. The walk begins on the periphery, the outside perimeter, and in a circular motion, we walk, moving towards the center, which is Christ, within the hope of glory. 

Every decision we make to follow Jesus causes us to go higher. 

Every decision we make to follow our fleshly nature causes us to go lower.  We begin again outside the perimeter in every set of circumstances and choose our course. 

As we choose to walk in the Spirit, we cultivate an abiding spiritual quality -and ascend upward, radiating a deep inner peace that can be perceived.

 Choosing rightly causes us to overcome at every turn and draws us “upward” toward His kingdom, increasing our sensitivity to spiritual things and causing the favor of God to rest on us. 

His righteousness is in His kingdom, His approbation or approval.

Matt 5:3

Phil 3:13-14

Phil 3:13 “press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernatural vocation of God in Christ Jesus.”

“So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God’s call through Christ Jesus to the life above.”

 I John 1:8-9 But we’re also commanded to actively walk in the truth and stay in the truth—because as John says, “Anyone who wanders away and does not remain faithful to the teaching of Christ has no relationship with God” (9). 

Only when we continue in the truth that we have an intimate connection with both the Father and the Son, walking with them. 

Phil 1:9-11

Let’s take a moment and breathe in the Holy Spirit, renewing our relationship with the Living God, choosing to follow Him in every way. RE-VIEWING OUR COMMITMENT.