3-25-2023 Micah & the 2-edged sword

Listen to the words of the prophet Micah: 

1          Listen up you heads of Jacob, princes of Israel, is it not for you to know judgment? 

Let’s exchange any reference of Israel and Jerusalem to reference today’s church.  Aren’t we supposed to know the ways of God?

2          They have come to hate good and love evil.  They strip the skin from the people, even the flesh from their bones. 

3          They scrape their skin off, eat their flesh and even break their bones.  They chop them up as to boil them in a caldron.

Hasn’t too much of today’s church set God aside to accommodate the world’s views?  We can’t offend anybody!  They might not come to church (and feed our offering trays)!  Indeed, we have minimized and scraped away too much of God’s truth just to bring more people into the church.  After all, everyone knows that the bigger a church, the more successful it is!  Right?  We have mutilated God’s teaching.  We have cut it down to our size to fit our needs. 

4          Then they cry to the Lord, but He won’t hear them.  At that time He will hide His face from them because of their ill doings.

But when things start to go wrong doesn’t the church call out to God?  Yet, when that time comes, because of the church’s waywardness, God will not hear it.

5          He says this to the prophets who make His people err.  They bite with their teeth and cry peace but God does not tell them what to say.  They even prepare war against Him.

Listen!  Today, too many prophets are prophesying nothing but good and there is no longer a balance.  Once saved, you’ve got it made God wants to bless you!  Yes, God wants to and will bless us, but are we being told that we have a responsibility to insure those blessings?  In seeking God’s kingdom we should be seeking to have His will done in our lives and through our lives and in so doing, we become obedient in His will.

6          All things will become as night and they won’t have a vision, it shall be dark.  They shall not divine and the sun shall go down over the prophets and it shall be dark over them.

7          Their seers shall be ashamed and their diviners confused, indeed, they shall cover their lips for there is no answer from God.

Truly, darkness will fill the church when we refuse to obey God’s will. The prophets will preach feel-good lies without the balance of how we should be living our lives.  As with Israel, those prophets who were out only for their own gain will be speaking their ‘own thing’ because God has not spoken to them.  And won’t until they come back into His will.  Experience tells us that, yes, there are those false teacher who know exactly what they are doing and are trying to get as rich as they can off of our sacrifices.  And yet, I am persuaded that there are others who are only doing what they have been taught and because so and so said it, it must be true.  Unfortunately, they never check it out for themselves!  We have to know God’s word so we can see the ‘real deal’ when we see it and discern that which is not.

8          But I am truly filled with power by the Spirit of the Lord.  I declare judgment and might unto Jacob for his transgression and unto Israel their sin.

9          Hear this, I pray, you heads of the house of Jacob and you princes of the house of Israel, who hate judgment and pervert equity.

Micah says that he does hear from God and as Micah’s plea went to the church, today’s plea now goes out to church leaders to examine themselves – is God’s Word really being preached, in accordance with His will, in His love?  is it designed to edify and grow the people and not just tickle their ears so they can ‘feel good’?

10        They who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11        The heads judge for reward, the priests teach for payment and the prophets prophecy to be paid.  Yet they will say “Isn’t the Lord among us?  No evil can come upon us.”

In Micah’s day, the church leaders told the people what they wanted to hear and got paid to do so.  Do today’s prophets, priests and ministers do so just to increase their income?  Yes, there are expenses that come along with ministry, so money is necessary.  Judas Iscariot was the disciples’ treasurer, he kept the money.  Read the gospels they used that money for their own living expenses and to help the needy.  The disciples carried on this tradition for the same reasons and today’s churches need to gather money for the same reasons.  Or should I say this is why they should be gathering money?  Do any of today’s preachers say “I preach the ‘word(s)’ and think “I’m secure because God is with me”?  Or are they any like those of 2000+ years ago and do everything to pad their own pockets knowing that God is far from them? 

12        Therefore, for your sake, Zion shall be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become a heap.  The mountain of the house shall become like he high places of the forest.*

God tells Israel that because of their waywardness, they shall become nothing.  Mounds of dirt that have been plowed for field but not planted with seed – or, at least, good seed.  The high places of the forest become overrun because of lack of use.  How many churches today have become useless weeds by the wayside?

I’m not saying the whole church is off track. God forbid that I point a finger.  But I am saying that too much of the church has strayed.  We shall know them by their fruit (Matt. 7:16-20).  We can identify those committed to Jesus Christ.  Of course, then, we need some sort of personal knowledge of the fruit and the bible is that basic source of knowledge.  How else do we know God’s love?  Yes?

We’re looking at a two-edged sword today.  Part to f the church needs continued building and being encouraged, but too much of the church has gotten off track and needs a swift kick to the keester (backside).  God has been trying and will continue His attempts to get our attention.

Thank God for what happened in Asbury, Ky.  Thank God for the planned revival I am hearing about coming to California and the west coast in April.  But thank God that once these souls have given their heart to Jesus Christ or have come back to Him from their wayward steps, they are given a solid foundation for living in Christ Jesus.  WE have to know God’s nature (LOVE) in order to be with Him when He calls us home!  Yet, how many will be like those who said “But Lord, didn’t we do all these wonderful things in your name (Matt. 7:20-23)?

Read the book of Acts.  Paul spent weeks, months and even years establishing a church assuring that the leadership, he left behind was able to lead the church, was grounded in Christ’s doctrines of love.  Why? So they could raise up ‘true’ believers founded in the love of God and then that they could continue sharing that love – in its totality.  Too many souls have felt that once we accept Jesus, the battle is won. True, but the war is just beginning.  There is a life to live!

Read the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:3-9).  The seed by the wayside never received salvation, came into the church.  The seed among the thorns and on rocky soil professed a faith and joined the church but didn’t stay and left for their own reasons.  Only the seed sown on good ground took root and held on to God’s love and remained faithful.  Read the whole chapter for Jesus’ explanation.

Have we been learning how to live in Christ Jesus?  Does our love grow stronger each day?  Do we commune with our Lord each day?  I don’t mean just saying the “Our Father”, then “see ya later!  Got things to do.”  God is our friend.  We should share our heart with Him – even more so than we might with our closest friend!  Do we experience the joy of His fellowship?  I enjoy singing songs about God, who He is and what He does.  His Spirit literally fills my heart with joy and peace.  I can’t just stand up and walk away.  I have to sit and bask in His presence until my body can, once again, move.

Yes, we need to draw souls into the kingdom of God, but we also need to do what we can to help them get grounded in their faith.  Salvation is not just confessing Jesus then getting ‘dunked’.  We have made a commitment.  Our relationship becomes a living faith!

So, where are we at today?

Amen

 

3-11-2023 The Asbury, Ky. Revival

 

Not a regular post, but Father said to post this on the blog, anyway.

A good thing happened in Asbury, Ky. In February.  People came together at church to receive something from God.  I have no doubt that many did receive what they went for.  I have no doubt that the presence of the Holy Spirit was present but was His power also there – full blown? 

The ‘miracle in Kentucky’ may go down as the spark that ignited the Spiritual explosion God IS bringing into the world.  Yet, many ‘little campfires’ have already started in various parts of this globe.  India?  Africa?  Asia?  And many may yet go to where they can receive something from God.  Yes, Father desires to bless His children and as He gives to us, does He expect anything in return?

Yes.  Our hearts.  Jesus identifies the greatest Commandment as “Love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength” (Mark 12:30).  This is not doing something thinking that God will give us something good in return.  This is expressing our gratitude for what He has already done for us.  We can’t give Him precious jewels or metals or things that we own.  God created the world, the universe, existence, just by saying ‘let it be so’!  The only things left for us to give Him is our devotion, our love, our commitment to honor Him above all else (He created all else!). 

Father says that there is a Spiritual explosion forming.  This explosion won’t come because of our tithes and offerings.  This explosion won’t come because of all the ‘good works’ we do.  It will come because we have committed to live for Father through our relationship with Jesus Christ because the Holy Ghost is alive and well within our heart!  The giving and the good works will come as we grow in our love for our Lord and Savior.  As our commitment grows, within our heart, to live for. with and in Him.

God knows that fires have already been kindled for the Spiritual Explosion, but in retrospect, with the publicity it has received, Asbury may get credit for igniting it.  That’s OK for God will, ultimately, get the credit and souls will grow in Christ Jesus and ‘men’ WILL start doing everything Jesus did – and greater (John 14:12)! 

This Spiritual explosion isn’t just an evangelical, come to Christ and be saved, work.  It will become a work where the power of the living and eternal God can and will be experienced by ‘average’ people!

To a degree we can truly say “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10)! 

Yet, though God desires that none perish but that all come to salvation (2 Peter 3:9), He knows that not all will receive His free gift of eternal life (Matt. 7:21).

Thank God, our Father, for what is already happening, but praise His holy name for that which is to come!

3-11-2023 Cry for the children of man

                

Joel 1:1-20

1          The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

2          Hear this, old men and listen to this all you who live in the land.  Have you seen anything like this before in your days or have your fathers even seen anything like this?

Look around all you people.  As we see the world today, have we seen anything like this before?  In our nation, we have survived a battle for independence (1775-1783), invasion from a foreign source (Britain 1812-1815), civil war (1861-1865) and civil unrest (off and on throughout our history).  The world has suffered two global wars (1914-1918 & 1939-1945) and on a smaller scale, how many nations have tried to overrun their neighbors?  We have seen a great depression (1929-1939) and continue to flirt with another.  We have seen world-wide hunger and just look at how intense nature is becoming!  Storms and earthquakes have been becoming more frequent and more intense over recent years.  Yes, there is nothing new to man (Ecc. 1:9) but examine the complexity and intensity of how all things are becoming. 

3          Tell our children about it and let your children tell their children and they, the next generation.

Tell your children about what is happening so they might be prepared and let them tell your grandchildren and even then  to next generation.  These are signs of the end times (Matthew 24:1-31, Thess. 4:14-18, Joel chptrs. 2 & 3 and don’t forget the book of Revelation).  We don’t know when the end times actually will be (Matt. 24:36), but the passage in Matthew tells us the world has not nor ever shall see the likes of the tribulation period again (Matt. 24:22).      

4          what the palmerworm has left, the locust have eaten, what the locust left, the cankerworm has eaten and that which the cankerworm has left the caterpillars have eaten.

Despite scientific advancement, look at how the beauty and fullness of God’s creation has wasted away through natural catastrophes and man’s advancement into the future.  Famine and natural disasters still persist.  This passage implies the complete desolation of plant life and that will impact animal life, even the air we breathe.   

5          Wake up you drunkards and weep.  Howl, all you who drink the wine because the new wine is cut off from your mouth.

The world lies drunken with the old wine (the way in which we have been living their lives) which has dulled our senses, become bitter and, even now has become undesirable.  The world will (and much already) has become a wasteland.  Yet there is new wine ready to replace the old and to take the bitter taste from our mouth.  The new wine is new life, abiding in the love of God.  Will the world reject it?  Will we (the church) reject it?

6          For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number whose teeth are the teeth of a lion and has the cheek teeth of a great lion.

Destruction is coming!  Grant it, Joel is talking about Israel, but these things are prophesied for Israel because of their rejection of God.  Is today’s world, today’s church guilty of rejecting God?

7          He who has laid my wine to waste and barked my fig tree has made it clean bare and cast it away and its branches ae made white.

The world has wasted the goodness that has God originally given us.  Our existence (largely) has slipped away into a pile worthy only to be burned.  Have we brought this legacy of destruction upon ourselves?

8          Lament like a virgin who is girded in sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

Cry like a young girl who has lost the love of her youth.  And yet, do we realize what we are losing, even today?  We should mourn at what we see, yet are we doing anything about it?

9          The meat offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord.  The priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn.

10        The field is wasted and the land mourns because the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes.

The churches do cry out.  But, have we stopped bringing our sacrifices before the Lord?  That is confessing our sins at the cross?  Do we still bring thanksgiving to the altar for all that Father has done for us?  Do we seek His direction in daily matters?  Do we even talk with Him?  Where has the relationship with our God gone?  Has it dissipated into oblivion?  Father has been bringing new wine (the love in Christ Jesus) into our lives afresh and anew yet, all too often, has it been squandered?  Has it even been truly received?  My Lord, even the churches have gotten off track and are falling away (2 Thess. 2:3).

11        Be ashamed, O you husbandmen, howl you vine dressers for the wheat and the barley because the harvest of the field is wasted.

Too much of the church just aint’ actin’ like it should and all the sacrifices are like ashes tumbling off the altar.  Brushed away and unaccepted!  And, like the church of Jesus’ time, the church knows what to do (Matt. 23:1-7, James 4:17).  Is it really just too much to ask?

12        The vine is dried up and the fig tree languishes, the pomegranate tee, the palm tree as well as the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered away because the joy is withered away from the sons of men.

Look at today’s churches!  Does it reside in the joy of the Lord?  Membership is declining because God’s Word is being compromised. Don’t offend anyone but always bring a joyful, word.   Yes, souls should be brought into the kingdom, but God’s standards should not be compromised in so doing.  We need to hear the truth so we can abide in it.  

13        Gird yourselves and lament you priests, howl you ministers of the altar.  Come, lie all night in sackcloth , you ministers of my God for the meat offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of  your God.

Waywardness has brought emptiness.  Order needs to be restored.  I don’t mean sit still and be quiet.  Dads are (should be) responsible for the family, the pastor and church leadership should be responsible for the congregation because Jesus is respsonsible for the leadership.  Is the leadership listening to Him?  We may talk about the Holy Ghost, but how many actually listen to Him?

14        Sanctify a fast and call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry to the Lord.

Just as Israel called for fasting and prayer when they were told that they were off track (2 Kings 22:1-23:3).  Shouldn’t today’s churches consider the same.  Even those fellowships who might have a right relationship with the Lord, shouldn’t they be praying for those who don’t?  And, My God, be bold enough to enlighten them?

15        Alas for the day!  The day of the Lord is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Read any or all of the prophets.  When we go against God’s Word, there are consequences!  God will not put up with it forever (Gen. 6:3, John 15:6, Rom. 11:22)!

16        Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, even the joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17        The seed has rotted under the clods, the garners are laid desolate and the barns are broken down.  The corn is withered.

Look at this passage.  When we turn from God, everything we do, say or think turns sour or goes bad.  When God is not a part of our lives, there are no positive results.  We won’t even be able to store the good things that have come our way.  It all becomes for naught. If this is the state in which we stand before God, all is lost.  Polls tells us that today, church attendance is on the decline!

18        How do the beasts groan!  The herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture, indeed, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

19        O, Lord, I will cry unto you for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness and flame has burned all the trees of the field.

All creation, even the things or people that rely on us lose hope for there is nothing for them to hold on to.  Those who may have come to the Lord through us, are we a positive example for them follow and grow?

20        The beasts of the field also cry out to you because the rivers of waters are dried up and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Everything we could have given them is dried up and burnt – totally gone.  The wayward churches impact their fellowship, but even the communities and beyond.   

Yes, this passage speaks of Israel turning their back on God, but hasn’t too much of today’s church done just that?  Haven’t they ‘shelved’ God’s standards to accommodate the world’s values?

When Isaiah had come to Hezekiah and told him that his time in this world was over, Hezekiah wept and repented. Then the Lord gave Hezekiah fifteen more years to live.  Hezekiah was also healed and received a miracle as God’s testimony to the truth of the matter (2 Kings20:1-11).

In the eighteenth year of king Josiah’s reign, Hilkiah, the high priest discovered the book of the law during a rebuilding effort.  Hilkiah then showed the discovery to Shaphan, the scribe who showed it to the king.  The king Realized that all the evil which had befallen Israel was because Israel had strayed from God.   Josiah repented, God gave peace to the king and Israel because Josiah made covenanted to abide by God’s law.

Again, shouldn’t the church, which has strayed, repent and come back into the ordinances of God?  We see with king Josiah that there is restoration through repentance and obedience.

As dad is obedient to God, the family will line up better with God.  The family’s obedience to dad and God helps the church to line up better with God.  As the church lines up, we just may find that people (in general) are making better decisions about life.  As people start making better decisions we may see communities making better decisions.  As the communities make better decisions this must may spill over to the counties, the states.  Even decisions made at the national level!  Say what!  The world may become better off (at least in some places).  How does the prayer go?  “On earth as it is in heaven”?  But, it has to start somewhere.  And the bottom line is God within an individual!

So, do we cry for the children of man?  Should we be crying for the children of man?  Are we seeking how we might be an impact in our little part of the world?  Do we sit back and say “Well, that’s just the way things are.” 

Crying for the children of man starts somewhere. Who’s taking the first step?

Amen

 

2-25-2023     Encouraging Words

            Disciples listening to our Lord Jesus

2 Thess. 2: 1-17

Paul encourages the Thessalonians (and us) to keep our faith until the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  He’s describing the situation of the end times so we can be aware of what we need to be careful about so we can ‘hang’ strong in Christ Jesus.  Not to get worried, but to keep strong in our faith that God is with us – all the way.

1          Now, we comfort you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him.

2          Don’t be shaken in your mind or troubled (in your heart) neither by a spirit, nor word nor even a letter from us.

Things will be said, things will happen, even in and from the church, but if it isn’t in agreement with the truth we have received in the beginning, don’t even flinch, but hold firm to the truth in Jesus.  And that truth is always in agreement with God’s Essence – love.

3         Don’t let any man deceive you by any means for that day won’t come unless there is first a falling away, so the man of sin can be revealed, that is the son of perdition.

A falling away?  Paul says that the church will start straying from God’s truth in the end times.  Even though God produced miracle after miracle, deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, the manna, the quail, the water, Israel still moved away from God by fashioning the golden calf (Exod.32:1-4).  Look around.  Has today’s church strayed (in any form) from the truths God (Jesus) has taught us?  Look at the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:1-17) and, then consider God’s love.  That is “agape” love.  Agape love (G26) is derived from ‘agapao’ (G25) and means to love in a social or moral sense, with affection or benevolence, (hold) dear.  All this adds up to considering the welfare of another as, at least, equal to our own welfare and to do so not because we are ‘supposed to’, but because we desire to.  When we delight ourselves in who God is and what He is truly all about, Father will give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).  Understand, as the church falls away from God this enables the doors to open for the man of sin, that son of perdition, to operate in this world, more freely.  Why have things become so bad?  Today, people, even in the church, have not only set God up on a shelf, but have stuffed Him in a box and put Him somewhere in the basement, or worse.  God who?

4          He (the son of perdition) is the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or even worshipped, so that he could sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Remember Satan’s nature is that he tried to raise himself up over God, our heavenly Father (Isa. 14:12-17).  Jesus said that He saw Satan fall from heaven as lightening so it is no wonder his followers can look pretty good to us in the world (Luke 10:18, 2 Corinth. 11:13-15).  And don’t forget, Satan was cast out of heaven because of his desire to replace God (Rev. 12:7-13).

5          Don’t you remember that when I was with you, I told you these things?  (writes Paul) 

6          And now you know what withholds his being revealed in his time.

7          For the mystery of iniquity is already at work, but now, only He who lets shall let until he is taken out of the way.

8          And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.

9          Even He who is coming after the working of Satan, with his (Satan’s) power, signs and lying wonders

10        And with all the deceptions of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they did not love the truth that they might be saved.

 11       For this reason, God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie.

Because God has given man ‘free choice’ (Joshua 24:15) God is allowing Satan what he does – but only for a ‘season’. 

The prayers of the saints are what delays the rise of the beast.   Are those prayers diminishing?  Because of man’s disobedience to God, Father will allow a delusion to rise up that man should believe those lies (Rev. 13:11-18).  And yet, in the end, Satan does lose!

12        That they might be damned because they didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

And because man believes those lies and even rather enjoys the doing of the same.  Father will let man exercise his ‘free choice’ to live in Christ or suffer eternal loss (Rev. 29:1-15).  How many will choose Jesus?  God loves all His creation but only a few (Matt. 7:13-14) will hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21) and enter into His kingdom.

13        But we are always bound to give thanks to God for you, brothers who are beloved of the Lord, because from the beginning, God has chosen you for salvation through the sanctification and Spirit and belief in the truth.

Understand, God calls all to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), He doesn’t want any to die, but not all will listen to His call.  Remember the seed?  Some fall by the wayside that is they won’t even consider God’s gift of life.  Some fall on stony ground and the trials and tribulations of this life discourage them and they turn away from the Lord.  Others decide they can’t follow Jesus because they just plain don’t want to give up the things of this world so they turn their back to God.  So, only a few actually experience the “Judgment seat of Christ” where we are rewarded for our good works.  Even if we don’t have a lot of good works to present before the Lord, because we have received Him into our heart and have not turned away, we are still welcomed into His kingdom (Rom. 14:10-13).

14       Because of this, He called you by our gospel so you could obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we learn about Jesus and eternal life?  Because somebody has shared the eternal gift of life, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, with us and we joyfully received it.  How do those who don’t believe come to the Lord?  Because someone has come to share the faith with them.  And that ‘someone’ had to have been sent by the Lord.  Blessed are the feet of them who bring the gospel of peace and glad tidings of good things (Rom. 10:14-15).

15        Therefore, brothers, stand fast and hold on to the traditions which you have been taught whether by word or by our letter.

Why would Paul put this sentence this way?  What did the early church have?  All the people, of his time, had was the Hebrew bible (what we call the Old Testament, the Tanakh (which included the Torah [law]) or the Septuagint which was an accepted Greek translation of the Hebrew bible.  Yes, the early church also had the writings of the apostles and historians (as Luke) but not until 405 AD were all these writings compiled into a single book when Jerome completed the Latin Vulgate (which contained both the Old and New Testaments).  So Paul wanted to make sure that the people were hearing and reading the ‘right stuff’ so they could grow strong in Christ Jesus. 

26        Now, let our Lord, Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and hope through grace.

17        Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

God is with us and guiding us (as we listen to Him) and it is His grace which encourages us to keep pressing forward, that is awaiting the resurrection of these temporary bodies into eternal life in Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:8-14).

Amen!

Also note that Jesus gives a pretty good picture of the end times in Matt. 24:1-51.

 

2-11-2023        JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE

 

Genesis 17:1    When Abraham was 90, the Lord appeared to him and said “I AM the almighty God.  Walk before Me and be perfect.”

Gen. 5:21-24   Enoch walked with God ….  and was not for God took Him because he walked with God.

Matt. 6:32-34  (For the Gentiles seek after these things [earthly, physical needs]) Your heavenly Father knows you need all of these things BUT you first of all seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things (natural needs) will be added to you.  Don’t worry about tomorrow, it will take care of itself.  It is enough to be concerned about the evil that faces us today.

Gal. 5:25                      If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit

John 4:23         The hour comes and is even now when the true worshippers will worship

                        the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeks such to worship Him.

Just a closer walk with thee

Grant it Jesus is my plea

Daily walking close to thee

Let it be, dear Lord, let it be

I am weak, but thou art strong

Keep me Jesus from all wrong

I’ll be satisfied as long

As I walk, let me walk close to thee

 

Through this world of toil and snares

If I falter, Lord, who cares

Who with me my burden shares?

None but thee, oh Lord, none but thee

 

When my feeble life is o’er

Time for me will be no more

Guide me gently, safely o’er

To thy Kingdom’s shore, to thy shore 

God tells Abraham to walk before Him and be perfect or, if you will, do His (God’s) will.  Or should we rather say walk with Him?   Now in the Old Testament, walking with God was difficult because God is in heaven yet Enoch found a way to do so.  The implication is that he walked in God’s will.  However, we do know that God did come to earth to commune with Adam (Gen. 3:8).  We may consider that the third “angel” that visited Abraham was not actually an angel but would have been Father or Son because Abraham worshipped Him.  But being that Jesus is the incarnation of God’s Word, was this third ‘angel’ Jesus (Gen. 18:1-33)?  We know that Jesus is Emmanuel (God is with us – Matt.1:23).  We know that Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1-18).  We know that God spoke and all things were created (Gen. 1:1-31).  We know that God is love (1 John 4:8) and Jesus has become that personification of that love which God loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life (read the whole passage – John 3:14-21). 

So, Jesus tells us that if we love Him we should keep His commandments (John 14:15) and what are His commandments? Only two, which is actually one commandment but which contains two parts.  That commandment is to love!  “A” love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength (Mark 12:29-30).  And “B” to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31).  Why?  Jesus explains that on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:40).  The “10 commandments” and all the law (all 600+ adjustments) are based on God’s love for us and everything the prophets spoke to Israel (and us) is grounded in God’s love.

God, the Father, is love.  Jesus is Father’s manifestation of Himself to us in this world.  Jesus told the disciples “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father (John 14:9).  So we see that God is love and that Jesus is the manifestation of love in this (our) world.  So, to walk with God is to walk in His love.

So, how do we walk in love, closer with God?  How does the song start?  “Grant me a closer walk with you, oh Lord, daily”.  The Ten Commandments are a description of God’s love so even in the Old Testament, God operated in love.  Today, we ask Jesus into our heart (John 3:16, Rom. 10:9-10) so we can abide in that love.  We continue then by asking God to help us to walk closely with Him and then believe He will do so.  Whatever we ask, we believe God can and will do (Mark 11:24). We also recognize that we are human (duh!).  We realize that we are weak and unlikely to succeed (on our own) so we ask Him to help us ‘toe the line’, walk the straight and narrow (Matt. 7:13).  Personally, I have discovered that as I ask for His help, God is faithful to help me and in that I find then I am satisfied in all that He provides for me.  I know that the enemy (Satan) will try to trip me up every chance he gets and I know that should I stumble or even fall(and skin my knee), even though most humans could give a ‘rat’s derrierre’ whether I do.  Though I see that though the world may not care much about me, my God has not left me.  He is still is with me and He shall never forsake me (Heb. 13:5).  He’s always there to pick me up.  I just need to listen, then be obedient to what He says.  I live in the knowledge that as I keep Jesus’ commandment to love and seek God’s companionship, my place in eternity is secure.

Jesus says that if we know Him, we know the Father (and vice versa) (John 14:7).  So (again) what does walking with God mean?  Walking in LOVE.  We glorify His name (Psalm 86:12, Isa. 12:4-5),we give thanks to God for all that He does (Psalm 75:1, Phil. 1:3-5), we seek His counsel in all things (Psalm 139:1-24, Prov. 3:5-6) and we are obedient to His will (Deut. 11:1, Luke 11:28).  When given the choice on whom he would follow, Joshua said “… as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh. 24:15).

Walking with God is all about our relationship with Him.  He IS our best friend and we can share anything with Him.  As Jesus dealt with the woman caught in adultery, He didn’t condemn her but said “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:3-11).

Walking with God is like our ‘natural’ relationships with our parents, our siblings, our friends.  That relationship doesn’t ‘just happen’.  It takes effort (work) on our part to make it work.  As we endeavor to walk with our Lord by continuing to seek and do His will, we discover that He has always been there, drawing us closer to Himself.

Walk before God?  Walk with God?  Walk in love!

Amen

 

1-28-2023    Ezekiel 37:1-14 - Revisited

          

In Jan. 2016 and again in Jan 2019 I spoke about today’s Application of Ezekiel’s dry bones.  Father says “Let’s do it again.  The condition of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones is so relevant to today’s church, a revisit doesn't hurt.  (or will it?) 

1    The hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out, in His Spirit, and set me down in the middle of a valley which was full of bones

2    He caused me to pass by them and all around (them) and there were many bones in this open valley and they were very dry.

Imagine being in a valley full of dead men’s bones?  Sun, bleached white bones.  Envision stepping over leg bones, arm bones, skulls, with only a small open spots to place your foot.  Bones extending from one end of the valley to the other, as far as the eye could see.

3    And He said to me “Son of man, can these bones live?”  And I answered “Oh, Lord God, You know.”

Ezekiel knows God can do anything.  Bones can’t live by their own power but God created by speaking things into existence from nothing.  So Ezekiel knows God can give life to anything He desires.

4    Again He said to me “prophecy unto these bones and say “O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.

5    Thus says the Lord God to these bones I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.

6    I will lay sinews upon you and flesh upon you and I will cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and you will know that I am the Lord.”

Father evaluates a situation, determines what He wants done, then speaks it into existence.  But here, He tells Ezekiel to do it.  God is giving man authority and the power to change the substance of that which is before him (Romans 4:17 - call things which aren’t as though they are).  Ezekiel was hoping for something he was not yet seeing (Heb. 11:1 - faith is substance of things hoped for but not seen).  God knows how to build a man (or church) and He was showing Ezekiel what needed to be done.

7    So I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise

      and there was a shaking and the bones came together, bone upon bone.

Ezekiel was no dummy. He did as God commanded.  He was demonstrating faith through works (James 2:18 - faith by my works) by showing his love for the Father by being obedient (Psalm 1:1-2- love is walking in His commandments).

8    Then I watched as sinews and flesh came upon the bones and they were covered with skin, but there was no breath in them.

Ezekiel saw the results of his prayer before his very own eyes.  The bones coming together, no longer strewn all over the place.  The foot bone connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone connected to the shin bone, the shin bone connected to the knee bone, etc’.  So as he asked, he believed and he saw (Matt.21:22 - ask believing and receive) as bodies took form before his very eyes.

Unfortunately, today’s church has become like Ezekiel’s dry bones.  but God was connecting those Bones with sinews, no longer strewn throughout the valley.  Covering them with muscle so they could do what God has called them to do.  Applying a beautiful covering of skin so they could be the image of their creator, a reflection of God’s love.  But there was no real life in them.

9    Then He said to me Prophecy to the wind, prophecy, son of man and tell the wind “Thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, upon these slain that they might live.”

10  So I prophesied as He commanded me and breath came into them and they lived

      and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Our Lord is the giver of life.  God gives to all life, breath and the things they need (Acts 17:25).  As He breathed into Adam’s (man’s) nostrils giving him life (Gen.2:7), He gives life to the dead.  Again He is giving man authority to bring life into that which is dead (spiritually AND naturally).  We can bring the life-saving gospel of life to the spiritually dead or even perform CPR to those who, otherwise, have no life in their bodies.  Yet, the Spirit of God must be revived within those hearts for them to truly live. 

11  Then He said to me “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel and behold they say “Our bones are dried and our hope is lost. We are cut off from our parts.

These bones are all of historical Israel and Israel is hopeless.  Israel has no real life because they are cut off from God.  No connection, no real fellowship.  This is also a reference (for today) as the body of Christ is divided between all the denominations and independent churches.  Divided and separating – even from God.  Understanding and acceptance of the scripture has too many variations.  As much as the Protestant Reformation did to wake the church up, it also created many denominations – dividing it.

12  Therefore prophecy and say to them ‘Thus says the Lord God behold, O my people, I will open up your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel.

 By using His own hand God can bring Israel back from the dead.  He will cause them to rise and live giving them their own domain.  He brings Israel back from death into life.  In other words, Father will unite His church – not into one mega church, but each segment realizing that we ARE the body of Christ and we each have a task to perform.  All fellowships who truly walk under the banner of Jesus Christ must realize the each has a unique calling in the body.  Just each one of us, as individuals, have a unique gift to which Father has called us.  Though many of us may have the ‘same’ gift, Father has given each one of us a unique way of administering that gift.  Coming into our own land is recognizing that all who have received Jesus into our heart are all brothers and sisters in the body of Christ and the Holy Ghost should unify us in one mind (the mind of Christ), one heart (true love for our Savior) and one Spirit (as we are guided by the Holy Ghost).

Me, being in a ‘full gospel’ church, ran into a Baptist brother in a store one day.  We talked and he realized that even though we weren’t in agreement on some things, we were indeed brothers in Christ.  we were unified in our love for God.

13  And you will know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people and brought you up out of your graves.                                                                   

14  And I will put My Spirit in you and you shall live.  I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord.

For Israel, this is the promise of re-patriation in the ‘promised land of Israel.  For today church it realizing we are ALL under Jesus Christ – and acting like it.  No, not just acting like but living like it!

Father has shown me that for 7 seasons, 700 years, He has been rebuilding His church for this time – today.

The church will recognize God as God because He has brought us back from the dead

We will understand that He is the One who has done this miraculous thing and breathed life back into that (us) which was dead.  

Yet, Father has given His children authority to bring life back into His church!  Expressing our love for Jesus by absorbing scripture (not just learning the words).  Then  prophecy helps us to see and return to Godly basics.  As we grow, we start applying God’s will into our own lives, giving us substance.  That is we can do that which He has called us to do – demonstrate His love and to be a true we witness by expressing His goodness in our own lives.  The Holy Ghost helps us to grow in God’s love through prophetic encouragement and teaching God’s ways to those whom we encounter.  We grow in His kingdom and others will follow our example because, through the Holy Ghost, we now have His authority (Matt. 10:1) and power (Acts 1:8), His love in our lives.

As Christians, we know God is the only and true living God (Jer. 10:10, Isa. 45:5-12).  Jesus is our doorway into eternity (John 14:6).  Because we love Jesus, we keep His commandments (John 14:15) and show our faith by living it (James 2:17-18).  Like what the first admiral of the navy, David Farragut, said “Damn the torpedoes (the enemy), full speed ahead!”, We don’t let Satan’s attempts divert us. We have (or are) developing our relationship with our heavenly Father, we have the courage to press forward.  Father gives us the knowledge and strength to pursue our eternal goals!  We can get it done through our Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 4:13).

Father designated Israel as His spokesman to the world, the responsibilities of the first covenant (10 Commandments) transferred over to today’s Christian church as the new covenant (banner) carriers.  Israel was saved by ‘keeping’ (doing) the Law where the New Covenant is sealed by our living in the law from our heart (Ezek. 36:26).  So, Father has spent seven seasons (700 yrs., 15^th C – 21^st C) rebuilding His church.    

God has been rebuilding His church through the centuries

Today’s church are largely these dry bones.

            Basics have been there (Father is God & Jesus is Savior)

            Needs a little more substance

               (knowing Word, holiness, Spiritual obedience, works from heart)

Protestant Reformation added sinew to those old bones

            All parts starting to connect (connect parts via understanding Word)

                 Though creating division through doctrinal interpretation.

            Realization of that God is personal

Holiness movements added a little muscle

            Back to basics (life to live, abstain from evil)

            Living according to God’s will

Pentecostal movement added covering (skin) of the Holy Ghost

            Pulling things together into one package

            So we could truly start functioning under God’s will

            We looked like what we were supposed to

            We acted (somewhat) how we were supposed to act

Holy Ghost completes visual package

 Apostolic/prophetic brings breath from the ‘four winds’ (life)

            Full power from our heavenly Father

            That is even a deeper understanding of authority

            Talking ‘with’ God and not ‘to’ and listening (shut your mouth)

            There is ‘true’ life

            Fuller life

            So we can magnify His Holy Name

Draw souls into His kingdom (though evangelism has always been a part of

     Christianity)

            Establish a true relationship with our Father

Through Protestant Reformation (1500’s), Holiness movements (17 & 1800’s), Pentecostalism (18 & 1900’s) and the Apostolic/Prophetic movements (1900’s & 2000’s) 

Father has been bringing His body from a bunch of ‘dead bones’ to a vibrant church which praises Him.  Glorifies Him.  Which acknowledges Him for who He is and what He has done.

Now, it is time to truly live for Him

He is building His true church for Himself

are WE a part of that churcH