And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes. (Ezr 9:8)
In Ezra’s time, God had called a people to come home, He had called a people to return to a place of worship and repair the broken down walls. He was reviving a remnant in the midst of a very hostile world. In fact often times they would have a trowel in one hand and sword in the other as they re-built the wall. These were the ones who eyes had been enlightened by God in the midst of their bondage.
Yet it was vitally important for the remnant not to mix with the world so to speak. They were giving their children in marriage to the children of the world. In a sense they were selling their birthright to a pagan world by expressly disobeying the clear commands of God. To be in the world but not of it, to be set apart from the world was a clear directive from God. They had come out of Babylon and yet they were hurting themselves by mixing and intermarrying with the pagans of the surrounding lands.
God is calling out a remnant today, He is calling them out of the world and back to a place where they can stand in the breach and build up the wall of Jerusalem so to speak. My own worldview or church view is that the church small c lies in ruins, its walls are broken down and it is in a place of desolation. The world has invaded the church and the church has given its children to the world in marriage. The consequences have been devastating.
The influence of the world in the church is now so strong, that what passes for the church, Christendom can no longer hold back the tide of devastating compromise. It is in the process of giving itself fully over to the world. And so God enlightens the eyes of His people to see the situation through His eyes. Burning at the heart of His called out people is obedience to Him and to His word. They are sold out to His word and His commands even although by doing so they are ostracized and ridiculed and hated.
The Holy Spirit is David’s indignation, His courage, His sling and his stone. The Holy Spirit is the staff of Moses, the strength of Samson and the words of Isaiah. He is the fire from heaven that consumes the sacrifice of Elijah. He is the fire that goes before the Israelites in the desert night and the cloud that covered them by day. He is the fire that surrounds the saints heart as they lift up the name of Jesus. He is the courage of a million martyrs down through the ages. He is the spiritual song they sing as the mortal flames deliver them to immortality. He is the breath that is breathed into Adam’s lungs.
He is the one who leads and guides me into all truth. He is the presence in the dungeon that encourages Paul and Silas to sing the praises of Jesus even in the gross darkness. He is the power that came down and shook the prison and opened every door. At the name of Jesus He is the power that makes the demons flee, at the name of Jesus He is the power that compels men to their knees, at the name of Jesus He is the power that raises men from the dead, at the name of Jesus He is the power that convicts all men of sin, at the name of Jesus He is the power that ushers Jesus into the hearts of men.
He puts the sword of the word in the hands of men who have wrapped themselves in light. And He uses that sword to pierce, to thoroughly penetrate the darkness of unbelief and the hardest hearts of men. He convicts the lost and He empowers every part of who we are, but most of all He elevates the Lord Jesus Christ to the throne of willing men’s hearts. Oh foolish man, who among you think that for one minute you can do one single thing of eternal value, one single thing that will not be burned as wood hay and stubble outside of being Baptized in the Holy Spirit. You might be mighty in words, the fame of your might may be known across the land.
You may be powerful in deed and the whole world knows of all of them, but none of the mighty words of men, nor their deeds means a single thing to the Lord our God. For we know that it is not by the might of men, neither is it by their power that anything is achieved but the eternal things of God are achieved by His Holy Spirit and His Holy Spirit alone. Who will stand before the living God and announce to Him that they have no need of such power? It is a direct act of disobedience to reject the power of God. That which was begun by the Spirit cannot be finished by the flesh. In the evil day that flesh will fall and die. That flesh will deny Jesus. That flesh will seek to please the world rather than please God because it will fear men rather than God.
If Peter, outside of the power of the Holy Spirit, denied Jesus, will you fare any better oh man? If you have not waited upon the Lord and sought to be endued with power from on high then now is the time. The Bridegroom is coming for His Bride. It is almost time for the virgins lamps to be lit. There is only one source of oil for your vessel. The small source of oil that will light your lamp will not last, only those who have oil in their vessels will enter in. Those who are lacking will come knocking on the door of the marriage feast and the door is closed and Jesus says to them upon hearing their cries to open the door ” I do not know you.” The most fearful words any man or woman could ever hear.
God the Father was so deeply wounded by Calvary. He was not asking His son to suffer and He stand dispassionately by. How did God the Father suffer?? At the height of Calvary He watched His precious Son take all of our sins and crucify them for us and turned His head away. Yet He heard His Son cry out “My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me.” God the Father was wounded so deeply that our minds are simply too small to even come close to understanding.
Perhaps only a parent who has watched their child suffer or die in agony can even come close to imagining the pain? And we know at that very moment, ” The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” What does the veil represent? It represents the covering of Gods heart, His chest if you like.
When the sacrifice was complete, that which had been hidden from men in general, was revealed, the heart of God. God chose to show His presence to the world through His Son Jesus. So, through the wounds of Jesus, and the wounds of the Father, we are united into His presence and can walk in the power that flows from His presence.
The Lord revealed this to me many years ago. He took my mind back to when my son, who was two at the time, was burned over 60% of his body with third degree burns. In the first few days he almost died. Part of his life saving treatment was to take him, every day for days at the hospital, and force him into a salt bath. I can still hear his screams.
I was asked to help and aid the nurses in this. To hold down your son, whom you love with all your heart, almost killed me, I was only 20 but my hair stared to fall out. He could not possibly understand what I was doing was to save his life, all he knew was that his father, who was supposed to protect him, was torturing him. Years later the Lord asked me to think back about this. And our heavenly Father shared with me how much pain it caused Him to watch His Son be mocked and ridiculed, tortured and killed.
In this revelation, I was amazed that God the Father loved us so much that He allowed this to happen for our sake. If we mere mortals can feel emotional pain that is agonizing beyond words, what kind of pain can our heavenly Father feel who is the author and creator of all emotions. And yet, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…………………it is above what our minds can comprehend, this love of the Father.
These are quotes attributed to Michelangelo and I love them, for I think he expresses, without knowing, spiritual truths. What he has assigned to a block of stone and the creation of a statue, is the very thing that God does with a human being who discovers Him. “I saw the angel in the marble and carved him until I set him free.” And “Every block of stone has a statue inside of it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. And one more in reference to his most famous statue of King David “David was always there in the marble, I just took away everything that was not David.”
We who know Jesus are a work in progress. Paul says in Ephesians that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. This word perform means to complete. The work that He has begun in you, He is faithful to complete it. I want you to sit for a moment and ponder the magnificence of that. Rest in the truth that the greatest artist of all, the one who hung the stars in the sky, the one who laid the foundations of the earth, the one who created you and breathed life into you has not finished His work with you but will finish it.
The Lord has a hammer and He has a chisel. In the process of freeing you from your former self there must be the blow of the hammer down upon the chisel and we must yield to it. The Scriptures also tell us that the steps of a righteous man are ordered of God. Your life is not some series of random events that somehow hold you capture to its surrounding circumstances. No, your life is His and He is faithful to you. The swing of His hammer is the process whereby He is setting you apart. When Jesus cried to Lazarus to come forth, the coming forth was not all that happened. Lazarus was bound hand and foot with grave-clothes. He had to be set free from them. The grave-clothes had to be taken off so that the Lazarus that was brought to life would no longer be bound by death, but released and free to live.
In 1 Peter chapter 2 Peter says that we are stones being built up into a spiritual house. Every stone is shaped by the Master. Peter also says in the same chapter that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation a peculiar people who have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light so that we may declare the praises of Jesus. When the religious men of the day plotted to kill Jesus, they also plotted to kill Lazarus. Why? Because his very life testified to the Master, the creator of life, the one who rolls the stone away, the one who shines light into the darkness, the one who bids us come out of the darkness and join Him in His marvelous light.
You are such a one saint. Dont let the enemy fool you or lie to you. You are His creation. He created you, He breathed life into you, He called you out, He raised you up, He healed you, He forgave you, He restored you, he reconciled you, when you passed through the waters He was with you, while you were refined by the fire He was with you, when you were down He raised you up, He died for you, He rose again for you and He ever intercedes at the right hand of the Father for and He has not finished with you but He is faithful and true to complete which He has begun in you and He does it all for His good pleasure. You are His, you were bought with a very expensive price. He has not forgotten you. Lift your hands towards heaven today and open your heart and let this truth flood into your very being. God bless you my brother, God bless you my sister. Keep on going, there are a cloud of witness cheering you, you are God’s work of art and all other works of art are but a mere shadow, a pale imitation at best of what the Lord is creating in you.
Though the fig tree shall not blossom
And no fruit hangs from the trees
Nor field’s of wheat for harvest
Nor fish found in the seas
I shall rejoice in the Lord my God
He is the God of my salvation
He makes me strong when I am weak
And is a light to every nation
He takes me up to higher ground
And sets my spirit free
To dance and sing and praise His name
And to come on bended knee
Even in the midst of judgement
He shall not forget His mercy
And His glory will cover all the world
And He is water to the thirsty
He is freedom to the ones in chains
He is food to those who hunger
And to those who are so very weak
The Lord is so much stronger
He is your strength to carry on
He is your strong high tower
He has filled you with His Holy Ghost
And so endued you with His power
So glorify the Living God
For His mercy endures forever
He is strong when you are weak
And has the power to deliver
Walk on dear saint you’re not alone
For your God He sits upon His throne
Night and day He never sleeps
He is the comforter to all who weeps
So in the midst of darkness stand in light
Walk in the day for comes the night
When the enemy roars in like a mighty flood
We shall not drown who are covered by His Blood
There is indeed a Remnant, decreed by God. They have been held firm by iron and by trial. They have been tested in the desert. They have had the bread of adversity and the waters of affliction for their teachers. The days of their weeping do not last forever. There is a narrow path through the gross darkness and we know that this is the way and we must walk in it. Joseph’s feet were hurt by fetters and the iron of his enemies held him firm. Yet God’s will for his life would be fulfilled and even in his dungeon the favor of the Lord was upon him.
Paul and Silas with many stripes upon their backs and feet held firmly in the stocks, in the darkest hour of the day, found favor in the eyes of God and they sang out His praises and down came His glory. Daniel taken into captivity and then thrown in to complete darkness surrounded by savage beasts found favor in the den and when the light of day shone through, that favor was evident to all the world. Men and women of God grow mighty in the places that were designed to destroy them. For when you are persecuted saint, remember that you are not forsaken. When you have been knocked down in life you are not destroyed. When you seem to have trouble on every side and it threatens to consume you know that God Himself will give you strength.
For we have this treasure in our earthly vessels. There is glory in us that if we are broken it pours forth. When we are broken bread and poured out wine then God’s glory is revealed and the power of God shall come forth. For God has commanded that light would shine forth out of darkness. He said that His glory would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And the glory that pours forth from our broken hearts gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and that light is Jesus. We who are outwardly perishing, we who willingly take up our crosses and die daily to Him do so that the life of the Lord Jesus may be manifest in us. A people willing to die, a people willing to suffer, a people willing to endure, a people who will stand fast in the power and the glory of God.
Last of all, the Lord Jesus knows what it means to suffer affliction. He knows the cruel trials of mocking and scourges. He has walked through the desert and was tested. And then He was held firm by iron, by three nails He was held in that place that the Father had asked Him to be. And there He stayed and endured it all, broken Bread and poured out wine. Yet the cross was not the end it was His victory, right there He overcame. You to saint, this is where the victory lies. For from our brokenness the life and the light and the glory of God shines through, this is truly light shining forth from the darkness. No matter your circumstances this day brother or sister, let your light shine through your brokenness and the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
So as I watch yet another debacle unfold in the realms of politics but also the continuing fall of Rome, only this time it is the fall of the West, I am reminded of the madness of a bygone age. In the dark ages of Britain, if one were accused of being a witch, two events would then unfold. You would be taken to the river and thrown in. If you did not drown this was considered to be an absolute sign of your guilt whereby you were then taken and burned at the stake. Think about that for moment. The moment the accusation was made, there was no possibility of you proving your innocence, for how can one prove they are not a witch?
There was only, will you drown or will you burn. How could a man prove he did not do something 35 years ago? There is no evidence that could be mustered, there is to time, no date, no physical evidence at all. All there is is the accusation. Now that we live in days of madness that is all you need. Where will all the hysteria end? Will the lunatics take over the asylum? They already have. The statesmen are long gone, a very definite sign of judgment. I told the story the other day of the man in Britain accused of multiply raping a woman. He was then remanded to a woman’s prison because he self identified as a woman. There he raped several more women. The same hysterical lunatics that we see today on our tvs are the very people who would send a rapist to a woman’s prison.
Jezebel walks among us screaming ” I will murder your babies.” She taunts them who still have their minds by pointing to the ever growing mass of hysterical lunatics and telling them ” they are coming for you next.” And they are. Dark are the days brothers and sisters. Hell and all its depths are loosed. Those not standing upon the firm foundation of God will simply be swept away by a hurricane of madness and lunacy. And the thing is, these are just the outer bands of a storm that will engulf the whole world. Is their oil in your vessel?
The Holy Spirit is calling to His people to lift up their eyes. See, that although the gross darkness is almost upon us, right behind it comes the Lord Himself hence the reason for the monumental battle that is unfolding. This is the enemies last stand and he is not going down without a fight. Yet greater is He that is in us than he that is in the midst of the crazed masses.
We have been called to comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have been comforted with. In ever great trial there is great comfort from the Lord but we have to go deep. This is like pure gold to the poor man although we often have to experience what it means to be poor to appreciate His gold. It is like light to one who is drowning in darkness although we often have to touch that very darkness to know what it means to cry out to the Light. It is like an oasis to the man who finds himself in the midst of the desert although we often have to stumble, parched and dying in the desert to know how magnificent and glorious His oasis is. He is like an anchor indeed in the great storms of life although we often have to come to the point of it seeming like the storm will simply blow us away to appreciate that He holds us fast. All that treasure, all that light, all those living waters and sure anchor are to be shared with others. He comforts us with His presence because He loves us and that very comfort He asks us to share with others. This is how the Lord is glorified in our infirmities and in the midst of our sufferings.
A famous man once said that some men hate their enemies more than they love their children. How many cultures have we seen ruined by hate and revenge and unforgiveness. Yet, a spiritual revolution begins in the heart of one man who chooses to forgive his enemies, and yes, even more than that, love his enemies. This is not natural, it is supernatural. Father forgive them for they know not what they do!! Hold not this to their account. For God so loved the world……..while they were yet in their sin.
Oh, the love of God is so much higher than we, so much wider than the widest ocean and deeper than the great depths of time and space. It is outside of the natural man, beyond his grasp or even his vain imagination, but when Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and souls and minds suddenly that which was so beyond us is now in us and through us, like rivers of flowing waters flowing out to a thirsty people, to dry and thirsty land. Glory to God we can know the height and the depth of His great glory as we journey deeper into the Father’s heart. Forgive someone today and start a revolution!!!
When our primary focus is on anything other than Jesus we become distracted and begin to distance ourselves from the Lord. The deception comes when our focus is on something that is laudable. Things like holiness and revival are a couple of examples of things that in and of themselves are not harmful if they are a by-product of our focus on Jesus. If they are our primary focus then they simply become a tool in the enemy’s hand that leads us away from the presence of God.
Only as Jesus is lifted up, only as He is glorified, only as He is worshiped can there be change. He is the central focus of our lives and as we make Him the center of all things only then can we expect to see Him move in power. Everything else, and I mean everything, is religion and vanity. Many a good man has been drawn away from Jesus by focusing on the by-product and not the primary object. This is the essence of religious activity as opposed to the presence and power of God. The work of the Holy Spirit, first and foremost, is to magnify Jesus in the hearts of men.
The time has come to glorify the king. While the watchmen have sounded the alarm and rightly so, we must also declare victory. What is the victory we declare? What great battle have we witnessed and now seek to tell others about? “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things.(Isa 52:7)
This vision of the beautiful feet is the vision of one who runs from the scene of battle, across mountains, to the city that waits for news. (2 Sam 18:26) If your King has went out to fight the enemy that has surely come to destroy you, can you imagine the anticipation of those left behind wondering how the battle went? This is a matter of life and death. If the King is defeated then the enemy is coming and he will destroy everything in his path. You will lose everything, you world will be ripped apart and your heart will faint with fear. So, when the runner comes and announces salvation, meaning victorious deliverance, there is a spontaneous reaction of utter joy and celebration. This is the “good news,” this is the “glad tidings,” they have been waiting to hear. How many times is genuine salvation coupled with utter joy and spontaneous celebration in the heart of one who has been delivered from destruction? It is the mark of genuine Christianity down through the ages. It is what separates genuine Christianity from a mental assent to an abstract truth.
So when the messenger comes, they want to know from him “did you actually see the victory,did you see it with your own eyes or did someone just tell you that our King won?” When he declares that yes, he actually saw it with his own eyes , that he is an eye-witness, then the people can truly rejoice because they know that the runner has actually saw it and it is no mere second-hand account. This is what gives the runner power. Today, we desperately need the beautiful feet of those who have personally witnessed victorious deliverance. Those who have seen the victory at Calvary realized in their own lives. We need those whose own “eyes have seen the King. A people who can say that they have “saw the Lord sitting on a Throne , high and lifted up,” and know that “His train fills the temple.” A people who have heard the saints of Heaven cry Holy, Holy , Holy, is the Lord of Hosts, and know that “the whole earth is filled with His glory. A people whose doorposts moved, and their whole house is shaken by the glory and the splendor and the majesty of our King, and whose house is filled with the smoke, of His presence.
Only eye-witnesses to His glory will suffice as the days of history draw to a close. To tell others a story that you have been told is not good enough. Can you say with the prophet, my eyes have seen the King? Have you experienced the fullness of God? Has your whole house,your whole being, been shaken by His majesty and His splendor? Is your feet beautiful? Have you actually witnessed anything? When you speak of the glory of the risen King, are you merely re-telling a story? Or have you actually experienced the glory of the risen King? You see, the eye-witness actually has power and that power is demonstrated in a transformed life. The mere confessor, the cultural Christian, the one who is called Christian by accident of natural birth will be no different from the world. He does not speak with authority, the authority of one who “knows,” Jesus. His is a mere philosophy. He will be changed by the world and subject to its whims and cultures. Cultural winds will toss him like a wave in the sea. He will be unstable in all of his ways for his feet are not set upon the foundations of the victory of Jesus at Calvary.
The eye-witness stands upon the solid Rock of Christ and the victory that was given to him transforms his life. He has, with his own eyes, seen the victory. He has ran on ahead to tell everyone. He knows who is coming. He lies in bed at night and sleeps soundly knowing that every minute that passes brings His Lord ever closer. He sleeps in peace, he knows the victory is won.”Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together, for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord brings back Zion.“(Isa52:8) So, let me ask the question, what exactly are you a witness too? Are your feet beautiful? Did you actually witness the defeat of the enemy? Can the people trust you? Do you have the power of the eye-witness? Do you have an unshakeable faith because you have seen the King? Those who have encountered God in salvation await His return with all of their hearts. His victory lights up their hearts and lives and the people who dwell in darkness see the light. They may come to the light or they may run from it , they might try to destroy the light, but they cannot deny the light. The reality of our salvation and transformed lives is the light of the world and it bears witness to Jesus.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? (Jer 23:28-29)
The word of the false prophet is smooth and flattering and self-indulgent. They pat each other on the back and congratulate themselves. They are at ease in Babylon. Yet the true word of God is like a fire says the Lord, it is like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces. It has a dynamic force that causes a tumult. It penetrates and thoroughly pierces the hard hearts of men. Men are stabbed in the heart by the penetrating word of God. We see this when Peter preaches after Pentecost and three thousand are saved. We also see it when Stephen preaches and is stoned to death. In each case the scriptures use the phrase ” they were stabbed in the heart.” The true word of God spoken by those filled by Gods Spirit will always cause a violent reaction either unto life or unto death but never unto ease.
False prophets declare that everything is going to be all right. In the days that we live there are many false prophets that are easily identifiable. We live in such darkness that they don’t even bother to don their sheep outfit, they stand there like the wolves they are while they tear away at the sheep with lies and delusion. They tell Christendom that it is God’s desire to see them rich. They tell Christendom that the power lies within their own words and that those very words, spoken, compels the Living God to act, they make a servant of our God. In all these things they are speaking from the abundance of their hearts, it comes from their own desire to be rich and to be powerful and to be influential and to be in control. They love to hear their own names lauded by men while at the same time, with the thinnest of veneers, make a pretense of humility.
Now truly these men are easy to identify as they promote the things of the world from the platforms of the churches. What about the false prophets who have donned the sheep clothing? The thrust of their message is the same, just much more subtly delivered. Yet they promote peace. They give a way of escape that allows us to stay where we are and men love that to be so. Yet, the Word of God is like a fire. It burns and it consumes and it refines. It is like a hammer, it deals the blow, it breaks in pieces, it tears up the fallow ground and pounds the clod. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces and divides the soul from the spirit. It knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts and leaves us standing naked before the living God.
Jesus did not come to bring peace to the earth. His Truth sets apart a man from his father, a daughter from her mother. The enemies often lie within our own households and gatherings and denominations. When the truth goes forth it does not go forth with a rousing applause from men. If you oh man of God only hear the rousing applause’s of men then you are not preaching the whole truth of God, you are holding something, or many things back. In doing this you are crying “peace, peace,” where there is no peace. Men may applaud you, God will not. Whatever God reveals to us it is incumbent upon us to share this truth. We live in a day when truth is assaulted on every side. Only when we are led by the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus is preeminent among us can the truth go forth. Jesus knew how to take a crowd of thousands and reduce it down to a handful. He done this by setting forth the truth and it was too hard for most men to hear and they left Jesus.
These are people who had followed Jesus, had been fed by Jesus, had believed Jesus, had been healed by Jesus. Yet, when it comes down to it, the truth, the sword of the Word divided them for it knew the intent and desires of their heart and it caused them to separate from the genuine saints who could say to Jesus that no matter what happened or if the many left Him, they would not for where else could they go, He had the words of life and it was the way, the truth and the life of Christ that they sought. This was the challenge 2000 years ago, and that very same challenge is all the more real today. Will you follow and declare the truth though none go with you? This is our challenge saints. Stand upon the truth and the Word and let the chips fall where they may. And there shall come upon you a peace that surpasses all understanding, and that peace is found even in the deepest dungeons, where so many men and women of God ended up for taking such a stance.
I believe there is a time to preach revival, and I believe there is a time to declare that the cup of the Lord’s wrath shall be poured put, yes even beginning with the church. Many men today preach revival and it is no better than preaching “peace,peace,” where there is no peace. We are a nation and a people marked for judgment and this will and has begun in the house of the Lord. We have no true power in our meetings and the Lord Himself is not preeminent, that in itself is worthy of judgment. Yet we soothe the hearers soul as we tell them that surely revival will come, and the people are comforted with this. The word revival itself is lifted up and men are dedicated to its cause yet we know that unless we lift up the name of Jesus then men shall not be drawn to God.
We are told about a generation in Romans chapter 1 that is given over to blindness. A generation that hold the truth in unrighteousness. Not the wicked who reject righteousness as wicked men and nations always have, but a wicked generation who hold the truth in unrighteousness. A generation that is handed over to blindness, a generation that labors under a great delusion. Can I put it to you brothers and sisters, we are that generation and the wrath of God has come upon us and the evidence of that wrath is all around us. Who can see it? Yet we still have “men of God,” crying peace, peace when God has a controversy with us.
In Galatians chapter one, Paul is amazed that the Galatians are so soon removed from the truth that they had learned, the full Gospel. They were now trying to finish in the flesh that which was begun in the Spirit. He cries out “Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewtiched you!” Wow, what a strong charge against them from the eminent Apostle. He tells them that they are in defiance of the truth. And all this predicated upon Peter and Barnabas playing the hypocrite in front of religious men come down from Jerusalem. They were acting one way when they were with the gentiles, and another when they were around these men. They had a fear of these men and this constrained them.
I know good men, baptized in the Holy Spirit and by His power, who by their actions and fellowship deny the power of the Holy Spirit when they are around men who deny the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet Paul, in front of them all, rebuked Peter publicly. Not for an hour would he indulge himself in such hypocrisy. If men deny the power of the Holy Spirit then we who are baptized in the Holy Spirit cannot in good conscience act the hypocrite with these men. It is one thing to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and need reviving, it is quite another when men reject the very notion of such a baptism and power. Can that which has never lived be revived? To hold the truth in such unrighteousness is to drink fully from the cup of His wrath. There is no greater judgment on this earth than to be judged with blindness and given over to delusion.
This is a follow up to the Isaiah chapter six video. Someone asked me about my own experience with the Holy Spirit and my first encounter with the manifest presence of God…………………..
I have watched the two funerals in America this week, one a music star, the other a sailor and a politician. I was filled with a great sadness. Not the sadness of mourning, although I did feel for the families. Having lost dear loved ones myself I know the pain of that loss. No, I felt a deep sadness at the worldliness of it all and how it had little or anything to do with the Lord.
The world certainly celebrates its own. I heard very moving words from a daughter about how her father had raised her, but I also heard bitterness and biting anger. When we look to legacy, we can often find it in our children. It is not important what material possessions we leave behind, nor is it important the titles we leave behind, what is truly important is what we leave behind in the hearts of our children and our childrens children.
We can do many things very well but if we leave behind a legacy of bitterness, if we leave behind the seeds of anger and revenge, we have left behind the seeds of destruction for those who carry it. There is a remedy for those who carry such a seed and if that remedy is realized, then when we come to pass ourselves you will hear them speak not so much of us at our funerals, but of the one who released us from our chains.
The mark of a life well lived is to hear the name of Jesus lifted up at our own funerals. What we leave behind is the world and all its ways. Oh how it loves its own. Yet what we journey on to is the Kingdom of God and eternity and all that matters in the end is just that Kingdom and how we served it here and now, now how we served a self serving world.
A Call To The Remnant 