Where two or three are gathered in My name.
Posted by appolus on September 10, 2022
Does the Lord dwell within a building or does He dwell within our hearts? A heart beats, it has chambers, it has blood that pumps through veins and travels to every part of the body bringing life sustaining oxygen. The Body, while complex and made up of many parts, is totally dependent upon the heart. To meet in the name of Jesus is to meet with saints who are identified by the character and the nature of Jesus. Every genuine saint has his or her place already set within the heart, within the body. The Lord Jesus Himself is building this body. Only that which belongs can enter into the system that the Lord is building. Our own natural bodies have an immune system that deals with anything that should not be there. To have a cohesive body, each part must belong there, must be placed there. There is an architect of this Body, this Temple, and His name is Jesus. Only He builds.
Many burning embers together create the potential for a great fire. Throw a log on one ember and it may catch fire after a while, throw a log onto many burning embers and it will catch fire right away. One fire, many embers greater light, greater heat. Now, gather a bunch of branches together with no fire and you will just have a bunch of branches. It could not call itself a fire for it clearly is without fire. Just because you call yourself a Christian and gather in the name of Jesus means nothing if you are not actually Christians. A bunch of dead wood is a bunch of dead wood. And for those who have built fires, they know that a fire can be smothered by piling a lot of material on top of it. The oxygen is choked out. If one hundred people gather and only ten are genuinely saved then the other 90 will not catch on fire, but the fire itself shall be smothered by the green wood.
This scripture where two or three are gathered in my name, is far more important than we know. To gather in the name of Jesus is a deeply spiritual thing for those who have been born again according to His Spirit, His character and His nature. The enemy has done his level best to dilute that to the point where any fire that existed would be smothered.Being a Christ follower means to bear the life of Christ in us. So, when two or three genuine Christ followers come together for the sole purpose of spirit being drawn unto spirit then there is a magnification that takes place. Like a magnifying glass that captures the light of the sun and turns it into something very potent, then the Holy Spirit takes the light that is within us, the two or the three or the however many and turns it into something very powerful. Darkness is the mere absence of light. It cannot be magnified. Take a thousand dark souls and gather them together and what do you have? Darkness. Take the light from two or three or one hundred or a thousand genuine saints , undiluted by the darkness of unbelievers and down comes the power of God in a unique way.
In these last days there is a purging going on. The genuine saints are being purged out of the gatherings by the Lord where the majority are not saved or are lukewarm. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. What fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion has light with darkness? Are you not the temple of the Living God? Therefore come out from among them says God. Be separate and touch not the unclean thing. In Revelations chapter two we see that the church in Ephesus hated the deeds of the Nicolations as did God. Not much is known about this group but it estimated that they were a group that took on the customs of the Romans in order to avoid persecution. The genuine saint resists the ways of the world, they do not embrace them. Yes it is costly and yes there is great loss involved. Yet what is any amount of loss amount to if we are found in Him?
We must gather together in ways that are ordered of God. We must walk according to the rhythm of Gods heart. We cannot walk to the beat of this world. Ember must find ember. There is fire in the heart of the saints. As the world closes in, we cannot yield simply because the congregation that we have always belonged to has yielded. This is everything being tested by God. In the end, where does your loyalties lie? Jesus is the Word is He not.? If you were invited to a get together somewhere but they said to you, do not bring your son, he is not welcome. Would you go? Would your heart not break for the rejection of your son? You certainly would not go where your child was not welcome. Should we go where Christ is not welcome? He is the Word. He is the way and the truth and the life. He must be the honored guest and the preeminent one at all of our gatherings. Whether two or two hundred. God is opening up a chasm. As the chasm widens, one must choose what side of the chasm we are committed to. Soon it becomes too wide. If you try and straddle both sides you will plummet into the chasm. Choose wisely who you gather with.
A Call To The Remnant 
Lisa said
Excellent message, brother Frank. It’s always a blessing to read your messages to the remnant. I can tell that this message is one that is close to your heart. As I was reading, two things from the scriptures came to my mind. One was the time of the harvest, and the other was the parable of the ten virgins.
In the harvest, the Lord said there would be two kinds in the field. Only two. Wheat and tares. That they would grow together until the harvest. I learned from good teachers along the way that wheat and tares look almost exactly alike. And sometimes they grow so close together that they even share the same root. The only way to truly tell the difference they say is when it gets close to harvest time. The head of the wheat is bowed, where the head if the tare is not. “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?…He draws near to the humble, but he knows the proud from afar off…” They say the difference in appearance is representative of humility. And they say that if you eat the fruit of the tares that it can actually make you sick. What an incredible picture. And the farmers say, the closer it gets to harvest time, the more distinguishable they become. Just fascinating.
And the virgins of course. 5 wise and 5 foolish. I have heard many different ways of understanding this parable. Many try to say he’s talking about rapture. I believe those who only interpret it this way is missing the entire point. And probably most say he’s talking about the Holy Spirit. Those with and without the Holy Spirit. And it certainly seems plausible. But of all of what I have heard, nothing comes closest for me, to this interpretation. Grapes are crushed, oil is pressed. The oil comes from pressing. And from oil we make perfume. When you look at Song of Solomon it talks about the sweet pleasant aromas that come from his bride, the bride of the King. During the separation after betrothment, the bride goes through a process of preparation and “makes herself ready” for her wedding. She goes through a series of beauty treatments and processes of purification and cleansing. This involved bathing rituals and sweet scented fragrant oils for her body. I learned all of this through Rebecca Totillo. She is very knowledgeable in this area. Oil, again, is made through a process of pressing. The “virgin oil” they say was the purest and it was also the only oil that the priests would use in the temple. All the oil that was further processed was used for all other common uses. But getting back to the process of pressing. The pressing is said to be symbolic of the discipline of the Lord through trials and tribulations. It’s a pressing, a pressure, a squishing. Experiences that we all who belong to the Lord must endure. Not so with those who do not, according to the scriptures. It says if anybody is not undergoing discipline of the Lord, they are illegitimate sons. “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!” So in the parable of the virgins we see that the 5 who were wise who “were prepared” brought with them EXTRA OIL, where the 5 foolish had none and on top of that, their lamps were going out. I just thought I’d share what I think is a few other very interesting perspectives on this matter of distinction that you mentioned and that the bible also talks about.
I also want to mention, and I think it’s worth noting (since we are already on the subject) the 3rd seal in the book of Revelation. It talks about barley and wheat for a days wages. Barley and wheat is significant with harvest. And a day’s wages is synonymous with the payment of eternal life when you revisit the parable of the vineyard workers. And then when you look closer at the “do not damage the oil and the wine”, you see this imagery with the grain offerings and the drink offerings offered up to the Lord and also in the book of Joel at the time of the Lord’s judgment and the Day of the Lord, this talk of “leaving behind a blessing – a grain offering and drink offering for the LORD your God.” Very interesting language when you compare. So I can’t help but to wonder if the 3rd seal, the black horse parable, that spirit with the balances in his hands which is symbolic even in our own system of “justice” or “court”, that this could be a time maybe where the books are opened and the time of the gentiles has come to an end and the door is shut. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think the symbolic imagery is worth noting.
Anyways, sorry for getting off track. Don’t mean to be rambling on like this. Just some thoughts I thought I might share. God bless all the brethren who walk with the Lord Jesus. Love to you all. I pray you have a most beautiful day 🙏🏻✝️💛
appolus said
This is excellent Lisa. I truly appreciate your thoughts and insights……..bro Frank.
Lisa said
I can’t reply any further on the other post, so I figured I will reply here. To answer you about that John Bunyan book, I will be happy to let you know how I like that book, I’m sure I will like it alot. It’s a short little book so it should be a quick read. Amazon recommended another book as a companion entitled, The Excellency of a Broken Heart, and I also thought it a good recommendation so I’m getting that one too. Looking forward to them both. I didn’t realize I never answered your question about prayer and fasting. So I will answer you here. He won’t do a total fast from food with me, but he has done partial fasts with me before for like 30 days where we will only alliw ourselves to eat and drink certain things. And he won’t pray with me, because he says we should “do those things privately and separately.” But I did fast and pray for 8 days on my own, and I’m considering doing it again because I’m amazed at how well my bad shoulder feels. It feels amazing. So some cleansing and healing came about not only in my heart, but in my body. Praise the good Lord for that. This next time I wanna do it to get all of my thoughts and attitudes right. After being sifted by the devil (oh my gosh was that hell) I don’t yet feel like I’m quite where I should be. Like I haven’t fully recovered from that. Looking back now at that dream I had at the crossroads when the devil came face to face with me, I understand much better what that was all about in hindsight. Got Questions wrote an excellent article on being sifted by the devil. Man, was that helpful to me. It encouraged me to not feel so bad about not handling it very well. The disciples, especially Peter, didn’t do so well either. But because of the prayers of Jesus, bless his heart, their faith did not fail. And the Lord Jesus restored Peter. Praise the Lord Jesus. Anyways, thank you again, brother Frank, for everything. Have a blessed week! ✝️
appolus said
I love the title “The excellency of a broken heart.” May get that myself 🙂 It’s a great encouragement to me to see saints get the victory over a situation. It’s a very Scottish Christian phrase “did you get the victory.” In many senses it’s a militant phrase. And of course we are certainly in a war with multiple battles, but a war where the outcome is already achieved. Whether or not your husband will fast, it will be good for you to fast because this issue that he/you are dealing with is very difficult. You guys have my prayers. God bless you sister…….bro Frank.
Mary said
Just want to say how blessed I was in the reading of this article this morning. I brought and read it at a gathering of the saints this afternoon; it was so timely! I LOVED “Ember must find ember.”
Thank you for faithfully sharing 💜
appolus said
Thank you Mary. So glad it was of dome use to your gathering……bro Frank