Our role in the coming days (lengthy)
The Body of Christ has not changed down through the centuries. Always at her core she has been called to be an eye-witness to God’s glory. This is the essential heartbeat of Gods remnant bride and always will be. She is a tabernacle in the wilderness, she is Gods temple here on earth. At the same time she has always been despised by the religious spirit because she speaks truth to power. In these days God says in His word through His prophet Zechariah that ” In that last day a fountain shall be opened up for the house of David.” God Himself says again through the prophet that (speaking of Christendom) “Two thirds in it shall be cut off and die. But one-third shall be left in it. I will bring the one-third through the fire, I will refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer them. I will say ” This is my people.” (Zec 13:8-9)
And so we see that a fountain shall be opened in that day for the house of David. Can you imagine how welcome a fountain would be in the midst of a dry and thirsty land, a land racked with drought and famine? I want us to look at two men of God and see what parallels we can draw. Let’s look at Noah and as we do let’s think about the context of the time in which he lived. It’s a time and a place of great wickedness and there would only be a tiny fraction saved out of this. Noah is commissioned to build an ark over a long period of time. We know that Noah faced ridicule and scorn. What he was building have never been built before. And, rain had never fallen from the sky and the notion that the whole earth would be covered by a flood was preposterous to all who lived then.
Every day the people could hear Noah’s hammer. Every day the ark took shape and was rising up. The continuous hammering would have been a great source of irritation to all around him. Noah would have to keep building despite the ridicule and the scorn and the anger because the rain was surely coming and he was being obedient to his calling. We too as Gods remnant people have to keep true to what the Lord has called us to do. We are also in the ark business. There was one place of salvation when the rains of judgment began to fall, it was the ark. Can I put it to you brothers and sisters that the remnant church of God is God’s ark built by the hands of Jesus. The Body of Christ.
With the judgments beginning to fall, with the beginning of the birth pangs, it will become apparent that God has a people who have not bowed the knee to Baal. God is getting ready to reveal His ark by bringing judgment and allowing the rise of the anti-christ. This ark will be a witness to the glory of God and His way of escape. This ark will be used as a last chance for the un-redeemed of the world to be saved before final judgment. This ark will be revealed to the world by persecution. All of the world will see this ark and they will be without excuse when that day comes. This ark is the glory of Christ here on the earth and He reveals Himself through what He has built.
Now lets consider Joseph and consider the context and the back-drop of his day. Here we have Joseph who has been called to save a remnant. “And God sent me before you to save a Remnant in the earth and to save your life by a great deliverance.” ( Gen 45:7) Before Joseph could do this he had to be scorned and ridiculed by his own. Because of dreams and visions, that scorn turned to anger and hatred. He was then rejected and sold into slavery. He is then wrongfully accused and ends up in prison, seemingly forgotten and forsaken. God of course had never left him. This is way of the remnant. Yet God had not forsaken Joseph and even in prison Joseph moved in the supernatural and he found God’s favor. He was able to interpret dreams and visions and this would lead him to see that a great famine was coming upon the land. He was able to make provisions that would save “A Remnant in the earth.”
Can you see the pattern behind this brothers and sisters? Can you relate to the suffering and the rejection and the fact that he seemed forsaken? Joseph was surely plagued by this as he languished in prison. The pattern is clear. When there is great judgment coming upon the land, God has a people or a person whom He will send ahead to enable whoever will, to escape that judgment. God has created such a vehicle in the Body of Christ. And they too, just like Joseph, must be despised and rejected by the very one’s they have been sent to save. This is the divine pattern. We see our Lord Jesus walk down this path. He came from the glories of heaven and the right hand of the Father, emptying Himself and humbling Himself in order to walk amongst those who He had come to save. He became despised and rejected, tortured and killed.
And now with the final judgment fast approaching, the ark which Jesus has been building for 2000 years is almost ready. God’s remnant church comes from every possible background and across all denominational lines. ( artificial walls built by men and not by God) Through the last 2000 years they have been scorned, ridiculed hated and despised and hunted down and killed and almost all of this was done by "their own.” Their own being people who would profess God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. Yet God in His mercy will reach out and continue to reach out through His Body while there is yet time. A witness until the very end. A faithful Body and a people without excuse.
The Body of Christ is everywhere. It is in every village, every town , every city and every nation on the earth. There are countless millions of Gods own children around the world. For the most part they are swallowed up in Christendom with its multiplicity of divisions and man made walls. Yet, the closer to Christ’s return is, the more and more difficulty the Body of Christ will find within the denominations of men. Could a saint really stay within the confines of any organisation that has corrupted itself with the world?
This will be the ever increasing pressure that will be brought to bear on the saints in the coming days. Only the individual saint can answer this question for his or her self. The Word of God and the Holy Spirit must be a lamp unto our feet. As the darkness increases our need for the light that shines forth from the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit who gives us not only revelation but inspiration only becomes greater and greater.We have a God who will never leave us nor forsake us. We must trust Him with our whole hearts.The Word of God and His doctrines were written to be understood by even the simplest among us, in fact God delights in confounding the wise by the foolish things of this world. The doctrines of men are generally complicated and confusing. Stay with the Word, lean upon the Holy Spirit for understanding and insight. Do all of this with your whole heart and you will not go far wrong. He did not leave us as orphans, praise God.The Holy Spirit will lead and guide His children through not only good times but through the darkest valleys and the narrowest portions of the path that leads us home.
A sister in the Lord sent me an article about about someone who had visited a church and it was dark. Now, the author was speaking of physical darkness, the lights were turned down so low that she could not read. The irony was not lost on her that the opening song was about the Lord being the light in the darkness The last time I was at a church it was also dark. It had stadium seating as they do in the cinema. It was not dark when I entered, but soon enough the lights were dimmed, I guessed the “show,” was about to begin. Now why are countless churches operating in the dark? Could it just be a trend? Another fad? An attempt to appeal to a younger generation? Or, could it be as simple as the fact that this darkness truly represents their spiritual state? I tend to go with the latter.
“Entertainment.” Without the presence of God we must entertain the masses. So, just like the movies and secular concerts, we dim the lights and highlight the platform, put a spotlight on it. The platform in and of itself is an idol. I believe Luther tore down the idol of “The Eucharist,” and helped raise up the idol of the pulpit, the platform, the elevated place. People can sit in darkness because nothing is required of them. All the “action,” is taking place front and center and elevated. Then add the dry ice smoke machines and you have the whole ghastly package. Entertainment rules supreme, concert style worship and dimmed lights make sure the spotlight is on “the front.” Actual congregational worship and the proper 1 Cor 14 setting is dead, and in its place Hollywood rules supreme. Hollywood meaning that which is contrived is made to look real. May God bring down the curtain on this abomination.
In 1544 there occurred what became know as “The great debasement.” Ushered in by an impoverished Henry V111 in order to increase his revenue, he simply put less gold in a coin but maintained its face value. Gold was reduced from 23 karat to 20 karat and the amount of silver in a coin was reduced from 92.5% to just 25%. There was somewhat of an out cry but for six years this policy prevailed, thus debasing the value of the whole currency, it was ye old inflation.
Part of Solomon’s treasure was three hundred shields of gold. (2 Chron 9:16) It was only a small part of his treasure but it was worth a vast fortune in today’s money. When that treasure was foolishly handled and displayed in pride and arrogance under Rehoboam, Shishak, King of Egypt came and took them all. The divided Kingdom could not stand against the might of Egypt. Rehoboam’s solution was to make 300 shields of brass. As the rising sun glistened on the brass shields, from a distance no one could tell that it was not gold, but it was not gold, it was a poor substitute.
Today’s brass is dimmed lights, smoke machines, stadium seating, concert style worship, flashing lights and laser shows. Add to that salesmen pitches and the power of positive thinking and “sermons,” by men who could easily be self help gurus or motivational speakers and the brass is complete. When the real treasure is gone, the presence of the Lord, then the replacement is brass and if that replacement is brass then the heavens above them is brass.
The riches of our dwelling place is in the Lord. The beauty of dwelling with Him produces the finest gold of unconditional love. The walls of our dwelling place are encrusted with the jewels of forgiveness and mercy. The windows of our dwelling places are draped with meekness and humility. Trophies of grace hang on every wall. They are framed with the finest materials of patience and kindness.He is our exceeding great reward and His presence is pure gold that can never be devalued by men. It is the riches that will last throughout eternity. We have no brass heavens above us, rather we have an open heaven. And from that open heaven it rains and the skies are rent and down flows the treasure of Heaven, God Himself!
1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love , I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
In the previous sentence Paul tells us that we have to earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet, even above and beyond the best gifts, which we have indeed to earnestly desire, we must pursue love. It is not one or the other, God forbid. That’s a lie. Not only must the man or woman display the manifestation of the Spirit, above and beyond even that, He must walk in the greatest gift of all, love. Not human love, supernatural love. The kind of love that can only belong to the born again man or woman. The kind of love that shatters the gates of hell. The kind of love that inspired God to create us in the first place. The love that sent His only Son to die for the whole world. The kind of love that pursues us even when we are yet in our sin. The love that confounds hell itself. Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do. What kind of love motivated Jesus to cry this out in the midst of the greatest agony ever suffered? What kind of love would motivate Stephen to cry out the same thing even as those cruel merciless stones rained down upon his mortal body? Supernatural love. If one is truly endued with power from on high, that power will be first and foremost manifested in love in his or her life, the greatest manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Paul begins with what love does not do or what it isn’t. It does not envy. It is not boastful. It is not full of pride. It does not behave in a deliberately offensive manner. It is not selfish. It is not easily provoked. It does not think the worse of people. It does not rejoice when others fall. Love, instead, revels in the truth, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love, indeed, never fails. It never fails. For this love is the manifestation of God Himself, in His own and through His own. It can never fail because God never fails. It is eternal for God is eternal. When the end comes, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and the Kingdom of God rules and reigns for all eternity then of course we wont have to hope any more, for all hope is fulfilled. We will no longer have to trust in the God that we cannot see, for now we shall see Him face to face.
Knowledge will vanish because we shall know as we are known. When all things are fulfilled in this manner, then love still stands forever. We are yet in this world, but the world to come is coming soon. Now we are like children, then we shall be complete in Him. Now we see in a mirror dimly, then face to face. Imagine it saints!!! There is now and there is then, we still exist in the now. And now we have the manifestation of the Spirit, then, all things are complete, perfect. And when that perfect has come, then all these other things, besides love, shall fall away. Do not let anyone fool you, do not be ignorant about these things brothers and sisters. For certain men have a form of Godliness, nevertheless they deny the power of God and say that it has ceased. From such men turn away.
Suppose a company of ugly, unattractive persons lived together in one house. Suppose that they never saw any other man or woman, only themselves, they never saw anyone that was arrayed with the splendors and perfections of physical beauty. They would not be capable of comparing themselves with anything other than themselves, and consequently would not know and not be disappointed at their own ugliness and natural defections. Now, bring them them out of their cells and holes of darkness, where they have been shut up by themselves, and let them see the beauty and attractiveness of others and then, they will be sorry and dejected at the view of their own ugliness.
This is the case, men are marred by sin and are rotten, corrupted and depraved. When they dwell together in the dark they see neither God, nor angels nor saints in their excellent nature and beauty. Therefore they are apt to count their own ugliness and deformity as things of beauty and glory. Now, let such, as I said, see God, see saints, or the beauty of the Holy Spirit and know themselves that they have not any of this, and they cannot but be affected and sorry for their own deformity. (John Bunyan, The excellence of a Broken heart. )
John, very ably speaks, in his analogy, of a broken ugly world marred and deformed by sin. Those so marred rarely have any desire to be around what is beautiful. Think of David as he worshiped God and Saul tries to pin him to that wall with a spear. Saul hated David. He hated David first and foremost because David had God and every time he saw him it was a reminder to Saul that he did not. The saints of God would be hated is they never spoke a word. The beauty in them, that shines upon their face and is displayed by their love and forgiveness, is a terrible reminder to a dark and ugly world that they are dark and ugly. The worlds solution is simply to never be around Gods excellent ones. they must only be around their own.
Then their ugliness and sin is swallowed up by the perpetual darkness of their fellow ugly people. Lest some people make the claim that they are good and not ugly and deformed, God says that all the righteousness of men are like filthy rags before His eyes. The people of the world are ultimately united in their ugliness and their desire to avoid, at all costs, the mirror of truth. To look into this mirror is to see the vileness of the one looking back. The world has its own mirror and it is as deceptive as their blackened hearts. This is why, to genuinely encounter God is to fall down as one who is dead. To cry out “is there mercy for me.” To shout out from the depths of their exposed darkness “what must we do.” To see the ultimate beauty of God in His perfection and glory is to cast His light onto the lying mirror and suddenly we are horrified to see what is looking back.
The mask is ripped away. The fig leave falls to the ground. And there we are, naked before God and we know, no one has to tell us anything. We know of our deformity and ugliness. And now we must be swallowed whole by His majesty and glory. The mountain of our sin and darkness melts like wax in the presence of the Lord. That which was ugly now reflects the beauty of God. That which was deformed now is made whole. From the ashes of our fallen flesh rises the beauty of our risen Lord and He rises up in us. Now the world sees something of His majesty in us and sees their own wickedness reflected back. Only in this state, when a man or woman is confronted with who he or she truly is, and then discovers that there is mercy and grace to be found in the beauty of His holiness, can that man or woman truly be saved. To truly fall and rise again in the newness of birth, the second birth. Those who reject this revelation of who they are, their conscience accuses them, condemn themselves to an eternal life of ugliness.
It is a sad commentary on the established church that so little prayer, if any, takes place in their gatherings. If one were able to take the vitals of any gathering, the way the doctor takes our blood pressure and pulse, then prayer in an individuals life or a gathering would be the pulse. The heartbeat is at the center of our being and prayer is at the center of who we are in Christ. If your “pulse,” were to be taken today, would it show a healthy heart? A healthy prayer life?
When the doctor checks your pulse, he understands each pulse represents a heartbeat. There is the force behind the pulse and the regularity of the pulse. He wants to see a strong pulse because that indicates a good flow of blood to the extremities. The regularity of the pulse indicates that the heart is beating regularly. An irregular heartbeat is a dangerous thing that has to be treated. Now blood pressure measures the force of blood flowing against the walls of your arteries. Too high and there will undoubtedly be undue pressure on your arteries which will make them more elastic which in the end will decrease the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart. Too low and your bodies vital organs do not get enough oxygen and nutrients.
Prayer is the heartbeat of your personal walk with the Lord. Prayer is the heartbeat of any gathering. If it beats low we are quite ineffective. If it beats high and irregular then we setting ourselves up for failure. If our hearts stop beating we die. If there was a spiritual doctor who could take the pulse of your congregation would he find it healthy? Would He find life at all? If He ran the same check on you, how healthy would He pronounce you? Prayer is the strong and steady and vital beat of the heart of our walk with Jesus. The rhythm of the heart of God must be our rhythm. We align our hearts with His. We become one with His heart. We are strong in the Lord and the power of His might only in as much as we pray according to His heart. This is true not only of our personal walk but also of our corporate gatherings. No prayer, no life, no exceptions.
Today we are being driven by the form and not the substance. Jesus is the substance. Jesus is the primary object. Jesus is the preeminent one. Without Him high and lifted up, front and center, without His presence in our midst we only have a form. A religious structure built by human hands to house our own desires. We have abandoned the real Jesus and constructed another Jesus. This other Jesus serves us. He serves our needs and desires, he entertains us through his creators. This other Jesus has never carried a cross nor does he require his followers to carry one either.
This cultural Jesus is a mere reflection of his adherents. He never judges, he never corrects. He has no particular requirements. He is a genie in a bottle even although they vigorously rub and he never appears. He does not walk with them, they walk alone. He does not talk to them, they merely engage their own imaginations. He lies to them through the prism of their souls. They hear him say peace and prosperity. He is a reflection of the better part of their natures and they do not realize that the better part of their natures is like filthy rags to the true and living God.
If these people ever actually encountered the true and the living Christ He would devastate them and upturn their lives. Everything they know or thought they knew would come crashing down. A God who judges? Hear the screams. A God who calls them to enter into His sufferings? Hear the wails. A God who requires their whole lives, their whole hearts, their whole allegiances? They writhe in agony. The flesh that refuses to die is enmity to God. He bids that flesh to voluntarily pick up its cross, the means of its own death. It shall surrender or it will rage against the author of the cross.
The narrow path never deviates as it winds its way home. It is fraught with danger. It slowly strips away all of the baggage that we took with us for our journey. It tears away at the flesh and passes through refining fires and floods. It often winds it way through hot and arid deserts. The narrow path has many exits and every exist is a path of least resistance. As soon as one steps onto it one can hear the haunting intoxicating sound of the siren call as it draws that one away from the narrow path.
For those who stay the course and stay on the narrow path, every so often, always suddenly, the Lord comes to us. He reminds us that we are His, He encourages us. He bids us look down and see that the path itself is the Word of God and that the path lights up and directs us in the way that we should go. We are instructed to turn neither to the left nor to the right. The Lord embraces us in His love and His kindness.
He heals our wounds, He tenderly touches our weary hearts. He feeds the deepest parts of us and sustains us for the journey. He restores the brokenhearted and gives strength to the weary. He gives us hope when there seems to be no hope. He gives us joy when there is nothing at all to be joyful about. He gives us a garment of praise and takes away a heavy spirit. He bids us to lift up our eyes and see the celestial city, from where our help comes from. Stay the course brothers and sisters. Stand fast in the time of our vexation. Our Lord is coming soon and our journey will be at an end.
The name Diotrephes means “nourished by Jupiter.” Jupiter was the Roman God, the most important of all their gods and was worshiped across the Roman empire. He symbolizes everything Rome was. And the Diotrephes that we meet in 3rd John is a man who loved to have the preeminence. Many believe that the dagger that was struck at the heart of the Church was Constantine, but in reality it was this man as early as the 80s ad. I discovered over my 20 years participation in the system, that fellowship with mere professors was harmful to my own walk and was met, for the most part, by indifference from those who at best, were perpetual babes as opposed to sons and daughters. This perpetual state of infancy( and I’m being generous) is perpetuated by the very system itself. Clergy/laity divide is the main symptom of the Diotrophes syndrome. Diotrophes replaced Jesus by putting himself in His place. This is why he was such an enemy to John. He would be upstaged by John and for men who love the preeminence, there is nothing worse than being upstaged.
There can be no spiritual progress in a system where Jesus has been usurped. We are called to be sons and daughters, not perpetual babes being taught the same rudimentary things week in and week out by a system that is, for the most part, devoid of the Holy Spirit. Who can grow unless they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit? Could Diotrephes replace Jesus? What would become of the people who sat under him? Would they not slowly die on the vine if they stayed there? I believe this situation is what kept Paul up at night. This was the reason for his prayers, tears and warnings, night and day for three years. Jesus addresses it through John in 3rd John and then again the first chapters of Revelations. So serious was the charge from Jesus that it came with a dire warning, the removal of the Lampstand. Jesus does not make idle threats. There is nothing to suggest that repentance came. So, a religion began to form without a Lampstand, and culminated in throwing in its lot in with Rome and Constantine.
Thankfully God always has a remnant and throughout all of those times they stood fast. Millions were killed as they were hunted down by the hordes of Diotrephes. Men, so loving and desirous of power and influence and authority and most of all the preeminence, that they were willing to hunt down every challenger to their position and kill them. And yet, of course, this only made the genuine Church all the more stronger as they stood against hell itself. In the end, the devil settled for clergy/laity divide. He knows this guts any gathering of its power because by its very system, Jesus is usurped. And when Jesus is usurped, nothing grows. And so we have fig tress that have no figs. From a distance it promises much but on closer inspection it has no fruit. How can it have fruit when it is overtaken by the Diotrephes syndrome?
“We can attach our name to a city, a tower, a temple, a religious movement, a ministry— to beautiful things we do in the name of the Lord and set upon a pedestal for all to admire. But we can attach no name to ashes on the altar.” (Kalli Womack Cook) When Jesus is preeminent there are no names. There is no posterity, there is no position. There is only Him and Him lifted up. This is the source of all spiritual power, it starts and ends with Jesus being elevated. When man elevates himself then God vanishes. “It’s not just the pastors on the stages of modern churches. It’s everyone involved: the worship leaders, the band members… all that goes into a “worship service” – everyone who has a title/position in these church systems. I would say even the congregation because they approve, affirm and encourage it. Actors on a stage. It’s all a show. They love the “preeminence “. I’ve been a part of that scene in the past. The feeling of preeminence is a real thing, a feeling of superiority. Our traditions are more comforting than a real relationship with the Living God. We continue to build our own kingdoms in this world. (Jennifer Dietrich Warren)
Actors on a stage. The Greek word for actor is “hypokrites,” where we get the English word hypocrite. Someone who pretends to have something they do not actually possess. The actual Greek word is a compound noun, its made up of two Greek words that literally translate “an interpreter from underneath.” Underneath what? Underneath the mask, as ancient Greek actors wore masks. In the case of clergy, what they are pretending to have, which they do not, is the preeminence. Unless Jesus has the preeminence, everything is just acting on a stage with a mask on. Diotrephes was deadly afraid of being exposed by John, so he banned him from coming to their gathering and expelled anyone who agreed with John. He knew he would be “upstaged,’ and this of course, lies at the very heart of the Diotrephes syndrome. Its about power and ego and prestige and authority and under no circumstances will the Diotrphes man ever allow himself to be usurped. He has already usurped Jesus in his desire to be preeminent. In effect he has sold his soul in a desire to be recognized and to be worshiped.
Brothers and sisters, this system is heading towards its zenith. The coming climax is the great whore church. This is where those who have sold their souls for preeminence will get everything their hearts have ever desired. They will take this new found authority as a sign from God of His pleasure and of course, will be merciless towards all who stand in their way. They will be given the authority to hunt down all those “who oppose God,” meaning those who oppose them. Authority. It is always what the devil has desired. He demanded that Jesus fall down and worship him. He would give Him all the kingdoms of the world if He would only bow down to him. The clergy system will be given all the power they ever desired by bowing down to the evil one. And every true and genuine saint will represent the Apostle John, rejected by the ones who seek the preeminence. And the Diotrephes syndrome will have its glorious moment, and then, of course, Christ the Lord, the preeminent one shall return in all His glory.
Like the martyrs afterwards, at the stake and amid the flames, who it is testified that so deep was their inward joy that they were unconscious of the external agony. so He was transported above His anguish by the very joy of His Father’s presence and love. It was this that enabled Him to endure “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame.” He saw not the deep dark valley of humiliation, but the heights of resurrection-life and ascension glory just beyond. And He was lifted above the consciousness of the present by the vision and hope and the joy of the Lord. This is the joy He gives to us. It is nothing less than the fullness of His own heart throbbing in our breast and sharing with us His own immutable blessedness (A.B.Simpson)
Do you see what the brother is saying saints? He did not see the dark valley of humiliation rather He saw the heights of resurrection life and the glory “just beyond.” This is the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. The same Holy Spirit that was in the Lord Jesus Christ is in you and He gives you the same vision that the Lord had in this sense. Can you see what is just beyond? Just beyond your circumstances. Just beyond your trial. Just beyond your sickness. Just beyond your enemies. We have the power in us to see just beyond the horizon of this world and glimpse the ascension glory of eternity. The world to come, the world beyond this, the world that already exists in us, the world we actually walk in. The Kingdom. And we see the Kingdoms King and His name is Jesus.
And so as the days grow darker look up and see the light. As the enemy grows bolder know that you have the power to stand and fight. There are no mortal flames that can burn the glory down. It only intensifies the light above and gives us greater sight to see the one who wears the crown. What flood can overwhelm us when He raises us to higher ground? Shall we not count it all rather as rubbish so that in Him we shall be found? There is an eternal fountain of gladness and joy that we have access too. As we stand upon His holy Hill and be drenched by the morning dew that falls from heavens heights. And so we stay close to the one who leads us on and speaks to us in the still small voice. And to that voice we must respond. If we are to see the light of Christ and see what is just beyond. The glory of the risen King, the one to whom we all shall sing…….Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Crown Him with many crowns.
Isa 8:6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly………….Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many.
The still small voice of God that leads His people, whether through quiet times or tumultuous times, it leads them on. His people rejoice in it. They are comforted by it. Every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God, whether written or softly spoken to the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, is manna to the souls of His very own. Yet to those who claim to be His, this is not sufficient for them. They are discontented. They see the things of the world and they want them them and are jealous for them. They admire cultures and other countries and they despise their own, Whether in the natural or in the spiritual, the same disaster falls upon them in the end, they get what they want. And the tumultuous waters of their own desires rises up and shatters them.
The malcontent is left broken. The mighty waters of their own greed and lack of thankfulness has swept away everything. If any structure is left it is full of stinking mud and the stench is awful. This applies to individuals and nations. There is a mighty flood coming and it is coming because the people have rejected the still waters of Shiloah. It will reach up to the neck, bringing terror to those caught in its swift flowing power. Yet, there is a remnant who love to hear the still small voice of the Lord. Who love to dwell beside the still waters. The Lord Himself has led us there. He has planted us beside the waters and we are like evergreen trees which gives its fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. Rejoice and be thankful brothers and sisters in the still small voice of the Lord that flows gently through the depths of who we are. It is the waters of life, the river of life, that flows from the throne of God.
Tomorrows rain shall never come
For this is the eve of the final setting sun
The filth has not, nor shall be washed away
And now the stench of a world that refuses to pray.
This was a vineyard on a very fruitful hill
There should have been good fruit but we took a bitter pill
And wild grapes came forth and refused to now the knee
We rejected the Creator for all that we could see.
And so we drew iniquity with the cords of our own vanity
And now the terror of the Lord and the glory of His Majesty
Causes men to run and hide from the horror of the light
For now they realize that they are creatures of the night.
The children of the day shall take their place atop the mountains
And from those lofty heights there shall flow eternal fountains
And all the nations of the earth shall flow towards these waters
And the praises of our God and King shall rise from sons and daughters.
Job 2:10 ….shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?
Brothers and sisters, this matter drives at the very heart of who we are. We are much more likely to discover who we are in the depths of adversity, than in any other state. So much energy in Christendom is expended in the stand against adversity. Rather than embrace it, as we certainly embrace the good, we fight it, often with everything that is in us. The adversity, and how it affects us, becomes the towering idol in our lives. Shall God not praised in any circumstances? Shall He not always be our primary focus? Should our eyes ever be moved from a gaze upon Him? In all my years walking through the corridors of Christianity, this single issue is the most pervasive. Our attitude towards infirmity or dire circumstances ultimately shape us and identify us. The fundamental core of who we are must be, whether we live or whether we die we shall praise the living God. Every other issue, if it is allowed, draws us away from God and towards ourselves. Rather than being fixated with God, we become fixated on ourselves and our circumstances.
In this verse Job addresses his wife. She, because of their circumstances, expresses what happens when circumstances are more important than God. She encourages her husband to curse God, abandon God, abandon his faith, abandon his life. For her, the circumstances of their life was more important than God Himself. She is a foolish woman and has been branded as such in the eternal word of God. Paul learned to be content whether he was hungry or full, in sickness or in health, in liberty or in the dungeon. He learned this. He learned that all loss, is mere rubbish, in comparison to being found in Him. In the end brothers and sisters the only thing that matters is being found in Him. Everything else, if we allow it, is idolatry. It is the curse of the last one hundred years that much of what identifies itself as Christianity, demands that God heals them and prospers them. This is the foundation of their so called faith. Madness and foolishness to stake your faith on the circumstances of your life rather than the holiness of a God who not only gives us good things, but also gives us adversities. Shall you accept that saint, or shall you rage against God and die in the wilderness?
1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
As He is, so are we in the world. Let that sink in for a second brothers and sisters. As He is, so are we, in the world. This does not mean we are Christ, as erroneously taught by charlatans and wolves. No one loved more than Jesus. He loved His heavenly Father. He loved the multitudes. He loved the lost. He came to set sinners free. He came to set the captives free. He came to be the expression of His Fathers love for the world and He proved this in glorious fashion on the cross. Now, those who know Jesus, who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, love the Father, love what God loves. They fear God but they are not afraid of God. The world should be afraid of God. They should tremble at the thought of standing before God at the judgment seat.
Yet brothers and sisters, we are not afraid to stand before the judgement seat of God. Perfect love has cast out that fear. We are taught that “we may have boldness in the day of judgement.” For the unsaved world there shall be torment for they do not know the love of God because they do not love God. Yet we, who have responded to God’s great love, expressed on Calvary, shall rather, boldly approach the throne because as He is, so are we. We are one in Christ as He and the Father are one. This great love shall have its expression in this world. They shall know us by our love for one another. They shall now us by our love for the lost. They shall know us because we shall love what God loves. Most of all, we shall be known for our love for God. Our grand obsession shall be for Jesus. We are Jesus lovers.
And whether we are rich or poor, whether we are in sickness or in health, for better or for worse, none of that shall change our love. Whether we live, or whether we die, we shall glorify God. In sickness Jesus says to Paul, in his answer to his prayer for healing “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul is so affected by this that He responds “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Who today seeks this kind of power? Those who know “that as He is, so are we in the world.” No one suffered more than Jesus, yet we are called to “rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” (1Pet 4:13) When Christ is revealed, not only shall we not be afraid, we shall be glad with exceeding joy. With boldness we shall stand in the day of judgement “because as He is, so are we.”
Act 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
For almost four years, Paul warned, night and day, with tears, of the wolves that will come from outside of the Body of Christ, and those false prophets who would rise up within its ranks. From without and from within. The powers of hell and all of its fury would rise up in opposition to the children of God. If any saint thinks that this was just for that time, they would obviously be mistaken. In the last one hundred years, I would argue , the activity of the wolves and the false prophets have never been more active. Tearing away at the fabric of the truth, despising those who hold to it and warring against the Word of God. An all out assault on every front that has indeed led to the great falling away. Charismatic craziness. Word of faith, prosperity gospel, cheap grace. Adoption of the standards of the world. Dead denominationalism. And so the barrage rains down. In war, prior to an attack, there will be a bombardment from artillery. This is a sure sign to the soldiers that a full frontal attack is imminent. The bombardment was to soften them up.
The country of Israel have what is known as the iron dome. It is like a shield, a force field, that intercepts incoming missiles and stops them from reaching their target. We too, brothers and sisters, have such a defense. It is the truth. The Word of God. And when it is in place in our lives we are safe from the attacks of the enemy. Though lies and perversions rain down upon humanity and they are slowly destroyed by it, we who stand under the banner of faith and upon the solid ground of the truth, shall not be moved nor destroyed. When God struck the Egyptians with a darkness, a gross darkness that was so “thick,” that it could be felt, the Israelites had light in their dwellings. We too have light in our dwellings. The light of Christ that dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. God has commanded light to shine forth from darkness. You are that light brothers and sisters. Through these earthen vessels light shall shine forth and rivers of living waters shall flow.
What are we intended to be? We are intended to be in our experience, in our spiritual life, in our presence here, a living proof that Jesus is the Son of God, not just declare this as a tenet of our faith and creed, but to be here as children of God growing up into Sonship (T.A.Sparks)
Is there a difference between those who declare the tenets of our faith and who agree upon the creeds, and those who are sons and daughters of God ? A living reality as opposed to a set of truths. The Galatians are a great example. Paul says to them “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another…………..but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any gospel to you than which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” This is intense. Paul is leaving no room for doubt. Anything other than Spirit led experiential transformation, is a gospel of works and is perverse and no gospel at all and those who teach it are accursed by God Himself.
The works of the law were being presented to the Galatians by those from Jerusalem. They had begun in the Spirit but now they were resting on the flesh, the works of the law. Paul calls them fools who have been bewitched. In most of modern day Christendom it is not the works of the Jewish law that bewitches men, although there are whole sects of folks who will tell you that you must keep the law and the feasts and so on. No, it is our own mental assent to orthodoxy that has replaced the living reality of sons and daughters of Christ. No experience necessary. A mental assent to a series of abstract truths is all that matters. This represents to the genuine believer today, what the Judaizers were to Paul and the saints. It is in conflict with the saints. It is amazing that the same truth can be what divides us. One is a living example of it, the other is a mere professor of it. And the one who professes it almost always resents and comes against the one who has been changed by it from the inside out.
How many times has it been said to you, in a resentful fashion, when you give your testimony of being born again “well, I never had any such experience, I just grew up in the church.” Or, if you relate any kind of supernatural experience and transformation there are any number of people who will resent you. Sparks says this ” our testimony must not be …I was brought up in a Christian home, and sent to Sunday school and taken to church and instructed in these things and given a sound Bible teaching. There has to be something more than that.” Of course, the something more is Christ Himself burning at the center of who are by the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not share abstract truth, we share a living experiential Jesus. Anyone can agree that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The devil himself knows that to be true. What the world needs to hear is a first hand account of the living Christ living in us, speaking to us, leading us and guiding us and changing us.
Brothers and sisters, we are a living proof of the risen Christ. We share with people who we know, not what we know. Now, can a man or a woman come to Christ by the Spirit of God and then fall away into mere orthodoxy, relying on the arm of the flesh to come to maturity? Yes indeed. Of course they never shall come to maturity. Teachers of every stripe will woo you away, they will want you to be zealous for them. Your church shall replace Jesus. Your pastor shall replace Jesus. Your favorite teacher will replace Jesus. Only by continuing on in the Spirit can you grow from mere babes in Christ into maturity and sons and daughters. Why is so much of Christendom stuck on the rudimentary elements, sharing milk week after week? It is because they have replaced the living reality of the Spirit of God with the mere orthodoxy of men. The orthodoxy and the truth of it is not the matter here, for genuine Spirit filled and Spirit led saints will be among the most orthodox people you will ever meet. The matter is being Spirit led.
The path of least resistance is to tick the boxes of orthodoxy without being a living reality of what that very orthodoxy teaches. It is one thing to believe that we have been called to be salt and light, it is quite another thing to actually be salt and light. You see the difference? Now apply that to every other aspect of what we believe. In order to live out what we believe we have to be led forward by a very real Holy Spirit. In almost every church up and down the land the folks are led, not by the Holy Spirit, but rather by men, who, for the most part will be teaching orthodox teaching of the basic kind. The systems of men has become another Gospel. It is like the sacraments in the Catholic church. Vacuous rituals devoid of any power. The words and the teachings and the sermons of much of Christendom, devoid of the actual power of the Holy Spirit, have become nothing more than sacramental activity, promising something without the power to deliver.
Sons and daughters of the Lord will always be in conflict with the merely religious. A mental assent is no match for a living reality. One has power and the other has a mere appearance. One is playing a character, the other is the real person. We used to say, back in the day, that there were no grandchildren in the Kingdom of God, only sons and daughters. Christendom has been swallowed up by the grandchildren. By osmosis and an accident of birth, there are millions of false professors all over the world and yet we know the words of Jesus from Matt 22 “many are called but few are chosen.” The many that are called prove themselves to be unworthy of the calling by the fact that they consider the calling a mere religious adornment. They busy themselves with the things of the world and disqualify themselves. Therefore, God finds for himself the few. He clothes them in righteousness and this clothing is worn to the marriage feast.
In the days to come, the divisions will become much deeper, much more apparent. The lifeless orthodox church will become more and more powerful as they ally themselves to the world and its system. It will reach its zenith in the one world system to come. The great whore church and the one world order will unite in an unholy alliance against the saints who shall refuse to acknowledge their authority and the authority if the evil one to come. The delusion shall be so great that only those sons and daughters, led by the Holy Spirit, will be able to see what the rest of the world cannot see or refuses to see. The marriage feast is coming brothers and sisters and only those clothed in the righteousness of God that is attained by the power of the Holy Spirit shall enter, the few. The many, in an attempt to save their lives here in this world, will lose their eternal lives in the world to come. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
A Call To The Remnant 