I could not sleep last night, a mixture of the chemo and the prednisone no doubt. It has happened many times since I began treatment, but last night I awoke with the phrase “entertain or enter in.” The Lord was laying something on my heart. It occurred to me that if you take the letters “ta” out of entertain you are left with enter in. And yet, the definitions could not be more different. The Greek word for entertain is “psychagogia,” meaning “amusement-diverson-distraction.” The Greek word for”enter is “bo,” meaning “to go out or to come in.” The choice seems clear, be amused, diverted or distracted, or enter into His presence.
Interestingly enough, if you look at the two letters “ta,” in the Greek it means “the third person,” meaning “when you are speaking ( or singing) about someone else rather than directly addressing that someone.” Speaking in the third person you remain detached. Are we remaining detached from God in our modern day version of worship? Are we merely being entertained, an amusement or a distraction? A distraction from what? From actually entering in. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise (Psa 100:4) Enter into the joy of the Lord (Matt 25:23) For He who has entered into His rest has himself rested from his works (Heb 4:10) Not everyone that says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter in (Matt 7:21)
It makes my heart long for stripped down, simple/profound congregational worship, something the modern day worship ” team,” has wholly set aside for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is to entertain. We don’t need to be entertained and sit by as mere spectators/fans, we need to enter in. Enter into what some might say? Enter in by the only door available, Jesus and Him high and lifted up. And let every voice sing as unto the Lord and face heavenwards and not towards a “stage,” a place for actors. Let us take the “ta,” out of entertain and let us who know Jesus, enter in.
Who indeed? We humans love to deify men. We love to lift them up and glorify them. Christians in particular love to do this. It is really an abomination to God and shall not be overlooked. Diotrephes is the logical conclusion of the lifting up of men which is why the apostle Paul tackles this issue head on. If we elevate men, men will love it. If we desire to follow men, and we so often do, the very same men will love it. They will, of course, for decorum’s sake, deny any of this. Even as men lift them aloft above their heads, they will feign giving Jesus the glory, but their actions and the actions they allow in others denies this. Paul smashes into this head on in his typical style and no holds barred words. “Neither he who plants is anything, not he who waters, but God who gives the increase,” is everything. We are nothing without God, even that which we have was given to us. What then can we glory in, other than Christ? How could we ever let stand for one minute anyone who would try and raise us up? God forbid.
This month is “pastors appreciation month.” While most people will celebrate a birth “day,” or the day we were married or some other special day, here in the west we have pastors appreciation month, where they will be plied with gifts and monies and admiration. Obviously since senior pastors run their “own churches,” they factor this month into the calendar. In other words they organize this for themselves. This is a month where their salaries are boosted. It is a money getting month. I am aware that not all “pastors,” do this and that specifically, the American non denominational pastor have taken this to dizzying new heights, or rather, depths. It is so far from the Gospel, so far from the Word of God, so far from how Jesus lived, so far from the humble early beginnings of the church. A sign of the times and a marker to measure the maturity and the heart of one who claims to be a leader. To indulge in this is akin to indulging in Halloween. Entirely secular and worldly and shameful to the witness of Jesus. There is but one Body.
He who plants and he who waters are one. One Body. One work here on earth. Nothing rises above the spiritual parapet save Jesus Christ. If you look up and see a man, God help that men. If you look up and try to raise up that man to anything other than what He is in Christ, part of the Body, one in nature, then God help you. All of it robs from God who gives the increase. All of it robs from Christ who is preeminent. Its all robbery, its all theft, its all religion. Diotrephes loved the preeminence and allowed himself to be raised up and encouraged others to raise him up. Men like this make themselves indispensable . This means they steer the sheep towards reliance upon them and not the great Shepherd. Do you know anyone like this? Unless we are forever pointing men towards the Word of God and the risen Christ then we are of the priesthood of Diotrephes. Carnal in nature, carnal in spirit and if it remains so, then lost forever. Jesus Christ first, Jesus last and Jesus forever. The old enemy has caught more men in this trap then any other. More seductive than women, more seductive than money, the greatest seducer of all, power and the desire for it and the lust of it, in all its many manifestations.
My uncle was a dispatch rider in the WW2. He was a private. It was a dangerous mission so the High Command were never going to waste men of higher rank in delivering messages. In the scale of things, in the order of importance, the rider was the least important. You could always replace the rider. What was important was the message. The one sending it and the ones receiving it. It is so in the Kingdom. The one delivering the message can be easily replaced. We brothers and sisters should remember that lest we think too highly of ourselves. We are simply one. The message is all important. The message is preeminent and Jesus is the message. Jesus is the author, and by His Blood He came to deliver this message Himself. What general or high ranking officials would ever lower themselves by delivering the message themselves? Yet, the greatest communication ever delivered to men had to be delivered by the greatest one that existed, the One who ever existed, God’s only Begotten Son. Remember this with all of your hearts brothers and sisters, some of us plant, some of us water, but God……but God….but God always has and always will, give the increase by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 78:8 A generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
This is a clear warning as to what happens when you do not “set your heart,” properly, you spirit will not trust in God. Consider this saying “they set not their hearts aright.” This is a clear indication that it is incumbent upon us to make sure the conditions of our heart is good. This can only come in cooperation with God, He will not do this for you. And the beginning of a right heart is fear of God and thankfulness for what He has provided.
In this psalm it is recorded that they were delivered from Egypt. The sea was parted, they had a cloud over their heads by day and a fire by night. Water gushed forth from the rocks and bread fell from the heavens. Yet, they were not thankful, they still did not trust God. And they “tested God in their heart,’ their un-thankful hearts and asked for “the food of their fancy.” (v 19) They wanted more, they wanted better and they wanted it now. Does this not remind you of the prosperity gospel? And so we are told that God rained down meat on them “like the dust.” Feathered fowl more than the sands of the seas. How they must have thought, for a in time, that they were blessed of the Lord forgetting all the lessons of Job.
And so they ate and were filled, they gorged themselves and He gave them over to their own desires. “They were not deprived of their cravings.” (v30) Their desire and their obsessions were not for God but for the things that filled their stomachs. In our day it is houses and cars and status and that same “fancy,’ food. Yet even while it was in their mouth the wrath of God was stirred. And in verse 33 we see that “their days were consumed in futility and their years in fear.” To seek after the things of the world is to spend your life in futility. If your heart is not right with God you will spend your life in fear.
Yet the Lord has for Himself a people that He has taken possession of and they have found their Zion. A thankful people, a people who have set their hearts to trust in their God. Who, no matter what, are a thankful people. An obedient people. A people whose cravings and grand obsessions are not for the fancy foods and material possessions of this world but for God Himself. And He has set a King over us and His name is Jesus, the only begotten Son of God and the glory of God. And we are shepherded by Christ Himself, glory to God. Watch the condition of your hearts saints, keep it right, keep it watered by the living waters of God.
The economy is doing really well across all the different measurements, whether that be unemployment ( the lowest since the 90s) or the stock market ( records being broke daily) house prices are way up and consumer confidence is high. Growth is strong and is somewhere between 3 and 4% a quarter. I shared with many of the saints a number of years ago that I believed that in the end times the economy would be booming. It’s one of the few things I have disagreed with bro David Wilkerson on. Here is why. A booming country is a proud country. In the history of Israel they ran into more problems when everything was going well because they let their need for God slip away and their confidence was in their own strength and power. So, economic prosperity aids and abets the great falling away. Prosperity intensifies the choice the saints will have to make when it cones to the mark. The more people have, the more they have to lose. If you have nothing then it would make your decision somewhat easier, but, if like the rich young ruler, the more you have the more difficult it is to give it all up. I believe that most of the saints at least in the West but also in places like China and south Korea will be prosperous when the time comes to make the choice. History has shown that when Satan can’t beat you, he attempts to buy you. So, the more the saints have to lose as persecution rises, the more they will be tempted to compromise their core values and beliefs in order to hold onto their status in the world.
So, when a trial comes, when tragedy strikes, when tribulation comes knocking at the door of a genuine Christian, how should one react? What do you believe about the “Will of God?” Is it your fault? Is it Satan’s fault? Is it God rebuking you? Are you being assaulted by demons? Does danger lurk everywhere? Can we be destroyed at any second by our enemy? Read the rest of this entry »
You have gathered here today in defiance of darkness and tyranny. You have come here to fight as free men and free men you are, for it is I that gave you that very freedom. So you see with your eyes that you are few and they are many, you see that you are vastly outnumbered. Will you fight today?Read the rest of this entry »
There is a time for shouting and praising God, but if we are ignoring the knocking, then we must stop shouting. If our lives are not reflecting the Glory of God, if we are not becoming like His Son, daily, then all of our shouting and praising God will just be so much noise. How tragic for the church of the living God if, when He looks down, He does not see praise but just a group of people making a noise.”Read the rest of this entry »
“Jesus has many who love His kingdom in heaven, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting.All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the breaking of the bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion. Many admire the miracles, but few follow Him to the humiliation of the cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them.”
This is a vision that I had as I stood on a terrace in Croatia. My wife and I went there last year on our 25th anniversary. Before I went the Lord had shown me that I would meet someone there and that it would be significant, just did not know that He was talking about Himself. The whole piece was my vision, He gave me a new way of writing my testimony and of writing about coming into His presence, then the Word that He gave me for the church, I wrote in red at the end. I pray that this will challenge and convict you………….
They will gather together and throw in their gold and rise up and play, or in this case, fall down and play. You see the people are without leadership, and the Lord has with-held His rain. So the people have demanded gods to go before them, listen to what they said to Aaron…”make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. “
She put her head back against the wall and looking upwards told me that she was in no position to even try and refuse this. She was blown away that God had answered her and her husbands prayer so immediately (she did not know that I had messed around for several week) She could not wait to get home and share this with her husband. Higher critics could explain this in the natural, but the supernatural is God talking to His people, directing them and of course, His perfect timing.
A Call To The Remnant 