Archive for the ‘the remnant’ Category
Posted by appolus on July 27, 2020
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being
If we are passionate worshipers of Jesus, then everything else is secondary. If Jesus is the primary object of our passions, then everything else becomes the by-product. If we ever get that wrong, we cease to be effective. If soul winning is our primary object, we cease to be effective soul winners. If faith is our primary object then we cannot be faithful. If Holiness is our primary object than we cannot be holy. If revival is our primary object then we will never see revival. Outside of Jesus being the primary object of our lives then we immediately begin to lose ground in every aspect of our walk, whether we are pastors or teachers or whatever role we have in the Body.
I would argue that the saints who have rocked this world for Jesus are the saints who have walked in intimate communion with Him. He is the source of all love and majesty and glory and power. Only by abiding in Him ( Him being our primary object) can we walk in forgiveness and mercy and grace. Out of the abundance of the passion that we experience as we walk with Jesus as our grand obsession comes the overflow that changes those around us and brings light into a dark world. Are you being ineffective in your walk? Have you wondered why? Is Jesus the primary object of your life? Is there joy in you life? Is there glory in your life? Are you an over-comer? Do you have a thankful spirit?
Listen saints, if Jesus is truly the primary object of your life then what flows from that is love, joy, peace, faithfulness, thankfulness, forgiveness and so on. How often have I heard a saint say, on any one of the aforementioned issues “I need to work on that.” That is quite exactly wrong. No amount of “work,” can muster up joy nor thankfulness nor love nor any of the issues of the heart. He must be our all in all. In Him we live and move and have our being. Jesus Himself is the answer to any problem you are having, any problem. The answer lies in Him alone, the answer lies before the throne.
Whatever you seek to achieve in the Kingdom of God comes directly from the depths of your relationship with Him. Find a man who is passionate about sports and he will bore your pants off speaking about it. Find a man who is passionate about politics and he will rip your shirt of telling you all about the latest policies and issues and the state of the world. Find a man who is truly passionate about Jesus and you will find a man who is changing the world. Out of the abundance of our passion flows the power of God.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 25, 2020
I shared just a few days ago with a group of saints that when sports came back that every knee would bow. The picture shows the very first baseball game of the year. Every knee bowed with a black ribbon connecting them to show their support for BLM. This is the power of the mob. This is the fickle nature of the multitude. How could a group of people be hailing Jesus as King one week, and the next week be calling for His blood to be upon their heads? How is it that a whole country could be compelled to give the Nazi salute in Germany? Fear. A desire to fit in. A terror of standing up to the mob. The control in America is tightening. Just yesterday a poll that was taken revealed that over 60% of Americans were afraid to voice their opinion in public. This power of the mob is not knew to society and it is something to be manipulated and wielded. It is regressive (or in our example its from progressives) It is like a virus, something that gets into the atmosphere, something that we breathe in.
Speak your mind and lose your job. Speak your mind and lose your friends. Speak your mind and lose your liberty. Speak your mind and lose your life. As I said, this is not new. Study the last 2000 years and see each period of extreme persecution all have the same stifling of opinions that run counter to the popular culture. Religious or secular, the tactics are the same because it is tried and tested. Make no mistake, there is a strategy behind all of this and its not man made. Men are mere pawns in the grand strategy of the devil, willing dupes. The dupes payoff is to see their grievances avenged and the people they hate suffer. The devil’s payoff is to shut down the ability to shares the Gospel, the full Gospel. As in times gone by, there is a remnant who will not bow the knee nor give the salute to the devil and his cohorts. It will not end well, but the end of this world for the saints is the reaching of our final etrnal destination.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 24, 2020
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
The question is, are you content? I would argue that the whole world is looking for contentment. I certainly thought when I became a Christian that the Church would be packed full of contented people, you can imagine my disappointment. It seemed to me that most folk that I met in the church were very much like the world when it came to contentment. The world makes every mistake possible while attempting to achieve contentment, yet so do many Christians. Many people in the world believe that contentment comes through material possessions and good personal relationships. While these things are nice, they could never possibly bring the deep kind of contentment that Paul is talking about.
Now some good Christian folk would argue that your personal relationship with Jesus brings you the kind of contentment Paul is speaking about in this particular Scripture, it’s simply not true but it makes it possible. In fact only through Jesus is it possible, but He aint doing it for you. Paul had to learn to be content. It was not a question of his relationship with Jesus, rather it was a question of enduring and overcoming as he walked through fire and flood. There are choices to be made as we move along the narrow path of life. We choose to endure. We choose to give thanks. We overcome much as Jesus did in the garden when He submits His will to the Father’s.
The key word I would argue in understanding this is “learned.” He had learned to be content, there was no magic wand. No one came along and laid hands on him and suddenly he was full of contentment. Paul, time and again had to walk through the fire and continue to praise God. We see in another Scripture that we are admonished not to be anxious at all but to pray and give thanks and make supplication to God and if we did that, something supernatural would happen, a supernatural peace that passes all understanding would actually stand guard over our hearts.
Can you praise God today in spite of your circumstances? If you learn to do this, if you walk through the fire with your hands held high, trusting in God, you will come to the place that Paul came to. You will discover that peace and contentment will have nothing to do with your circumstances, which are ever-changing, but have everything to do with praising and trusting in God who is never-changing. Choose to praise the Lord in the lower reaches of the dungeon, and you will learn to be content.
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Posted by appolus on July 22, 2020
Rev_12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
These are tried and tested saints. They have been taken to the wilderness. Rejected by man. Rejected by religious institutions. Walked through fire. Waded through flooded waters. Refined,tested and broken. Suffering is their teacher. The bread of adversity is their food. The waters of affliction their drink. You do not do not wake up one morning and love not your life unto death. God prepares His people. He equips those that He calls.
He takes away the love of this world and everything in it by drawing His people unto Himself. He reveals Himself to His children, that is part of the preparation. This revelation, these encounters of the manifest presence of God strengthens and challenges His people. There is three major themes in the old Hymn “I have decided to follow Jesus.” They are 1. The world behind me, the cross before me. 2. Though none go with me, still I will follow. 3. My cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus. Such a simple hymn, such profound concepts.
Christ is coming back in all His glory in the sky. There is great movement in the heavenlies and the principalities and powers know that. God is preparing a people who will stand in that evil day. Moses removed his shoes before a Holy God. God had come to commission him and tell him to go and confront the world. In order to confront the world we must remove all worldliness from ourselves otherwise we shall be written off as mere hypocrites. God will call tried and tested saints to stand and bear witness to the truth and those saints will be saints who are willing to lay down their lives.
After more that 400 years of silence from God, John the Baptist cries out from the wilderness “Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.” Gods own people in this day have been dwelling in a wilderness and God has raised them up. In the midst of storms and through their brokenness they have learned to keep their eyes upon Jesus. The attractions and distractions of this world have been removed like dross from the fiery furnaces of trials and afflictions. The culmination of the ages is upon us.
You know it, you do not have to be convinced, the indwelling Spirit tells you so. The principalities and powers know it too it and they will not go quietly. The children of God are their deadliest enemies for we are bearers of the light. Hold fast, stand strong, lift up your heads for you know where your help cometh from. Remember the words of the Hebrew children in defiance of haughty arrogant power “we shall never bow down to the gods of this world.” Stand fast saints. He is coming.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 20, 2020
Identity, it has become a raging political and social issue. In fact it has torn away at the fabric of who we are. Homosexuals, transgenders, feminists bisexuals. In all of those groups and more, identity is key. They seek to identify identity or water it down and then create division. Lets face it, it is not just these groups that do it. We are a world torn apart by identity. Today we are either globalists of nationalists. We are black or white. Gay or straight. Conservative or liberal. Republican or Democrat. The list goes on. What does the Word say about us saints? Where should we find 100% of our identity? Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2Co 5:17)
We are new creatures in Christ. We have become part of a single Body. We are unified in the Spirit. We are one with God. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.(Gen 1:27) We, the human race, were made in the image of God, and then we fell and when we fell we not only lost our relationship with God but we also lost our identity Mankind wanders in a desert of death and sin and corruption, having thrown off its true identity.
It desperately seeks for identity anywhere it can find it, apart from God. The new creatures in Christ have found their true identity. They are wholly identified with Jesus, one with Him and the Father. Given the foundational importance of identity and the all out attack on it from the enemy of our souls, saints need to understand and recognize the scheme of the enemy. He comes against us in an effort to water down our true identity and to the degree that he can do that, he disarms us.
Here are some of my own identity traits from the natural world that I was born into and grow up in and have lived. 1. White.2. Working class.3. Catholic 4. Scottish 5. Irish 6. British 7. American 8. Socialist 9. Capitalist 10. Middle Class 11. Democrat 12. Republican 13. Pentecostal 14. Evangelical 15. Pre-trib, mid trib 16. Arminian 17. Pre Millennial-Post Milliennial
There are more, but you can see how complicated identity can be. Every one of those identifying traits had some kind of influence on me at one time or another. Yet, I died to this world. I died and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I do not belong to this world but to another Kingdom and that Kingdom has a King and His name is Jesus. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.(Col 3:1-3)
We are armed by our true identity. Knowing that we are pilgrims here on the earth, a Holy priesthood whose sole purpose is to glorify God, we throw of the shackles of our old identities and walk in the power of the glory of our new identities. If we make common cause with any of our old identities, or allow ourselves to make common cause with our own pet religious identities then we weaken ourselves as priests. We then give space for the enemy to rob us of our true identities and the oneness that comes with it. Only when we recognize our true identity will we truly walk in the power of the Kingdom to which we belong. Everything about us must decrease and He must increase. This is our noble goal.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:(1Pe 2:9)
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 20, 2020
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Daniel speaks of a time when the saints will be worn down. I believe the process of the saints being worn down has already begun. Times have been changed and wrong has become right and truth, at best, is relative. This is wearing the saints out as they struggle to come to terms with these fast changing circumstances. There has been a blitzkrieg so to speak in the realms of the spirit. Compromise and unrighteousness has surrounded the saints. We are an obstacle that at some point will have to be removed if the enemy is to have total dominance. More laws will be changed and we will witness more compromise by Christendom
Now we know we are called to gird our loins with truth. Satan has furiously assaulted truth in our day. Truth has become anything you need it to be, it has become relative. Of course truth is absolute, but that is no longer accepted. We are called to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteous living and holiness has become something of a quaint notion in our day. Between the word of faith and the prosperity gospel, cheap grace and hyper grace, actual holy living has become something deemed as a work when of course it is one of the fruits of genuine salvation.
Our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Our hearts must be right and this keeps us ever ready to walk in the peace that comes from the truth of the Gospel which has set us free. It also keeps us ever ready to share the gospel with others. Satan has done a great job in quieting the saint when it comes to the Gospel of truth. We are constantly afraid of offending someone. The bold notion that there is but one way to heaven, through the Lord Jesus Christ and that all other paths and religions lead to hell has become all but illegal and in fact it has become unacceptable in so many arenas of public life.
The shield of faith is one of our most important parts of our armor. It protects us from the fiery darts of the enemy. Yet in the last several decades we have seen movements like the word of faith literally destroy the meaning of the word faith. The essence of faith is trusting in God despite our circumstances, yet Satan has turned that truth on its head by teaching that our circumstances are the results of our faith or lack thereof. So, when trials come, rather than people trusting in God they begin to despair and the fiery darts of the enemy find their mark.
Last we have the Word of God which is the sword. We can say with great certainty that the enemy has fought this for countless centuries but in recent decades has made enormous strides in taking the sword out of the hands of those who oppose him. We are an illiterate generation. This lack of knowledge is killing us. So it is clear, in order to stand in the coming evil day we must rediscover the armor of God and wear it at all times. Cry out to God today saints, have Him help you put on the armor. It will save your eternal life.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 17, 2020
Joh_12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Today the saints must establish in their hearts what they are living for. Are you living for the things that are eternal? Will you be willing in the coming days to lose everything? In the coming days, there will be darkness and various shades of grey on one side, and there will be light on the other. There is no darkness in God. We cannot stand in shades of grey. If there was an earthquake and you were standing on the fault line, one foot on one side and one on the other, as it began to open up, you would have to choose what side you were going to stand on. Continue to straddle the line and you would plunge to your death, you would be swallowed up.
There is a spiritual earthquake going on right now. Everything than can be shaken is being shaken. What side will you find yourself on? On one side there is the world and all its attractions and distractions. For most of us our way of life is wrapped up in the world. On the other side there is the way of the Kingdom and the word of God which almost entirely contradicts everything the world holds dear. If the civil war split families right down the middle and pitied one against the other over issues of slavery and so on, what will the ultimate separation look like? America tore itself to pieces in the bloodiest civil war ever seen and yet the coming separation will go much deeper and on multiple fronts.
A famous group of colonists once declared independence from Great Britain and a shot was fired that was heard around the world. When the colonists signed that declaration of independence, death was assured for them in the event of defeat. They were, with their signatures, totally committed to the cause and willing to pay the ultimate price. If mere men can make declarations of independence and give their life for that cause, what can an army of saints around the world achieve by their own declarations? Not of independence, but of dependence upon God alone. And how will we declare such things? By the lives that we live and the stands that we take. If one cannot take a stand now, that one will not be able to stand in the evil day. For those who stand upon the Word of God and walk in His Kingdom reality, God will pour out His Spirit upon them. He will equip those He has called to stand. Stand fast brothers and sister.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 14, 2020
As I was walking and praying the other day the Holy Spirit laid this thought upon my heart. “Unless we understand the culpability of man we are not qualified to speak to the grace of God.There is an intimate connection between guilt and grace. It is when we realize the depths of our sin and rebellion against a holy God that the power of unmerited favor is truly realized.”
I went on to write about this as I felt led by the Spirit. Oftentimes I read a few books at a time. Picking up one, laying down the other and sometimes just laying them down altogether fro months and just read the Word. A good brother of mine had given me a small book by Art Katz entitled ” The holocaust:Where was God.” A heavy title for sure and a heavy subject. Today I picked up the book and read a couple of pages. Here is what jumped out at me.
“To have a view of God that exempts the judgement of God as being a central facet of God’s character and way, is to have a warped view of God. To know Him as He in fact is, in both His severity and His goodness, is to know Him in truth. And to know Him as “that,” God is to be saved by Him out of extremity and calamity of our fallen nature. To know God as Judge is therefore one of the eminent prerequisites for the true knowledge of Him. God is indivisible, and we cannot parcel Him out and enjoy certain of His attributes to the exclusion of others. The consequence of an inadequate faith and an inadequate knowledge of God is tragic beyond all describing. What are His mercies but for His judgements? And what are His judgements rightly understood but for His mercies? To see God in His acts as both the God of judgment and the God of restoration is to begin to catch a glimpse of God and His fullness.” ( Art Katz)
Brother Artz said so much in this paragraph.It is worth reading it a few times over and ponder the truth of what he is sharing. To truly know God is to know the fullness of God. We live in a generation whose favorite saying is “don’t judge me.” Now they may say it to Christians but for sure this extends to God. They are simply not interested in God or His word or His people who would draw any kind of lines in the sand when it comes to sin. This sentiment is rising into a rage because we live in the days of the great falling away. The Lord Jesus is coming back soon and the rebellion is intensifying.
This generation will bend their knee to God or they will have their knees bent for them. They may reject a God who judges but that in no way changes the goodness or the severity of God. He is a holy and righteous God, a God of both justice and of mercy. It is a dangerous thing to trifle with God for He is high and lifted up and His glory fills the temple.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 13, 2020
Unless we understand the culpability of man we are not qualified to speak to the grace of God. There is an intimate connection between guilt and grace. It is when we realize the depths of our sin and rebellion against a holy God that the power of unmerited favor is truly realized. Imagine a man finds himself in prison serving a sentence of life without parole for something he denies doing. Someone grants him pardon. Is the man who is innocent in his own mind grateful for the pardon? Perhaps to some degree, but in his heart he reckons that he deserves his freedom.
A man who is not hungry cares little for some bread. Yet a starving man will fall upon this bread as if it were the finest food in all the world. According to Jesus, the woman who had fallen at his feet and washed his feet with her tears and dried His feet with her hair was a sinner. She was probably a whore or a prostitute. In order to explain what was going on Jesus uses a parable. There were two debtors, one owed 500 and the other owed 50, they could not repay. Both their debts were forgiven and Jesus asks who would love the one who had forgiven them the debt the most. Peter answers that the one who had been forgiven the most and Jesus tells him that he is correct.
The woman at the feet of Jesus understood her true nature by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. In response to this conviction and the presence of God she falls at His feet and continually kisses the feet of Jesus. She who was forgiven much loved much and he who is forgiven little loves little. Can you see the vital connection between understanding our culpability and experiencing the love and the mercy and the forgiveness of God? The man who is serving a life sentence, guilty as charged, who is then pardoned by the one who has the power to pardon, loves that one so much so that he would never stop kissing His feet, weeping with joy and gratitude at the feet of Jesus.
He who is forgiven little, at least little in his own estimation, loves little. Who are these people? Perhaps they are the second and the third generations of those who were truly born again? Perhaps they are a generation raised in the shadow of cheap grace? Perhaps is is a combination of both? Cheap grace, the presumption and the familiarity that breeds contempt of the message of forgiveness. A generation that knows nothing of their culpability therefore knows nothing of the true grace that would make a woman fall to the floor and weep at the feet of Jesus. Or those under a similar conviction who would cry out “What must we do to be saved.” The depth of the knowledge of our sin and those who are convicted by it creates a generation of new creatures in Christ whose love is great. The opposite creates an anemic generation of Christians.
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Posted by appolus on July 12, 2020
The picture above is a picture of a door I installed. It meant removing the old door and the frame, and replacing it with the one that you see. If you look at the top right hand side of the door, you will see there is a space of about nearly an inch, now look at the bottom, no space. Now, the door is hung level and plumb, but the trim is the problem. Look at the space between the trim of the window and the trim of the door, it is equal. This hides the fact that the window is almost an inch of the plumb in just a few feet. If I had made the trim of the door plumb, as it should be, then it would have been instantly noticeable that something was not right.
You see, I had a choice to make. I could do it correctly which would have made the work that I did look off the level and off the plumb, or I could hide it my matching the existing work. Only the trained eye will now notice that the work that I did was not plumb. This is often done with kitchen cabinets when the ceiling is not quite level. You measure down an equal size from one side to the other and snap a line and that forms the top line of your cabinets. No one will ever know that your cabinets are not level.
It occurred to me that we often bend what we say in order to make it fit in with the world. In order to not stand out so much, we take our measurements from the world as our plumb line and it leads to everything being off the level. We do that so that everything will look right, nothing stands out too much. I think it is one of the great tragedies of the age, that we use anything other than the Word of God as our plumb line.
Rather, we use sentiment and humanism to guide and measure our words to a world that is completely off the level and plumb. This simply leads to more things being off the level. Our lives and our words need to be measured exactly by the word of God which is perfectly level and plumb. Anything else is simply pandering to a lost and dying world no matter how good it looks or sounds.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 11, 2020
The Christian’s answer to death is living life. And by that I mean zoe life. In the Scriptures there is three kinds of life. There is the physical life, there is the mental life and then there is the life of God flowing in us. The three Greek words for them, in that order, are Bios, Psuch and Zoe.
An example of Bios would be found in Luke 8 in the parable of the sower and the seed. In verse 14 we see that the seed has fallen among thorns. These thorns represent the cares and the pleasures of “life.” The abundant life of God was ignored and instead, the pleasures and the cares of this life choked out any chance of walking in the abundant life(zoe) of God.
An example of Psuch can be found in Matt 16:25. Whosoever shall save his life (pysuch) shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life(pysuch) for my sake shall find it. This word represents the mind, the emotion and the will. It is what represents the seat of our affections. It has nothing to do with being a martyr. It has everything to do with a compete surrender of the heart, the soul the mind and the body. This kind of surrender leads to zoe life.Or, without this surrender the bios life which chokes out any chance of an abundant zoe life in Christ.
An example of Zoe life is John 1:4 In Him was the life(zoe) and that life was the light of men. This is the life of God quite apart from man, the eternal life of God than knows no beginning or end. When this life comes to reside in a man or a woman, they are walking in and by the life of God. The abundance is the life of God in us.
There has been much written about the sower and the seed. Some would say that it was the condition of the soil that caused the various reactions. Yet we see that in verse Luke 8:4 people were gathered from every city to hear the word of God. And Jesus “scattered the seed,” among them, all of them. It was not their condition that stunted their growth and killed them of, for all men are in the same spiritual condition outside of Jesus, they are dead in their sins. No, it was their reaction to the Word of God, their response to it.
“Having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”(Luke 8:15) Those who hear the word and keep it create depth in their hearts and the seed can grow and produce much fruit and they walk in zoe life the abundant life of Christ which is living waters to the seed sown which now resides in the depths of good ground.
If you focus on anything other than Jesus then you allow the devil to come and steal the seed right out of your heart. If your eyes are on the cares of this world and its pleasures, you allow thorns to grow and choke you. When trial and temptation comes it reveals what kind of life you have in you, it reveals the decision that that you made in your life(pysuch) way back at the beginning of your profession, whether you did indeed lose your life for His sake.
As in all things, it is how we respond to the word of God that determines our walk in this life (bios) If you abide in His word, then you are His true disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Free to live an abundant zoe life in Christ. The seed is to be scattered far and wide. A man or womans reaction to that word is between them and God. God would have that all men and women come to a saving knowledge of Him and that all men would be obedient to His word. His desire would be all men would live an abundant life.
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Posted by appolus on July 10, 2020
Psa 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
When David left the Ark with Obed -Edom, it was reported that all that pertained to his house was blessed of the Lord. Our modern day prosperity teachers would convince us that God enriched Obed-Edom but Jewish history shows that Obed-Edom’s family were enriched by the birth of many children in the short time the Ark was there. Women of the household giving birth to multiple babies. There was life in the house of Obed-Edom and that more abundantly. The presence of God gives us life and that more abundantly.
Life in God, life in the Spirit, the overcoming power of God that comes from walking in His Spirit. Obed-Edom would later be found as a guard of the Temple treasure and involved in the worship in the temple. It seems he followed the Ark, he followed the presence of God and dwelt there as a door-keeper. Have you been touched by His presence? Would one day in His presence be better than a thousand elsewhere? Will you follow Him where He leads? Has the presence of God taken hold of your life?
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Posted by appolus on July 8, 2020
Rom 1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Imagine you are crossing a great river. The world is on one side and you are headed toward the other side, the heavenly side. Each time you are obedient, each time you turn your back on sin, another stepping stone appears before you and you move forward towards your goal. One step at a time on the road to glory. It is by obedience that we make forward progress towards a deeper walk with Him and we overcome.
Now, there are two main categories of obedience. One is a legalistic obedience and the other is glorified obedience. Brokenness, submission, surrender and love must be the building blocks of our obedience. If we simply try to be obedient without first taking these steps, revealed to us through the word and a revelation of it, we will discover that there is an obedience that binds us in chains and the weight of these chains will drag us down and drown us. Yet, obedience born out of love and a desire to please the one that we love frees us and fulfills us and propels us on.
Glorified obedience, one motivated by love and awe of a righteous holy God and a revelation of Calvary is like the watering of a tree. There can be no fruit produced unless that tree is watered by the living waters of obedience. Striving to be obedient without the fruits of brokenness will lead to a desert landscape in which nothing can live. The motivations of our heart, the seat of our affections that sets our eyes upon Jesus and the Holiness of God takes us from glory to glory.
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Posted by appolus on July 1, 2020
Joh 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
“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.” 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
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 a saint such as this. Don’t let the enemy fool you or lie to you. You are God’s 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. He has not finished with you but He is faithful and true to complete that 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 witnesses 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.
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Posted by appolus on June 29, 2020
Are you drowning in bad news? Everywhere you turn, the darkness of it all is pulling you down. Arise today in the glorious good news of Jesus. His glory is still transfixing me. My heart is still enraptured by my God who died to set me free. The mayhem and the chaos of this world has not changed Jesus one little bit. Indeed He is your anchor in the gale. He is the one who never fails. He is my north star and He leads me. He is the my safe harbor, can you not see oh lost and dying world? In an ugly divisive world He is beautiful and His banner of love unfurls over His children.
Brother , sister, turn it all of. Can I tell you that He waits for you in the silence. Wont you come away with Him to higher ground? To a place where the only sound is the sound of glory. Oh cant you hear it saints? The glory of a million saints crying holy, holy, holy to the Lord God almighty? In this place you will find just where you belong. You belong among the heavenly throng. Walk today in the Kingdom that you cannot see. Walk not in the flesh but in the Spirit that has set you free. The whole world can fall and crumble but the Lord of hosts, the one who never stumbles calls to you today. In the beauty of Holiness and and in awe of His magnificence, rest, and leave the world behind and and come away.
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Posted by appolus on June 26, 2020
Hi saints. How many of us know that love of country is not the same as love of God? In America we see a very unhealthy mixture of love of country or love of culture with the love of God. There can be no mixture. Wait Frank, are you saying that it is wrong to love one’s country? Are you saying it is wrong to love my culture or my race? What I am saying brothers and sisters is that there can be no competition for the seat of our affections. Jesus must have all of our heart, all of it. No matter where a saint lives, if it is difficult or if it is easy, when God calls us to leave it behind we must be willing to do that. In this day and age when it seems so clear that the Lord is coming, we must hold all things loosely, all things. He cannot have all of our heart if much of our heart is caught up in the raging issues of the day.
Love of country or love of race is not the province of the child of God. The child of God’ eye is on Jesus and on the Kingdom that is and was and is to come. That is why we are sojourners and ambassadors for Jesus and His Kingdom. This is the kingdom that presently dwells in our hearts. To be wrapped up in a political war or a cultural war is to be AWOL (absent without official leave) from the real war, the war of light against darkness. The war against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.
When the Lord calls you out of Babylon, will you be so enamored of the things of Babylon that you will not be able to leave? When Lot’s wife had to leave Sodom, did it go well for her? What about when it was time to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem after 70 short years, did most leave? The comforts of Babylon were too much for most, they would rather stay where they were than join the remnant people in the difficult place. A place where they were surrounded by enemies as they attempted to re-build the temple. Only one third of the Jews living in exile in Babylon left for home when they had the opportunity.
Those who chose to follow God in our day, follow Him and Him alone, whether they are black or white, will be deemed to be traitors to”their own.” We must have our identity in Christ and Christ alone. When we have that then we transcend partisanship and cultural backgrounds. We are a brotherhood, we are a royal priesthood, and in that alone we should find our identity under the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you fight for your race? Your culture? Your national identity? Where can that possible end be if the races retreat into their own corners? A house divided cannot stand. What house do you belong to? Is your house a cultural one? A national one? Or do you belong to the house of God? You cannot belong to two households, you will only be loyal to one.
Running with the crowd, no matter what that crowd stands for, is to run against God. You are a pilgrim on this earth, a sojourner. We are traveling through this world on our way home down a narrow path. The problem is, most confessing Christians do not believe that. They have joined camps. permanent camps. And each camp has its own interests which rarely if ever align with other camps. And so we war, it is what warring camps do. What has any of that to do with God? Culture wars, political wars, race wars. All of the devils making and none of it has anything to do with God. There is one God, He has one people, one Christ and one Kingdom. If you belong to any other camp, no matter the emotional appeal, you are in a state of backsliding. Separate yourself and only ever bow the knee to God even under pain of death.
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Posted by appolus on June 26, 2020
Mat 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
The Lord will not commit to those who are not committed to Him. This present generation of loud and “tumultuous,” believers are seeking to establish the Lords kingdom here on earth. The sign the Lord gave them is not good enough for them. What sign did the Lord give them? He gave them the sign of the Prophet Jonah. Jonah was swallowed whole by the whale and to any observer, was dead, yet three days later he is miraculously alive and goes on to call Ninevah to repentance. Jesus would find himself swallowed up by death but three days later He would arise and He has been warning us ever since through His word and through His people and through every soul that has been resurrected from death into His glorious light of eternity.
In the quiet of faith, the Lord will respond to His own, He always has and He always will.He will not respond to a crass church which seeks to gratify their own corrupt lusts. So all of the church’s that cry out for miracles, the Lord knows the motivations of their heart. Signs and wonders would follow. Follow what? The preaching of Calvary. The proclamation of the Truth. The bold witness for Christ. The genuine love of the lost. So, those who place greater importance on signs and wonders rather than salvation’s do so for a reason. And in doing so, they expose the fragile nature of the faith that they claim to have.
The Lord will not commit to those who have built their houses on sinking sand. This is why we see the “house,” of ”believers,” come tumbling down when faced with “unanswered prayers.” For they are not established on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ and the cross of Calvary. “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Does your faith depend upon you seeing a miracle? Or does your faith stand upon the finished work of the cross of Calvary? Miracles are a bi-product of a glorious gospel not the primary object. That primary object is Jesus. And only when He alone is lifted up can we expect to see anything, as a byproduct of His glory.
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Posted by appolus on June 25, 2020
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
What does it mean to hear God? Seems like such a simple question. You would imagine that no Christian would object to “hearing,” God speak to them. That still small voice, the voice of the shepherd speaking to His sheep, and His sheep recognizing His voice. The Holy Spirit whispering into the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit leading and guiding and magnifying the Lord Jesus in our hearts. A man went into the supermarket to buy his wife a rose. It was his practice to do this every week. He picked the rose that he wanted and made for the checkout lane. As he walked toward the line, the Holy Spirit spoke to him, that still small voice from the Shepherd. “Give the rose to the old lady over there.”
Immediately the man resisted. “Lord that makes no sense. What if she thinks I am hitting on her? What if she thinks I am crazy? What if others hear and think I am a weirdo?” There was great resistance in his flesh, yet he knew the voice of the Lord, and he knew he had to be obedient. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to the lady and said to her “The Lord wanted you to have this rose.” The woman looked at him for a second, then looked at the rose, and as she reached out to take it, she began to weep. She explained. ”My husband died several months ago. Every week, for years, he would buy me a rose. This morning I was feeling so lost and forgotten, I cried out to God and asked Him if He had forgotten me, I told Him that I needed to feel loved.” The man cried too. You see how the Lord loves us? You see how He speaks to His people?
God not only hears the cries of His people, He speaks to them and they know His voice and they hear Him. We need to pray for ears to hear and eyes to see what the Lord is saying and doing. God knows His sheep. He sees you. He hears your cries, he sees your afflictions, he sees the tears that no one else sees, He knows. He Himself was despised and rejected, He was a man of sorrows, He was well acquainted with grief. He bore all our griefs and sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him according to Isaiah 53. By all of theses things He secured for us peace and healing for our sins and transgression. The sheep had gone astray and now, by His stripes the sheep were healed of their transgressions. Now we know His voice and He bids us to follow His lead. Perhaps if you asked for a rose today you will find yourself in a garden. Listen for that still small voice today, He often talks to us in ways we do not expect. His word is a lamp unto our feet in the darkness and His still small voice assures us that we are known and that He sees us.
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Posted by appolus on June 22, 2020
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Oftentimes when things become more accessible they become less desirable. There is a fundamental flaw in humanity, you can call it the Adam and Eve flaw. We desire what we cannot have and oftentimes take for granted what we do have, until of course we do not have it. The object remains the same, what determines the attitude depends upon whether we have it or not. The ability to be thankful for what we have is a gift that must be learned practically. It can only be learned in the classroom of life. Many never learn , a fortunate few discover that there is great peace and contentment within the heart that is full of thanks.
The great danger is that we take our relationship with the Lord for granted. Time and time again we see Israel drift away from the Lord in times of prosperity. When we are in battles in life, or struggling to survive, we have a high dependency upon the Lord. We stay close to Him and we cry out to Him to keep us. The key for our walk with Jesus is to stay close to Him whether we are full or whether we are hungry, whether we are clothed or whether we are naked. In short, we must learn to be content in whatever situation we find ourselves in.
Staying thankful, staying intimate, spending time with the Lord lies at the heart of our relationship with Him. Thankfully we have been called to a battle-field and not a playground. If we are living Godly in Christ Jesus we will experience persecution and this persecution keeps us close to our Lord. That is why it is important to thank God in everything, to rejoice in Him at all times and in everything. Not for everything but in everything. For the steps of a righteous man and woman are ordered of God. We are His servants and it is He who keeps us. He keeps us when we go through the waters, He keeps us in the midst of the fires and He keeps us in quiet tranquil days when there is not a cloud in the sky. If He is the center of all things then we shall be grounded and centered in Him no matter what the circumstances of our lives.
When all around us are being devastated by circumstances and tossed like waves in a sea overcome by storms, we can stand above those waves when we fix our eyes on Jesus. Rather than the circumstances of life tearing us apart, with the right attitude of our heart, they become elements which make our faith deeper and stronger and actually propel us further into the heart of God. It is the will that keeps us. The will rules the emotions. Jesus in the garden, by an act of His will, submits to the will of His Father. It brings Him great peace when the matter is settled. Indeed it brings Him joy. You must settle in your mind if you will trust Him in all things. If you do that and then put it into practice, put flesh on the bones of what you believe, then you will be able to say with Paul that you have learned to be content in every situation.
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Posted by appolus on June 20, 2020
As we gather unto Christ, we gather unto each other, and the nearer we get to Christ, the nearer we get to each other. If there was something down at the front of the church, some curio or missionary exhibit that I wanted you to get closer to, I would invite you to come down and see it. As you came unto it, you would come unto each other. The closer you got to it, the closer you would be to each other until finally, shoulder would touch shoulder and you would be pushing close together to see this exhibit. When we come unto Christ, we automatically come unto each other. (A.W.Tozer)
This is such a simple yet profound truth shared by brother Tozer. If Jesus be lifted up, if Christ be preeminent, if He and He alone is the center of our attention and affections then the Body of Christ would get closer and closer and closer. Yet in every century for the last two thousand years, the traditions of men and the wisdom of this world has chipped away at the centrality of Jesus in our worship. He has been replaced by so called sacraments and relics and statues and even teachings. All of them became idols in their own way, for as men, when we lift something up, we adore it. Pomp and circumstance and other forms of pageantry has tragically dethroned Jesus from His rightful place. If Christ is not lifted up He is simply not there. He would never allow Himself to be demoted to a mere spectator of the aforementioned pageantry. Raise Him up or tear Him down for there is nor can be no middle ground. If there was such a middle ground it would be nothing more than slow acting sinking sand. Grand Cathedrals slowly sinking into the mire of their own making.
When we raise Jesus up. When He is the center of everything that we are and He sits upon the affections of our heart, then and only then can men and woman from a million different backgrounds be brought into a place of intimacy and closeness. Social barriers fall away like the falling banks of a river. Men and woman become color blind. The old social orders are swept away by the very river that causes the banks to collapse and thus changes the very nature and direction of the river. All who belong to Jesus are swallowed up by the river of God that flows from the throne. They become one with the river. Every single effort of man, be it politics, be it social polices, be it well meaning church programs will fail and miserable will be its failure. Christ and Christ alone and He being the centerpiece of all that we are brings men and woman closer and closer together into the glorious union of the Body of Christ.
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A Call To The Remnant 