Archive for the ‘the state of the church’ Category
Posted by appolus on April 10, 2020
The darkest moment in history can be found in Matt 27:45-46. We are told that from the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. Jesus was not unaffected by this. In fact towards the very end of this supernatural darkness, when hell seemed to rule over the earth and all seemed lost as our precious Lord and Saviour is dying on the Cross, from the very depths of His soul, and oh the depths there was He cries “My God , My God, why has thou forsaken me.” Ponder that just for a moment…………Hell seems to be victorious. All seems lost. Every saint I believe will go through something of that in their lives at some point. And every saint that is called to be the generation that is alive at the coming of Jesus will experience the gross darkness of hell and seeming defeat.
In Exodus 10:21 we are told that the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. Imagine that brothers and sisters, a darkness that can be felt. A darkness that touches you to the depths of your very soul, so much so that it can be “felt.” Imagine living through that. Yet in the very depths of such a darkness we read in verse 23 that they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. So dark that they could not see one another, for three days, symbolic of the three hours of gross darkness on the cross, yet, praise the Lord God in heaven the children of Israel had “light in their dwellings.”
Jesus is the light in our darkness. We are His dwelling place and His light in us is the light to the world in the midst of gross darkness. We hold this light, we hold this treasure in broken vessels. He was broken for us on the cross so that we may have light in the darkness. Before that scene is over He cries out in Luke 23:46 Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now brothers and sisters we are told that He cried this out with a loud voice. With a loud voice and a cry from the same depths of His soul he commits everything to His Father.
Have you ever cried out to God from the depths of your soul? I believe every genuine saint has and will. When we are surrounded by gross darkness, even a darkness that can be felt then the light that shines from the depths of our dwelling, this tent in which we dwell, shall be seen by a lost and dying world which is literally drowning in darkness. We hold out hope to them for we ourselves have been plucked from the ravages of such gross darkness. The key to our lives and the delivery from such darkness is to shout out loud to our Father in heaven that we commit our hearts and our minds and our souls and our very spirit to Him. And from the midst of that commitment, light penetrates and overcomes the darkness.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on April 10, 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.
Brothers and sisters, are you ready to wash your robes and make them white by the blood of the Lamb? How shall we overcome the wicked one? 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.” The devil has a short time left. The Son of man, the Bridegroom is coming back shortly for His bride and the devil knows it. This is why a worldwide persecution of the saints is coming upon us soon.
Yet the devil is going to run head-long into a people prepared by the Lord through many trials and afflictions, refined by many fires, having been brought through many deserts. They are shining bright and they love not their lives unto death. Imagine an army of saints who would rather die than give one inch to the devil. They will reflect, in the very midst of the great tribulation, the glory of God in every nation. Out of every tribe and every tongue and every peoples God has called His remnant so that in martyrdom they will be a witness to every single person on the planet of God’s glory.
In this sense, God’s glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea in the very midst of judgement. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14) How many of us know that when the sea moves it moves with incredible power? The waves rise higher and higher as the wind blows stronger and stronger. Can you see it saints? Can you see walls of incredible water rise up like the glory of God rising as the winds of the Holy Spirit roars. One can only look on in awe, nothing can stop these waves.This is our calling. We were born for such a time as this.
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Posted by appolus on April 8, 2020
I feel in my spirit that there has been a monumental shift in the world. I do not believe this virus will draw the world closer to God. Perhaps some individuals scattered across the planet will, but society has shifted in ways that we have never seen before. The Holy Spirit continually lays upon my heart that we have entered into the days of Romans one. In Romans one verse 18 it says something very profound, it says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Now, to the ancient world, this truth revealed was his eternal power and Godhead. They knew of this, they were all decendants of Noah. At some point they had exchanged the glory of the uncorruptible God for that of creatures and trees and things that demanded nothing of them. They created gods that would serve them rather them serving the living God.
Now when Romans one is applied to us in the modern age, we who have known the truth of God through His word and through His disciples and through the Holy Spirit, those who now hold that truth in unrighteousness are so much more guilty. We are more guilty that the ancient world. God Himself came and walked this earth and walked among men and gave to those men and those who would follow Him the Holy Spirit of the Living God. In every generation since then we have been the visible conscience of mankind. And in very generation God’s people were killed all the day the long as men reacted violently against the truth revealed by a Holy God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This generation that is now alive, for the most part are doing everything they can to shut the mouths of the saints. Dare to stand up and speak of the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and see what happens. Dare to speak about the life-styles of people that run counter to and in direct violation of Gods word and see what happens. The truth tellers have for the most part been silenced. In this situation we find ourselves in today, with the virus that has literally shut down the whole world, is society humbled and crying out to God? I wish to God that they were. No, the story of this virus is doctors and nurses and scientists and world organisations. Not God.
We have very recent history of what happens when God is thrown of by men in favor of science. Starting with science and Darwin, then eugenics and great leaps forward in knowledge, we see a country like Germany totally embrace this and plunge headlong into the abyss on a wave of pride. When men become so proud of their own achievements and are so puffed up with their own abilities and throw of God, then hell is loosed. Can I tell you, I believe even as we speak hell is being loosed. The pride of man is the key to the gates of hell.
We see the very fundamentals of God’s creation challenged. God created man and woman. Science says no. Science says it is fluid and you can choose. God said that He made the heavens and the earth, He created it all. Science says no. It gives us various theories but what it is very certain of is that God did not create everything that exists. God created the union of a man and a woman and the world, including science says no. Science and medicine, even in the midst of this pandemic, continue with the killing of babies in the womb. God says it is an abomination, science and medicine and the world say it is merely a choice of woman and in fact, they say it is morally right.
Now, all around the world, not only do they teach these things among others, they teach it to the children. There is a generation of children around the world being raised in direct rebellion against God. Our wickedness has risen to the heights of heaven. How then shall we respond to those who hold the truth in unrighteousness? We must hold up, high, the truth in righteousness. This is the calling of the saints who find themselves in a Romans one world. It is no mistake that Paul is writing this to the Romans. To those who dwelt in the very seat of power on the earth. We saints in America are living in the modern day equivalent of ancient Rome.
Paul said that he was not ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation. Now brothers and sisters, that is the whole Gospel, not just what the world would consider to be the palatable parts. The power of God resides with the unashamed. If you are ashamed of any part of the Gospel, if you are scared of the mocking or the ridicule or the undoubted labeling that comes when you stand for the truth, then you have no power. If you are ashamed of any part of the Gospel, any part of the truth, then Jesus will be ashamed of you before His Father in heaven.
The days are upon us when the world demands that you capitulate to them and to their sin. It is not a day when we live and let live, no the enemies of the Gospel demand that we bow down to their idols. They demand that we call that which is an abomination, holy. They demand that we send our children to be taught gross error. We will come through the pandemic but God will not have been petitioned. And so, like waves on a sea that is in the midst of a building storm, the next wave will come and it will be bigger and it will be stronger. Men will celebrate their “victory.” It will seem like peace has returned and “suddenly,’ the wrath of God will be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
Christendom is very quiet and every day it grows more quiet. The enemy demands that we shut our mouths, he screams out threatenings and has growing power to destroy the lives of all those who stand against him. Shall we remain quiet saints? Shall we be ashamed of the Gospel, the full Gospel? If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.(1Pe 4:14) There is a Spirit of glory and of God that rests upon the one who is unashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God. The question is, do you really want to move in the glory and the power of God? Then it is time to stand and make your voice heard.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, prophecy, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on April 8, 2020
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
God has called His children out of darkness into His marvelous light, the light of freedom. Religion is the deadliest enemy of Gods freed children. It spies out their liberty and seeks, with much patience, to again enslave and control them. In these days God is releasing a generation to come forth and live in the freedom that He has called them too. The shackles of the old religious systems are being exposed and broken down.
It can be scary to begin to think for oneself and to walk into open fields of freedom having been so restrained for so long. So confined by that pew that you sit on, year after year nothing but a spectator. Brothers and sisters you were called into a royal Priesthood. He who the Son has set free is free indeed. Free to walk with Him, free to be taught by Him, free to hear Him, free to be directed by Him. Our call is a radical one and it is to Jesus and Jesus alone. This is where freedom begins.
Many years ago I was walking in the suburbs of Kansas where I live. Walking through a wealthy neighborhood I saw gardens with meticulously planted flowers. A lot of work had obviously went into them. They had a design and had undoubtedly been measured exactly, every flower planted the exact distance from each other. Each home-owner knew what they wanted and it had been achieved. There was a regimentation in these gardens and they certainly had some kind of beauty. Then I heard the Holy Spirit telling me to look across the street.
There was a large field. At the far end of the field was an open drainage system for water run-off and a large culvert. All around this area was full of wild flowers of all kinds. No hand had placed them where they were. They were wherever the wind had blown their seed. It was truly a magnificent sight and had a beauty that was unmatched by the little regimented soldiers all standing to attention, watching from across the street, now seemingly entrapped and longing to breathe free.
Brothers and sisters, where are you? Did the wind of the Spirit blow in your life? Did He lead and guide you to where you are now? To be where the Lord wants you to be and to be part of a garden that the Lord Himself planted is to have ridden the winds of the Holy Spirit. Can you just stand and let go? Can you let the updrafts of His presence and Spirit carry you? Can you breathe free today? It is your birthright and that freedom from a crushing religious system of control and man centered activity was wrought for you on the bloody battle field of Calvary. To live in anything less than that freedom is a tragedy.
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Posted by appolus on April 4, 2020
The word “Christian,” has become a real problem in our modern world, especially when it is used as a label rather than as a description of a living reality. C.S. Lewis proffered the notion that the word Christian was rendered meaningless a long time ago. The theory being that if everyone uses the title of Christian whether they are or not, then it empties the title of all meaning and what we end up with is religion rather than relationship. People who merely turn over a new leaf rather than being born again. These people are then constrained in their actions by the confines of the strictness of their own particular brand of religion. To complicate it further, it then becomes about degrees. So even within the broad realms of the religious world there is a vast degree of different levels of compliance, so some appear holy in comparison to others yet is is still just degrees and not the new birth.
In genuine Christianity there are no constraints. There is only love and reverence and respect. A love so deep that you would never want to disappoint the object of your love. That is relationship, everything else is religion no matter how shiny. Now there will be objections to the notion that there are no constraints to the genuine saint, yet those objections would be unfounded because within the confines of love itself lies the answer to the question. Love is the motivator of everything that we do, and when we mess up, when we sin, love is the answer to the problem. It is love that draws us before the throne of grace, it compels us to come and confess and repent and be reconciled. For who would ever want to be separated from the grand love of their lives.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on April 3, 2020
Hab 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
There is a great multitude today who are desperately hungry and thirsty. All over the world the people dwell in great darkness and the darkness increases every day. Hell has opened up its vaults and is beginning to spew forth its contents with increasing speed and urgency because it knows its time is short. There is a desperate darkness coming and it is coming at us with alarming speed. Yet just as in the time of Noah, the world is ignorant of the impending disaster about to befall it.
Like the children of Israel when Jesus says “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!” Jesus wept because He knew that less than forty years after His death and resurrection that the whole system would come tumbling down. The Temple would be destroyed and the Israelite’s would be no more as a nation and they had absolutely no idea.
In those days, it was unimaginable that their Temple, their country, their way of life would be swept away and that they would be scattered to the four corners of the world. It is equally unimaginable to so many that the church system as we know it today, will be completely consumed by Babylon and turn on God’s remnant children. Yet brothers and sisters, that is exactly what is coming as this great Babylonian whore church evolves and worships the anti-Christ. And despite all this, God’s children will shine brightly in the darkest days the world has ever known. Full of the Holy Spirit and walking in the presence of God.
A blood bought remnant people whose desperate desire is to follow Him to Calvary and beyond. Their eyes will see the Glory of the Living God cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This persecution upon the saints will rend the heavens and the glory of God will fall upon them. Because this persecution will be worldwide therefore the glory that falls will fall all over the world and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. Jesus will be manifested to the world. It will be clear to the world what they are rejecting and then He shall appear. Oh for the day of His appearance when every eye shall see Him and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory 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 persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
Posted by appolus on April 1, 2020
Heb 9:3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place.
For anyone who has experienced the presence of God everything else will inevitably fall short. In many ways it is a double edged sword. It’s not good enough to stand outside the door, it’s not good enough to remain in the courtyard, one must enter in. And the only way to enter in is to pass through the altar, the brazen alter. What will we bring as a sacrifice? How will we humble ourselves? What state are we in? Are we able to look at ourselves?
The only way we can humble ourselves is to be like David. When the prophet identified David as the man who was guilty, he was broken and contrite. He knew that against God alone he had sinned, it started there. He may have committed adultery and murder but his real crime was against God. And so the sin has first to be identified and after that it must be recognized and then it must cause a realization in the depths of our heart that we have fallen from grace.
If the Galatians had fallen from grace in that they sought to complete the work that was begun by the Spirit by the works of the flesh, then are we not today fallen from grace if Christ is no longer the preeminent one in our lives and in our gatherings? How would those who had went down a wrong road find themselves once again on the right road? They would have to repent, do a 180 and go back to the fork in the road. Could the Lord ever justify continuing down the wrong road? This is not only true in our personal life, but also in our corporate settings.
The Holy place is the Holy place. God is God and He never changes. He must be worshiped in Spirit and in truth. In truth, not just in Spirit, but in truth. Outside of truth there is no Spirit. Without truth there can only be religion, that is true personally and corporately. Oh foolish Christendom. Where is Jesus Christ our Lord? Can you complete that which was begun in the Spirit when you walk in the flesh? Can routine and liturgy and programs, the traditions of men complete you? Would you not exchange all of that for just one moment in His presence? One moment behind the curtain? Today is the day to turn away from whatever keeps us from entering in to His presence. No golden calf is worth the price of standing outside in the courtyard and not behind the veil in the Holy place before His throne.
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Posted by appolus on March 31, 2020
What is a corona? If we are talking about astronomy, then it is the rarefied gas that surrounds the sun, in other words it is the “glow,” from the sun. Interestingly you can only see it when there is a total eclipse. When the moon completely blocks out the sun, we can then see the glow from the sun without being blinded. In effect, it is the glory of the sun that we can see when the world is plunged into darkness by a total eclipse. If we are talking about anatomy then the corona is the part of the body that resembles a crown.
A virus that shuts down the whole world and it is called Corona? Rather than the sun being hidden so that we can see its “glory,” we now have the world as we know it taken away so that we can see what? The true nature of why we were created that can only be seen when the whole world stops? The life that you led last week before the world stopped, was that really life, was that really living? Can you now see what you could not see before? Do you see your children? Do you see your wife? Do you see their smiles and their needs? Can you now see the glory of God and all that He has created? Your purpose in life was not to get up every day and go to work and everything revolve around that like the planets revolve around the sun.
Can you see that it was a lie, an illusion. “I am doing it for my family.” It is the most common refrain as to why we spend so much time apart from that very family. The rat race. The illusion of a life created that actually replaces the life that was intended. An alternative world. The greatest illusion of them all? A life apart from God. God not being the center of your universe. Somehow He has to be blotted out for you to actually see a glimpse of Hos glory and what is truly important. If you waste this present isolation then that would be tragedy of monumental proportions. Soon enough the world will begin to turn again. What will you do? Business s usual? What a waste that would be. In the shadow of this present darkness, this eclipse of the world we know, many are dying alone. Life is for the living. We work to live, it is merely a means to put bread on the table and a roof over our heads. So many live to work.
Perhaps the world has not been turned upside down, perhaps we have been turned the right way up? Let us look at what lies behind the corona, the center of the universe, the Son of the living God and His glory. Let us take this opportunity and discover who He His and what He really wants from us? He wants to know us and He calls us, He reaches out to His creation, He reminds us who we are and why we were even created. To walk with Him in the cool of the day. As so many children right now are getting an opportunity to really hold their fathers hand and have him present, then we too have an opportunity to hold our Father’s hand and know that this is why we are here at all.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on March 30, 2020
A higher view of God. Before all the churches shut down, do you think that the vast majority of them had a high view of the Living God? Do you believe that in the vast majority of our assemblies that the God of Isaiah and the God of Ezekiel and the God of John the revelator was being worshiped? Did we consider His majesty? Did we consider the goodness and the severity of God? Was the God who did not spare His Son, who saw His Son crushed and broken in body and tortured and killed, worshiped? Did we only worship the goodness of God, did we even worship the goodness of God. Was a lot of it routine? Is there anything routine about God and His presence? Does the hand of the sovereign God rule and reign?
Is it actually possible to come into the presence of God without trembling? Have you read of many encounters in the Scriptures where men encountered God or the angel of the Lord and not fallen flat on their faces? To encounter glory, to have the high view, to see Him high and lifted up. To see His magnificence, to weep openly in the presence of such beauty and such purity, was there anything like this in your last visit to church before all the churches of the world were shut down. For just one single moment, do you suppose that might have something to do with our present position? Most of us now have the time to ponder on that. Can I ask you, can you go back, will you go back to business as usual? Oh Lord help us for what comes after this if we simply go back to business as usual. I tell you brothers and sisters, we are going to need to know Him in the fashion that I have described above if we are to stand in a world hurtling towards the ultimate encounter with the Lord our God.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on March 30, 2020
2Ch 5:14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
The world has such a low view of God. Some kindly grandfather? A benevolent Santa Claus? A buddy? Of course He is none of these things. For the most part Christendom also has a low view of God. Can I ask you a genuine question? The last time you went to church, were you actually expecting to encounter the Living God? I am not talking about singing loud and jumping up and down. I am not talking about being really interested in a sermon and taking notes. I am talking about meeting God almighty.
The God that is high and lifted up and the train of His robe fills the temple. The God that is majestic in holiness. The God that is full of awe and marvelous. The God that is so overwhelming that He floods our spirits with His glory and those around His throne can only cry out Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Is that what you were expecting? If not why not? Unless the people have an encounter with such a God, they will continue to have a low view of Him and worship some weak anemic cultural god of their own making.
What cannot be learned by a thousand excellent sermons can be learned in the genuine presence of God. Just one moment in His presence is better than a thousand elsewhere. If all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.” (1 Cor 14 24-25)
The church in the west is starving to death and they are dying of thirst. The tragedy is, that for the most part, the majority that are called after His name do not even know that they are in the midst of a famine and a drought. I thank God for His remnant people who do know. Who agonize over the state of the church. Who cry out to God and who want nothing less than for the multitude of people to experience the majesty and the glory and the anguish and the joy of falling down before the throne. Who desire all men to be ruined for this life and to walk with the grand obsession of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is coming a time, and we may be there already, when God is calling His people, His remnant people who have experienced the presence of God, to rise up and testify to it. To testify of what they know of Him. Of how they come into the presence of a Holy and majestic God. Of how it ruins them and changes them. Of how they tremble before the throne of the almighty God.
This is what the people are starved of, this is what they are dying from. There is a famine of the Word of God in the land, not the Word preached, but the Word preached with the power and the presence of God. The crisis of the age is a lack of God’s empowering presence in our assemblies. May the glory of the Lord fill His house.
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Posted by appolus on March 27, 2020
A sieve is an apparatus that allows the finer particles through while trapping the courser elements. The process is known as sifting. In Isaiah 30:28 the prophet describes God in this way “His breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity.” This sieve is designed to catch and separate vanity-the proud. The sieve requires shaking in order to find what it wants to reject and to let pass through what is desirable. His breath is like a raging river which reaches up to the neck. Imagine that. In a flash flood it only takes six inches of water to knock a man off of his feet, yet here we see the raging river of the breath of God reaching up to the neck. Who can stand when the Lord moves? Only those who stand upon the Rock.
What particular pride are we seeing here referred to by Isaiah? In the previous verse, verse 27 it says that: Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire. The name of the Lord had been blasphemed against by Rabshakeh, the Assyrian general. He likened the one true God to every other god whom had fallen before them. Now that name, the name he took in vain, has come and He would be like a devouring fire who would overthrow their pride and they would be helpless in the midst of it all.
The world has mocked the one true God. They want nothing to do with Him and in their vanity they ridicule Him. They have systematically violated His word. He says that Homosexuality is an abomination, they say that no, in fact this is merely an expression of Gods creation. He says that He made man and women, they say no, there are many genders and you can be anything you like. He said that those who pass their children through the fire are an abomination, they say,no, it is a moral right to be able to kill your unwanted children. He says that He is the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by Him. They say that there is no heaven and if there is there are multiple ways to get there. He says that the name of Jesus is high and lifted up, they use that name as a curse. He says suffer the little children to come unto me and woe to them who hurt them. they indoctrinate these children from the early age in defiant rebellion against the one true living God.
God also sifts those who are called by His name and there are multiple siftings. Fire and storm is a form of sifting. As the heat intensifies, many called by His name fall away. As the world makes ever greater demands for compromise, many more fall away. As the cost begins to rise for bearing the name of Jesus, more fall away. As Jesus reveals that His people must suffer, more fall. As He removes all of the trappings of religion, again the chaff blows away in the wind. God will have a refined people when He returns for His own. He will come back for a pure and spotless Bride. Brothers and sisters, we live in the midst of such days. We are called to withstand in the evil day, meaning to resist, stand against, and having done all, cloaked in the armor of God, to stand and not fall.
Stand against who or what? Principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but rather the spiritual reality of what lies behind flesh and blood. The battle takes place in heavenly places. It requires violent men in terms of the spirit. Men and women who can resist, and who will resist and who are covered by the Blood of the Lamb, have the word of their testimony and who love not their lives unto death. This is the few and our enemy is the spiritual reality behind the many. Remember brothers and sisters, greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.
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 | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on March 26, 2020
Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
As I prayed this morning the Lord laid the above Scripture on my heart. The Holy Spirit spoke to me. From the moment we are born our life is the valley and death is the shade. As we walk through the valley, death is rendered to but a mere shadow to the saints. What is a shadow? What substance does it have? Is it the real thing or is it but a trick of the light? Death itself has lost its sting, where oh grave is your victory? And how could this be? “For thou art with me.” His presence destroys the power of sin and death and renders it to but a mere shadow. We often say that a man is a mere shadow of his former self. This is what it means when we speak of death for those who walk in the presence of God, for those who can say ” for thou art with me.” Can you say that?
Moses refused to go on in the desert unless the Lord was with him. The Lord said to Moses that He would do this thing because he had found grace in His sight and that He knew him by name. Brothers and sisters, our names are written in the Lambs book of life. We who know Him know Him by grace, through faith. We found grace in His sight, glory to God. Paul counted all of his trials and his impending death as mere rubbish, because? He was found in Him. Paul could go on in a perilous and persecuted journey because death was but a shadow. What creates a shadow? Light. We who stand in the light of Christ have rendered death to but a mere shadow of its former self. This is why we can walk through the valley. This is why we look not to this world but to the next. For thou art with me oh Lord through every valley. Every trial, every tribulation even death itself is but the means that draws us ever closer to the one who is with us.
We are more than conquerors in Him. When we suffer with Him we shall be glorified together. This is when all things work together for good to those whom He walks with who are called according to His purpose. What shall separate us from the love of Jesus? Trial or tribulation? Persecution or nakedness? famine or even the sword? For His sake we are killed all the day long, like sheep for the slaughter. Shall a virus or any pestilence or even death itself separate us from the one who is with us? No, nothing can, quite the opposite, it compels us to press on in. Saint, no matter what you are facing today, press on in to the One who is with You. He will see you through the fire. He will hold you in the flood. No matter how fierce the fire or how deep the flood, nothing can separate us from the Love of God which is in Jesus our Lord. –
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Posted by appolus on March 23, 2020
Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Jesus speaks of two kinds of houses in Mathew chapter 7:24-27. One is built upon the Rock and the other has no foundation. When the storm comes, when the flood rises and the winds blow with hurricane force,come dawns early ligth the house on the Rock still stands . The house without a foundation is swept away. Now consider this, the first word in Matt 7:24 is “wherefore.” The word wherefore means the answer or the explanation to a statement given. What was the statement Jesus had just made? In verses 21-23 Jesus says that not all who call Him Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, only those who do the will of my Father. So He will say to them “I never knew you, depart from me you who work iniquity.” He is talking to people who cast out demons and did many wonderful works in His name.
The test saint, is not the works that we do nor even the miracles that we are associated with. No, the test saints is how we stand or if we stand in the storm. It’s the storm that does the work. Who will praise Him in the storm? Who will do the will of the Father in the midst of the storm? To weather the storm with joy, with perseverance and with endurance is to prove which ground we stand upon. For those who stand upon the Rock, they shall not run from the storm, they shall not hide from the storm they shall stand tall in the midst of the storm in the might and the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is a huge storm raging around the world. It is the first of many such storms to come. The world will get over one storm and the next will quickly come. Yet those whose feet are planted on the Rock shall never be moved. They shall be able to enter into His presence, they shall go deeper into His heart, they shall stand upon the Word of God and the light of heaven shall shine through them like a beacon to a dark world. The Lord says that His kingdom is not of this world. We are part of His Kingdom and we do not belong to this world, we are merely passing through. We walk in the Spirit along the narrow way and He ever goes before us. Let not your hearts be troubled but rather rejoice. The praise of the saints from the depths of the dungeon is of so much greater value than those who praise His only from the mountaintops. A man can praise Jesus in the midst of good circumstances, it takes no foundation to do that. Only a saint standing on the solid Rock of Christ Himself can praise the Lord from the dungeon. What lies beneath your feet?
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Posted by appolus on March 20, 2020
In the solemn days of our times. When the bustling economies of the world come to a standstill. Who will search His word, who will search their hearts? Shall we ignore God? Shall we desperately try to keep going and keep doing what we were doing before? If the locusts descended upon you and the whole earth shook should you not look to the heavens and cry out to God and know the error of your ways? The Lord tells us in His word that we should let our tears run down like a river day and night, that we should give ourselves no relief and no rest. We should rise up from our slumbers and cry out in the night. Do we observe any of this brothers and sisters? The Lord also told us in His word that the He has caused the appointed feasts and the Sabbaths to be forgotten, In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.The Lord has spurned His alter and abandoned His sanctuary.
Lam 2:7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
One of our favorite pieces of Scripture says “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed because His compassion fails not. They are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul therefore I hope in Him” These words are penned in the midst of great affliction. They are the hearts cry of a man drowning in darkness, crying out to the living God and in the midst of those cries he discovers mercy and faithfulness and hope. Another favorite portion of Scripture is “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (2Ch 7:14) Do you ever wonder why we never quote verse 13, the verse that comes before ” if I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
You see, we dont like that part. We like all the benefits of Calvary but we do not like the cost. What cost you say, Jesus did it all. Yes He did but He directly commands us to take up our own crosses, every day. We are told that we must lift up the Lord Jesus Christ and He alone must be preeminent in the midst of our lives and in the midst of our gathering. We are the Ekklesia, we are the called out ones. And in the midst of those called out ones who gather together, Jesus and He alone is to be lifted up. He directs His people and He does it through the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we do indeed lift up Jesus and magnify Him then the power of God rests upon us.
So, a week ago, business as usual. Today, every “church,” in the western world is shut down. Who would have thought such a thing? Yet almost everywhere you can gather together ten or less. What is the Lord saying in the midst of this? Is He saying “hold on, eventually you can go back to business as usual?” Really? You really think He is saying that? If He is not saying that then what is He saying to us in the days that we find ourselves? Literally, everything in the world that can be shaken is being shaken. In every village and town and city throughout all of the lands fear stalks the streets. If we will not ask ourselves hard questions and search our hearts then shortly after this ends, another shall come. Like a building storm in a vast ocean the waves get higher and higher.
There is mercy to be found for the broken and the contrite. We have trampled His name in the street. Shall He cut of the rain, shall He send the locust? Or shall we return to our roots, our Biblical roots, all the way back to the beginning. We have gotten terribly off track. We have so many centuries of tradition and error upon error that we bear little or no resemblance to what we read in 1 Cor 14. The simple organic worship of the called out ones. Ones who desire to be led, wholly led, not by men, not by traditions not by liturgy or by program and deadly routine. God is speaking to us loudly and clearly. The question is, are we listening? If we would indeed humble ourselves and turn from what? Our wicked ways. Who is He talking about here? The people who call themselves by His name. You, and me. Our wicked ways brothers and sisters. We have denied and defied the Word of God in favor of our wicked ways. You cry out “how are we wicked?” We hold the covenants of God in our mouths and we declare His statutes. Yes indeed, it is part of your indictment.
The Lord tells us to call upon Him in the day of trouble. Call upon Him in repentance and contriteness and brokenness. If we do this and pray and seek His face, then He will hear from heaven and forgive our sin. What sin? All of our sin but especially the sin of having demoted Jesus to some kind of mascot or figurehead and raising up the idol of the pulpit in favor of actually hearing from God. We have a million little Moses who willing ascend that pulpit every Sunday, elevating themselves and taking the place and the role and the authority of Jesus. These men should tremble and repent and we should too for allowing such a travesty to unfold. And in that trembling and in that repentance we shall find a merciful God whose mercies are new every morning.
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Posted by appolus on March 20, 2020
Heb 13:13-14 Therefore let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Jesus was found outside the camp, outside the walls, outside the gates. We are told to go to where He is. In those days, the walls represented security and belonging. To be outside the camp was to be outside of fellowship with the rest of society and to be in a dangerous place. Yet, Jesus was found in a place called Golgotha, outside of the gates. To leave the security of the walls behind us, we must be willing to find all of our security and belonging in Jesus.
If any part of our heart belongs to the city, we will be tempted to look back with longing as judgment begins to pour down upon it, just as Lots wife looked back. It is an eternal city that we seek and we have been called to be sojourners and pilgrims in this voyage of life. Jesus alone is our anchor and only in Him can we find our place of refuge, He alone is our high tower.
The distance from where Jesus hung on the cross was not very far from the temple. Those who dwelt within the walls were convinced that the presence of God was within the heart of the temple, in the Holy of Holy’s. Yet tragically for those who clung to their place of worship and who ignored what Jesus had told the woman at the well, would die in their religion.
Jesus told the woman at the well when she questioned Him about where the proper place to worship should be that a time was coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24) The presence of God was not in the Holy of Holy’s, the presence of God, the word made flesh, Emmanuel, was hanging from a tree outside of civilized society on a garbage dump known as Golgotha.
The saints of God are sojourners. We are pilgrims in a strange land who are merely passing through. We bear His reproach from the world and from the religious. Do you worship Him in Spirit and in Truth? Can we ignore the truth and still be obedient to the words of Jesus? If we are to walk in the Spirit then we have to walk in the truth, you cannot have one without the other. In our ever changing world it is getting more and more difficult to justify staying behind the walls. We have to be where the truth is. True worshipers will follow the Spirit and will follow the truth, even if none go with them and despite the ridicule and the reproach. Remember we are bearing His reproach for here we have no continuing city but we seek one to come
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Posted by appolus on March 18, 2020
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
In another Scripture, Heb 11:6 we are told…. But without faith it is impossible to please him. You see the connection? Walking in the flesh is the same as having no faith in the Lord. In Romans 8:5 we are told…. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. Now if we look at two words here it is instructive for us. First the word “mind.” This word means to set our affections on, the thing that captures our thoughts. So, if we mind the things of the flesh then our affections are set upon the things of the flesh and our thoughts are taken up with the flesh. Now, it is important to identify what the word flesh means here. The Greek word is sarx and means in this context “the symbol of what is external.”
So if you are walking in the flesh then you are taken up with the external things of this life and not the interior life, the life of the Spirit. Now the external things can mean a multitude of things. It can mean our outward circumstances, our careers, our position in life, our cars, our houses, our politics, our appearance and so on. If these are the things that occupy our minds then we cannot be walking in the Spirit and we cannot be pleasing to God. Rather, to be walking in the Spirit is to be seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. This pleases God and He is a rewarder of those who follow this path. His reward is His presence and in His presence there is fullness of joy. Peace and love and forgiveness, contentment and holiness is the landscape of the Kingdom. Wont you walk in the Spirit today? Put away the things of this world and mind the things of God and His Kingdom and possess what the Lord has delivered to you.
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Posted by appolus on March 17, 2020
Just last week I was writing about our “suddenlies.” How situations and circumstances can change very quickly and throw us back on our feet. A few weeks ago we had the best economy on record. We had the lowest unemployment on record. Now suddenly, that has all gone. This is the uncertain nature of life itself.
It if precisely because of this uncertainty that it vital that we have a certain hope and a sure place to stand. Jesus is both. He is our hope. In Him lies our peace. Through Him we stand on a sure place.
In Matt 5:29-30 Jesus warns that it is better to pluck out your eye and cut of your hand and go into heaven maimed, than to go wholly into hell. As bad as this virus may be or may become, the eternal reality of folks souls has not changed.
We should pray all the more saints that the hearts of men and women would be humbled in the face of collapse rather than hearts to be hardened or faint with fear. Jesus , in Matt 11, reproves unrepentant cities with some very hard words when he says that for many cities, it will be more tolerable for Sodom than them in the day of judgment in light of the revelation of Him that they had and ignored. Scary, is it not?
Yet praise the Living God He ends that chapter with a tremendous olive branch. “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.” Are you tired tonight? Has anxiety wore you down?
Do you carry the heavy load all alone? Do you want to “learn,” of Jesus and find rest for your souls? Then turn to Him tonight and turn away from the world. Cry out to God for mercy for your sins and you will find it and in the finding of that mercy you will find your place in eternity. You will find your name written in the Lambs book of life.
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Posted by appolus on March 16, 2020
Ask the average pastor in the land if he would like the presence of God to come into their gathering and he will invariably say yes. This brings to mind a couple of things. First, the Lord does not come down to enhance the ministry of men. He comes down when He is exalted, when He is glorified and when He alone is lifted up.The Lord must be preeminent in our gatherings. You can have perfectly pleasant meetings week after week, hear good sermons, have good bible studies and so on and so forth and feel good about all of that, but this has nothing to do with His preeminence and our encountering Him and His manifest presence.
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves.(Mat 21:12)
We see in Matthew 21:12 that when Jesus came into the temple, the first thing He did was clean it up. He threw out everyone who was making merchandise out of the temple. If you are in that temple and were making a living out of it, you were unceremoniously ejected. It would have been shocking and humiliating for the Son of God, with a “scourge of small cords,” to whip you and drive you out right there in front of everyone. So in our day of the industrial church, huge buildings, mortgages, coffee shops and bookstores and a multitude of “ministries,” to be supported, what would He do with all of that?
Men cannot have Jesus be preeminent in their gatherings, for in a moment of time most of their programs would be scrapped. Those making a living wage would be fired and the coffee shops and book stores would all be demolished. A huge amount of men, delivered to the spiritual industrial complex from seminaries and Bible schools which are part of the industrial complex, would be driven out. The idol of the pulpit would be destroyed. Men who have became mediators to a vast collection of spectators would be replaced. The gathered people would be participators and not passive nodding heads with the occasional amen. They would be compelled to rise to their feet in the glory of His presence and cry Holy. The Holy Spirit would lay upon a man’s heart a wonderful exhortation and upon another a scripture and a teaching. Someone else would have a song.
Let us look at the exact word our instructions from the unchangeable word of the Living God. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret (1Co 14:27) Now brothers and sisters, is that ambiguous or is not rather straightforward? Stop right there and consider the words of this scripture. Do you have an objection to it? If yes, why? If you accept this as true. what hinders you in fulfilling this? Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge(1Co 14:29) Hard to understand? Ambiguous? Agree with the word of God? Yes? What hinders you in fulfilling this? Are you not without excuse and do we not cast Scripture’s instructions aside in favor of the traditions of men? All of this would only take place if Jesus was preeminent among us. So, is Jesus in your “temple?”
I say all of this to the established “church,” for in fact we the saints are the “Church,” we are His temple. Church is not a place that you go to, church is something that you are born into. The Body of Christ is just that. Not a place but a people. We have our marching orders from the Scriptures on how the Body should be when it gathers. What has happened is that we are so far removed from the truth of that and the reality of the gathering, that if there was a genuine desire and attempt to Biblically worship and gather together, it would not be a reformation but rather a revolution. The first thing that happens in revolutions is that the old order is replaced ( or in secular revolutions probably something worse) The definition of the word revolution is “the overthrow of a government, a sudden and grand change or the movement of one object around the center of another object, an example being the movement of the earth around the sun.
Given the above examples of revolution, we see that many of them fit into our conversation. The overthrow of a government. This would be the dissembling of the denominations and the old order of meeting. A sudden and grand change would describe what it would take to return to the organic and biblical gathering. And the last example would be coming full circle, completing the revolution and coming right back to where it all began. Jesus would be the center of it all and everything would revolve around Him, everything. Man would be replaced from the center, the pulpit would be replaced from the center and Jesus would take back His rightful place and the Holy Spirit would elevate Him in the hearts and minds of the people. The same Holy Spirit would edify the saints in the manner He has already prescribed in the Word. The Word never changed, it was we who left it behind in favor of our own traditions. We elevated men and we shuffled the Lord Jesus off to the side. We relegated Jesus to where He was a mere adornment.
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Posted by appolus on March 16, 2020
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
How deep the love that cries “forgive them Father?” How dead to the flesh a man must be to cry “hold not this charge against them.” How transformed must his flesh be that he has a vision in the midst of being stoned by his countrymen? And brother Stephen was taken home loving those who bore the stones.
Would I respond in such a manner?? I pray that I would. I pray that every trial and tribulation I now suffer is a mile run by one who trains for a marathon. Can I see my trials as blessings? Can I walk counter to modern Christendom and count my trials as I count my blessings? This is the deeper life brothers and sisters. This is the counter-culture. This is the way of the cross.This is the narrow path. Can we arrive at such a place as to rejoice in our sufferings? How can a man rejoice in his sufferings? Well, a man cannot, only a saint empowered by the Holy Spirit can.
There is no key or magic wand on how to rejoice in the depths of suffering. There is only encounter, there is only desire, there is only that thirst spoken of by David when he spoke of the deer that panteth after the waterbrooks. Make no mistake brothers and sisters, this place, this walk of the saints, this place of peace that surpasses all understanding is born out of fire. We have to encounter the Lord Jesus in the depths of the fiery furnace.
Is there another way? No. It’s the narrow path, it’s the taking up of the cross, it’s the decision made in the garden of Gethsemane and even that is not it, there is still the death, even the death of the cross. Many men will die for the cause but how many are willing to die for the cross?
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Posted by appolus on March 14, 2020
The perfect place to hide
I grasp the hand that beckons me
The nail pierced hand of Calvary
That reaches down through fire and flood
Tis covered by His precious blood
Despite His pain He rescued me
From burning fires and a stormy sea
His hand my only hope tonight
I hold it still, He holds it tight
And by the power of His righteous arm
He keeps me safe from every harm
And this is where I shall be found
On Christ my Rock my solid ground
Now I shall dwell in the secret place
Before your throne and before your face
And the terrors by night and the arrows by day
In your presence, like wax, shall melt away
On solid ground we stand or fall
He surrounds my heart with a fiery wall
And I am perfectly safe inside
His love is the perfect place to hide
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A Call To The Remnant 