You can listen to this short sermon above, which points us back to very foundations of our walk with the Lord and the work of the cross and you can also read it below. I pray that it will challenge you………….bro Frank
The cross is in the very midst of revival. Now why is the cross in the very midst of revival? If we look at what we consider to be classic revivals, in the great awakening we see Jonathan Edwards and he preaches his very famous sermon ” Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” And as a result we see people in the midst of tremendous conviction poured out by the Spirit. Now, is this the formula for revival? Must we preach about sinners in the hands of an angry God? Do we just have to repeat Jonathon Edwards sermon and we will see revival? We would just stand up and preach verbatim the words of that sermon and then we would see revival, and obviously that is not the case.
So the cross in the midst of revival. What is the cross, what does it represent? What does it mean? Why is it the central theme and focus of Christianity? Well the symbolic part of the cross was that mercy and judgement were mysteriously entwined together. Judgement for all those who reject Gods plan, and mercy for those who would embrace His Son and the sacrifice offered on Calvary, a sin offering for the world. The sins of the world, the guilt of the world would be judged on Calvary. And so we see mercy and judgment , mysteriously entwined together on the cross of Calvary. In the Hebridean revival we see men so affected by the Spirit of God poured out that they cry ” Is there mercy for me, is there mercy for me?” It was a cry from the deepest wells of mens hearts.
The attached photo marks the spot where General George Armstrong Custer fell at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, which I photographed during a trip late last year to the battlefield.
It was impressed upon me during this visit how vitally important it is to get those important strategic decisions right in our own life and indeed within the corporate life of the church, assuming we want the things in place in our lives that Christ wants. This rests in our ability, both individually and corporately, to “see the bigger picture”. Sadly, whilst occasionally talking about the bigger picture, the church consistently fails to stay on any course which will actually lead her in the direction of Christ Himself. You see, the single most critical strategic work of the Holy Spirit in these days is the preparation of the Bride of Christ and for the church to come into the fullness of the stature of Christ. This is the bigger picture. The desire of Jesus to have a pure and spotless Bride is His overriding and all-consuming passion. It super-cedes every other work and process. Everything we do should be geared towards this.
Here are some of my poems for those who prefer to listen rather than read poetry. I pray that they will bless you and I will add more as I go along, but first listen to a dear sister in Christ worship the Lord and bring you into that place of communicating with Jesus.
Hi saints, I have been watching the whole gun debate very closely, not so much for the details, for there is nothing new under the sun and we have been around this mountain before. No, my interest lies in the attitudes of Christians to all of these issues, whether it is guns, taxes, politics, rights and so on. Let me just state for the record where I stand on rights and freedoms, at least the freedom that I have through Christ ( which is all that counts, believe me brothers and sisters)
There are powerful forces that are manipulating the most basic of instincts, whether it is on the ” left,” or on the ” right.” Men and woman of God must only be driven by the Holy Spirit and not the cultural winds that blow nor the lobbyists who have financial or political interests in stirring up the crowd. One side is being pitted against the other. Christians should not be on one side or the other, we should be a counter-culture, not a sub-culture. God transcends cultures and nations. The Body of Christ is multi-national, from every tribe and every tongue and every nation. Our identity should be found in God alone and the Body. Let nations and kingdoms ( ethnos, where we get our English word ethnic) fight and war with each other, but it’s not our war. We are the sons and daughters of peace and we represent another kingdom to the peoples of the world.
Now in the days of Gideon, a time of judgement, the Midianites and the Amikalites oppressed the children of God. No matter what the Israelites planted, they never got to see the fruits of their labor. The Midianites and the Amakilites would come in like locusts and devour and take everything. And so, Israel was greatly impoverished. Can I suggest that we face the same landscape and problems in Christendom today? We are impoverished spiritually and financially and no matter the work done, it is consumed by the idols and the enemy which seems to be all around us like locusts.
Now, in their distress, the children of Israel cried out to God for a deliverer, and the Lord sent them a prophet. The prophet reminded them of God’s faithfulness and how they had rejected Him (Jud 6:8-10) Now, at God’s appointed time, when all is desolate, He speaks to Gideon who was threshing wheat in the wine-press in an effort to hide his activities from their oppressors.(6-11) “The Lord is with you mighty man of valor.” You see how God is calling what is not as it would be. Hiding from your enemies in a defunct wine=press in an effort to get some bread is hardly the stuff of valor. Brothers and sisters, I want you to see Gideon as a type of the Remnant God is in the process of raising up right now. Do not focus on the 300 as of yet, for that is still a ways off. We as people are not ready yet. Listen to what Gideon says to the Lord.
God’s love for us is empowered when it clashes with the darkest parts of who we are. Like a circle these meet and one is overpowered by the other. Prior to the new birth, when the sinner realizes who he is and also realizes that God loves him while he is yet in his sin, he is transformed. Yet deeper works are to follow. This meeting is no one time meeting. God searches us out and plumbs the depths of who we are and in finding Him there, at those depths, in that fire, in that darkness then we plumb the depths of His actual love. Can I say this process will ever end? No, I cannot say that. I do know that the Apostle Paul ” learned to be content,’ in whatever situation he found himself. What does it take to reach this place? Well, as I look at the life of Paul, it takes a life that most are not willing to live, only the few.
Our Lord He came from the glories above
He came to earth with a heart full of love
And choirs of heavenly angels sang
As the bells of upper Hades rang
Oh joyous night Oh Christ divine
A star in heaven, a heavenly sign
For Christ the Lord is born today
He came to show the world the way
He came to set the prisoners free
He came that every eye might see
A light at the end of a tunnel deep
A glorious harvest ready to reap
Consider this babe so innocent and pure
He has come to make your salvation sure
Lift up this child in your heart tonight
Lift up your eyes to a glorious sight
Behold your King is born today
Fall to your knees,worship and pray
For unto you a child is born
Behold the darkness gives way to dawn
Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own existence. Like the eye that sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God, we do not see ourselves-blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do ( see Philippians 2:13) (Tozer)
Hi saints, many who have eyes to see can see a storm coming. Indeed the skies have already began to darken and the first bands have already arrived, birth pangs if you like. Slowly but surely Christendom is being surrounded by her enemies. How then shall God’s people stand in that day? How will you stand? Have you asked yourself that question? Will you truly have faith in the living God? Will you stand fast in that day?
Parting is such an empty sorrow
Yet there is always a sweet tomorrow
There is such a pain within my heart
When that time comes that we must part
And the minutes and hours that slipped away
Were taken for granted day by day
Until the time comes when you have to leave
And I’m left standing with my heart on my sleeve
All the things that many American Christians hold dear have been severely challenged by the re-election of President Obama. I have not a single doubt that the Lord is in charge of it all and is at work. There are many idols in the American church and they are being challenged every day. Can I tell you that I full expect to see the Republican party throw off even the pretense of ” values,” and ” faith.” Now why would I think that is a good thing? Well, because if the Lord hates anything, we know He hates hypocrisy. This election has cut like a knife to the heart of serial hypocrisy. Just look at the Billy Graham organisation pulling down their literature on Mormonism for political expediency. This is perhaps one of the final nails in the coffin of Evangelicalism. And so my own answer to the question posed by so many today ” where do we go from here?” is to do what we should be doing all the time, following hard after Jesus. He must be our grand obsession, not taxes. He must be our all in all, not the result of the next election. He must have the pre-eminence in our lives, not our lives itself and how well we can do in this world. He must be Lord and Savior, not some president or worldly leader.
This is a song I wrote a couple of months ago. Some of you may remember this poem. Mary, my dear sister in Christ in Scotland has done a wonderful job in music and singing, truly anointed………………..bro Frank
A Call To The Remnant 