Let me go out on a limb a little bit and prophesy. I see the time coming when all the holy men whose eyes have been opened by the Holy Spirit will desert worldly evangelicalism, one by one. The house will be left desolate and there will not be a man of God, a man to whom the Holy Spirit dwells, left among them (A.W.Tozer, The dangers of a shallow faith.)
This prophecy was made over 60 years ago. He goes on to say…. “as the church stands now, the man who sees this condition of worldly evangelicalism is written off as being somewhat fanatical. But the day is coming when the house will be left desolate and there will not be a man of God left among them. I would like to live long enough to watch this develop and see how things turn out. I would like to live to see the time when the men and women of God-holy, separated and spiritually enlightened-walk out of the evangelical church and form a group of their own, when they get off the sinking ship and let her go down in the brackish waters of worldliness and form a new ark to ride out the storm.”
Can I say, for the most part, what passes for the church now, has sunk beneath the brackish waves or worldliness to which Tozer prophesied. What passes for church now would be entirely unrecognizable to the men and women of God who are now the arms of the Lord. Has the prophecy come to pass as of now? No. Evangelicalism has certainly sunk beneath the waves, but those who have come out of her have not found their place yet. The time will come. Persecution on a scale never seen before will draw us together as we have never been before. It took persecution to scatter the saints in Jerusalem so that they would go out and fulfill the commands of the Lord. It will take the great tribulation to bring us back together.
We will stand before an angry world, most likely led by the sunken Evangelical and religious movements, and not be moved. They will see how a saint stands in the midst of the fire with Jesus by their side. They will see a purified bride, having been stripped of everything this world has to offer, yet covered by the glory of the risen Lord. They will see a people like Job who will fall to their knees and cry out to God in worship “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” In short, they will see the glory of God cover the earth as the brackish waters cover the sea. The worldly church, the world and everything religious in it sinks into these foul waters. The Body of Christ rises up in the pure and undefiled waters that flow from heavens throne and it is crystal clear and will stand in complete contrast to the defiled waters of this world.
On my recent vacation to the lake, I met a young man in his early 30s. He was sitting beside a communal fire where one could make s’mores, that great American favorite. As I sat down beside the fire I introduced myself and we began to talk. It turns out I was talking to a theologian. He had two masters degrees in divinity and theology and was in the process of getting his doctorate. He was also an ordained elder of his local Presbyterian church. His day job was computer programming. And so our discussion began.
The Lord laid it upon my heart to speak about John chapter three and the love of God for the world that motivated Him to send His only Son to die for the whosoever and the necessity of being born again. I really could not have guessed at his reaction. He spent most of the rest of our conversation trying to prove that God hates, and quoted psalm 5. He agreed with me that the Scriptures are not broken but insisted that God hates sinners. Hard as I tried, I could not persuade him otherwise, and talk about the Old Covenant and the New yielded no fruit. So I tried another tactic. I asked him if he could tell me about his own new birth, about him being born again.
He told me that when he was 16 or 17, he was asked what salvation meant by some of his high school friends. Despite growing up in the Presbyterian, he was ashamed to admit that he did not know. So, he went and educated himself as to what the Bible says about salvation. That was it, that was his “salvation.” Education, knowledge of facts. A mental assent to a series of abstract truths. Now we know that the Devil himself knows and gives assent to Biblical truth, and trembles. Oh that men would tremble at the truth of God. Here is what Tozer says about truth. “Divine truth is of the nature of spirit and for that reason can only be received by spiritual revelation….Gods thoughts belong to the world of spirit, man’s to the world of intellect. And while spirit can embrace intellect, the human intellect can never comprehend spirit.”
Everything this young man had was in his head. It was all human knowledge. His reason and his intellect caused him to know about God, but not “know,’ Him. Therefore he had an inability to talk about God the Father or Jesus or the Holy Spirit in any intimate way whatsoever. The intellect is not how we “know,’ Jesus. It is by the work of the spirit and of revelation. Yet for centuries Christendom has been dominated by “theologians.” And the interesting thing about theologians is that they are wall builders and historically people burners. Of all of the hundreds of thousands of martyrs in the last two thousand years, no one was every martyred by a “layman.” Every denomination has its own theologians and each of them build walls of theology, bulwarks if you like, against others of differing views on the same Scriptures. Their weapons are proof texting and they are not afraid to use them.
As an old stonemason, its ironic that I would echo Kennedy in saying “tear down that wall.” We are spiritually led. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us into all truth. Does He use teachers? Yes, he often does use them, but He uses those whom He trains and raises up. How the educated class marveled at the unlearned men such as Peter and other fishermen. Where did their knowledge come from? Did Jesus not open up the Scriptures to the disciples on the road to Emmaus? Did not their hearts burn within them? These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.(1Jn 2:26-27)
Builders of walls, builders of kingdoms, builders of denominations, builders of fires. We have not been called to build walls or kingdoms or fires brothers and sisters. What we learn from the Holy Scriptures by and through the Holy Spirit and teachers He raises up, is not what a theologian would call “hermeneutics,” which is to say the art and the science of studying the Scriptures based on human reasoning. What the Holy Spirit teaches is neither art nor science. “Man cannot know God, he can only know about God………..Man’s reason is a fine instrument and useful within its field. It was not given as an organ by which to know God.” (A.W.Tozer) And so I think it was no mistake that I met this young man around a fire. I have no doubt in my mind that if we had met 500 years ago, it would also be around a fire and he would have given his consent for me to be burned as a heretic. Take this to the bank brothers and sisters, no genuine born again Christian down through the corridors of time, ever burned another human being to death, let alone someone who called himself after the Lord’s name.
Your very presence opens up the sky above
And your glory cascades down in torrential love
The heavens are split asunder and reverberate with thunder
And our hearts are full and spill over with magnificent wonder.
Oh that the whole world would shake at your presence
And be overwhelmed and consumed by Your very essence
That dead bones would rise up and life would spring anew
The glory of the risen King would surely come into view.
We have fallen in the valley, where is our desperation?
Every tribe and every tongue and every far off nation
Needs to hear the cries of Gods anointed ones
From His Royal priesthood, His daughters and His sons
Fill us with this breath of life that comes from heaven above
Fill us once again oh Lord with your glory and your love
Take us to that holy place that's high upon the mountain
Where blessings fall like drenching rains from your unending fountain.
Many many years ago I had a vision. I was high above the country of America and I could see from east to west. The vast majority were settled in the east and would never dream of venturing into the great unknown. To travel westwards was to risk everything. Yet, slowly but surely some began to leave everything that was established to strike out into the unknown. They banded together for safety and gave up their homes and establishments, their careers and positions for a dream. Many would not make it but all of them were driven forward by forces perhaps they did not fully understand. They were pilgrims, sojourners, travelers.
The first part of their journey was mapped, but soon enough they only had the general heading. They forded rivers and scaled mountains and crossed vast seas of prairie lands that stretched out into infinity. There was storms and baking heat. There was cold and there was snow but still they pushed on. They were often attacked and would circle the wagons. They dealt with wolves and bears and coyotes. Snakes were everywhere but still they traveled on. None of this was the actual westward migration in America, it was the remnant saints I was seeing. They were leaving everything that was established behind and pushing on for a continuing city. They had no place on this earth to call their own. No kingdom to call their own, no town to call their own, no State to call their own. They were travelers.
Every mountain was a part of their sanctification. Every river, every wild animal, every obstacle was the same. In the blazing plains they had to trust for water. In the violent storms and tornado’s, they had to trust that God would keep them. They had a pioneer spirit that was not all that common to man. Yet just like the westward American push, they all come to the Pacific. Will they set up shop there? Surely we can go no further than this? And yet in my vision I saw a boat draw near to the shore. Jesus was the captain and He shouted to those gathered on the shore to come on board. The people on shore had no idea what was beyond the horizon. Surely they had suffered enough just to get here, and now, there was the Lord urging them on, urging them onto the boat to continue the journey, and for most it was simply too much.
So as the few got onto the boat, the rest began to lay down foundations for communities. After a while the boat stopped coming and they could no longer hear the voice of Jesus urging them on. The temporary wagons that had brought them so far were broken down and used in the establishment of fine new buildings. With the journey over and the permanent structures erected, the people grew weak. They no longer had the journey to keep them strong. This place they had established for themselves had very fine weather and they did not have to deal with storms, they grew weaker still and they had no vision. Their reliance upon the Lord waned as His voice became a distant memory, an echo in the wind. They became so weak they withdrew from the coast. Little by little, piece by piece they began to fall back to where they had come from. The things that they had overcame began to overcome them. And in a period of time, they found themselves right back where they came from. Everything they had gained on the journey they had lost. Without the vision of the journey, the people perished.
This was my vision. It was as dramatic as it was scary. The journey is everything. We have no place on this earth to call our own. If we are not moving forwards then we are falling backwards. There is no treading water in the Kingdom of God, there is only the journey that ever lies before us. God has no pleasure in those who fall back. The journey is your Christianity. It is your walk. It is your relationship with Jesus. It does not matter how old you are or how young you are, we are all called to journey down the path that God Himself has forged for us. We do not get to see what is around the next bend, we simply trust. We are called to live each day at a time and not to be anxious for the things the gentiles are anxious for. Sufficient for the day are our troubles and it is Jesus who gives us the strength to get through this day, tomorrow is never guaranteed. Our strength is derived from how we interact with Jesus as we meet the obstacle.
Do not worry about tomorrow brothers and sisters. Keep on the journey, keep on going, keep on following Jesus. Ignore charlatans and false prophets you meet along the way, you will recognize them for they will be selling you something. Do not put your roots down into anything other than the Kingdom of God. One thing about a wagon, its always ready to roll the next day. We must always be ready to roll on, for this is our calling, we journey through this world and the Holy Spirit is our guide. He alone knows the way forward. He alone can lead us and guide us home. Let us never gather moss brothers and sisters in our spiritual homeward journey. It might be rough. It might be tough, but I can guarantee you that it will never be boring. One season there shall be great mountain ranges and another season mighty rivers. There will be the dead of winter and also the magnificent spring flowers. The heat of the summer will feel fine for a while but the Fall colors and coolness will refresh your soul.
The seasons of life will be the mile markers of our journey, and as we grow older and are less physically fit, we grow stronger in the Lord and the power of His might. The seasons will pass with ever increasing speed as we journey onwards. As our time here on earth draws to its close then we shall begin to see glimpses of the journeys end. The end of everything in this world is truly the beginning of everything in the next. He gives us eyes to see such things. Imagine beginning to arrive at the end of your journey. A journey that has perhaps lasted multiple decades. A grand adventure that no power in the heavens or earth could ever persuade you to give up. The perishing outer man is being replaced by a spirit that is renewed daily. Piece by piece we are decreasing but step by step He is increasing. Our grand obsession, Jesus, is all that we want. He is all that we need. We look back down the journey with all its many milestones and we can see how, not one single time, He has let us down. Oh brothers and sisters, let us finish strong the journey that is set before us.
He whispers and it is heard above the raging storm He sees you shivering in the cold, but His love shall keep you warm When you are shaken by this life He ever stands immovable When you are persecuted for His sake He is with you in the crucible
In your afflictions, He is afflicted and He knows your pain He alone can take the blows and wipe away the stains He is the repairer of the breach and restorer of your heart He comes to you when everything is falling apart
Stand and see the redemption of your Lord As He comes again and in His hand a flaming sword The grapes of wrath are crushed in the wine-press of His justice He is our great Immanuel, He is truly God amongst us.
So Lord our God we come to where you are To a high and lifted rugged cross, our bright and morning star On bended knee we cry to You and suddenly You are near Your perfect love surrounds us and it casts our every fear.
This was a real challenge to me most of my Christian life. I had no problem honoring my mother, but my father was a whole other story. I could give you twenty substantial reasons why I should not have honored my father. And the world would say “awww,” and agree with me. Yet is it striking that when we are told to honor our fathers and mothers in Scripture there are no parenthesis. We do not find the word “if,” there. It simply states that we must “Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God gives you.”
For most of my Christian life I did not honor my earthly father in my heart. Oftentimes not just in my heart. I challenged him and spoke ill of him from time to time, all the time failing to honor him. It was mostly to my wife or friends or family. I had many good excuses but none that stood against the Word of God. My challenge was to love what I considered to be the unlovable. Is this not exactly what the Lord Jesus has called us to do? If we cannot do it with those closest to us, how can we ever do it with those in the world? How should I react to being hated? Does it make a difference that it is someone your heart longs to be loved by? In the end it only matters what the Lord has instructed us to do. How can we honor our Heavenly Father while we dishonor Him by ignoring His instructions.
And so, over the years before he died I wrote my dad three letters. Each of them falling on the sword. Each of them at the insistence of the Holy Spirit. As I wrote each letter, the flesh raged against it. It screamed “he should be writing you a letter, he should be falling on the sword.” This was because my flesh was not dead in these matters, it roared loudly. And yet, in my spirit, I recognized the flesh for what it was. My flesh longed for justification. My flesh longed to see my father suffer as he had made us suffer. My spirit on the other hand knew that I must be obedient to the Lord and that love and forgiveness was the way. In the writing of the letters I was killing the flesh and my heart was turning towards my father. After I wrote these letters I hated putting them in the envelope. Putting the stamps on them. And worse of all, putting them into the letterbox. Once it dropped down into the box there was no turning back.
I never expected any replies or even acknowledgment’s and none ever came. Yet I felt good in having done the right thing and just left it alone. “I had done my part.” One time as I was speaking to a dear brother he told me of an incident. There was a brother whom had fallen out with him a few years before. The Holy Spirit led him to go and knock on his door and make it right. It was at least a 20 minute drive away but off he went. He knocked on the door, sensing the brother was in, but got no reply. So, he got back in the car and began to drive home. He felt good that he had done the right thing. About half way back the Holy Spirit spoke to him just a few words.”You did not try very hard.” He was very convicted, turned the car around and went back to the door and kept knocking on it until finally the fella answered. He let him in and they “mended the fence.”
Upon hearing that story I was deeply convicted. I too had done the right thing and now the Holy Spirit was saying to me “you did not try very hard.” It was not spoken with any kind of animosity, but in that pure loving way that convicts you to the very depths of your heart. I knew what I had to do. I had to go home to Scotland for a visit and put flesh upon the letter which I had sent. Covid was raging at the time but I overcame all the obstacles and got home. I was able to treat my dad with kindness and pamper him a little, all of which he had a hard time with. Little did I know that when I left that visit two years ago, I would never see him again. It left me wondering about the depths of my flesh and why it had taken so long. How different it could have all been if I had just followed the Lord’s instruction and honored my father.
The Lord has since showed me just how much he loved my dad. Yes, he knew, of course, all of his faults but while he was yet in his sin he loved my dad and He died for him. He loved him all the more when my dad, at the age of 49, came to Him on bended knee. He loved him despite all of his problems of dying to his own flesh. He knew my dad better than anyone on the earth, faults and all, my dads own very rough upbringing, He knew him completely and He loved him still. Even when my dad was not faithful the Lord was faithful to him. And then the Lord showed me. I love you in the same way. I love all of my children in the same way despite their seeming lack of progress. Listen young men especially. If your dad is a Christian and you judge him harshly, if you fail to honor him, it is you who will pay a price. As much as lies within you, honor your father and your mother. Death to the flesh and life to the spirit. One is soaked in mercy, the other is eaten up by judgement. Starve the flesh.
Just to be clear, when I say “Protestant,” I mean all of it, all denominations and non-denominations. Its not that I think that there are no genuine saints there, there are, in probably all of them. It is just that I was looking for a river to be carry me to the throne, to be engulfed in, and I found, for the most part, semi-dried up creeks. I was born and raised a Catholic in a mostly Irish Catholic community on the West Coast of Scotland. My whole education was Catholic, as it was for all working class Catholics, and it was free. One night my mother came home and announced that she had “found Jesus.” She was one of those “born-agains.” I was seven. My non-practicing alcoholic Catholic father was freaked out by it…… I was fascinated. They talked about God in chapel, but here was my wee mother claiming to actually know Him. I too longed to “know Him.” One thing was for sure, she was changed and she was bold.
All hell broke loose in our house. My father raged against my mother. He seemed to instinctively know that he was no longer “in charge,’ of her. There was something more important to her now than him. So he tried to beat Jesus out of her. In wild drunken nights he would rail against the Jesus that she believed in and that had changed her and won her over so completely. Black eyes and a broken jaw and nights where he almost killed her. And after fifteen years of this, at the age of forty nine, he got down on his knees and repented and gave his life over to the Jesus that he had assaulted and assailed so many times in his proxy war. He never drank again and my mum and dad retook their marriage vows and he was baptized. Such a huge thing for a man, already baptized as an infant who was raised by a staunch Catholic mother (my grannie)
So as you can see, I had saw the battle. I had saw how religion worked. I saw a genuine saint lay down her life for Jesus and be beaten black and blue for His sake. I had a ringside seat to the battle for a mans soul. So when I came to the Lord at the age of 26 I was ready to dive right in. I had only ever witnessed all or nothing. There was no middle ground in the battle of the ages. If I had metaphorically dived in I would have probably broken my neck as the church was only a few inches deep. Yet lets face it, when you had walked for almost two decades in the desert and came upon any kind of water at all, you would rejoice. Maybe not swim, but certainly rejoice. And those few shallow inches seemed so good. I saw other people come into the Pentecostal church from no church backgrounds and from dead denominational backgrounds and they all thought it was wonderful……..for a time.
There was multiple problems for me. I had such a great desire for genuine fellowship and discipleship. I wanted to be “a part,” of what was going on in the Body. Ushering and toilet cleaner or parking attendant was not exactly what I had in mind, yet for the most part, these were the “positions,’ available. Complain about that and you were simply proud. What I had in mind was what I had read about in the Bible. I had read the Word every day with a fierce thirst and hunger since coming to the Lord. As I read about the Body and every part having a function in 1 Cor 12 I wondered why we did not have such a Body. I left one Pentecostal non denominational church for another. I attended a Baptist church for a year. I went to a conservative Bible College. I went to Nazarene church for six months and I also attended IHOP (International house of prayer) for a year. Two of the aforementioned churches I stuck out for eight years and and seven years. I never found the river to swim in, only a trickle in the shadow of a dam (the dam being the Word and the manifest presence)
I saw patterns emerge in all of these churches I attended. In all of them the order of service was pretty much the same. There were variations but all within a popular theme. None of them allowed for the participation of the saints. All of them were tightly controlled by one man. This one man would appoint, for the most part, yes men for elders. In the end I had to think to myself “is this really different from the Catholic church?’ I know that will sound radical to some people, but in the end the Catholic church is all about authority and who wields it, certainly not the poor folks who sit in the pew. And what I had read in the Scriptures was not about authority at all, outside of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And if Jesus and the Holy Spirit had told us that we were to gather in a certain fashion, I could not for the life of me figure out why this ultimate authority was ignored. I was looking for the river deep, that flowed from the very throne-room of heaven.
And so I left the “organized church,”which was a semi-dried up creek, looking for the freedom of the wild river. I had studied revivals and became involved in the revival ministry. This is where I met folks from all over the world who also had a longing to see, in essence, a 1 Cor 14 gathering where all of the members of the Body operated rather than one or two and the rest sat passively by until it was time to write a check or pull out their wallets. Think about it saints, why would we want to gather in any fashion other than that which the Lord lays down in His Word? Multiple centuries of tradition had transpired and conspired against the simplicity and authenticity of the earliest Church. Its the tragedy of the ages that the Body, with multiple parts, lies unused. Imagine a car without wheels, without gas, set up on blocks where people can only stare at it, for it has not the ability to fire up the engine or go anywhere. It becomes just a dusty heirloom, and we can only read about how it used to run.
I want to name some of my findings from my studies and experiences which may help to explain why there is a just a trickle in the creek as opposed to a mighty flowing river.
.1. The senior pastor. Not Biblical, a made up position.
2. The order of service, pretty much the same in any church. Not Biblical, man made.
3. The sermon that so dominates the “service.” Not Biblical, established by man.
4. The way we “break bread,” together. Not Biblical, established by man.
5. The clergy/laity divide. Not Biblical, established by man.
6. The church building. Not Biblical, established by man.
7. Ordination. Not Biblical, established by men.
8. Where is the “two or three prophets,’ who are to speak to us? (1 Cor 14:29)
10. Where are the two or three who would speak in tongues with interpretation? (1 Cor 14:27)
11. Where are the teachings (plural) and a psalm given or a portion of Scripture? (1 Cor 14:26)
12. Where are the Apostles, prophets, miracles and gifts of healing and varieties of tongues (plural) ( 1 Corinthians chapter 12:27,28)
I want to ask you brothers and sisters. Does the above describe your gathering? How can God bless something that is so far removed from what He Himself laid down in His Word? The church as we have known it is dying. It is devoid of power and passion, and passivity is the order of the day. Let Diotrephes speak and let the rest remain silent. And the rest are quite happy to dwell in a wilful ignorance. I say wilful ignorance because they can read the Word the same as you and me. They want their Moses to speak to God and for Moses to speak to them even if the mountain burst forth with earthquakes and trembling they would fall back from it.
Will you remain silent? Will you remain passive? Will you sit by and not even question the order of service you just sat through? Did that order of service resemble anything you have ever read in the Scriptures? Do you really even care? The Word of God says this is 1 Cor 12 starting at verse 7…..But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecies, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit work all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
Do you see the richness and the depth of what has just been described. Now brothers and sisters, that is a river to swim in. That is no dried up creek. “The manifestation of the Spirit,” starts out the verse. When was the last time the Spirit of God manifested Himself among your gathering, your church, your denomination? I’m not talking about hearing a great sermon from a professional or being delighted with the professional music, I am talking about the manifestation of the Spirit. Notice that every part is “given,” by the Holy Spirit for the edification of all. These Scriptures are describing a masterful orchestra directed by the Holy Spirit Himself. Each part intimately conducted and carried out by the Conductor. It is no one man band, it is no mere trickle in a creek, but rather it is a symphony written by God Himself and it floods our souls and overwhelms our spirits and changes us as it takes us to where it wants to take us. No mere mortal can control it. Do you want to be part of the orchestra or do you want to sit by passively and listen to the tune of a one man band that entertains you for a moment?
Col 1:6Â Which has come to you, as it is in all the world; and bringing forth fruit, as it is also in you, since the day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
What had come to them? Faith. Since the day they trusted in God they abounded in grace and in truth and in love. Note that they did not just “hear,” the good news. Many hear the good news. They chose to trust in it and in that moment they “knew,” the grace of God. Hearing and knowing are entirely different. It’s in the “knowing,” that we are transformed. It’s in the knowing that that we experience the manifest reality of His grace. This grace, this unmerited favor that we “know,” we have, changes us from the inside out. So, what is this mysterious “knowing,’ that does not flow from the head but rather from the heart? It is the presence of God that has taken up residence in our hearts and from that place all good things flow.
Imagine a stone thrown into a pond. Concentric circles emanate out until every part of that pond is touched by them. Small unstoppable waves that touch every part of who we are. There is a still, small voice that dwells within the heart of the truly born again that speaks to us and we know “its,’ voice. It is the voice of the Master who has taken up residence in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. He speaks to every part of who we are. He leaves no stone un-turned for He bought us with a price. He purchased us and we now belong to Him.
In Matthew 1:25 we are told that Joseph did not “know,” Mary until after Jesus was born. This prolonged primary verb is to know intimately. The text gives us the context. There is of course a more intimate knowledge to be had with the Lord than there could ever be with a spouse. One is carnal in nature and creates a oneness in the flesh and soul. The other is the combining of two spirits, our spirit with Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the source of everything. It is from this place that we are devastated if we sin. It is from this place that “know,” His grace and His love and His mercy and His forgiveness. From here comes all good desires. The desire to follow Him. The desire to want to come into His manifest presence. From this place He opens up a door that leads to heavens throne room where we can come before the throne of God and cry “Abba.”
He has bound up the brokenhearted
and set the captives free.
He came from the glories of heaven
to proclaim sweet liberty.
He opened up the prisons
and anointed His very own
He opened up a door that would
lead to His very throne
He has anointed us to preach
to the poor and to the wretched,
The forgotten and the broken
the despised and the rejected
He sees all of our afflictions
And every heart that's crushed
He rends the heavens and comes down
And every voice is hushed
And trembling hands are raised
In the presence of our King
And all of heaven praises
As the choirs of angels sing
And from this place of majesty
My heart is flooded deep
Overflowing with His glory
All I can do is weep.
And the tears they fall like rain
Watering crops of His salvation
And raises up His very own
In every generation.
Angie and I went to Maul over 20 years ago. It really was an enchanting place. We took a helicopter ride into its deep canyons. We snorkeled in its pristine waters. We drove up to the top of Haleakala which is a dormant volcano that towers 10 thousand feet above the ocean and above the clouds. We stood in awe and watched the gigantic sun sink slowly beneath a flat calm sea just as a sailing ship sailed across its blazing hues of orange, silhouetting itself in black and white and looking like a glorious oil painting. It was easy to see why some people considered this paradise. It was easy to understand why honeymooners from all over the world flocked to this place. Yet one of the highlights of the trip was our visit to Lahaina. It was a glorious Maui night and the sun was setting and we were seated at an outdoor restaurant that was positioned on a boardwalk. As the waters quietly lapped around the piers, I thought about all the sailors over the last few hundred years who had witnessed this very sight.
And so it was with great horror that I witnessed on TV the destruction of Lahaina. It was distressing to find out that no alarm was sounded. What madness? And no water to fight the fire? The man said he did not want to confuse the people therefore he did not sound the alarm and now it is possible that over a thousand people, many of them children, may be dead. So thoroughly burned as to not even leave any DNA. Just ashes in the wind. He would not sound the alarm lest people be upset and confused. Before we rush to judge this man, is not the Church in a similar situation? Are we not assured that there is a great fire coming upon the earth? Do we not know that there is a fire that shall burn for all eternity? Do we sound the alarm? In an age of seeker friendly policies, sounding the alarm is no longer acceptable. To speak about the wages of sin being death is frowned upon. All day long we speak about the gift of God but we have ceased to speak about the wages of sin being death.
The man who refused to sound the alarm has been fired. Yet imagine having this on your conscience? Imagine you had some information or some ability to warn people, to wake them up, to cry out to them that a great fire is coming and that you must flee from the place that you are and make your way to higher ground. We have the information. We have the Word of God. We have the Holy Spirit (if indeed we do have Him) we have everything that we need to warn the people of what is to come, but most of us remain silent. And we typically call it love. Is it love? Or is it simply a lack of boldness, a lack of true and actual love for the people of the world? God knows. God help us though if we have taken our lack of power and our lack of boldness and our fears and we have wrapped them up and presented them as a virtue. It is one thing to be a coward, it is quite another to pretend to be otherwise. The Lord out God would rather we were hot or cold but this awful thing in the middle, this lukewarmness. He said He would vomit it out of His mouth.
Thus says the Lord, will you dwell with me?
In a place, in a moment, in a time that's always free
Who will ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who will stand in this holy place?
Those with clean hands and a pure heart
Shall gaze upon My face.
It is my joy to dwell with the
broken and contrite
Who have walked the darkest valleys
and have travailed all through the night
who have endured till the sun rises once again
who have suffered and who have overcome the pain.
And in this place I revive my very own
who have humbly fallen before me
who have come before my throne
Who have walked with me through fire and flood
Who loved not their own lives, who are covered by my Blood
Who knew in the depths of their heart they were never alone.
Who is this King of glory, mighty in battle?
Who bids us come into His glorious tabernacle
A place of quiet wonder, a place of majesty
A place where all the world ceases to be
A place that is vast beyond compare and deeper than the sea
A place, a place, where I am surely free
A place where He dwells with the contrite and the humble
A place where nothing ever causes us to stumble
And in the glory I am whole before His nail pierced feet
Before His throne, before His glory, weeping at His mercy seat.
Mat 14:28Â And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
Peter sees Jesus walking on the water in the midst of the great storm. Jesus says to them that are on the boat to “be of good cheer, for it is I, do not be afraid.” Just seeing Jesus put their minds at ease. Our hearts are at peace when we “know” that Jesus sees our afflictions. And yet we see Peter, caught up in the presence of God. It is not good enough that he sees him from a distance, he wants to be right where He is, no matter the circumstance, and he is taken up by the Lord’s presence. In the Lord’s presence, when we are captivated by Him, then the roar of the wind dies down. The tumultuous waves that were otherwise so terrifying, cease to present any threat in the manifest presence of God. Nature itself loses all of its power as the water loses its ability to swallow whole those who stand with Jesus.
And we see what happens when Peter takes His eyes off Jesus. Immediately the noise of his present circumstances comes roaring back and would have been deafening. The waves would rise up and reach out to take him under to his watery grave. Nature comes back into its own and Peter begins to sink. Yet Jesus. He is still there even when we have momentarily lost our focus and our faith. He will not let us drown. He is faithful even when we are not. He will catch us. He will come into our boat and suddenly the storm is completely gone. And then all who witnessed this fell down before Jesus and worshiped Him. Brothers and sisters, we are called to come to Jesus. Oftentimes we are so tempted to “batten down the hatches,” yet in many cases this just delays the inevitable sinking of the ship in the great storms of life.
We must come to Jesus and follow Him. Whether out of the boat into the teeth of the storm, or out of the storm back into the boat. Where He is there is peace whether in the eye of the storm or the stilled storm. It is all the same. He is our peace. Where He is there is glory and all things are possible. Perfect peace casts out all fear and only in Jesus can we stand, whether that is upon solid ground or on the water. Let the whole world shake. Let the mountains begin to crumble. Let the seas rise up and roar. Let the skies fall down and the stars fall from the heavens. He still rules and He still reigns. No matter what you are facing today saints, He still reigns sovereign over all that exists. Look to Jesus today. Step out of the boat. Or reach out and take His hand. Or follow Him back into the boat. Wherever He goes, let us follow Him to the ends of the earth and to the gates of eternity. He shall lead us home.
Probably the most damaging feature of Calvin’s liturgy is that he led most of the service himself from the pulpit. Christianity has not yet recovered from this. Today the pastor is the MC, and CEO of the Sunday morning service-just as the priest is the MC and the CEO of the Catholic mass. This is in stark contrast to the church meeting envisioned in Scripture. According to the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is the leader, director and CEO of the church meeting. In 1 Cor 12, Paul tells us that Christ speaks through His entire Body, not just one member. In such a meeting, His Body freely functions under His headship (direct leadership) through the working of the Holy Spirit. First Cor 14 gives us a picture of such a gathering. This kind of meeting is vital for the spiritual growth of God’s people and the full expression of His Son in the earth. ( George Barna, Frank Viola-Pagan Christianity-pg 59)
The liturgy or order of service is almost exactly the same in the vast majority of churches throughout the land, whatever denomination it is. Over the last several decades, some have flirted with allowing the Holy Spirit to move among them, but have inevitably fallen back on the order of service. To follow the instructions laid down by Scripture, almost all of the so called clergy would render themselves surplus to requirements. So the clergy have always been the keepers of the status quo. A union of hirelings who have usurped the actual workings of the Holy Spirit among the Body of Christ. I would think that the vast majority of them down through the centuries have been somewhat ignorant of the fact that there is simply no clergy in the Body of Christ, and that the Priesthood of all believers cannot function and be led by the Holy Spirit where the bondage of this system exists. We can have the clergy/laity system or we can have the Holy Spirit operate among us, but we cannot have both.
George and Frank say that this kind of meeting is vital for Spiritual growth, I would agree. How can we say that we have no need of the manna that falls from heaven, but rather we have our own means of feeding ourselves? It is delusional. Spiritual growth only comes from edification. A group can grow religiously under our present system, but they cannot grow spiritually. Stagnation, with occasional bursts of energy from fires of our own making is the best that we can expect when man is in charge of the service. The numbers attending “church,” are now in free-fall all over the world. Is this the inevitable end of a system that is collapsing under the weight of its own works? I would say yes. The church system worked in a mostly religious world. We no longer live in such a world. The paradoxical difference is that while the weight of men’s works crush people spiritually, the weight of Gods presence, His Holy presence liberates them and elevates them to high and lofty places and changes them. It exhorts them, it edifies them, it humbles them.
The Lord, in His manifest presence, always speaks to the whole. If a saint needs to be encouraged, then he is encouraged. If another needs to be humbled then he is humbled. If another needs to be lifted up from the valley floor of depression and discouragement then he will find himself flying where the eagles fly and his joy shall be complete. The sinner shall find conviction that he will have to bend to, or he will have to run into the night screaming. All of this and so much more comes when the Body operates as it is instructed to operate and where the CEO is the Lord Jesus Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus must be preeminent. We must follow the dictates of the word of God or we shall simply be taken by the tide of this world and religion and be lost at sea. I would argue that for the most part, that which calls itself Christianity is lost as sea and the only way back is a strict adherence to the revealed word of God. It would not be a revival, nor would it be a reformation. It would be a revolution!!!, where the powers that be are upturned and the Lord Jesus takes His rightful place.
Gal 3:1Â O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,
Are we modern day Christians really any different from our Galatians brothers and sisters of old? Paul says to the Galatians that they have fallen from Grace, those who desire to be under anything other than the Gospel that he himself had presented to them, but now he was an enemy to them for telling them the truth. This word “bewitched,” means to be “fascinated by a false presentation.” In the Galatians case it was the law they were fascinated with and men, who should have known better, who seem to be something in Christian circles from Jerusalem, had enticed them away from the truth, away from the Spirit and away from freedom. A fall from grace is a tragedy for it is by grace through faith that we are saved and not of works, including the works of the law, less we should boast and then the free gift is not free indeed but rather debt.
We have so many in our day who are “fascinated by a false presentation.” Consider the Charismatics and their prosperity gospel? How about men like Benny Hinn with a singular obsession with healings? MacArthur and his denial of the sign gifts of the Spirit? Catholics and every other denomination who are fascinated by their own dogmas and decrees which are quite apart from Scriptures. One man rodeo shows in the non denominational systems who promote themselves. What is the one thing they all have in common with each other and the Galatians? “They zealously court you, but not for good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.”(Gal 4:17) Think about the horror of that statement. Men and systems of men set up to promote themselves and in doing so, exclude those who follow them from entering into the freedom that Christ brought for them. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. It is for bondage that men would have you zealous for them and their systems that elevate them. Jesus has been usurped.
Who is hindering you from following the Word? This is not from God. Who elevates themselves rather than the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. In the third epistle of John he writes to “the church,” in Asia Minor. He runs headlong into a man called Diotrephes. A man who had zeaously courted the church in that region to elevate himself. A man who loved the preeminence and just like Paul, John had become their enemy because he spoke the truth. Yet there were still men like Gaius and Demetrius. Good men. Men who followed after Jesus and who “walked in the truth.” There are good men and women today who still walk in the truth. God has His remnant. They are few and far between. And there are is a scourge of men like Diotrephes who would hinder you from walking according to the truth because when we do that, Jesus, and only Jesus is elevated.
There is an inevitable clash between God’s people and men who promote themselves. John would clash with Diotrephes if he traveled there. Paul clashed with the Christian religious men of his day, and even with Paul and Barnabas over what was right and what would cause men to fall from grace. If one were in MacArthur’s church and criticized him openly, the same fate would befall them as those who criticized Diotrephes. They would be removed from the church, with violence if need be. To criticize the Catholic church over 1500 years would cause one to be excommunicated and most likely burned at the stake. To criticize the reformers would have resulted in certain banishment and oftentimes imprisonment and burnings too. It is the mark of insecure men who have set up their own systems in direct violation of God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
And then of course there is the genuine Body of Christ to be found everywhere. Oftentimes isolated perhaps. Lonely and without a church home to call their own, but always part of the Body of Christ and the family of God. Sons and daughters scattered to the four winds but not abandoned. Faithful to the Word of God and the leading of the Spirit. Illuminated by the light of Christ and the freedom that dwells within them. At liberty to speak the truth in love despite the consequences. Seeking no office and seeking no titles. Only willing to wash the feet of their brothers and sisters and feed them spiritually. Discipling everywhere they go whether to the one or the two or the two hundred. The number is not important. I encourage you this day my brothers and sisters. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made you free and do not be entangled by the religious systems of men which causes you to become entangled by a yoke of bondage.
Walk in and according to the Spirit and men shall know you by the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, gentlesness, and self control. They shall also know you by your fierce loyalty to the Lord and to the Gospel of the Kingdom and to the Word of God. Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and you shall avoid jealousies pride and envy. Those who sow these things shall reap everlasting life. We shall run and not grow weary, we shall walk and not faint. We shall not lose heart when we pay due attention to the condition of our heart and walk in the aforementioned fruit of the Spirit. Love the Body of Christ with a lavish and reckless love. Let us boast in nothing other than the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and the cross upon our own backs. Let us rejoice in infirmities that God may be glorified by the excess grace He pours upon us. The world has been crucified to us, it no longer courts us. We have been crucified to the world and we no longer have any taste for its pleasures. Let the peace and the mercy and grace of God fall apon the genuine saints today and let all who read this be encouraged.
A dear sister in the Lord asked this question in a private message. My answer is below.How would you answer her question?………………..
Dear brother Frank. May I ask a question from your experience, please? (I need to sort it out with myself, by Him.) Is “JOY IN AFFLICTION” (affliction by heartache which seems to me to be with me at my old age to my end here) Is the joy an ‘outflow’ of our security and contentment in THE TRUE LOVE PEACE AND PRESENCE AND INHERITANCE IN HIM. Or is it something that comes ‘naturally’ by The Spirit …an anointing of His Spirit, amidst the affliction of broken-heartedness and loss, failure in close relationships? Or is joy an action of the will? Please could you share some Wisdom or advice with me. Thank you!
The short answer sister, its all three, or a combination of the three and any of them individually depending upon the circumstances. I believe first and foremost it is founded upon our freedom to respond. We will not automatically respond with joy in afflictions and loss and failures or when our hearts have been broken. It depends who and what we have run to in the past, who we run to in the here and now. Do we tend to run to the world? Run to our brothers and sisters? Run to the pastor or folks in the church? If we do, we will suffer longer. When the Lord Jesus has been our high tower in all things and we run to Him then we shall know joy in the midst of these situations. Joy because we know that despite all of our dire circumstances, the Lord is with us in the midst of it. The Hebrew children were sustained in the fire by the the Lord Himself who was in the fire with them.
We know that the Lord suffered and we shall suffer to. We know that we have been called to suffer and those who suffer with Christ for His sake shall rule and reign with Him eternally. We know, we who are of the Spirit, something of what the Lord suffered for us on Calvary and how much God the Father suffered to see such things. And because we “know,’ such things we know that we could never suffer as our Lord suffered. This brings us peace. What joy for the disciples, almost drowned at seas, to see the Lord come walking on the water towards them. What joy Paul and Silas found in the depths of a dungeon, beaten and broken for His sake because the one they were intimate with was with them. Out of His presence rang the praises of God and down came the power and shook the whole building. And even if they did not sense His presence initially, as they began to praise Him, despite their circumstances. the presence of God flooded the darkened chamber. Oftentimes the darkened chambers of our hearts, darkened by loss and persecution, are flooded with the light of Christ and joy comes.
There is also an element of endurance and overcoming involved in those who suffer for the Lord’s sake. If joy came forth immediately or if the presence of God came down powerfully every time we suffered then we would all want to suffer. Yet it is to those who endure and overcome are all the promises given. Weeping may endure for a night or a season but “joy comes in the morning.”Will we “endure the night?” The Hebrew children were willing to go into the flames because of their love of God and were sure God would save them “but,” if He would not save their lives in the fire they were still not going to bow down to the gods of this world. It was not about deliverance, it was about the fact that even in the presence of our enemies who hate us, God prepares a table before us. Jesus prepared a place for us and gave the Holy Spirit that we might run to that place in times of need.
Every good soldier must be willing to die or to be maimed in the battle. We know this, the the Lord Jesus will not leave us dying on the battle-field. He will ride though the fire and through the flood of the enemy to take us up upon His horse and deliver us. At the very heart of the matter lies this from a blameless man whom God loved. “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. He is our joy. He is our peace. He is our everything and though though the whole world hates us and though we suffer the loss of all things we shall never suffer the loss of Jesus and the more we know that, the more joy that we have in every situation. We learn to be content.
Morning by morning He shall awaken you
And be the stillness of your soul throughout the day
He shall touch every part of your longing heart
And the shield of your faith shall quench every fiery dart
He is in every tear that falls
And in the billowing waves He hears your calls
Deep cries out to deep at the roar of Your waterfalls
And Your waves crash over me
I am consumed by the mercies of the Lord forever
It lifts me up and carries me away
Higher, deeper ever closer unto thee
This journey possible for thou has set me free
You are my quiet peace as the sun rises in the morning
You are my calm assurance at the end of every day
You are my one delight in a world that's ever changing
And at the center of my heart Your glory is ever blazing.
In everything You are my laughter in the rain
And in troubled times my endurance through the pain
Because of You I shall never be the same
My heart cries out thee.
In the silence and in the ever increasing noise
I shall steal away into the secret place of my heart
Where I can hear Your still and beautiful small voice
And in all of this You give me the strength to rejoice
You rise up in my heart like the sun above the mountains
And fill the valley of my life with waters from Your fountains
Let my heart longeth after thee in this dry and dusty land
For even in this gross dark world I can still see You hand.
A few Friday’s ago I had a dental appointment for a cleaning at 4pm. I have not had my teeth cleaned since last November due to the fact I had my hip replaced in December. My specialist told me that from now on, every time I get my teeth cleaned, I have to take antibiotics an hour before every dental visit. So, I had a Bible study in the morning with two dear brothers, then got groceries, then picked up Daniel from his day care service. Got home about 2.30, had a coffee, put my feet up and the next thing I know I was awakened by my cell phone ringing. I looked at the time, it was 3.57. The call was from the dentist “are you close?” I was so embarrassed to tell them that I had forgotten and that I could not even rush in because I had not taken my antibiotics the hour before. The secretary seemed a wee bit put out as she rearranged my appointment. We settled on the following Wednesday at noon. For those who know me, they will know I never miss appointments , and, I am always, always early. Its kinda a thing with me.
The morning of the following Wednesday I get two calls from the dentist. One early in the morning to remind me of the visit and then another an hour before to make sure I had taken my pills. I felt a wee bit miffed that I was being treated like a child but thought that I deserved it 🙂 I was seated in the big chair and the dental hygienist came in. She put her hand on my shoulder and said “when I saw your name on the schedule, I knew that God was sending me help.” Now, she knew my name, but I was embarrassed because I did not know hers. I get my teeth cleaned every six months and this lady had done them for the last couple of years. I always talked to her about the Lord. I think for those of us who are in the habit of sharing the Lord with others as often as we get the chance, we forget conversations and names sometimes. This woman knew the Lord, I knew that. I asked her what was going on. She blurted out three things. She was having a crisis of faith. She was very angry at God and she had murder in her heart. A fourth point would be added later.
I said to her “what’s going on?” She proceeds to tell me that five months ago her 21 year old grandson died of a fentanyl overdose. For 20 minutes she and his mother tried to revive him, to no avail, he died in their arms. She was angry at God she said. She felt that she had promises from God and that He had let her down. She knew who had sold her grandson the pill and the person who had encouraged him to take it even although he had attended rehab and was doing well. She wanted to kill the drug-dealer who sold her grandson the pill. She had counted the cost of doing such a thing and was willing to pay the price. One last thing, she needed to know where her grandson was, heaven or hell. If he was in hell then she wanted to forsake heaven and go to where he was. Obviously the cleaning had to stop. I had listened to most of this with my mouth opened. I asked her to put her instruments down and I spoke to her. I spoke to her with a wisdom that I myself do not possess. The Holy Spirit of the Living God spoke to her heart. Each point was addressed. I then asked her if I could pray with her right then and there. At the end of that prayer I knew her heart had been touched and she thanked me with tears.
Now brothers and sisters. This woman only works on Mondays and Wednesday. If I had not missed my appointment. If I had not fallen asleep. If I had not forgotten to take my antibiotics, I would never have seen this dear woman. As I pondered this on the way home, I thought about a chess board and how I was but one small piece. God has a free hand to do whatever He likes with His own servant for His own will and His own good pleasure. He sees it all, we see but a snapshot. I was overwhelmed, with tears, at the privilege of it all. He has the sovereign right to do with me as He pleases. I was bought with a price. A price so vast that our minds cannot comprehend it. Even although it went against everything I am in my flesh, this missed appointment was overturned for a divine appointment. He has come to set the captives free. He has come to heal the brokenhearted. He has set the steps of a righteous man. Glory be to God and may the Lord Jesus be glorified in all the earth.
Cry out you heavens and sing O mountains
For the Lord sustains you from inexhaustible fountains
He comforts His people and has mercy on the afflicted
He is never wrong and never contradicted
High above the trees in desolate heights
He warms us with His fire in the blackest of nights
And in the darkest depths of the valley below
He leads us and guides us in the ways we should go
In winters discontent when the days are dreary
He elevates His own and gives strength to the weary
Hope when no hope and joy everlasting
Clarity to confusion and deep understanding
We may well have troubles on every side
Yet are not cast down but we surely abide
In His glory, in His mercy in His very palm
The Lord our God the spotless Lamb.
Psa 51:7Â Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.Â
These are words from the man who is “after Gods own heart.” A man that the Lord loves greatly. Does He not love you brothers and sisters? Could we not pray the same prayer as David many times in our lives? Cleanse me for thy sake oh Lord and I shall be clean. Wash Lord and I shall be whiter than snow. The bones that you have broken Lord, heal them within me that I may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out my transgressions. Create in me a clean heart oh Lord and renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence oh Lord and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation. Deliver me from my guilt oh Lord for I acknowledge my transgressions, for it is against You alone oh Lord that I have sinned.
This is the heart of a broken and a contrite man. This is what the Lord loves. A man who has glimpsed into the depths of his own soul and found himself so very wanting. Yet he does not go and hide behind a tree and a fig leaf, rather he stands there, naked before the Lord, nothing hidden. While he was hidden the joy of the Lord was hidden to him. While he deceived himself the wisdom of the Holy Spirit was removed from him. The presence of the Lord had fled away and only as he emerges from behind the tree and from behind the fig leaf is David restored. Are you hiding today brother or sister? Shall you not come out from behind the tree and stand naked before the Lord? God does not require your sacrifice. He already required that of the Lord Jesus. He simply requires a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These things God will not despise. He will surely usher you back into His presence and He will restore the joy of His salvation to You. Goodness and mercy shall follow the broken and the contrite heart all the days of their lives.
There is no other Rock I know, not one
Sing oh heavens until His is work on earth is done
Break forth in rapturous praise you mountains set on high
For your peaks cry out His splendor, and His glory fills the sky
The Lord is our Redeemer and He formed us from the womb
He died upon a bloody cross and walked out from the tomb
He stretches out the heavens then He'll roll them into scrolls
This Son of God, what Majesty, this Savior of our souls.
His blessing shall pour forth like a mighty waterfall
Hands shall stretch to heaven as they hear the Masters call
We shall spring up like willows among the watercourses
We shall mount up and go forth on heavens mighty horses
Our spirits shall fly like the summer larks in the hues of the setting sun
Our hearts shall soar like the eagles when the day of the Lord has begun
He shall pour water on the thirsty and floods upon dry ground
He shall pour forth His Spirit and in His Spirit we shall be found.
A Call To The Remnant 