“Has God abandoned us? Did we not pray enough? Is this just something we accept as ‘part of life,’ suck it up, even though it breaks our hearts? After a while, the accumulation of event after event that we do not understand erodes our confidence that we are part of something grand and good, and reduces us to a survivalist mind-set. I know, I know – we’ve been told that we matter to God. And part of us partly believes it. But life has a way of chipping away at that conviction, undermining our settled belief that He means us well. I mean, if that’s true, then why didn’t he ___? Fill in the blank… What is really going on here? Good grief – life is brutal. Day after day it hammers at us, till we lose sight of what God intends toward us, and we haven’t the foggiest idea why the things that are happening to us are happening to us.”his Bible verse is one of the most powerful but perplexing ones in the Scriptures! Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). “God intends life for you. But right now that life is opposed… There is a thief… In other words, the offer is life, but you’re going to have to fight for it because there’s an Enemy in your life with a different agenda. There is something set against us.”THE BIG IDEA: Jesus came to give us life, but we are at war. Therefore, we must wake up and fight for our life. 1. WE NEED TO WAKE UP: “Therefore He says: Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:14-16). We need to wake up to the fact that Christianity is all about giveing up the world ly stuff to follow JESUS.Christianity isn’t a religion about going to Sunday school, potluck suppers, being nice, holding car washes, sending our secondhand clothes off to Mexico – as good as those things may be. This is a world at war. Something large and immensely dangerous is unfolding all around us, we are caught up in it, and above all we doubt we have been given a key role to play.” • “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17). • When you come to Jesus, He transforms your life! • “The phoenix rises from the ashes. Cinderella rises from the cinders to become queen. The ugly duckling becomes a beautiful swan. Pinocchio becomes a real boy. The frog becomes a real prince.” All these stories point to the reality of God’s transformation in our lives. • Jesus came to give us abundant life, but we must fight for our ‘life’. • “1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. 4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations” (Isaiah 61:1-4). • Come to Jesus today and let Him transform your life. • There are so many hurting and broken people in the world who need the Healer! • Then, we need to turn around and do whatever we can to set others free, too!But to set others free we must be free for we have to let Christ shine in us for others to see. WE ARE AT WAR: Christianity isn’t a pleasure cruise on the love boat – we’re on a battle ship. a. We are at war with the world. “For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16). • The world tries to get us consumed by the things of the world instead of God’s kingdom. b. We are at war with Satan. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9). • “Before we engage in spiritual warfare, we should know this about Satan: He is an ancient and extremely dangerous foe. • The number one way the devil tries to overcome us is by getting us in strife: • “and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” (2 Tim. 2:26). • Offense and unforgiveness is the devil’s trap to keep us from moving forward in Jesus. • If someone hurts you, choose to forgive – don’t let the sun go down on your wrath! • “A major area of spiritual warfare that has come against the church is in the sphere of church relationships. Satan knows that a church divided against itself cannot stand… JesusHere are three words, upon any of which stress may be laid. Upon the word troubled. Be not cast down and disquieted. The word heart. Let your heart be kept with full trust in God. The word your. However others are overwhelmed with the sorrows of this present time, be not you so. Christs disciples, more than others, should keep their minds quiet, when everything else is unquiet. Here is the remedy against this trouble of mind, Believe. By believing in Christ as the Mediator between God and man, we gain comfort. The happiness of heaven is spoken of as in a fathers house. There are many mansions, for there are many sons to be brought to glory. Mansions are lasting dwellings. Christ will be the Finisher of that of which he is the Author or Beginner; if he have prepared the place for us, he will prepare us for it. Christ is the sinners Way to the Father and to heaven, in his person as God manifest in the flesh, in his atoning sacrifice, and as our Advocate. He is the Truth, as fulfilling all the prophecies of a Saviour; believing which, sinners come by him the Way. He is the Life, by whose life-giving Spirit the dead in sin are quickened. Nor can any man draw nigh God as a Father, who is not quickened by Him as the Life, and taught by Him as the Truth, to come by Him as the Way. By Christ, as the Way, our prayers go to God, and his blessings come to us; this is the Way that leads to rest, the good old Way. He is the Resurrection and the Life. All that saw Christ by faith, saw the Father in Him. In the light of Christs doctrine, they saw God as the Father of lights; and in Christs miracles, they saw God as the God of power. The holiness of God shone in the spotless purity of Christs life. We are to believe the revelation of God to man in Christ; for the works of the Redeemer show forth his own glory, and God in him.Those whom God loves as a Father, may despise the hatred of all the world. As the Father loved Christ, who was most worthy, so he loved his disciples, who were unworthy. All that love the Saviour should continue in their love to him, and take all occasions to show it. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christs love is a continual feast. They are to show their love to him by keeping his commandments. If the same power that first shed abroad the love of Christs in our hearts, did not keep us in that love, we should not long abide in it. Christs love to us should direct us to love each other. He speaks as about to give many things in charge, yet names this only; it includes many duties.The blessed Spirit will maintain the cause of Christ in the world, notwithstanding the opposition it meets with. Believers taught and encouraged by his influences, would bear testimony to Christ and his salvation.Zephaniah 3:18 – “I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. ” This is a dual prophecy by Zephaniah. It has to do with the children of Israel . . and also with spiritual Zion (which is the church of Jesus Christ of the last day). First of all, he was speaking to Jews – that God was going to gather together the dispersed . . . but He was only going to bring back those who had a broken heart for the sad condition of Israel. . . . . He would remember all who carried the reproach. . . all of the horrible things that were going on in God’s House. Those who carried the burden of it, He said, “I am going to gather you”. He made great promises to these. . . This prophecy is also to the Church of Jesus Christ in the Last Day. In the Old Testament,the children of Israel were called to their festivals for seven days. On the eighth day – it was called an Solemn Assembly. That was when they met especially together – putting everything aside in focused worship and praise to the Heavenly Father. The scripture says,”On the eighth day you shall have a Solemn Assembly”. This Solemn Assembly is all through the Old Testament representing the congregation that is separated unto God needing to meet the Lord. This is the Church of Jesus Christ in the Last Day. According to Zephaniah, the House of God in the Last Days is going to be under reproach. The Hebrew word hear means “shame and disgrace”. There is going to be shame and disgrace in the House of God. We are not talking about the backslidden, liberal modern church. . . . The Lord said on the Judgment Day, He will deal with that Church. We can pray for them, but we are not spend any of our grief on that which is not really the Church. God is looking for a people who will sorrow and grieve over the reproach that is being fostered on the Church of Jesus Christ in these last days. I am talking about the Church that was born at Pentecost. I am talking about the Church that was born in the teaching of the Apostle Paul and the Apostles. The Church born in the doctrine of the Godhead of Jesus Christ. That born-again Church is under attack. That Church is suffering reproach. It has been prophesied that in this day of reproach, shame and disgrace, God is going to raise up a holy remnant who are going grieve and weep over this defilement. . . God will have a remnant that will not sit idly by while all of these things invade the Church. God says, “I will have a people that are not going to be satisfied to go their merry way and just ignore what is happening as Charlatans and money-mad false prophets are coming into the House of God and destroying everything in sight.” God is going to gather a people who grieve over this. . . . If you truly love the Lord and you love His Church, you can not look honestly at what is happening today (and I am going to name these reproaches this morning). If after you hear what I have to say about this reproach, and you can walk out of this Church and you can say, “I just stand on Matthew 18 ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church’, I am not going to worry about, God has everything under control”. That is not enough. God uses people. God uses people to perform His work. He does not send angels. Angels weep over it, but God does not use angels to accomplish His purposes. He uses burdened broken-hearted weeping men and women. . . . . Judgment is at the door, Jesus is coming. The Day of the Lord is at hand. Wake up elders. Wake up pastors. Wake up shepherds. Take a look at the Church. Get the burden. Carry it. Why should we take on the burden of the reproach of the Solemn Assembly? Joel said, “because there is a rotten seed being planted.” A gospel is being preached that is withering everything that is in sight. Everything that is green and Godly and pure is being withered. The seed is rotten . . . . . there is a famine of hearing the pure Word of the Lord. . . . there is no pasture. The flocks are desolate and hungry. The rivers are drying up. A strange fire is devouring the pastors. Ezekiel says that Shepherds are trampling down the good pasture and eating the best for themselves. What are the shameful disgraceful things that are happening in the Church of Jesus Christ today?ho he believed were false prophets. He warned and he named their names. I am telling you now that if you can listen to what I am about to tell you, and not be grieved, then you are blind. You are spiritually blind. You have a hard heart. A heart with a shield on it so that the pure gospel can not penetrate it. The mind has been so saturated with this unbalanced gospel that you can not come to many of them. You can not preach the truth. You can not show them anything else in the scripture because they have a shield over their hearts. Hard hearted.Let me tell you who is laughing. The world. The ungodly, the heathen. It has become a spectacle. In a time so close to the coming of the Lord when the Church of Jesus Christ ought to be shut away in a secret closet of prayer. Where it ought to be weeping for the lost. Where it ought to have the desire to forsake all and follow Jesus. Where there should never be a mention of the dollar bill. The American god. The American idolatry. We have the world looking at this foolishness and do you know what they are thinking now – that the Holy Ghost is a Ringmaster. It is a Charismatic Circus.Until you know how to deal with the flesh with the power of the Holy Ghost, stay away from it. Jeremiah said, “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is Mighty. He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing.” Why? Because He has found a people who are sorrowful over the things that sorrow His heart. God does supply needs and He is a miracle working God, but He does it only His way. Not by misappropriating and not mis-using the scripture. Abraham was not looking at things on earth, He was looking for a City whose Builder and Maker is God.It is good to consider how near our seasons of grace are to an end, that we may be quickened to improve them. But the sorrows of the disciples would soon be turned into joy; as those of a mother, at the sight of her infant. The Holy Spirit would be their Comforter, and neither men nor devils, neither sufferings in life nor in death, would ever deprive them of their joy. Believers have joy or sorrow, according to their sight of Christ, and the tokens of his presence. Sorrow is coming on the ungodly, which nothing can lessen; the believer is an heir to joy which no one can take away. Where now is the joy of the murderers of our Lord, and the sorrow of his friends?Here is a plain declaration of Christs coming from the Father, and his return to him. The Redeemer, in his entrance, was God manifest in the flesh, and in his departure was received up into glory. By this saying the disciples improved in knowledge. Also in faith; Now are we sure. Alas! they knew not their own weakness. The Divine nature did not desert the human nature, but supported it, and put comfort and value into Christs sufferings. And while we have Gods favourable presence, we are happy, and ought to be easy, though all the world forsake us. Peace in Christ is the only true peace, in him alone believers have it. Through him we have peace with God, and so in him we have peace in our own minds. We ought to be encouraged, because Christ has overcome the world before us. But while we think we stand, let us take heed lest we fall. We know not how we should act if brought into temptation; let us watch and pray without ceasing, that we may not be left to ourselves.Amen
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:04:06 +0000
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