The Church and the World
Catherine Booth


When the church and the world can jog comfortably along together, you can be sure something is wrong. The world has not compromised - its spirit is exactly the same as it ever was. If Christians were equally as faithful to the Lord, separated from the world, and living so that their lives were a reproof to all ungodliness, the world would hate them as much as it ever did. It is the church that has compromised, not the world.

The Pulpit by J.C. Ryle


‎Without Christ crucified in her pulpits, a Church is little better than a dead carcass, a well without water, a barren fig-tree, a sleeping watchman, a silent trumpet, a lighthouse without fire, a stumbling-block to weak believers, a comfort to unbelievers, a hot-bed for formalism, a joy to the devil, and an offence to God.

Rulership


And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
(Psa 106:41)


It is a fearful thing to be delivered to the hands of man because of God’s wrath and abhorrence (Psa 106:40). David knew it and in great strait asked to ‘not fall into the hand of man’ (2 Sam 24:14). ‘Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men’ (John 2:24). We may not be conscious that we are being ruled by man, it will show when the crunch comes.


So why it is that man is sought first before God? Man’s help and out stretched hand can become a dangerous crutch; a ‘broken reed…..whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it’ (Isa 36:6). When man rule or control our destiny than God’s sovereignty is left out. When God rules, we trust Him in getting alone with Him and faith is when we hear no answer, seeing greater promises afar off (Heb 11:13) and hearts at perfect peace that our cries have been heard in heaven; ‘having obtained a good report through faith’ because ‘God having provided some better thing for us' (Heb 11:39, 40).


The difference of rulership can be subtle. Man’s rule seeks human intervention, selfish and long term untrustworthiness. God’s rule is eternal and glorious even if it requires to die in faith (Heb 11:13). After all, everyone must die, the finality is where we stand in the last judgment (Heb 9:27).

Have You Come to "When" Yet?
Oswald Chambers


"And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." Job 42:10


The plaintive, self-centred, morbid kind of prayer, a dead-set that I want to be right, is never found in the New Testament. The fact that I am trying to be right with God is a sign that I am rebelling against the Atonement. "Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer; I will walk rightly if You will help me." I cannot make myself right with God, I cannot make my life perfect; I can only be right with God if I accept the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to resign every kind of claim and cease from every effort, and leave myself entirely alone in His hands, and then begin to pour out in the priestly work of intercession. There is much prayer that arises from real disbelief in the Atonement. Jesus is not beginning to save us, He has saved us, the thing is done, and it is an insult to ask Him to do it.


If you are not getting the hundredfold more, not getting insight into God's word, then start praying for your friends, enter into the ministry of the interior. "The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." The real business of your life as a saved soul is intercessory prayer. Wherever God puts you in circumstances, pray immediately, pray that His Atonement may be realized in other lives as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now; pray for those with whom you come in contact now.

The Tension of the Ages
Rebekah Mui


Talk has been going on for quite awhile in the church about “the end times” and “the last days”. What exactly are the end times and the last days? How do we know for sure where we are on the Biblical calendar? And how are we youths supposed to live our lives since time is so short?


“End times” is not a phrase found in the Bible at all. The phrase used in the Bible is “last days”. Jacob prophesied over his sons over what would befall them in the last days (Genesis 49:1). Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:1 speak of YHWH’s house being established and all the Gentiles flowing towards it.


In the New Testament scriptures, the first mention of the last days is at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell (Acts 2:7). The fact is, the “last days” and “end times” began 2,000 years ago. The early church was very conscious of Jesus (Yeshua’s) return and lived soberly and in vigilance.  Hebrew 1:2 speaks of “these last days”. 2 Timothy 3:1 says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”


The Hebraic and Biblical understanding of the times is that there is this present evil age and the age to come. Last month, I mentioned the Hebrew word “olam”, meaning age or universe. The Olam Hava is the age to come, hava meaning come. (Baruch hava b’shem Adonai means "Blessed is he who comes in the name of YHWH.”). Olam Hazeh literally means “this world”. As the Scriptures say clearly, this earth was created by God (Elohim). The world in which we live in today is temporal and sinful. The Messiah comes to usher in the eternal Kingdom of God.


We know that Yeshua the Messiah of Israel has come. The last days have already begun, because with His coming, He brought the Kingdom of Heaven into individual lives. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (within reach)”, Jesus preached. We know that Yeshua is the Messiah because He has fulfilled, is fulfilling, and will fulfill all the word of the Tanakh (Old Testament). The olam hazeh is passing away and the olam haba has already come.


Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Kingdom of God is already established, the feast has been prepared. We are living in the overlap of the ages, between Jesus’ two comings. The tension between the ages must be a part of our Christian life! The literal, physical, worldwide, and total bringing in of the Kingdom will come when Jesus comes again, but it is our duty as sons of God who has entered into the Kingdom to preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16), bringing the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven.


Peter warned us in 1 Peter 3 that in these last days scoffers will come, that deny that God created the heavens and the earth, and also deny that Jesus will come again. (One common objection is that the church has been waiting for 2,000 years already and He still hasn’t come). Actually, as Peter says, it’s because God is very patient and doesn't desire any should perish. The New Testament scriptures are full of exhortations to the church to live soberly and be vigilant in these last days. 


“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand yearsas one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.


Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." (2 Peter 3:7-18 KJV)


It is our duty to store up our treasure in heaven (Matthew 6) and set our minds and hearts on things above (Colossians 3). It is our duty to be watchful and vigilant. It is our duty, as Jesus commanded, to go into all the world and preach the gospel.


And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14 KJV)


Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Colossians 4:2-6 KJV)


Let us live godly lives and pray for the salvation of the peoples of this world and for our governmental authorities. Let us pray and preach the Kingdom of God to the lost peoples of this world. Let us remember the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 24 and 25 about watching and praying, staying awake. Don’t be like the virgins who fell asleep. The reason why we still have time is to bring souls into the Kingdom of God in the harvest of these last days, not to idle away and spend our lives on the things of this world. Let us not be distracted by the cares of this life, the pursuit and vanity and riches. Let us pray for laborers in the harvest fields of the kingdom! Let us never lose hope in the promises of God found in the Prophets.


Let us have faith in Jesus that will stand no matter what fiery trials and tribulations come our way. Let us have peace in our hearts, the true shalom of YHWH, that will stand sure and strong on the Rock of Ages, YHWH the God of Israel. Let us stand with Israel and bring the gospel back to Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit was poured out 2,000 years ago!


Let us live every day of our lives in eager anticipation, expectant hope, watchful preparation, sober vigilance, and solidarity as a body, for the coming, returning, glorious King Messiah and His Kingdom (of which there will be no end), the fullness, completion, and beginning of all, for He is all and He is in all of His! Amen

"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?"
—Corrie Ten Boom

Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship – An Excerpt Loosely Reworded in Simple English
Rebekah Mui


"Cheap grace" is the deadly enemy of our church. What we must fight for today is to retain the true value of God's costly grace.


"Cheap grace" is a lousy discounted stuff sold for several cents at the flea market, (cut-rate, a real steal, practically sold for nothing or given away) which people throw away without thinking and take for granted. (It is a waste, a terrible disastrous waste.) It is simply presumed and assumed that the central meaning of grace is that the account for our sins has been paid for well in advance.


Cheap grace means the blood and body of Christ, the forgiveness of your sins, and the comforts of a "religion" practically thrown away at ridiculously low prices. The church portrays grace as its never-ending resource which she can just give away indiscriminately. "Grace can be had here, cheap!"


Cheap grace means grace held as belief system and generalized assumption by the church. "Everyone can have their sins forgiven freely!" The precious love of God is exploited as a selling point. "God loves you! As long as you believe this and pray a little prayer your sins will be forgiven. Won't you like that?" In this kind of “Church” the world can find a cheap covering for their sins - no repentance needed, you don't even need to feel sorrow for your sins or fear the wrath of God - you don't even need to really desire to be set free from sin. In the end, cheap grace is DENIAL of the living Word of God and a denial of the Word of God become flesh (Jesus).


Grace is "peddled" cheaply today, as if it were cheap and lousy trinkets sold by the streets, given without thought to people who would not treasure it, appreciate it, or value it, and would most likely end up throwing away (casting away beautiful, genuine pearls and freely feeding it to swine). We must fight today to retain the precious treasure, the costly grace of God which we can never achieve, buy, nor afford.


Cheap grace is just saying to the sinner "God has justified you - forgiven you - and is alright with your sin" - without emphasizing or even mentioning the face that you need to get right with God! "Grace, grace alone" they say, so that everything can just remain as it was before. "Let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world's standards in every area of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under under sin... (that would be striving, you see)"


Cheap grace is actually grace which we imagine, conjure up, and give ourselves. Cheap grace says you can be forgiven without even being repentant or the least bit sorry for the wrong you’ve done, you can be baptized into the church without having to submit yourself to church rules, disciplines, etc., you can enjoy communion as a body without the “unnecessary discomfort” of confessing your sins. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship; grace without the cross; grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.


Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; a man’ will gladly go and sell all that he has to buy the field. It is the genuine and luxurious pearl worth billions which a trader will sell all his goods to purchase (he would take great pains to care for it, insure it, and guard it, wouldn’t he?). God didn't give us a cheap little free gift.
Costly grace is about the kingly rule of Christ for which man will zealously even pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble!


Costly grace is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
We must strive today to maintain the costly value of God's grace and reverence it. It is no common thing to be doled out indiscriminately. It is given to those who ask it. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked (or begged) for, the door at which a man must keep knocking.


Costly grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.


Above all, costly grace is is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “you were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the manifestation and incarnation of God!


Costly grace is the holy, set-apart sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. Costly grace is the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. Costly comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels and calls a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”


On two separate occasions Peter received the call, “Follow me.” It was the first and last word Jesus spoke to his disciple (Mark 1.17; John 21.22). A whole life lies between these two calls. The first occasion was by the lake of Gennesareth, when Peter left his nets and his craft and followed Jesus at his word.


The second occasion is when the Risen Lord finds him back again at his old trade. Once again it is by the lake of Gennesareth, and once again the call is: “Follow me.” Between the two calls lay a whole life of discipleship in the following of Christ. Half-way between them comes Peter's confession, when he acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God....


This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself that forced itself upon Peter and caused him leave all and follow Christ. It was the grace of Christ himself that worked in Peter that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, and it was the grace of Christ himself that now invited Peter to the absolute highest fellowship of martyrdom for the Master he had denied. It was the grace of Christ that consequently forgave him all his sins. In the life of Peter, grace and discipleship cannot be separated. He had received the grace which costs.


As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, the costliness of grace was gradually forgotten. The (Western) world was “Christianized”, and grace became just like any other common object. It was to be had cheaply.


Summary: Grace is not the license to do what we want – it is the power to do what God wills! Grace is not the forgiveness of sins doled out – it is infinitely more powerful and of greater value. Grace doesn’t just leave us as we are but compels us and leads us somewhere. It is easier and quicker to define cheap grace and to “use it”, but it takes the cross plus a lifetime to understand and come into a complete revelation of God’s costly grace

Sin Leading to Apostasy
Matthew Henry

What Have We Handled?


……. which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (1Jn 1:1)


We hear to believe (Rom 10:17) and receiving revelation of Christ’s grace and truth to begin the journey of salvation (John 1:14). That is not enough, there is required a deepening relationship which is to handle or to touch, a verification of all that we have heard and seen that we are wholly His and live for Him. Relationship is a personal experience; not hearsay nor by observing what others have.


Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Php 2:5)


Phileo is to be a friend, agape is love in action. The former may go as far as a feeling, concern or even shedding a tear. The latter is laying oneself down to give, a deliberate choice and action of the will (John 3:16). It concerns the welfare of others over self (Phil 2:4). It is a pouring out and not withholding back an ounce of good that others may progress ; higher than sacrifice, it is pouring out on sacrifice (Php 2:17). I cannot give what I haven’t experience or what I don’t possess. Water flows downstream, from top to bottom. That is an unchangeable natural law. I have to experience life in the higher plane of Christ life in order to give life. This is all possible if I have handled or verified who Jesus is to me and in me. When that happens there is a clear and distinct mark of Christ ownership (Gal 6:17). The trouble with us is that we have not been single hearted and touched many things that doesn't concern Christ.

Speaking That Challenges


But I say unto you …… (Mat 5:22)


There is a speaking that reverberates, transcending time and space (Psa 19:2), an articulation without involving the faculty of speech. It reveals who God is; power, righteousness, wisdom harmoniously in sync with love and mercy. It is life (John 6:68). Yet it challenges the core belief system that has gradually built an impenetrable citable where His Truth has yet to piece to make free. This fortress is a sum total of our understanding and experience mixed in with self conclusions.


The speaking is everywhere; it becomes a life transforming epiphany when Jesus personalizes the Truth to us. He begins by saying ‘but I say unto you….’ When He does that, the wall come crumbling down and we are loosed into the realm of His grace and glory (Rom 5:2). Or conversely, the wall gets higher and thicker. We can hold on for dear life to all that we have believed, from our worldview. Yet He will continually speak ‘but I say unto you….’ Receiving the subsequent words requires faith. No disputing or arguments. Just believe.


Jesus never sugar coats His words. It is a sword that will divide asunder (Heb 4:12) and brings us into a stature where the soul does not rule. The spirit triumphs (Rom 8:2).


He mercifully continually speaks, am I willing to allow His piercing Words to do a permanent liberation in my life so that the completeness of the Father dwells in me (Matt 5:48)? If I resist, my belief system will become my god of my own imagination (1 John 5:20, 21).

The Righteousness of God
David Pawson


David Pawson speaking at International House of Prayer (15 May, 2011)

Blameless Sons


That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Php 2:15)


There are essential two fathers, God or the devil (John 8:44). God’s sons are the ones without rebuke or blameless to all in right being and right doing; before man, to the devil and toward God. God gives the redeemed a clear conscience in all aspects (1 Pet 3:16), hence if we were to suffer, it would be better for good alone (1 Pet 3:17). There is a blessing of the Kingdom to those persecuted for righteousness sake, not for evil (Matt 5:10).The state of blamelessness is defined by other parties, not of self (Prov 27:2). God recognizes and bestow inseparable love to the unblemished led to the slaughter for being and doing right (Rom 8:35, 36).


Jesus gave us the capacity to be unhidden light, unconsciously and naturally shining His glory (Matt 5:14-16). We have become what He ordained for us when there is an imputed Christ-like meekness to ‘do all things without murmurings and disputings’. In the ability to ‘do all things’ that exalts the Father with Godly attitude we become ‘blameless….’. It takes dying to self ambition and vainglory (Php 2:3).


The servant takes after the Master (Matt 10:24). The son takes after his or her father. Who is our father?

The Spiritual Man
Watchman Nee

Prevailing


….. If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.(Est 6:13)


Being set apart is not earned but providential by the grace of God (Duet 10:15). The disposition of a Jewish man living under the covenant will be required to circumcise the flesh (Gen 17:11) and YHWH requires a deeper circumcision (Duet 10:16). The circumcision of the heart is beyond an outward recognizable separation but also of affections (Duet 30:6) and spirit (Rom 2:29). The acknowledgement is beyond that which human eyes behold but an eternal transaction in the spirit realm with a secure guarantee (Eph 4:30).


Holding fast to His love and thrusting ourselves into His tender mercies will guarantee our prevalence (Jud 1:21). These are the hardest to do because our human tendency is to work it out with our mind and hands without being on our knees. It is God that will ensure that we prevail if we would do it within the confines of His divine wisdom. Our prevailing is an observation by even our enemies because of the distinction in Christ, not in ourselves. How desperate are we to prevail? The determining factor lies in whether our life stem from the olive tree of Israel (Rom 11:17).

The Normal Christian Life: Reckoning of Faith
Watchman Nee





Watchman Nee Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FF7506AC2682B24B

An excerpt from the book "The Normal Christian Life," by Watchman Nee (1903-1972).

Watchman Nee became a Christian in mainland China in 1920 at the age of seventeen and began writing in the same year. In 1952 he was imprisoned for his faith; he remained in prison until his death in 1972. His words remain an abundant source of spiritual revelation and supply to Christians throughout the world.

Romans 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ...

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Worthiness of Our Lives


Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ…. (Php 1:27)


There is nothing more devastating than Christianity without Christ. Without the centrality of Christ, there are no glad tidings of good things (Rom 10:15). The climax of the week is found in triumphalism celebratory Sunday 'worth-ship' (Col 2:20) and holding on to creeds and denominations rather than holding on to Christ and in obeying His Word (1 Cor 1:13). The world is in darkness and lies under the sway of the wicket one (1 John 5:19), do we see people heading down the road to eternal damnation or still quibbling over matters that bring ‘spiritual’ goose bumps .


But this shall be the covenant …. I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jer 31:33)


God has given us the capacity to be epistles or message to be read by all men (2 Cor 3:2). The same capacity that principalities, powers and rulers of this darkness will acknowledge our existence (Acts 19:15). We are the light of the world that illuminates the dark sphere surrounding us. We are the distinguishing factor that will show men and women that they are bound in sin by demonic forces and we have been made free (John 8:36). Without Light people cannot see. Without light, darkness cannot be dispelled. People cannot be drawn to Christ without light. What gospel are we preaching through the way we live (2 Cor 11:4)? Is there a 24-7 preparedness of the gospel of peace (Eph 6:15). Are our lives worth measured in the Good News of Christ?

Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus
Dr. Michael Brown


Audio recording

Tradition Today: The saddest day of all
By REUVEN HAMMER (jpost.com)


Let it be a day of remembrance and mourning, of tribute to those who suffered, those who perished and those who offered help and comfort.


When Pessah comes, the two newest sacred days of the Jewish calendar are not far behind: Yom Hashoah V’hagevura (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and Yom Ha’atzmaut. Without positing a causal link between them, these two days commemorate the two most significant events in modern Jewish history and the polar opposites that they represent. Holocaust Remembrance Day signifies the worst tragedy we have ever experienced, that which brought the Jewish people as close to extinction as we have ever been. Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrates the great triumph of our return to our national home, the phoenix-like resurrection of the Jewish people from the ashes of near-destruction.


To my mind, Holocaust Remembrance Day is the saddest and most tragic day of the Jewish year. Nothing even remotely like it ever occurred before. The systematic destruction of six million individuals, one-third of our people, the elimination of a great center of Jewish life and learning – it is beyond imagining. Each year, I listen to the reading of Megillat Hashoah, a liturgical retelling of the events of the Holocaust, written by Avigdor Shinan under the auspices of a special committee of the Rabbinical Assembly and the Schechter Institute. It is chanted aloud in synagogues throughout the world, and I contemplate an event that I cannot begin to comprehend. I ask myself questions about it and I read many excellent books that describe aspects of it, and I still cannot grasp fully what happened and why.


......


Among them was Europe’s long history of anti-Semitism, which was at least as strong in France as it was in Germany. Another was the built-in anti-Jewish teachings of Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant. The accusation of Jews as killers of God taught in every church and religious school had its effect. However, at least the Church had a teaching that Jews should be kept in misery but kept alive to show what happens to those who reject the son of God. Nazism taught that they should be denied life. As a matter of fact, it taught that Jews were not human, they were a kind of vermin that should be eradicated just as one would kill rats. If there is anything that we can learn from the Shoah, it is that is it forbidden to categorize human beings as inferior species, or any group as superior to any other.


......


Full article

The Towers Have Fallen But We Missed the Message
by David Wilkerson, October 8, 2001


On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed. Five days later, as I was preparing this message, I looked out the window of my study in our 30th-floor apartment. Huge clouds of smoke were still smoldering from the ruins. They rose from the rubble and drifted out over the Hudson River, passing above the Statue of Liberty.


The following Sunday, just before I preached this message at Times Square Church, I wept at the sight of the utter devastation. I pleaded with God for mercy: mercy for the grieving families who lost loved ones. Mercy for the workers still digging through the rubble, hoping to locate survivors, but finding only corpses and severed body parts. Mercy for all the police officers, fire fighters and volunteers, who wept openly over the indescribable horrors they saw.


Our church was allowed to set up a relief tent at ground zero of the disaster. Ministry leaders and volunteers from our congregation worked tirelessly around the clock, helping to feed and encourage the weary workers.


Six weeks prior to the disaster, the Holy Spirit forewarned our pastoral staff that a calamity was coming. We had scheduled several major events for the weeks ahead, including our Missions Conference and Youth Convention. But God's Spirit prompted us to cancel them all. Instead, we felt stirred to call our congregation to prayer.


We decided to hold prayer meetings four nights a week. From the very beginning, each meeting was marked by an awesome stillness that settled over the congregation. We sat quietly in the Lord's presence, often without a sound, for up to an hour, followed by soft weeping and heartrending repentance. In one meeting, I had to steady my knees with my hands, to keep them from trembling in God's awesome presence.


During this visitation from the Lord, the Holy Ghost revealed there was a reason for the weeping in our hearts. We were being so moved because a tragedy was coming. A severe calamity was coming to the nation. And even though we didn't know what it was, our hearts were stirred to intercede concerning it.


Then suddenly, the calamity struck. And it hit not only our city, but the nation's capital. One network anchor declared, "Think of it, our two symbols of power and prosperity have been smitten in one hour." Little did he know, he was quoting Revelation 18:10: "Alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come."


As a policeman from our church helped out at ground zero, his fellow officers kept asking him, "What's this all about? What's happening?" Meanwhile, the whole nation has been asking, "Where is God in all this?"


Read rest of message

A Call to Anguish
David Wilkerson

When All Means Fail
David Wilkerson
Last blog entry prior to his death. April 27, 2011


To believe when all means fail is exceedingly pleasing to God and is most acceptable. Jesus said to Thomas, “You have believed because you have seen, but blessed are those that do believe and have not seen” (John 20:29).


Blessed are those who believe when there is no evidence of an answer to prayer—who trust beyond hope when all means have failed.


Someone has come to the place of hopelessness—the end of hope—the end of all means. A loved one is facing death and doctors give no hope. Death seems inevitable. Hope is gone. The miracle prayed for is not happening.


That is when Satan’s hordes come to attack your mind with fear, anger, overwhelming questions: “Where is your God now? You prayed until you had no tears left. You fasted. You stood on promises. You trusted.”


Blasphemous thoughts will be injected into your mind: “Prayer failed. Faith failed. Don’t quit on God—just do not trust him anymore. It doesn’t pay!”


Even questioning God’s existence will be injected into your mind. These have been the devices of Satan for centuries. Some of the godliest men and women who ever lived were under such demonic attacks.


To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights—and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, “I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident. It was no failure on your part. Hold fast. Let me embrace you in your hour of pain.”


Beloved, God has never failed to act but in goodness and love. When all means fail—his love prevails. Hold fast to your faith. Stand fast in his Word. There is no other hope in this world.

A Lighted Lamp
Rebekah M


What does it mean to be a lighted lamp? What is light, anyway?


The dictionary has 15 meanings for light. The scientific definition for light is that is it a “visible radiation about 0.4 to 0.7 microns in wavelength considered in terms of its luminous efficiency, that is, evaluated in proportion to its ability to stimulate the sense of night.” In Physics, light is “an electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation”.


God has a lot to say about light. In fact, in the beginning, God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.


God first created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless, shapeless, full of water, and dark. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and then God, (Elohim in Hebrew), said, “Let there be light”. And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided light from darkness. God called the light “Day”, and the darkness He called “Night”. 


From the beginning Elohim (God) made a distinct separation between light and darkness, day and night. Then on the fourth day Elohim created the lights in the firmament (sky), resumable the sun to light the day and the moon to rule the night, and also the stars. The creation of light and the creation of light sources are two different events.


(Hebrew words in brackets)
- Light (Or) Darkness (Cho-shek)
- Day (Yom) Night (Layil, Layla)
- Sun (Shemesh) Moon (Yareach) and Stars (Kokab)
- Life(Chai, pronounced Cha-ee) Death (Maveth)


We know that Light means Life. Without light, life on this earth would cease. Plants would stop generating food. A lot of processes shut down. Without light there is no life.


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Remembering the Future
By Yanki Tauber (chabad.org Passover 2011)
(Helpful Passover thoughts from our Hebraic roots)


"In every generation," say our sages, "a person is obligated to see himself as if he himself has come out of Egypt."


Mitzrayim, the Hebrew word for "Egypt," means "boundaries" and "constrictions"; yetziat mitzrayim, "going out of Egypt," is the endeavor to rise above all that inhibits the soul of man, be it limitations imposed by an outside force, or the physical, psychological or spiritual limitations imposed by habit and nature.


One of the most constricting elements of the human condition is the phenomenon of time. Time carries off the past and holds off the future, confining our lives to a temporal sliver of "present." But on the first night of Passover we break the bonds of time, having received a mandate to experience the Exodus "as if he himself has come out of Egypt." We recall the Exodus in our minds, verbalize it in the telling of the Haggadah, digest it in the form of matzah and wine. As we passover the centuries, memory -- those faded visages of past that generally constitute our only answer to the tyranny of time -- becomes experience, and history is made current and real.


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Intimacy and Profitability

…. and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing. (Jer 13:7)

Programs and activities are always the easy part. It takes discipline to purposefully lay aside what we think is right to do to allow His priorities to take precedent. To know His will is to die to ours. To know He is God requires our abandonment to busyness and achievement (Psa 46:10). Never mistake busyness for even ‘godly’ matters as the gage for spirituality.

The opposite is equally devastating. Not taking necessary action in obedience leads to slothfulness, faith requires action (Jas 2:14).

Intimacy with the Savior is never sentimental, it will challenge everything that we stood and acted for (John 21:17).  True love is about the other’s concern (Phil 2:3), never complaining about the thing He asks us to do. There will come an occasion when the Master will untie the girdle of intimacy to wipe feet (John 13:5). The deepest intimacy with Jesus leads to profitability which nary a complain regardless how mundane the task. Profitability for the Kingdom of God comes after intimacy and serving out of intimacy is the right divine order.

Easter/He Shall Glorify Me
Oswald Chambers

The Significance of Passover - Dr. Michael Brown

April 14, 2011

http://www.lineoffireradio.com/2011/04/14/the-significance-of-passover/

[Download MP3]

How does the Passover point to Jesus?  Is it just a Jewish holiday, or does it have meaning to believers in Jesus today?  Join Dr. Brown as he talks about the prophetic significance of passover!

Hour 1:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: There ought to be no separation between Passover and Easter on our calendars; and where there is a separation, let the church join with the Jewish community and celebrate the Passover season, the death and resurrection of Jesus season–along with the Jewish Passover, unleavened bread calendar.  And let us emphasize not Easter egg hunts, but the death and resurrection of the Messiah, and within the context of the Passover let us provoke the Jewish people to jealousy by showing them not only was there redemption from Egypt, but there is redemption from sin and death.  The Messiah has come, and He will come again, in accordance with the Scriptures.

Hour 2:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: Jesus’ death and resurrection must be central.  If you are able to do that in conjunction with the Passover season and incorporate that into the Jewish calendar, all the better.  It has biblical roots, and it will further identify our faith with the Jewish people, and perhaps even more, provoke the Jews to jealousy.  If the Good Friday, Resurrection Sunday schedule is sacred to you, as long as Jesus is central and He is exalted, and as long as you do not separate that in your thinking from the Passover and your Jewish roots, so be it!  Hold to Jesus, hold to your roots, and move forward!

Judgment


She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (John 8:11)


When sinners confront the Holy God, what would He say? When sinners confront us our stature of self righteousness wells up and lay a condemnation that he or she must attain to ‘my’ standard. Jesus did not lay condemnation but just declared over them ‘go, and sin no more’. In judging sinners, the Holy, Holy, Holy God does not put the sinner down, trample and squash them till they cannot rise above their sin. That is what we do. His words are loving, ‘go, and sin no more’, that is ‘I have given you power not to walk in sin anymore, my child, live in that promise’ (Jer 31:34). There is power of life that is imparted. But we can potentially impart death (Prov 18:21), remember, don’t be the one to drive the last nail into the coffin.

Being Effective for the Kingdom


It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Luke 14:35)


Jesus said we are salt of the earth (Matt 5:13), no requirements of standard of holiness, spiritual maturity nor any form of achievement. It is not a potential that we have to live up to, but as ones saved by grace the 'being salt' has become ours intrinsically. It is God’s gift to His beloved children, but it requires that we are warned that we can lose this state of our being and the consequences is devastating (Matt 5:13).


Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…..(John 15:16)


Salt and fruitfulness; Jesus was using salt not from the domestic kitchen sense but from agricultural benefit. Israel is a big producer of potash, the form of salt widely used as fertilizers. We have been chosen to call forth those who are in darkness into the Kingdom of Light (1 Pet 2:9) in alignment with the Father’s heart that none perish (2 Pet 3:9). Not many, not a few, but none perish. We sow, but He gives the increase (1 Cor 3:7) of thirty, sixty and some a hundred fold (Mark 4:20). Fruitfulness in souls is the aim of the Kingdom.


Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (1Cor 5:6)


Secondly, sin leads to contagious corruption and finally destruction. Jesus beckons us to be antiseptic in dung heap of the world to eliminate the spread of evil (1 Cor 15:33). There are many in darkness who desires to come into the light, the Lord of the Harvest will reveal to us that the harvest is truly great (Luke 10:2). What would be our response to that revelation? Pray and be those who would be willing in the day of His power (Psa 110:3) and we have been duly endued (Luke 24:49).


The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. (Pro 11:30)


There is great wisdom in our ministry to reconcile man to God (2 Cor 5:18), lasting fruits of righteousness that bring God the glory (Phil 1:11) through the furtherance of the Gospel (Phil 1:12), this is the heart beat that is the pumping life force that drives the early church to see the coming Kingdom established on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 24:14). God’s plan cannot fail; it is whether I fail to fall in line or out of line with His divine will.

What Moves Heaven


I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)


Heaven is not moved by tumultuous worship or by the greatness of our service. Heaven is moved by even a single soul responding in utmost humility and thankfulness to God’s merciful saving grace. Jesus is less concerned about the ninety and nine sheep but His heart goes all out searching for the one lost soul. Jesus did not destine His church to be a feel good holy huddle or worst to degenerate to become monastic recluse. The church is to be sent into the world yet not of the world (John 17:16, 18).


Go ye therefore, ….. lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Mat 28:19-20)


Discipleship is not a classroom activity but lived out in the world with eagerness to find that man of peace (Luke 10:6), baptize and make disciples who will in turn make more disciples. It is in the going into the world to fulfill the God given commission that we experience His Presence with us. He promises to be with us and desires that we share heavens joy. Are we willing to obey His decree or continue to warm pews to experience goose bumps of the trappings of ‘modern Christianity’? Is it no wonder that the criteria for many to find a home church is if 'they could fit in'. Rather we should find open hearts and open homes to plant a church among the heathens that we experience the joy of His salvation.

Parashat Vayikra: The terrorism of Torah
Shlomo Riskin


Why does Mount Moriah have greater sanctity than Mount Sinai?




“An individual who will sacrifice from yourself a sacrificial offering unto the Lord…” (Leviticus 1:2)


My teacher and mentor Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik would often speak of the two great biblical mountains – Mount Moriah where God sent Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, and Mount Sinai, from which God presented the Torah to the Israelites.


Conventional wisdom would maintain that Mount Sinai should have been the more sacred, since there is nothing on Earth more sacred than our divinely given Torah – the very words of God. Nevertheless, the sages of the Talmud endowed eternal sanctity only to Mount Moriah, upon which our first two Holy Temples were built, and which will be the foundation for the third Temple as well.


Mount Sinai, by contrast, sustained its sanctity only during the period when the Divine Voice emanated from its heights; today it is no longer sacred, and could therefore be given up as part of Israel’s peace agreement with Egypt.


Why does Mount Moriah have greater sanctity than Mount Sinai? Rav Soloveitchik explains that whereas on Mount Sinai God presented Israel with His Torah, on Mount Moriah Abraham was willing to sacrifice his beloved son to God.


My teacher insisted that sanctity requires sacrifice, and the greater the sacrifice, the higher the degree of divine sanctity.


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