I think it can be said that modern Christianity suffers from many blind spots. One of the most troubling is our failure to understand the wrath of God.
A. W. Pink noted; “A study in the concordance shows that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God that there are to His love and tenderness. Because God is holy, He hates all sin; because He hates all sin, His anger burns against the sinner.” (See Psalms 7:11). *
If there is so much biblical voice given to the wrath of God, should we not spend more time giving it our study? How important it is that we would understand why God manifests wrath amid His other characteristics.
The wrath of God sounds archaic to our modern, politically correct ears and herein lies the problem, we are not biblically correct. John the Baptist was sure to preach; “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? The ax is already laid at the root of the trees and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:7-10).
The average Christian seems to think that the wrath of God no longer applies to modern man because the modern God has somehow moderated from the biblical version of God. How could this happen? Simply because preachers have stopped preaching the Word of God like John, Jesus and the Prophets did. Today a great percentage of preachers are preaching as they would like God to be… not as He really is.
To quote Arthur Pink again; “The wrath of God is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin.”* This is an incredibly powerful observation that requires our deepest consideration.
Oh, the massive subject of the holiness of God! The Scriptures proclaim that the angels around the Throne cry; Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts! They are not saying; love, love, love, or any other attribute we ascribe to God. Isaiah’s vision of Christ on the Throne brought down massive conviction upon his uncleanness as He saw himself in the unapproachable Light of the Throne. Oh the agony and the ecstasy of standing before the Glory of the Lord of Hosts! How different our present day theology would be if we started with the incomprehensible holiness of God!
When God created man and the earth, it was good in His eyes. It pleased Him. What we see in the earth today cannot please God because the world is completely at odds with Him morally and spiritually. The world is at enmity with God. He will not tolerate this forever. His holiness will soon be stirred into action against sin and His wrath will come forth.
So, if we think that God has moderated and His wrath is something of the past, we are saying that God has ceased to be holy. God cannot change and therefore His dominion must reflect His moral excellence. “Be Holy as I am holy; says the Lord.” This is why John and Jesus preached; “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The precursor of the Kingdom is the wrath of God that puts all His enemies under His footstool.
The greatest problem facing man is not global warming or the economic crisis. From God’s point of view, it is sin and what God and man must do to be reconciled. In other words, the wrath of God hovers above us and the Gospel offers the only means by which we can be saved from the wrath of God.
One last quote from A. W. Pink: “God has often forgiven sinners but He never forgives sin; the sinner is only forgiven on the grounds of Another having borne His punishment as Hebrews 9:22 states; “There is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood.”*
Judgment for sin was never arbitrarily canceled as some would like to think. God demonstrated His wrath at the Cross and His Son bore the weight of His wrath and judgment against sin. Isaiah 53:6 states; “We all, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to His own way; and the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” There is no such thing as forgiveness or salvation apart from the only Provision that God approves of; that being the Blood of Jesus.
The world will always make light of sin and say it is no big deal. They even celebrate it in the media and the arts. But in the courts of heaven, sin, righteousness and divine justice are of central importance and attention. Everything in heaven points to the Cross.
By the permissive attitudes of many American Christians, sin has lost its utter sinfulness and no longer provokes conviction or shame. This must never happen because our forgiveness did not come without a terrible price being paid. Oh if we could only consider this when temptation presents itself. Our forgiveness is only possible because Jesus pays our debt and dies our death. “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
As John preached; “Who warned you to flee the wrath of God?”
Amen.
*All quotes are from The Nature of God by A. W. Pink, Moody Press, 1975-1999.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Sabbath; God's Claim on Man's Time
I don’t think there is any question that America has found itself in a spiritual and moral crisis never seen before in her long history. For years, the faithful in the land have been praying for a revival that would shake this nation but revival tarries. The other day, a thought came to me that might help us understand why revival seems out of our grasp. I am not ready to say; “Thus saith the Lord” on this but if you take some time to carefully read this article, I believe God will speak to you from it.
I have heard people say that the beginning of America’s decline occurred when prayer was taken out of school. Certainly that was a dark and shameful day in America’s history. But there is nothing in the Bible that says we must have prayer in our schools. However, there is plenty in the Bible about how we are to keep the Sabbath. I am old enough to remember a time when the Sabbath was holy and sacred to most of the people in America. Either Saturday or Sunday, there was one day for God, family and rest. Stores and businesses were closed and people seemed to manage to go 24 hours without having to go to the mall or Wal-Mart. The Sabbath was special but today it is just like all the other days. All the stores and restaurants are open and life for the American people is like a hamster’s wheel with no way to get off. If we calculate what ignoring the Sabbath is costing us, we will be interested in knowing what God said in the beginning about His plan for us. He was looking out for us by giving us the Sabbath.
I know that in Christ, we are saved by grace through faith and salvation is the gift of God and comes to us by promise. But if we give heed to the Word of God, we will discover that the Sabbath is associated with what we are to do with time. It is a Day that God ascribes massive importance and to write it off as an ancient rite that is irrelevant for modern times is to fail God and insult His wisdom. I will have more to say about what we should do with this at the conclusion.
In the beginning God made man spirit and flesh. The world we live in is material and spirit. With that in mind, when God finished His work of creation, the biblical account says this:
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:1-30).
Abraham Heschel, a very important Jewish theologian, in his wonderful book aptly named; The Sabbath, noted that the very first time the word qadosh (Hebrew word for holy) was used in Scripture, was used not in relationship to a place, thing, mountain or person. It was used to describe a time, the seventh day. He says; “There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness.”
He continues by saying; “This is a radical departure from accustomed religious thinking. The mythical mind would expect that after heaven and earth have been established, God would create a holy place- a holy mountain or a holy spring- whereupon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is holiness in time, the Sabbath, which comes first.”
In another place he notes “Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time.”What would lead Abraham Heschel make such a statement? It is obvious to him that God’s calendar of Feasts and Sabbaths were given to the people of God to address the spiritual side of their lives and spirit can only be experienced when time has been sanctified, set apart and destined to be holy. The opposite of holy is common or for common use.
Exodus 31:12-17 states; "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between Me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.' "
Pay close attention; The Sabbath is a lasting covenant, a sign between God and His people forever! That leads me to wonder if we are making a terrible mistake by failing to grasp in some measure God’s intention for the Sabbath. What are we missing by dismissing the Sabbath as something from the Old Testament that has supposedly passed away and not in the New Covenant? How could something that is called forever pass away?
There is another very important point that Abraham Heschel makes that I want to bring to your attention concerning the Sabbath. As we have made reference to, the Lord commanded that no work be done and the Day was a day of rest. But to him, it was more than that. He says;
“Labor is a craft but perfect rest is an art. The seventh day is a palace in time which we build. It is made of soul, of joy and reticence and in its atmosphere, a discipline that is a reminder of our adjacency to eternity.”
In other words, he saw the Sabbath as God’s gift to us as the opportunity to build tabernacles made of Spirit, experienced in sacred time that places us in view of eternity!
Another important Sabbath verse that helps us comes from Isaiah 58:13-14.
"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
I have long treasured Isaiah 58 because it speaks of the fast that pleases God. It calls for more than mere ritual but for works of mercy, compassion and justice. But somehow, I always stopped short of what the Lord had to say about the Sabbath. I observed Isaiah 58 up to verse 12 and stopped. What glorious promises are in store for the people who honor the Sabbath and call it a delight!
As I think about the Sabbath, I see it as a one day fast from all the things that compete for my time and attention. Oh the things we like to do on the Sabbath that compete with God! The world conspires against the Sabbath with all its sports, entertainments, food, theme parks, festivals, and so on. The Sabbath is also God’s invitation to experience intimacy with Him, to worship, to love God and be loved by Him and most importantly, be holy. I think you will see that if you were to set your heart to keep the Sabbath, you would find yourself struggling to deliver yourself from all your worldly attachments. How tangled up we are. Seeing this is just another one of God’s benefits.
Another thing that comes to mind concerning the Sabbath is the fact that it is a covenant with God. At our house we believe in tithing. We started thirty years ago and have seen first- hand what God means when He promises to rebuke the devourer on our behalf. We have enjoyed His blessing on our home and lives. God told Israel to work the land for six years and then rest it the seventh. They were not to sow or reap the land the seventh year. But somehow, they would have enough harvest in the six years to feed everyone. I wonder what the other nations thought of Israel’s agricultural methods.
I have been preaching this message to a lot of older folks and to my surprise it has awakened their memories to better times when Americans honored the Sabbath Day. I am sure that many did not understand the full implications of the Sabbath but you cannot deny that we were better off when we shut is all down for one day out of seven and rested from our labors. Those folks thought six days were enough to labor and the Lord would take care of the rest. Families worshipped, prayed and stayed together. Maybe we were blessed because we looked to the Lord of the Sabbath and God had time to build a tabernacle in His people and His people built a tabernacle in time.
As I said earlier, the Sabbath is a lasting covenant, a sign between God and His people forever. And don’t forget, keeping the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments. If we are God’s people what should our relationship to the Sabbath be? Should we seek to institutionalize it as it was when Jesus came to Israel? They were so wrapped up in legalism they failed to receive the God-Man who was Lord of the Sabbath. They rebuked Him for healing on the Sabbath. On the other hand should we seek to keep the Sabbath by faith and set it apart in our hearts as the Day the Lord has chosen it to be? The Sabbath is not going away and will be honored forever for all time and eternity. Who are we to dismiss the Sabbath as something of ancient times that can be forgotten by modern man?
One final thought. Culturally, Christianity has lost ground in the minds and hearts of people everywhere. We say we want to be a witness of the things of God to our nation and world. But is our failure to keep the Sabbath holy a denial of the God we claim to love and serve? What would America look like if the millions of people who claim to be Christians wholeheartedly kept the Sabbath? Would not the Sabbath be a witness in itself?
To this day, observing and practicing Jews keep the Sabbath holy. In a similar way, Moslems observe months and days with fasting. But Christians do what they want when they want. We are seeing organized youth baseball and soccer leagues scheduling their games beginning early Sunday mornings all over America. Their disrespect for the Sabbath and the faith of people is bewildering. I wonder if anyone objects to this.
The Sabbath makes a statement about God’s claim on man’s time. People do not like anyone including God telling them what they should do or must do with their time. If we could see the Sabbath for the beautiful thing that it is and God created it to be we might find our way back from the edge of spiritual collapse and see revival in America again.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Naturalized Christians
Immigration is one of the most hotly debated issues of our times. However, this article is not necessarily about immigration but there is something of the immigration debate that relates to the Christian’s relationship to God.
A naturalized citizen is someone who has emigrated from another country to, let’s say America. But there is more to it than just a change of one’s geography. One who is naturalized is someone who has sworn an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, learns and speaks the nation’s official language, embraces its values and lives up to the responsibilities of a citizen. Another name for this is assimilation.
What does it mean to be a naturalized Christian? To be honest, I have never heard of the term but I am certain that the Bible calls us to be naturalized. We have been called to be naturalized to the Kingdom of God. Paul says; Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20).
The Word of God boldly announces things about our salvation and our new identity in Christ that totally reset our position in this world and the cosmos. Many have the idea that we are slowly inching our way to the pearly gates. But the Bible says we are already citizens of Heaven. The New Jerusalem is the mother of us all. We are born from above, born of the Spirit, born of God. The adoption papers have been drawn up and signed. Everything that needs to happen so that we might have full rights as sons has been accomplished through the finished work of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
But there is another step in the process that I am afraid is sorely lacking in our generation; naturalization to our new homeland. Some might say; how can we be naturalized to a country we have never been to?
From L.E. Maxwell’s classic Born Crucified, Dr. A. J. Gordon said;
The men who conquered the Roman Empire for Christ bore the aspect of invaders from another world, who absolutely refused to be naturalized to this world. Their conduct filled their heathen neighbors with the strangest perplexity; they were so careless of life, so careful of conscience, so prodigal of their own blood, so confident of the overcoming power of the blood of the Lamb, so unsubdued to the custom of the country in which they sojourned, so mindful of the manners of that country from whence they came not. (their heavenly country). The help of the world, the patronage of its rulers, the loan of its resources, the use of its methods they utterly refused, lest by employing these they might compromise their King. An invading army maintained from an invisible base and placing more confidence in the leadership of an unseen Commander than all the imperial help that might be proffered- that was what so bewildered and angered the heathen, who often desire to make friends with the Christians without abandoning their own gods. But there can be no reasonable doubt that that age in which the church was so completely separated from the world was the age in which Christianity was most victorious in the world.
Dr. Gordon’s assessment paints a picture of a totally different kind of church, a church naturalized to the world to come. As Paul said; We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Does this not take us to the root of the problem? Are we so much like the world that the people of this generation see no discernible difference in our lives? And if we were so caught up and obsessed with that Kingdom above us, naturalized if you will, would we not burn with a message that seeks to wrestle men and women out of the grip of a sin sick world that is coming to nothing? But I am afraid we are far too at home in the world that is under the command of God’s sworn enemy.
The writer of Hebrews said of the people of God; All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country-a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:12-16).
Does your Christian experience so expose you to the glory of God and His Kingdom and thus create within you a longing for the world to come and at the same time cause the bloom to fall off the rose of this proud world in your eyes? Has your exposure to the Kingdom of God caused a certain “naturalization process” to take place within you, one that has awakened your heart to Eternity, and therefore leads you to disinvest from this fallen world and seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Are you a heavenly minded, naturalized Christian like the Christians of the Roman era mentioned before?
I am afraid that our modern religious culture basically promotes itself, not the interests of God. It has lowered the high standards of God and now offers a self-centered spirituality that embraces and enjoys the comforts and luxuries of this world and Heaven when we die. (See Matthew 16:24-25 from the Amplified Bible).
Paul told the Corinthians; If someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:4, 13).
I am quite sure that in large part, the Jesus, the Gospel, and the Spirit, that is being disseminated throughout the nation today, falls short of the Jesus and the Gospel delivered by Paul and the Apostles. I am sure of this because the lamentable fruit we are producing does not lie. It is what it is. I am not saying that we aren’t nice, well intentioned people. All I am saying is that we desperately need men who are so naturalized to Heaven’s manners and Spirit, who will bring forth the Word of God that will cause the church to repudiate the world’s claims upon them and embrace Heaven’s claims.
May God raise up a new generation of men and women who will once again be fully naturalized Christians!
A naturalized citizen is someone who has emigrated from another country to, let’s say America. But there is more to it than just a change of one’s geography. One who is naturalized is someone who has sworn an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, learns and speaks the nation’s official language, embraces its values and lives up to the responsibilities of a citizen. Another name for this is assimilation.
What does it mean to be a naturalized Christian? To be honest, I have never heard of the term but I am certain that the Bible calls us to be naturalized. We have been called to be naturalized to the Kingdom of God. Paul says; Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20).
The Word of God boldly announces things about our salvation and our new identity in Christ that totally reset our position in this world and the cosmos. Many have the idea that we are slowly inching our way to the pearly gates. But the Bible says we are already citizens of Heaven. The New Jerusalem is the mother of us all. We are born from above, born of the Spirit, born of God. The adoption papers have been drawn up and signed. Everything that needs to happen so that we might have full rights as sons has been accomplished through the finished work of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
But there is another step in the process that I am afraid is sorely lacking in our generation; naturalization to our new homeland. Some might say; how can we be naturalized to a country we have never been to?
From L.E. Maxwell’s classic Born Crucified, Dr. A. J. Gordon said;
The men who conquered the Roman Empire for Christ bore the aspect of invaders from another world, who absolutely refused to be naturalized to this world. Their conduct filled their heathen neighbors with the strangest perplexity; they were so careless of life, so careful of conscience, so prodigal of their own blood, so confident of the overcoming power of the blood of the Lamb, so unsubdued to the custom of the country in which they sojourned, so mindful of the manners of that country from whence they came not. (their heavenly country). The help of the world, the patronage of its rulers, the loan of its resources, the use of its methods they utterly refused, lest by employing these they might compromise their King. An invading army maintained from an invisible base and placing more confidence in the leadership of an unseen Commander than all the imperial help that might be proffered- that was what so bewildered and angered the heathen, who often desire to make friends with the Christians without abandoning their own gods. But there can be no reasonable doubt that that age in which the church was so completely separated from the world was the age in which Christianity was most victorious in the world.
Dr. Gordon’s assessment paints a picture of a totally different kind of church, a church naturalized to the world to come. As Paul said; We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Does this not take us to the root of the problem? Are we so much like the world that the people of this generation see no discernible difference in our lives? And if we were so caught up and obsessed with that Kingdom above us, naturalized if you will, would we not burn with a message that seeks to wrestle men and women out of the grip of a sin sick world that is coming to nothing? But I am afraid we are far too at home in the world that is under the command of God’s sworn enemy.
The writer of Hebrews said of the people of God; All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country-a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:12-16).
Does your Christian experience so expose you to the glory of God and His Kingdom and thus create within you a longing for the world to come and at the same time cause the bloom to fall off the rose of this proud world in your eyes? Has your exposure to the Kingdom of God caused a certain “naturalization process” to take place within you, one that has awakened your heart to Eternity, and therefore leads you to disinvest from this fallen world and seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Are you a heavenly minded, naturalized Christian like the Christians of the Roman era mentioned before?
I am afraid that our modern religious culture basically promotes itself, not the interests of God. It has lowered the high standards of God and now offers a self-centered spirituality that embraces and enjoys the comforts and luxuries of this world and Heaven when we die. (See Matthew 16:24-25 from the Amplified Bible).
Paul told the Corinthians; If someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:4, 13).
I am quite sure that in large part, the Jesus, the Gospel, and the Spirit, that is being disseminated throughout the nation today, falls short of the Jesus and the Gospel delivered by Paul and the Apostles. I am sure of this because the lamentable fruit we are producing does not lie. It is what it is. I am not saying that we aren’t nice, well intentioned people. All I am saying is that we desperately need men who are so naturalized to Heaven’s manners and Spirit, who will bring forth the Word of God that will cause the church to repudiate the world’s claims upon them and embrace Heaven’s claims.
May God raise up a new generation of men and women who will once again be fully naturalized Christians!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
May I Recommend.................
About twenty years ago, a friend of mine lent me a stack of cassette tapes by a Messianic Jew named Art Katz. I knew from the beginning that Art Katz was not playing church. He was as authentic as any man I had ever heard preach the Gospel. Over the years, I would hear of Art but I never had the privilege of hearing him speak in person. I ordered some of his books a couple of years ago and they were excellent as well. Art Katz passed away last year in his home in northern Minnesota.
This past week, I was driving out to east Texas to do some ministry and took along an old set of CDs of Art's ministry. Upon returning home, I was filled with the Holy Spirit and hungry to hear more and more of this man. So I went to Youtube and found some excellent postings of videos and interviews. If you are hungry to hear the unvarnished truth of the Word of God come through one of God's special and rare men, take time to investigate Art Katz. You will not be sorry you did.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Stay Focused on What's Important
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:37-39).
I have always been fascinated by this passage of scripture. When you read Matthew 24 and think about the things that Jesus says will be happening on the earth before His coming, you would think that people would be lining up at the churches to find out what the Word of God has to say about the times in which they are living. But the exact opposite is true. Jesus is saying that people will be so spiritually dull that they will go about doing their own thing believing that the world will continue as it has always been.
We can see this phenomena taking place in our world right now. The warning signs of Christ’s coming are everywhere. But instead of getting right with God, they are all caught up in their jobs, their family activities, music lessons, soccer practice, their favorite sports team, and so on. Who takes it to heart that the end of the age is upon us and that means that the party is over?
"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, (intemperate living and self indulgence) drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34-36).
It has always been a challenge for Christians to know how to live in this corrupt world and not be of it. The apostle John says; “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15). The key to keeping a safe distance from the world is to be fully engaged with the Lord, keeping Him as your first love. When God is your first love, you will not allow any other loves to take His place on the throne of your heart.
This brings us to the most important issue of our times, the issue of the Glory of God. The anti-christ spirit that fuels this present world system, offers mankind a counterfeit view of life, one that conveniently leaves the Creator of all things out of its consideration. When we pull back from it all, we see that this corrupt world system is really a “parasite” that has been living on God’s creation. It is redirecting God’s intended purpose for all things towards an alternate corrupt purpose designed by the father of lies. Paul says; They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen. (Romans 1:25).
This is a little hard to understand because unless it has been revealed to you what God’s original purpose was for the earth and his creation and how we were to live within it, you would never be vexed by how utterly evil this world is.
Quoting Romans again; For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21). Has it occurred to us that we have never known in our short life spans a time when men were not as Paul said; foolish and under spiritual delusion? We would like to think that total depravity and spiritual delusion should be something rare and temporary but this is not the case. It has been that way in this world from the moment we arrived and will be that way until Christ returns and abolishes it from the face of the earth. We are like tadpoles that were hatched in a polluted pond gasping for air and struggling to survive and yet it has never occurred to us that there is fresh, clean water somewhere else. We go about our lives and business thinking that this is just the way it is and so we accept everything as it is without question. Well I have news for you; there is such a thing as fresh water!
It is just accepted that the “lie” is true and you just better go along with it. This is reinforced in what you watch on television, read in magazines and hear in the voices of the people you encounter on the street. The “lie” is the spiritual toxic pollution I am speaking about. It has reached every man because it is transferred to us through the osmosis of this world’s group think. It is inescapable. But it can be overcome.
Jesus warned us that it is essential for us to go and find this fresh and life-giving water. When we do, we discover the treasures of wisdom and knowledge necessary to living above the trappings and dangers that await the foolish and deceived.
This reminds me of one my favorite movies; The Matrix. This story is about a regular guy who is a computer nerd who mostly accepts the world as he sees it but he is troubled by some of the things he would like answers for. One day he receives an email from an unknown source who seeks to contact him about his questions. His curiosity gets the best of him and so he follows up. He meets a man named Morphius who has information that is almost too much to accept. He tells him that the world he sees and has lived in all his life is the result of a massive computer program that has been plugged into the minds and consciences of the human race. Their real bodies are lying in pods and are plugged into this system like computer chips. People think they are free human beings enjoying life but they are really slaves attached to this evil system. He gets unhooked from the Matrix and joins up with this group who seeks to deliver the humans from the Matrix forever. The story is complicated but so is the Truth of God.
Those who have come to know the truth are outside the world system. They can no longer give themselves to the delusions the world holds mankind under. They see the strategies and lies the world uses to destroy God’s purposes and because of their allegiance to Him, they have “unhooked” themselves spiritually and emotionally. They understand what Jesus meant when He said; “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.”
Knowing the Truth and walking in the Light as He is in the Light takes discipline and wisdom. God has given us His Word to provide the Light we need to navigate this wicked world and be able to see wonders of our God. Once we have found the original purpose for all things, we won’t get fooled again.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MATRIX CLIP
Sunday, May 23, 2010
The Kingdom of God is at Hand
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be alive at the end of the age? You might be one of the people who are going to find out. There is so much happening that points to this possibility that one can hardly keep up with it all.
Economically, we are in the era of massive government bailouts and spending which amounts to nothing more than the printing of trillions of dollars of fiat currency to delay the inevitable collapse of the world economies. We are seeing the beginning of social unrest and anarchy in Greece that could spread across Europe.
Environmentally, we are witnessing natural disasters such as the Icelandic volcano that continues to cause problems for travel and commerce in Europe. There are the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and the flood in Nashville. Then there is the oil well leak that cannot be stopped that is causing untold damage to the Gulf Coast and everything associated with it.
Then there is the appearing of massive Big Brother government that is getting stronger and more intrusive here and the developed countries. And of course, the situation with Israel is becoming more in line with Bible prophesy than ever. Where is all this leading?
We have been saying for a couple of years that the Word of God states that governments of the world will one day betray the people of the earth and the veil of who is pulling the strings would be lifted. This present world system is under the control of the prince of the power of the air, as the Word calls him. We must never forget this.
The day is coming when another empire, the Final Empire will come and dethrone the world’s principalities, powers and rulers. Jesus Christ will come to possess His inheritance for He is the heir of all things. (Hebrews 1:2, Psalms 2:8). He will rule the nations as King. (Zechariah 14:9).
At this very hour, Jesus Christ is a sitting King waiting till His enemies be made His footstool. (Psalms 110:1). He is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God. (Hebrews 1:3). He should be proclaimed and worshipped as King and Sovereign by His people. But in many places, He is just a religious figure, marginalized with the other religions of the world. Do we really understand what it means that Jesus Christ is the Son of David?
During a recent prayer meeting, the Lord spoke to my heart and said; “The Gospel is not a religious issue; it is a governmental, dominion issue.” It appeared to me that when we fail to see the King and the Kingdom of God, we fail to take Jesus and His Word as seriously as we should. There is this opinion that all one must do is believe and Jesus will gladly take you to heaven. This is a distortion of a truth and not the whole truth.
Jesus preached; “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” When we see that His Kingdom is a literal kingdom and not a metaphor, we see that what the King has to say is binding. Hebrews 2 says; We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. The writer of Hebrews seems to be saying that we have a great obligation to follow the Lord in obedience is we are in His Kingdom. Where is our loyalty and obedience? "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21).
The desire to rule and reign burns within the heart of Jesus Christ. He is a King intuitively and looks with great anticipation to the day when He will subdue the enemies of God and bring justice and righteousness to the whole earth.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7).
The writer of Hebrews says about Jesus; "Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
The Gospel is not a compact of moral values, ethics and religious beliefs. They are the words of the King of Glory. Should you not fear me?" declares the Lord. "Should you not tremble in my presence? (Jeremiah 5:22). But to the wicked, God says: "What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you. (Psalms 50:16-17). "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the Lord Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations. (Malachi 1:14).Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. (Psalms 119:2).
Jesus Christ is the One who was, who is, and who is to come. From the time we have come to know Him and find mercy and grace in His sight, we should recognize that He rules and reigns and deserves our utmost respect, fear, and obedience. Do not let it be said about us; “Why call Me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say?”
It cannot be overstated that Jesus came into this world as a man with one thing on His mind; the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Paul said; He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (1 Corinthians 15:25). This is all about His dominion and rule.
When we see the Kingdom of God, we see the future. When we see Jesus Christ, we see the King for who all men must give account and answer to. There is no life apart from Him. The people of God are supposed to be a prophetic people who see what is coming because we have been given the Word of God. If the Kingdom of God is a real Kingdom and a “government” notwithstanding, why would we not take this to heart now? We should look forward with great anticipation to the Day when Christ will reign on this earth. But we should not delay to submit ourselves to His authority as King and Lord. Will not every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord?
As for this world, the handwriting is on the wall. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Economically, we are in the era of massive government bailouts and spending which amounts to nothing more than the printing of trillions of dollars of fiat currency to delay the inevitable collapse of the world economies. We are seeing the beginning of social unrest and anarchy in Greece that could spread across Europe.
Environmentally, we are witnessing natural disasters such as the Icelandic volcano that continues to cause problems for travel and commerce in Europe. There are the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and the flood in Nashville. Then there is the oil well leak that cannot be stopped that is causing untold damage to the Gulf Coast and everything associated with it.
Then there is the appearing of massive Big Brother government that is getting stronger and more intrusive here and the developed countries. And of course, the situation with Israel is becoming more in line with Bible prophesy than ever. Where is all this leading?
We have been saying for a couple of years that the Word of God states that governments of the world will one day betray the people of the earth and the veil of who is pulling the strings would be lifted. This present world system is under the control of the prince of the power of the air, as the Word calls him. We must never forget this.
The day is coming when another empire, the Final Empire will come and dethrone the world’s principalities, powers and rulers. Jesus Christ will come to possess His inheritance for He is the heir of all things. (Hebrews 1:2, Psalms 2:8). He will rule the nations as King. (Zechariah 14:9).
At this very hour, Jesus Christ is a sitting King waiting till His enemies be made His footstool. (Psalms 110:1). He is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God. (Hebrews 1:3). He should be proclaimed and worshipped as King and Sovereign by His people. But in many places, He is just a religious figure, marginalized with the other religions of the world. Do we really understand what it means that Jesus Christ is the Son of David?
During a recent prayer meeting, the Lord spoke to my heart and said; “The Gospel is not a religious issue; it is a governmental, dominion issue.” It appeared to me that when we fail to see the King and the Kingdom of God, we fail to take Jesus and His Word as seriously as we should. There is this opinion that all one must do is believe and Jesus will gladly take you to heaven. This is a distortion of a truth and not the whole truth.
Jesus preached; “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” When we see that His Kingdom is a literal kingdom and not a metaphor, we see that what the King has to say is binding. Hebrews 2 says; We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. The writer of Hebrews seems to be saying that we have a great obligation to follow the Lord in obedience is we are in His Kingdom. Where is our loyalty and obedience? "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21).
The desire to rule and reign burns within the heart of Jesus Christ. He is a King intuitively and looks with great anticipation to the day when He will subdue the enemies of God and bring justice and righteousness to the whole earth.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7).
The writer of Hebrews says about Jesus; "Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
The Gospel is not a compact of moral values, ethics and religious beliefs. They are the words of the King of Glory. Should you not fear me?" declares the Lord. "Should you not tremble in my presence? (Jeremiah 5:22). But to the wicked, God says: "What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you. (Psalms 50:16-17). "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the Lord Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations. (Malachi 1:14).Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. (Psalms 119:2).
Jesus Christ is the One who was, who is, and who is to come. From the time we have come to know Him and find mercy and grace in His sight, we should recognize that He rules and reigns and deserves our utmost respect, fear, and obedience. Do not let it be said about us; “Why call Me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say?”
It cannot be overstated that Jesus came into this world as a man with one thing on His mind; the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Paul said; He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (1 Corinthians 15:25). This is all about His dominion and rule.
When we see the Kingdom of God, we see the future. When we see Jesus Christ, we see the King for who all men must give account and answer to. There is no life apart from Him. The people of God are supposed to be a prophetic people who see what is coming because we have been given the Word of God. If the Kingdom of God is a real Kingdom and a “government” notwithstanding, why would we not take this to heart now? We should look forward with great anticipation to the Day when Christ will reign on this earth. But we should not delay to submit ourselves to His authority as King and Lord. Will not every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord?
As for this world, the handwriting is on the wall. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Where God Abides- Missions Happen!
If we are rightly related to God, the issue of Mission necessarily becomes the all important issue of our lives. When a man comes Face to face with the Lord and surrenders to His authority in every area of his life, he becomes aware of a need, the greatest need planet earth suffers; its need to be reconciled to God.
The late Henri Nouwen said; “When we live our lives as missions, we become aware that there is a home from where we are sent and to where we have to return. We start thinking about ourselves as people who are in a faraway country to bring a message or work on a project, but only for a certain amount of time. When the message has been delivered and the project is finished, we want to return home to give an account of our mission and to rest from our labors. One of the most important spiritual disciplines is to develop the knowledge that the years of our lives are years on a mission."
I agree with Henri Nouwen but there is something more to say along these lines. I am referring to how we should see the earth. I remember a time as a young Christian when I believed that going to heaven was the goal of the Christian. There is a certain amount of truth to that statement but it falls far short of telling the whole story. We can think that heaven is where we belong and miss the part of the Gospel that states that the nations are Christ’s inheritance. I think we can hold a kind of disdain for the earth because it has been the place of our troubles and sufferings.
Psalms 2:8-12 says; Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
In the first chapter of Hebrews the Word states; In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
What I am getting at is that we have for far too long overlooked the fact that the earth was created by the Lord and the Father has given all things, the earth and the fullness thereof, to His Son to be His inheritance. To take this a step farther, Jesus said; “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” The Lord’s people, those who are faithful and loyal to the King, are joint heirs with Christ and share in His inheritance. The earth will be theirs to enjoy under the King’s wonderful dominion and leadership.
In recent weeks, I have been preaching and teaching on the fact that Jesus is a sitting king waiting till His enemies be made His footstool. (Psalms 110:1). This is a present day reality. He is now the heir of all things and everything belongs to Him. The earth, the sky, lakes, rivers, oceans, lands, natural resources, the people! Everything is His! (Revelation 4:11). The Gospel is telling us that God has installed His King on Zion! (Psalms 2:6). This is Jesus’ exaltation and glorification.
The Gospel message is simply, “Repent, reconsider your ways, think this over, the Kingdom of God is at hand, coming, and is already here! You must be reconciled to the King! When we were born from above, we became sons of the Kingdom and from everything I can tell from the Bible, the Kingdom will fill the whole earth. The coming ages will take place on the earth and Christ will rule for a thousand years.
In 2002, I went to Cambodia on a missions trip to assist in building a church there. In the Seventies, Pol Pot overthrew the government and installed a reign of terror called the Khmer Rouge. They turned Cambodia into a prison camp and three million people were starved and murdered under the most horrendous conditions imaginable. What happened there was nothing more than horrible. Mass graves are everywhere and the scars of what happened there still remain in the hearts and minds of the people who witnessed and survived it. Everywhere I went, I could not shake the thought that when I was a kid in high school, kids my age were being sent to slavery and to their deaths in the rice fields. I wondered how a terrible thing like this could happen. The same could be said about Russia, China, Japan and Germany. It was hard to feel at ease knowing what had taken place there only thirty years before.
We should not think that the earth is a small thing to the Lord. I like to say that the earth is a really cool place. It’s the knuckleheads that drive me crazy!
What does the earth have to do with missions and our mission in particular? You see, Jesus is more than a savior, He is a great King, the One who will reign and exercise government and dominion over all the earth, and that includes the place in which we live. It isn’t hard to imagine the changes that are coming to your town. The wild ride of Bible prophesy is just ahead. Great trouble first, then a time of unprecedented blessing under the government and leadership of Jesus Christ. The earth is actually groaning in its desire to see the unveiling of the sons of God.
Have you considered that God is expecting us to be something to the place where we live, a people uniquely qualified to open the doors to the Kingdom of God and give access to the people who live in this place? We can go places where terrible things have happened and see them as cursed and forsaken of God. Fear and death reign in such places. On the other hand we can find places of blessing and life, where people feel love, see the Truth, feel secure and can grow and thrive spiritually. For that to happen, it will take people with a vision for the Glory of God to be shown through the Gospel to the people we live with.
Just after I came to know the Lord and was gloriously saved, I made a request that I wanted to do something that would make it possible for other people to find what I had discovered. This was too good to keep to myself. It would be an injustice and a horrific thing not to do everything possible to give people access to the Lord. I didn’t know it then but God was planting the seeds of missions in my heart. For the past twenty years, we have been at Bread Basket, preaching the Word of God, seeking to bring God and people together while we help meet their material needs.
One of my favorite quotes concerning missions comes from John Piper who says; “The goal of missions is to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of the glory of God.” In other words, our goal is to bring people and God together so that worship might happen! If worship happens, God is glorified, a man or woman finds what is infinitely valuable and the Kingdom of God has come to another household.
The Lord is not returning to this earth to take us to heaven. No, the King is coming to possess His inheritance! The question we must ask is this; what will we have to present to Him when He comes? The best gift we could present to the Lord would be the people we were called to reach with the Gospel, having been made ready to see the King of Glory.
A final quote from John Piper on missions. “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church, worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” Does it grieve your spirit to see the people around us spend their lives on the superfluous, the temporal, and worst of all, fail to see God and be properly reconciled to Him? It is a tragedy that touches God and man. For a man to miss God, he loses the infinite experience of becoming eternally related to God and the Lord suffers loss over the son or daughter that will not be in His house. Worship will not happen. Love will be lost.
The late Henri Nouwen said; “When we live our lives as missions, we become aware that there is a home from where we are sent and to where we have to return. We start thinking about ourselves as people who are in a faraway country to bring a message or work on a project, but only for a certain amount of time. When the message has been delivered and the project is finished, we want to return home to give an account of our mission and to rest from our labors. One of the most important spiritual disciplines is to develop the knowledge that the years of our lives are years on a mission."
I agree with Henri Nouwen but there is something more to say along these lines. I am referring to how we should see the earth. I remember a time as a young Christian when I believed that going to heaven was the goal of the Christian. There is a certain amount of truth to that statement but it falls far short of telling the whole story. We can think that heaven is where we belong and miss the part of the Gospel that states that the nations are Christ’s inheritance. I think we can hold a kind of disdain for the earth because it has been the place of our troubles and sufferings.
Psalms 2:8-12 says; Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
In the first chapter of Hebrews the Word states; In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
What I am getting at is that we have for far too long overlooked the fact that the earth was created by the Lord and the Father has given all things, the earth and the fullness thereof, to His Son to be His inheritance. To take this a step farther, Jesus said; “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” The Lord’s people, those who are faithful and loyal to the King, are joint heirs with Christ and share in His inheritance. The earth will be theirs to enjoy under the King’s wonderful dominion and leadership.
In recent weeks, I have been preaching and teaching on the fact that Jesus is a sitting king waiting till His enemies be made His footstool. (Psalms 110:1). This is a present day reality. He is now the heir of all things and everything belongs to Him. The earth, the sky, lakes, rivers, oceans, lands, natural resources, the people! Everything is His! (Revelation 4:11). The Gospel is telling us that God has installed His King on Zion! (Psalms 2:6). This is Jesus’ exaltation and glorification.
The Gospel message is simply, “Repent, reconsider your ways, think this over, the Kingdom of God is at hand, coming, and is already here! You must be reconciled to the King! When we were born from above, we became sons of the Kingdom and from everything I can tell from the Bible, the Kingdom will fill the whole earth. The coming ages will take place on the earth and Christ will rule for a thousand years.
In 2002, I went to Cambodia on a missions trip to assist in building a church there. In the Seventies, Pol Pot overthrew the government and installed a reign of terror called the Khmer Rouge. They turned Cambodia into a prison camp and three million people were starved and murdered under the most horrendous conditions imaginable. What happened there was nothing more than horrible. Mass graves are everywhere and the scars of what happened there still remain in the hearts and minds of the people who witnessed and survived it. Everywhere I went, I could not shake the thought that when I was a kid in high school, kids my age were being sent to slavery and to their deaths in the rice fields. I wondered how a terrible thing like this could happen. The same could be said about Russia, China, Japan and Germany. It was hard to feel at ease knowing what had taken place there only thirty years before.
We should not think that the earth is a small thing to the Lord. I like to say that the earth is a really cool place. It’s the knuckleheads that drive me crazy!
What does the earth have to do with missions and our mission in particular? You see, Jesus is more than a savior, He is a great King, the One who will reign and exercise government and dominion over all the earth, and that includes the place in which we live. It isn’t hard to imagine the changes that are coming to your town. The wild ride of Bible prophesy is just ahead. Great trouble first, then a time of unprecedented blessing under the government and leadership of Jesus Christ. The earth is actually groaning in its desire to see the unveiling of the sons of God.
Have you considered that God is expecting us to be something to the place where we live, a people uniquely qualified to open the doors to the Kingdom of God and give access to the people who live in this place? We can go places where terrible things have happened and see them as cursed and forsaken of God. Fear and death reign in such places. On the other hand we can find places of blessing and life, where people feel love, see the Truth, feel secure and can grow and thrive spiritually. For that to happen, it will take people with a vision for the Glory of God to be shown through the Gospel to the people we live with.
Just after I came to know the Lord and was gloriously saved, I made a request that I wanted to do something that would make it possible for other people to find what I had discovered. This was too good to keep to myself. It would be an injustice and a horrific thing not to do everything possible to give people access to the Lord. I didn’t know it then but God was planting the seeds of missions in my heart. For the past twenty years, we have been at Bread Basket, preaching the Word of God, seeking to bring God and people together while we help meet their material needs.
One of my favorite quotes concerning missions comes from John Piper who says; “The goal of missions is to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of the glory of God.” In other words, our goal is to bring people and God together so that worship might happen! If worship happens, God is glorified, a man or woman finds what is infinitely valuable and the Kingdom of God has come to another household.
The Lord is not returning to this earth to take us to heaven. No, the King is coming to possess His inheritance! The question we must ask is this; what will we have to present to Him when He comes? The best gift we could present to the Lord would be the people we were called to reach with the Gospel, having been made ready to see the King of Glory.
A final quote from John Piper on missions. “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church, worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” Does it grieve your spirit to see the people around us spend their lives on the superfluous, the temporal, and worst of all, fail to see God and be properly reconciled to Him? It is a tragedy that touches God and man. For a man to miss God, he loses the infinite experience of becoming eternally related to God and the Lord suffers loss over the son or daughter that will not be in His house. Worship will not happen. Love will be lost.
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