I have a question for you: What can God’s people do in times of impending judgment to move the heart of the Lord?
We’re seeing natural calamities on such a scale as never before: tidal waves, hurricanes, fires, floods, droughts. I think of the world-shaking devastation wrought by the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes in India and Pakistan.
How quickly we forget God’s great deliverances in our lives. How easily we take for granted the miracles he performed in our past. Yet the Bible tells us over and over, “Remember your deliverances.”
We’re so like the disciples. They didn’t understand Christ’s miracles when he supernaturally fed thousands with just a few loaves and fishes. Jesus performed this miracle twice, feeding 5,000 people one time and a crowd of 4,000 the next. Yet, just a few days later, the disciples had dropped these events from memory.
"Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord" (1 Chronicles 26:27). This verse opens us to a profound, life-changing truth. It speaks of spoils that can only be won in battle. And once these spoils are won, they're dedicated to the building up of God's house.
I want to take you to Mount Horeb in Israel, to a dark cave. Inside the cave sits a lonely prophet of God. This godly man is elderly now, probably in his eighties. And he feels all alone. He has completely given up on society.
Some forty days earlier, the prophet had begged God to strike him dead. He was convinced, "This nation is too far gone. And the church is backslidden beyond repair. Every leader is a puppet of the devil. Revival is simply impossible now. There's no hope left. Lord, I've had it. Please, take away my life" (see 1 Kings 19:4).
If there is one complaint I hear consistently from Christians all over the world, it's this: "I can't find a good church anywhere! I need a place where my family can be ministered to — where we can hear a true word from heaven, and where my children can grow up knowing true righteousness. But I just can't found that kind of a church!"
God's New Covenant with us can be summed up in one powerful statement: It is his irrevocable promise to deliver his people from the dominion of sin - through the power of the Holy Ghost!
This New Covenant does away with all of our puny efforts to please God through our flesh. It is the end of all our striving to overcome sin, whether through determination, strength, reasoning or any other works of the flesh. In short, God's New Covenant takes the pressure off of us - and places it all on him!
"Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me" (Matthew 15:7-8)
I want to talk to you about mental distractions during prayer and forsaken worship — especially in the house of God. Jesus called people hypocrites who came into His presence mouthing words of praise, but whose minds and hearts were preoccupied. He spoke directly to them, saying, "You give Me your mouth and your lips — but your mind is somewhere else. Your heart is nowhere near Me!"
I want to share with you what I believe is God's vision for His last-day church. It is a vision based on the revealed Word of God — because the Bible clearly outlines what the church of Jesus Christ will be like just prior to His coming.
Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, said three requisites go into the making of a true minister of the gospel. These three things also apply to any overcoming Christian: prayer, meditation — and temptation.
It was said that Luther could speak to people's consciences more quickly than any man of his day. His preaching was so piercing, he seemed to read directly into people's hearts and minds.
Some of you have been saved for a number of years, some perhaps a year, and some just months or a few weeks. Being saved from sin is wonderful! Old things fade away — and all things become new. I am so glad you're saved!
But to be a good soldier in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's not enough just to be saved. There is much more for you! You need to be baptized with the Holy Ghost!
