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How many churches do you know that are flooded with the awesome presence of Jesus Christ? Where believers are so awed and reverent, they gather in holy silence. Where no one dares be flippant or silly. Where the singing is so filled with Christ's presence, sinners weep. Where the backslider and the wicked sinner become so miserable they either run to the altar, or out the door. Where the preacher is so anointed his face seems to shine with supernatural glory, and his words have convicting power.

All you happy, healthy, top of the world Christians living under blue skies, and who are, right now, enjoying the sunshine of life - this message is not for you.

This message is only for those who are down; for those children of God driven down by despair, loneliness, grief, pain, suffering. It is also a message for those who are down because they have no other human being to lean on. Although they lean on the Lord, the human need to love and be needed is not satisfied

John 6 contains one of the hardest passages for me in all of Scripture. It’s a difficult text for pastors especially because it speaks of followers who end up rejecting Christ and turning away. The passage I’m referring to isn’t a teaching or prophecy. It’s a scene in which people literally left Jesus in droves.

He had just miraculously fed a crowd of thousands. The people were amazed and thrilled by what he’d done, ready to follow this wonder-working Messiah. But when Jesus challenged them about what they were really after, they scoffed and left by the masses.

I want to make three statements to you about the touch of God on someone’s life.

This message is about spiritual prisons—those that Satan uses to cage us, and those we keep ourselves in. God’s Word shows us how to be freed from these prisons, with a powerful example from Peter’s life.

As I write this, the whole world is frightened, perplexed and confused. Even the most devoted Christians are wondering about all the fast-moving events as they rapidly unfold. Are these things prophetic?

I hear from believers everywhere who ask a question I myself am wondering: “Are we in the very last years of human history?” I do not know — any thoughts on that subject are mere speculation. But one thing is sure: We have seen an acceleration of world events as never before.

"Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:35–39).

Christians all over the world have a sense we’re living in the final days. The mounting crises, the growing fears, the signs of great shaking — all these things are evident, even to secular commentators. Now, for every follower of Jesus, the question of the hour is this: “Will my faith endure what is coming?”

I believe the most important issue of this hour has to do with what is called “enduring faith.” Simply put, will the faith of God’s people endure the terrible shaking of all things, the intense trials and testings to come, which no previous generation has faced?

The Psalmist writes, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee” (Psalm 76:10). According to this verse, the wrath of the wicked will one day be turned into praise of Almighty God. What a moment that’s going to be: the tongues of evildoers will only be able to acknowledge and worship the Lord!

My question about this verse is, where does the “wrath of man” come from? Right now a fierce, intense wrath is blanketing the whole earth, something that man isn’t capable of in himself. And this wrath is manifesting itself in multiple ways. Think of it:

As Paul was on his way to Jerusalem in Acts 20, he made a stop at Ephesus . There he called a special meeting of all the leaders of the church. He told those Ephesian believers solemnly, “This is the last time I’ll see you. And this will be my final message to you. You’re not going to see my face after this” (see Acts 20:25).