Greetings,
"Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire; and all our pleasant things are laid waste." Isaiah 64:11
These closing verses of chapter 64 are a reflection to what has happened to Jerusalem and to Judah by the Babylonians. The city was destroyed; the walls were thrown down and the temple was burned and destroyed to ruin. The people had been slain by the sword, taken into captivity or died by the famine and the plague. All of these things came upon them because they would not obey nor hearken unto the voice of the Lord. He, being merciful, sent His prophets, rising up and sending them time and time again to warn them to repent lest these very things come upon them. And come upon them they did, because they would not serve nor hearken to the Lord God.
Now our churches have not been razed to the ground; as we see Chinese officials during these days, destroying many church homes, and places of worship. Our churches have not been burned up, like we see happening in Nigeria by the Islamic radicals. But the physical destruction of Christian churches is one thing, but spiritually destroying them is far worse. Our places of worship, as we have been accustomed to here in North America, have been shut, due to the plague upon the world. For weeks, no gathering, no services where the church physically gathers themselves together. Only via live stream services and zoom meetings. But now, the time is upon us that many are already opening their doors, and many are planning on starting back up physical worship in Christian churches.
May I Warn You Before You Begin Again! That these places of Christian fellowship where we gather, that used to be holiness unto the Lord. Where our fathers praised the Lord God with the old hymns, great preaching, labors of prayer and good fellowship and discipleship are now unholy and very carnal. God has shut the doors of the church for a reason. And we are to cleanse ourselves and our churches before we begin again. The Scripture warns of this, 'Let judgement begin at the house of God'. For if we do not give heed to this warning, 'the last phrase of this verse may become our testimony, and 'they were burnt up and all that was pleasant to them was left waste.'
Upon returning to physical gathering and worship we should restore that which we have lost. The first priority is holiness. A mandate to hear the command of our Lord, 'Be ye holy; for I am holy'. We must seek to become like our Lord. For some reason and some way, that priority and pursuit over these last years, yea decades, has been lost. It is almost foreign to too many pastors and churches. We are satisfied with carnality, flesh and worldliness in the church, on the stage, in the pulpits and a part of our Christian witness. It is wicked and perverse to see and hear of some of the things that go on in the pulpits and on the stages of our churches. These things, 'ought not to be named among us.' But what should be sought and found among us is services, music and prayer that returns to see His glory and long for His holiness to be upon us in the fullness of His Spirit; this should be our agenda.
One of the things that has led us away from holiness is the two sins of humanism and pragmatism. Both of these have worked hand in hand to seek 'to do church' without God. Religious in their appearance; laced with some Bible truth; but never ordained nor sanctioned by God to be implemented. But because they got higher stats, larger numbers, we took it for God's blessing; rather than understanding that we was being led away from holiness. We were taking a cheap route that was not about God's glory or ways, but in our vanity it was all about our pride. Satan seduced us to these sins and in that moment we lost the power of God and the Presence of God.
These "-isms" are notoriously implemented in new church works today. And far worse, it is done in the ways of evangelism. Are people being saved; yes. Are prayers being answered; yes. Is there growth in new churches; yes. But are they being saved and growing as fast as they could be if we was endued with power from on high? Oh, brethren, if we would wait upon the Lord; cast off our carnal humanism; seek Him with our whole hearts; continue to pray with fervency and urgency; we would see mighty things from God. We would see the spiritual awakening and perhaps, God may grace us with revival. But so long as we continue, as is, which we was doing before; we grieve and limit the Holy Ghost from our midst. We cannot do the things of God, without the Spirit of God.
It is time to rebuke these ways, denounce them and abhor them. It is time to return the House of God to holiness. It is time to return the church to a house of prayer. It is time to return the pulpit to 'thus saith the Lord.' It is time to lead men to regeneration as the Scriptures clearly teach. It is time to lead them to confession and repentance from sin, self and world. It is time to instruct them in dying to self and living in Christ daily. We must return to New Testament Christianity. It is time to return to how our fathers praised Him and worshipped Him spirit and in truth. Cast off these ungodly ways; come out from among them and be ye separate; and be ye holy.
This may be, and many are sounding this, our last Divine invitation to clean our houses of worship, our homes, our hearts, and our hands. and if we do not heed the warning given at this Divine moment in history. God will remove our candlestick; and He will raise up another one that will 'finish the task'. I want to be apart of this time in history of being that generation that finished the task. Sought the Lord; found the Lord and was filled with the Lord. But these things cannot happen so long as humanism and pragmatism is embraced and allowed in the SBC, in the churches, in the pulpits, and in our service to Him.
The hour is late; the need is great; pray so as to prevail.
PRAYER TARGETS:
EPIDEMICS:
1. Drug & Alcohol - overdoses, acceptance, states buying and supplying alcohol and drugs to shutins during this lockdown; death, destruction and desolation on our society from this evil
2. LGBT - continued promotion and acceptance of this abomination; largely silence from the church;
3. Great Evil - still holding uptick of stats of homicides; suicides; and murder-suicides; this flood of evil must cease; filling the land with defilement ;
4. Natural Disasters - hurricane season forecast to be record/historic; earthquakes have remained low; long due now for 7.0; and a 8.0; raging fire in panhandle of FL;
5. Children - increase of abuse, neglect and sexual perversion during this lockdown; homes are a mess without Christ, evil prevails over this next generation; It would be hard to find children that before the age of 10 have not be sexual abused and exposed to wickedness.
6. Plagues - ripple affects are now showing in world wide plague; food chain, economy, national positioning for war;
UPDATES:
--bible readings - up through I Kings 15;
--The Activity of God - Jeremiah 16;
--A Word - major accomplishment; Isiah 63: verses 1 - 19, all are finished and complete; chapter 64, verses 1 - 11 are started, leaving only 1 verse to finish; 7 are fully complete;
--sermons are live streamed and uploaded to youtube page; Keyser church - 'Flee from the Wrath to Come'; Fox's Hollow - 'While He Lingered';
Until,
Dan
Started: May 11, 2020
Continued: 5/12;
Finished:
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