ThinkingInColor

1 Kings 17:8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,  ⁹  Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. 

Elijah was probably the most feared and bold prophet of the New Testament. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ, but Elijah was the forerunner of John. Elijah called fire down from heaven, he embarrassed 450 prophets of Baal, he slew them all, and commanded the rain to fall from heaven. But before these events, God sent Elijah to Zarephath

The reason Elijah went to Zarephath was the drought in the land. The reason there was a drought in the land was the command of Elijah. The reason God sent a drought to Israel was the sin of Ahab. “He did more the provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel that were gone before him.” (1 Kings 16:33)

· Sometimes it seems that the reason you are in a difficult situation is because you were following God and God led you there.

· God may never lead you into temptation, but he may lead you into the valley of the shadow of death.

· Some people say “God, Lead Me!” Then they proceed to tell God where to lead them and where not to lead them. The whole purpose of leadership is to take you where you wouldn’t go yourself, to face an enemy that you don’t want to face, and to gain a victory that you never would have won otherwise.

· With the same breath you ask God to take over your life, you also tell your flesh to submit to God. There is no leadership without followership!

· James said, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

¹⁰  So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 

Ever wonder why God so often picks on “widow women” to do his bidding? Why not some burley, robust man? Why not a wealthy landowner or prince? (Woman with the issue of blood; the widow who cast two mites into the temple offering; the Syrophoenician woman who wanted her daughter healed.) Because the widow woman lives with no cushion in her life. She has learned to utterly depend on God. She has no other recourse.

The first thing Elijah asked for was for her to fetch him a little water in a vessel.

Water the prophet

The prophet cannot live without water. This reference to the prophet is not to exalt the man, Elijah, but to magnify the office that he filled. In a larger sense, it was to keep the Word of God alive in your life. It is a confession of our weakness and his strength, of our utter dependence on God.

2 Corinthians 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

Sometimes we think that God demands too much from us. Do you know how much water the earth demands for its plant life each day? Answer: 914 km³ per day or 914 trillion liters (914,000,000,000,000 L) or 241,450,000,000,000 gallons (US). That’s 500 billion cubic kilometers every year.

That’s why we need to praise him lavishly, abundantly, exceedingly. Keep the spigot turned on full blast. Water the prophet.

Psalm 150:1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. 2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD

Feed the Prophet

¹¹  And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.  ¹²  And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.  ¹³  And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

The widow woman was going to do the bidding of the prophet. She hadn’t yet gotten it done when he called out for something more. “Bring me some bread too.”

This struck her as asking a little too much. “I’m okay with getting you some water. But now you are going too far. If I feed you, I am going to die myself and my son along with me. In fact, you are stealing my last meal from me. How could this be the will of God?”

She was more in need of a handout herself than to entertain others.

The flesh will never be able to understand how God works. If you expect your flesh to understand spiritual things, you are taking a long walk off a short pier. It will never happen.

The Apostle Paul told the Galatians: Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

To the Romans he wrote: Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

After you have watered the prophet, you need to understand that you’ve only started to serve him. Now you have to feed him.

Around the world bread is a staple in almost every single diet. Throughout history bread has been recognized as an important part of society’s survival. There have been wars started over the land on which the grains grow that are used to make the breads of a country or region.

· Water represents life; bread represents strength.

· Water represents your love, affection, praise, adoration and worship to God.

· Bread represents giving him your time, your tithes, your offerings, your energy, your relationships, your goals, your dreams, your purposes.

· Water represents how you are feeling towards God; bread represents what you are willing to do for God.

Judas was willing to give Jesus his love and affection; he was not willing to give him is dreams and purposes.

Many people are willing to flirt with Jesus. When it comes to a marriage commitment, they back out of it.

Notice that the woman did not have any bread, but she did have the ingredients to make it. She had the sticks, the flour and the oil. When God asks you for something, you cannot use the excuse that you don’t have it to give. You have all the necessary components to meet his request.

Elijah said, “Bake my cake first!” Do not ask God to wait his turn. He always goes to the front of the line.

Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) Jesus is the first and the last. If he can’t be first in your life, he won’t be the last. I want Jesus to have the last word in my life. But if he is going to have the last word, he’s got to have the first word!

Finally, the miracle shows up!

 ¹⁴  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth  ^d  rain upon the earth.  ¹⁵  And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. ¹⁶  And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah. 

When you water and feed the prophet, you begin to see the miraculous power of God come to life!

It cannot be any other way. The barrel of meal and the cruse of oil could not be replenished until they were challenged. The blessing of God eludes the takers and the tightwads. It is always on the givers.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

The Final Stage of Giving

This final segment of the story reveals the hardest part of the woman’s dealings with the prophet.

17  And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.  18  And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?  19  And he said unto her, Give me thy son.

She was asked to give water. She gave water.

She was asked to give bread. She gave bread at a great sacrifice.

Now she was asked to give her son.

I will never forget the time I left home and went to Bible College. I was excited, confident, determined. I put all of my earthly belongings into the 1962 Pontiac Tempest convertible, backed out of the driveway into Monroe St., waved bye and took off. I left my parents standing there by the house. I never understood how they must have felt until I waved goodbye to my son as he left for Bible College. My mother said that my Dad moped around for a week and would hardly look at my room, let alone go in it. Twenty-eight years later, I felt his pain.

My mother and father also said goodbye to a daughter and son-in-law, along with three grandkids as they left for the country of Uruguay, S. A. in 1976.

God takes us through the water experience and the bread experience so he can lead us to the son experience.

At some point in your life, whether sooner or later, God is going to lead you to the point where you will have to make the toughest decision of your life.

You are going to have to give up the thing that means the most to you. This is not water or bread for God. This is your life for God.

This is the point where anyone who desires the depths of God’s power must go. The great Apostle Paul had to go to this point.

Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

God’s Remarkable Gift

When you allow God to take you to the depths, he will then take you to the heights.

19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.  20  And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?  21  And he stretched  f  himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.  22  And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.  23  And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.  24  And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth. 

The woman did not first express gratitude for the resurrection of her son as you might expect. She first realized that she was in the presence of the man of God. She understood that truth was more important than anything else in her life.

The peace of God comes at the end of the conflict between you and your flesh. When you battle the will of the flesh to the very end, when you refuse to give up the struggle because it is too painful, when something within you will not let you stop, then you will be overwhelmed by the peace that passeth all understanding. Eternal purposes are settled in the crucible of time.

Bro. Kinzie is one of the greatest illustrations of the sacrifice of a dream for the cause of Christ. (Pensacola FL incident.) He gave up his farm. God gave him a world-wide ministry and a loving congregation that he was part of until the day he died.

Zarepheth is Toledo; Sylvania; Perrysburg; Walbridge; Bedford; Fulton County; The prophet is coming to your house. Expect him. Do his bidding. There you will find the miracle that will give ultimate meaning to your life.

 

---

d sendeth: Heb. giveth

f stretched: Heb. measured

1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

 

John Darby’s commentary asks, “Had the Galatians received the Spirit through works done on the principle of law, or through a testimony received by faith? Having begun by the power of the Spirit, would they carry the thing on to perfection by the wretched flesh?

 

They had suffered for the gospel, for the pure gospel, unadulterated with Judaism and the law: was it then all in vain?

 

We know how the church began on the Day of Pentecost.

 

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

 

We know that they were interested in things other than the Holy Spirit, but Jesus brought the attention back to the Spirit.

 

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

 

We know that they followed through with these instructions of Jesus.

They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, just as Jesus said they would.

 

This event was in the midst of a feast of the Jews, the Feast of Pentecost. Jesus knew that it would draw attention to the establishment of the New Testament church.

 

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

 

From that spectacular beginning, the paradigm shifted:

From Law to Grace

From Flesh to Spirit

From the Nation of Israel to the Entire World

From God above us to God within us.

From the blood of lambs to the Blood of The Lamb

From rituals to real

From prophecy projected to prophecy fulfilled

 

I still don’t think we understand the full significance of this shift. Ezekiel sheds some light on it for us.

 

Eze. 4:6. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT, saith the LORD of hosts.

 

Again, in Eze. 36:26 he said, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

 

This is the way the church operated after the Day of Pentecost.

 

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led BY THE SPIRIT of God, they are the sons of God.

 

1 Cor. 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and BY THE SPIRIT of our God.

 

And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, BY THE SPIRIT which he hath given us.

 

It was only a matter of time until the rise of the Age of the Spirit would reach a state where it could no longer be ignored by the world. We are there now.

 

Holy Spirit’s Reach Studied

Paul Steven Ghiringhelli News - Featured News  

A Los Angeles-based university was awarded a $6.9 million grant this week to establish a Pentecostal and charismatic research center in the birthplace city of American Pentecostalism.  

Feb. 24, 2009 - This week the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles received a $6.9 million grant to study Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity — one of the world’s fastest growing religious movements.

Awarded by the John Templeton Foundation, a natural and social sciences philanthropy, the grant is the largest amount ever given towards Pentecostal-charismatic research and will be used to establish the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative (PCRI) at USC.

“The growth of global Pentecostalism is one of the most remarkable religious transformations of the last century,” said Kimon Sargeant, vice president of human sciences at the John Templeton Foundation.

“The goal of this project is to further a better understanding of its significance in the social sciences in areas ranging from social capital to economic development and more.”

With as many as 600 million Christians worldwide claiming to be Spirit-filled, observers say Pentecostalism’s profound effect on cultures has forced the academic community to take note.

“We are excited that with the continued growth of the charismatic-Pentecostal movement around the world, scholars and universities are continuing to try to understand this phenomenon,” said the Rev. Billy Wilson, executive director of the International Center for Spiritual Renewal and chairman of the Commission on Holy Spirit Empowerment in the 21^st Century, which is examining the future of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement in partnership with Oral Roberts University.

“Our prayer is that this research will not only help people understand the charismatic-Pentecostal movement, but will also help more believers around the world be engaged in the Spirit-filled life,” Wilson said.

USC officials said the initiative would foster social science research in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the former Soviet Union, while continuing to study Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity in Los Angeles.

“Our goal is to inspire research partnerships around the globe and fund projects that will shape the discussion for years to come,” said Donald Miller, executive director of USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture and author of Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement.

“We are interested in understanding why Pentecostalism is growing so rapidly, what impact it is having on society and how it is different in various cultural settings.”

With the largest charismatic populations in the “global South,” including nations such as Brazil, Guatemala, Kenya and the Philippines, scholars say the movement is making Christian converts ubiquitous, which in turn affects not just cultures but governments too.

The Pentecostal-charismatic movement “has far-reaching implications for international politics and interactions among religious groups,” said Brie Loskota, program officer at PCRI. “Studying Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity is critical to understanding the ways in which religion shapes our world.”

John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, agrees that the research initiative will allow for a more in-depth study of global Spirit-filled movements. “It will expand the boundaries of knowledge about these key religious developments that are central to the spread of Christianity in the 21st century,” Green said. —-Paul Steven Ghiringhelli

 I agree with you as far as American or Western Pentecostalism, however I think if one looks at Pentecostalism in other countries one will see that it is the Pentecostals who are making a huge impact especially in missions. Other more traditional denominations are scared to use the gifts and/or cast out demons but this is the very thing that people are looking for in those countries to believe there truly is a God who answers by fire. They do not have the doctors we have or other things… they run to God and He answers their prayers with power. There are so many testimonies of supernatural water, deliverance, salvation, dreams in Muslim countries… the good about Pentecostals is that we are fine with these things happening.

 I believe it is time for the true Pentecostals to rise up.

We have too long looked at ourselves as stepchildren, outsiders, pretenders to the traditional Christian church.

 If God is truly moving in the world today, it is through his Spirit, not through denominational, “orthodox” Christianity.

 1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 There are those among us who want to return to the old style of Spirit-less church.

Intellectually-driven

Hermeneutically accepted

Socially approved

Culturally relevant

 But this article and this funded-study shows that the relevance of the church has nothing to do with being “green.” It has nothing to do with being accepted with the “ivy-league” mentality.

 If these people wanted to study traditional Christianity, they have more than enough evidences of that to keep them busy for the next decade. They don’t want to study that because nothing is happening in traditional Christianity.

 Indeed, traditional Christianity, evangelicalism, is collapsing. It is going nowhere. People are leaving the mainline denominations by the droves. Methodists dropped by 0.8% in 2008. The UCC was down a full 6% last year. Only about 10% of the 1 billion Catholics in the world attend church regularly.

 August was a month of harvesting in Guyana, South America! In this beautiful, Caribbean cultured country in the north-east corner of South America, we had a Holy Ghost explosion unlike any seen here in many years! In the months preceding our National Crusade the churches of the United Pentecostal Church of Guyana prayed, fasted, gave and did months of outreach in order to have an outpouring of the Holy Ghost. The harvesting was a total corporate effort. Funds for this crusade in the capital city of Georgetown had been sacrificially given at the General Conference of the UPCI in Columbus, Ohio.

The Apostolic Youth Corp from the Youth Division of the UPCI led by our Youth President Shay Mann and a group of 22 other like-minded young adults came and helped canvas almost every area where we have UPC churches in the Georgetown area. While they were here over 8,000 flyers were passed out advertising the crusade. Each of churches got on board and helped with the outreach and mobilization of buses to bring people out to the Holy Ghost Explosion. Evangelist Felix Crowder from Indianapolis, Indiana came in as the special crusade speaker. And then, it happened! On August 6, 7 and 8 the Holy Ghost fell. On the first night we had an attendance of around 700 with 25 receiving the Holy Ghost. On the second night there were around 600 in attendance with 41 receiving the Holy Ghost. Then on the last night with an attendance of around 1,100 we had 46 receive the gift of the Holy Ghost! We also had around 20 that were water baptized in Jesus’ Name! We had 8 more receive the Holy Ghost the Sunday morning following the crusade in the headquarters church bringing all to a total of 120 receiving the Holy Ghost! Thank the Lord Jesus for our own personal Pentecost! We are so very thankful for those who gave to sponsor our crusade. We thank everyone who prayed and fasted with us. We thank every AYCer and the Manns for coming and helping with outreach. We thank Evangelist Crowder for coming and blessing us again with his ministry. And we thank Jesus for pouring out the rivers of the Holy Ghost on Guyana, the “Land of Many Waters”!

The Tallinn church has really been struggling due to a lack of leadership in place, but Andres one of the men in the church just started teaching some Bible studies and has a couple ready for baptism, and is coordinating this effort with Vadim. Through this another home group will be started in Tallinn.

We had a leadership seminar in Riga in January and four people came from the Tallinn church, and three Trinitarian ministers came from three other churches. The three young men have received the revelation of the Oneness of God, and baptism in Jesus’ Name. One of these young men has been seeking after the baptism of the Holy Ghost for a long time. He said that many people prayed for him to receive the Holy Ghost and nothing happened. I felt that this was a great opportunity for the truth to be confirmed to these young men and I stepped out in faith, and in a few minutes that young man was speaking in tongues as God filled him with His Spirit. These men are talking about getting baptized this March in our next seminar.

 So, what do we believe?

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

 

I believe in a Gospel that works.

I believe in a church filled with the Spirit of God.

I believe in a prayer-life that is bursting with Holy Ghost power.

The greatest need for Pentecostals is for our practices to catch up with our beliefs!

I can preach only so much about forgiveness. It is time for us to ACT forgiven!

I can preach only so much about worship. It is time for us to reap the benefits of worship and praise!

I believe it is time for us to bind together and pray for revival!

Young people, Men, Women. Form groups and pray

Deuteronomy 4:24 For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

The fire that destroyed Sister Pat Caudill’s trailer blew out both ends of the trailer. She suffered third degree burns over 70% of her body. Lost her hair, had skin grafts on her face and neck. She lost 90% of the use of her hands.

Fire is one of our most important tools, and holds a prominent place in many ancient philosophies and religions.

The ancient Greeks believed that fire–along with earth, water, and air–was one of the four essential elements that made up the world. We now know that the world is a lot more complicated, with over a hundred elements of matter which can be combined in a tremendous variety of ways. So, what exactly is fire?

Watching a flame dance through the air, you might conclude that fire’s a gas, like oxygen or carbon dioxide. It’s not. Fire can burn fuel that’s a gas, or a liquid, or even a solid–as in the case of glowing charcoal. But the fire itself isn’t any of these things. In fact, fire isn’t any thing at all. It’s not its own type of matter; it’s something that matter can do. Fire is the outward sign that something inside is happening. In the case of Holy Ghost fire, the fire of zeal and joy indicates that there is a reaction to a change happening in the soul!

What makes a fire burn? A fire needs oxygen and some kind of fuel. This fuel–whether it’s candle wax, wood, or gasoline–usually contains big molecules that have carbon atoms inside them. You can think of these molecules as little containers of energy. When they’re allowed to combine with oxygen, this energy is released as heat and light. When faith is released toward God, a fire is going to break out. Like the song says, “It’s all over me and it’s keeping me alive!”

Scientifically speaking, fire is a rapid chemical reaction known as oxidation. Inside a fire, oxygen molecules break bigger molecules apart into carbon dioxide and water vapor. All the heat and light of a fire comes from big, carbon-based molecules combining with oxygen. When the right substances are present, and when the temperature reaches an ignition point, a fire starts. Fire changes whatever it burns into a different substance. That’s why the Bible says that “Our God is a consuming fire.” You cannot experience the one true and living God without a change. “If any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.”

So what is fire? It’s not the fuel or the oxygen or the heat or the light. Fire is what happens between all these things. It’s a chemical reaction. Neither can you put your finger on the form or substance of God. God is a Spirit. God is omnipresent. God is big enough to fill all space, yet he pours himself into a living soul with the greatest of ease.

We speak of raging fire. Wild fire. Fast fire. Bonfire. Inferno. Blazes. Flames. Conflagration. Combustion. Out-of-control fires cause unbelievable devastation. In the Great Chicago fire of 1871, the so-called “Burnt District,” a map of which appeared in virtually every account of the fire, encompassed an area four miles long and an average of three-quarters of a mile wide—more than two thousand acres—including over twenty-eight miles of streets, 120 miles of sidewalks, and over 2,000 lampposts, along with countless trees, shrubs, and flowering plants in “the Garden City of the West.” Gone were eighteen thousand buildings and some two hundred million dollars in property, about a third of the valuation of the entire city. Around half of this was insured, but the failure of numerous companies cut the actual payments in half again. One hundred thousand Chicagoans lost their homes, an uncounted number their places of work.

 

When we say that our God is a consuming fire then, it is no small thing.

 

You cannot adequately tell the story of the Bible without talking about fire. Everywhere you look, you see fire or the evidence of fire.  

The fire of Judgment. Genesis 19:24  “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.”

God will judge the world and every person in the world on the last day.

Just because judgment does not happen immediately doesn’t mean that it won’t.

Galatians 6:7 says “Be not deceived, God is not mocked…”

 

“Foolish men imagine that because judgment for an evil thing is delayed, there is no justice; but only accident here below. Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed some day or two, some century or two, but it is sure as life, it is sure as death.”  Thomas Carlyle

The fire of sacrifice. Genesis 22:6  “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.”

A life with no sacrifice for God has no relationship with God.

James said, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” In other words, WE want to be the consuming fire, not God!

Ignite the fire of sacrifice somewhere in your life. Destroy something for God. He will give you back something infinitely more precious.

The fire of the call of God. Exodus 3:2  “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”

Fire changes things. The bush may not have been changed, but Moses was. When something strange happens to you, you need to stop and ask if God is trying to get your attention.

Trust God and he will reveal himself to you. Don’t ask for the revelation in order to believe; believe first and you will get the revelation.

The fire of service. Exodus 12:8  “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.”

Maybe this is where we get the phrase, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

Just a an uncontrolled fire causes judgment or devastation, a fire that is contained improves the quality of life. The Spirit and power of God just makes your life better.

The fire of Revelation. Exodus 13:21  “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.”

Israel was in the wilderness without a map or compass. They had to look to God for their direction.

God does not just point the way. God becomes the way. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

I believe that the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were the same pillar. In the daytime, God was concealed. In the night time, however, the cloud disappeared and they saw the fire in the midst of the cloud.

This is a wonderful lesson on the Godhead. 1 Timothy 3:16 says “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

God was manifest in the flesh. The Father was made visible in the Son. When you see Jesus, you see the Father.

John 14:8-9 “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”

The fire of demonstration. 1 Kings 18:38  “Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”

This is one of the most spectacular of the Old Testament miracles. Elijah on one side; the 400 prophets of Baal on the other. Out-numbered 400 to 1. How do you like those odds?

Satan’s greatest boast is that he is in the majority. He plays the numbers game.

God people have always been in the minority.

Guess what? You—plus God—always outnumbers the majority!

The priest of Baal found that out. Their ceremonies were fantastic; their worship was sincere; their intentions were honest. It is just that their God had no response.

Do not challenge God. He will declare himself among the heathen.

God’s New Plan

All of these Old Testament reference to fire is not without purpose. God has always had something in mind.

In the Old Testament, he operated through without a body in signs, wonders and miracles. In the New Testament, he fashioned a body for himself and he operated through the agency of sinless flesh.

Now, his plan is to build a church and inhabit his people with his presence and power.

Ezekiel 36:24-27 says, “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

The only way this could happen is for God—who is a consuming fire—to robe himself in his church. The fire on the outside had to become the fire on the inside.

Jeremiah spoke about it in Jeremiah 20:9. “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”

The Psalmist said in Psalm 104:4  “Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire.”  I believe this was a veiled reference to us as his messenger ministers in the church.

Now, let’s go past the major and minor prophets. Let’s go past the 400 year of silence between the testaments. A strange figure comes out of the wilderness. His name was John. The Pharisees called him John the Baptist because he baptized his converts unto repentance.

He had a new message. In Matthew 3:11 we read, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

And with fire! We have known the Holy Ghost as living water. Now we need to know him as the fire of God. Fire and water; water and fire. Both in the same experience.

But don’t let this confuse you. God operates in ways we humans find contradictory. Visible and invisible. Heaven and earth. Time and eternity. Flesh and Spirit. The Mighty God in Christ.

But the church had to have something supernatural to compensate for the flesh.

Acts 1:6-8. “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” 

Now, the challenge was to put this fire in the church.

Acts 2:1-4. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

There is the fire! It sat upon each of them.

When the Holy Ghost makes his entrance, there is not only a rush of wind, there is a rush of power! It’s the fire that didn’t consume the bush. It’s the fire inside the cloud. It’s the fire shut up on your bones.

It is the fire of judgment on sin.

It is the fire of sacrifice.

It is the fire of the call.

It is the fire of service.

It is the fire of revelation.

It is the fire of demonstration.

There is no way God can operate in you without manifesting himself as a fire. A life-changing, power-giving, miracle-working fire!

One of the things about the fire in the Old Testament. It was never allowed to go out. The tabernacle had fire burning in it continually.

God has never let the fire go out of his tabernacle, the church. In the book of Revelation, John describes Jesus. He tells us where he is and what he looks like.

Revelation 1:12-13. “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.”

14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

This is why the Pentecostal church gives such emphasis to the infilling of the Holy Ghost. This need for Holy Ghost power is greater today than ever before.

Do you have the fire?

Do you have the power?

Do you have the baptism?

You can have it today!

“Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world.” Romans 5:12

The New England Primer taught it to first graders: “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.”

Bible scholars have labeled this primary sin as the fall of Adam. The word “fall” emphasizes the fact that Adam once had it all—perfect environment, perfect health, perfect happiness, perfect peace—but ended up with a corrupt earth, a diseased and dying body, emotional gloom and psychological despair, and turmoil in all his relationships. Look at what the scriptures teach again:

• The sin of one man introduced death to the world;
• The sin of one man led to condemnation;
• The disobedience of one man caused many to become sinners;
• The sin of one man caused many to die.

I want to preach to you on this subject: The Fall.

“It is like jumping out of hell into heaven.” That’s the way a cousin who was a member of the army paratroopers described his jumps. The door opens in the side of the aircraft. The rushing air current howls through the fuselage, rips at the clothes, helmets and goggles of the soldiers who are lining up to jump and they hang on so they don’t get blown to the back of the plane. Then, all of a sudden, the turbulence is behind them as one-by-one they jump into a free-fall of peace and quiet. After their chute opens, it’s an easy float down to a soft landing.

Not always.

On November 16th, 1996, 26-year-old Nick Libassi defied death. He jumped out of a plane at 15,000 feet… and fell to the ground without ever opening his parachute.

As he rapidly approached the ground, another man doing the same jump was falling way too close to Nick. As the distance continued to close, they collided a disastrous 500 feet from the ground. While the other jumper was able to get his chute to open and slow his descent, Nick dove headlong into a thick wooded area, sustaining multiple injuries, including a broken femur, pelvis, and a crushed L-1 vertebra. Never losing consciousness, Nick literally crash-landed among the trees and rocks – and somehow managed to live through what for others would clearly have been a fatal fall.

As a result of his accident, however, Nick sustained a spinal cord injury that left him unable to use the lower half of his body. After two weeks in the hospital, Nick began a three-month stay in a rehabilitation unit, relearning how to live his life. Although he was able to progress rapidly through the physical challenges, Nick struggled to accept his life as a person with a disability. He suffered a severe, near-suicidal depression.Eventually, he survived and became a success story, but he came very close to losing it all.

The Anatomy of the Fall

The law of gravity ensures that anything that has no secured mechanism or mooring to hold it in place will fall. Loss of balance, defective equipment, an accident—even a playful push—can cause you to fall. Without wings or a parachute or an engine with a propulsion device, you will not stop in mid-air and maneuver yourself back to safety.

Fear of falling is a basic instinct of life. Babies develop a fear of falling once they have been crawling for about two months. For some people, it is so acute that even to climb a step ladder or get near a high ledge, even if there are rails and guards in place, causes them severe trauma.

Some falls only result in loss of dignity and pride. In fact, we are apt to laugh at people who slip and fall—especially in front of their peers. All of us fell while we were learning to walk or learning to ride a bike. Aside from scrapes and bruises, not much damage was done. But falls from a long distance can cause serious injury—broken bones, punctured skin, massive injuries to major organs, even death. Those who survive these kinds of falls are forever defined by their experience. Many of us know paraplegics or quadriplegics who got that way because of a fall.

The Fall of Adam

A physical fall may result in a life-changing injury. But that’s not the worst kind of fall. There is a fall that will not only change your life today; it will send you into an eternal death. I’m talking about a fall of your character, a fall of your name or reputation, a fall from grace, a fall into sin.

The fall of Adam is one of the basic facts on which Christianity is built. Adam and Eve, our first parents, ate the forbidden fruit in direct disobedience to the command of God. In that one act, the entire human race lost its place in paradise and lost its relationship with God.

The book of Genesis tells us that it was the serpent, Satan, who induced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. The serpent knew what was going to happen because he had already experienced the first fall. Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Luke 10:18. He became the leader of the rebellion in heaven. “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4.

People never fall up. They never improve their position by falling. We fall down to sin, not up. We fall down to poverty, down to depression, down to failure, down to our death.

There is something about falling that is disheartening, sad, grievous. Fallen Lucifer. Fallen angels. Fallen Eve. Fallen Adam. But the parade goes on throughout the Bible.

 

• Saul fell from a high and respected position. He was a king who ended up committing suicide.
• David fell from a position of honor and virtue to that of an adulterer, schemer and murderer.
• Judas fell from a disciple of Christ to the one who betrayed the Master.
• Demos fell from a loyal follower of Paul to a backslider. “Demos hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

 

On and on the sad stories go, even into our own time.

• Huey Long, Richard Nixon, Duke Cunningham, John Edwards, Mark Sanford, Rod Blagojevich, Eliot Spitzer, John Ensign, William Jefferson, all politicians, fell from high offices into public disgrace.
• Fallen business leaders and corrupt corporate executives have decimated thousands of innocent people with their white-collar crimes. Bernard Madoff was just sentenced to 150 years in prison for one of the largest ponzi scheme in U. S. history. Ken Lay and the Enron Corporation, and executives from Xerox Corporation, Merck Pharmaceutical, Global Crossing, Halliburton and a host of others all fell from high perches.
• In the religious world, Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Tilton and Ted Haggard all fell into scandals and criminal activity.

 

All of these are public spectacles that, to one extent or another, have diminished us all. But there are other tragedies that you know personally that are probably worse because you have been directly impacted by their failures.

• A man falls into sin. But he was not just any man. He was someone you looked up to, who meant a lot to you. Someone whose absence now leaves a gaping hole in your life. Someone who didn’t know or didn’t care who might have been deeply wounded by his failure.
• A woman falls into a shameful scandal. She wasn’t just any woman. She was loved, admired, influential, trusted. She had woven her way into the very fibers of your soul. But she forgot who would be hurt by her foolish choices. She gave up a place of high honor for a selfish fling, true love for a vain and superficial moment of fun.

 

The anatomy of a fall defies logic. Why? Why would a person let go of the good to embrace something so fleeting, so seductive, so cheap? Was it a slip? Was it a flirtation with fate? Was it a momentary loss of sanity? Was it a deliberate step or an unintentional misstep? Was it a costly miscalculation?

Beware of the fatal attraction of Satan. If you fall into his clutches, you will fall farther than you intended to go; he will keep you longer than you intended to stay; you will be damaged more than you thought you would!

But people have different reasons for doing things. It is said that more than twenty people jumped out of the windows of the World Trade Center on 9/11 either because they had no way to get past the floors where the planes crashed into the building or the fire was so intense that they chose to die by jumping rather than burning. I don’t mean to sound shocking, but there may be those here today who honestly feel that you had no other choice than to take the fall for something or someone. You thought you were only choosing the lesser of two evils.

The Chosen Fall

But now I want you to take your mind off of your fall, or off of the fall of someone you loved. I want you to consider the Lord Jesus Christ. In eternity past, he looked at the devastation of sin on his prize creation.

He saw the perfection he created in the Garden of Eden invaded by the serpent. He saw the disobedience of Adam and Eve lead to the corruption of their souls. He knew that his fellowship with them was forever changed. They could not access the tree of life since they were now contaminated with sin.

He had to curse the ground.

Sin and death was now given free reign over divinely created life.

He had to banish Adam and Eve from the Garden and protect the entrance with an angel who wielded a flaming sword.

God was now forced into a dilemma, a choice between judgment and mercy.

On the one hand, His justice would not allow him to overlook sin; on the other hand, his grace would not allow him to eradicate the human race from the earth.

A life for a life; blood for blood; perfect sacrifice for corrupt sin. That was the answer. “And without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” Hebrews 9:27.

A perfect sacrifice called for a perfect man. But there was no perfect man.

• “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” Ezekiel 22:30.
• “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.” Isaiah 59:16.

 

There was literally no man in existence who could stop the fall of man. If it could not be stopped, all of us were destined to an eternal death. We could not see it. We were blind to the consequences of our fall. But God knew what was ahead of us. He had created a bottomless pit for the devil and his angels. If we shared the fall of Satan, we would share the fate of Satan.

Isaiah 5:14 “Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.”

There was only one solution. God reached back into the infinite resources of his grace and created the perfect sacrifice. He found the perfect man, morally pure, innocent of any transgression, free from even the taint of Adam’s sin.

We speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as though he were a different God. Some call him the second person of the Godhead. Some think of him as the Son—as opposed to the Father—as though they were different persons altogether, assigning them the same attributes as earthly fathers and sons.

But let me go back to the prophecy of Isaiah and read the verse in its entirety. Isaiah 59:16 “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. 17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.”

John said it like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Verse 14: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Look at the distance that Jesus—God manifested in the flesh—had to fall. From “The Word was God” to “The Word was made flesh!” From God to Flesh! How far is that fall?

“When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” Philippians 2:6-8.

Jesus took the fall by choice.

Lucifer looked at man and said, “I fell, so now I am going to make you fall.”

Jesus looked at man and said, “You fell, so now I am going to fall for you!”

He suffered the consequences of your fall in his own body. He shed the blood that you should have shed. He took the punishment that you deserved. He became your substitute, your sacrificial lamb, your scapegoat, your covering, your answer to the wrath of God against sin.

Jesus took your fall. He became the safety net for you. He is your way out!

Romans 5:15 “But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.

Andre Crouch wrote a song years ago that says it well:

 

I don’t know why Jesus loved me
I don’t know why He cared
I don’t know why He sacrificed His life
Oh, but I’m glad, so glad He did

He left His mighty throne in glory
To bring to us redemption’s story
Then He died but He rose again
Just for you and me
Oh, but I’m glad, so glad He did.

Where would I be if Jesus didn’t love me?
Where would I be if Jesus didn’t care?
Where would I be if He hadn’t sacrificed His life
Oh, but I’m glad, so glad He did

More Good News

I’ve got more good news for you today. You may have been saved from your fall into sin, but you have worked yourself free from the grasp of heaven. It feels like you are headed back in the same downward direction you were saved from in the first place.

Things have happened.

You have been targeted by Satan.

You’ve listened to his lies.

You’ve let him conjure up false images, false hopes, visions of false successes.

And now you feel yourself falling again.

These days that are so close to the coming of the Lord for his church are especially targeted by Satan for counterattacks on the church.

He wants to make you feel like a failure. He want you to lose hope. He wants you to think you have disappointed God so deeply and so often that you have sealed your fate. It’s only a matter of time until your feet feel the fires of hell. It’s no use. Give up.

David felt that way. But here is what he wrote in Psalm 91:

 

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

 

 

“On June 29, 2009, a toddler who survived a 40-metre plunge down a Canadian ravine, landing face-first in a creek, was touched by an angel, said her grandfather.

“An angel must’ve been sitting on her shoulder,” said David Cartier, referring to his two-year-old granddaughter, Cassidy, who suffered a fractured skull in the fall.

“An evening walk by the Blackmud Creek ravine, near 113 Street and 18 Avenue, turned into a nightmare for the tot and her mom Bailey. Cassidy slipped off the edge of a riverbank firefighters described as “nearly 90 degrees.”

“Cartier said he didn’t know exactly how Cassidy fell over the edge. But mom was fast behind, he said, jumping over the edge “without even thinking.” Bailey survived the slide unscathed, but she found little Cassidy face down in the water, bleeding, he said.

“Firefighters summoned to the scene rapelled down the bank to rescue the pair.

Cassidy was strapped to a small-sized backboard and carried in the arms of a firefighter to the top.”

Regardless of how far you’ve fallen and what condition you find yourself in, your rescue is on the way.

If you haven’t heard the trumpet sound yet, you still have time.

God can deliver you from all your entanglements with the world. Some of you think that changing your life is too complicated, too involved. You think you are beyond hope.

Don’t underestimate God!

He can break your fall, regardless of how far you’ve fallen.

And when He finds you, He will not leave you at your low level.

He will raise you up, past your level of acrophobia.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-6.

 (This message is designed to be used with the PowerPoint presentation by the same name, located in the Media section of this website.)

(Slide 1 Blank)

(Slide 2) 

“Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Revelation 22:20

(Slide 3) How soon will the rapture happen?

(Slide 4) “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:32-33

(Slide 5) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,

(Slide 6) with the voice of the archangel,

(Slide 7) and with the trump of God:

(Slide 8) and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

(Slide 9) Then we which are alive and remain

(Slide 10) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,

(Slide 11) to meet the Lord in the air:

(Slide 12) and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

(Slide 13 a, b, c) How many empty graves will be in these cemeteries?

(Slide 14) The Second Coming of Christ

Certain Hebrews 10:37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

Imminent Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Predicted Acts 1:11 Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Purposeful Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Universal Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Transforming Philippians 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Judging Matthew 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Eternal Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

(Slide 15a, b, c) Three great signs of the second coming of Christ

• The rise of Israel
• The cultural revolution
• Globalism

 

(Slide 16a, b) First, it is a miracle of the first order to see the rise of Israel.

(Slide 17) We know that Israel was scattered among the nations of the earth

(Slide 18)

• ‘Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.’ Deuteronomy 28:64
• Six different books of the Bible predict the scattering of Israel amongst all the nations of the earth.
• Fulfilled in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman Empire and the remaining Jews were scattered to every nation in the world.

 

(Slide 19) In exile, Israel found no rest.

“Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.”

Deuteronomy 28:65-66

(Slide 20) God promised to regather Israel to the their own land

 

• Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

• 15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Jeremiah 16:14-15

Here is a prophetic voice: I will bring them again unto the land that I gave unto their fathers.

(Slide 21a, b) This prophecy was fulfilled in our day. On May 14, 1948, the miraculous happened.

The state of Israel was born.

(Slide 22) David Ben Gurion signed Israel’s declaration of independence.

(Slide 23) Long in exile, long suppressed, Jews everywhere rejoiced.

(Slide 24) The prophecy went further. It said the desert would blossom like a rose.

• “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” Isaiah 27:6

• “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” Isaiah 35:1

(Slide 25) But Jerusalem becomes a burden to the world

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about… And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces.” Zechariah 12:2-3

Despite Israel’s successes, she immediately reaped an array of enemies. The old feud between Ishmael and Isaac did not go away with the birth of the Jewish state. It only triggered further animosity between the Arabs and the Jews until now it is accepted as a permanent circumstance of history. Consider the following:

(Slide 26) Israel Against the World

Lebanon 3.9 Million

Jordan 6.2 Million

Palestinian 11 Million

Iraq 28.2 Million

Iran 65.9 Million

Egypt 81.7 Million

Syria 19.7 Million

Saudi Arabia 27.6 Million

Yemen 23 Million

Oman 3.2 Million

U. A. E. 4.4 Million

Surrounding nations 274.8 Million!

 

(Slide 27) Israel’s Population: 7.2 Million

The Arab population surrounding Israel is 38 times larger.

How does Israel survive?

(Slide 28) God fights Israel’s battles

“On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them.” Zechariah 12:8

(Slide 29) Miracles in Battle

There is no end to the stories that have been documented from the battles:

· …of the Egyptian tank commander in the Sinai Desert who surrendered to a vastly inferior Israeli force on the second day of the war, because a desert mirage made him see hundreds of Israeli tanks where there were no more than a dozen;

· …of the Jordanian forces who welcomed the Israeli tanks under the command of Colonel Uri Ram into Shechem on the third day of the war, because faulty communications misled the Arabs into thinking that these were Iraqi tanks come to reinforce them;

· …of the battle for Ammunition Hill on the northern outskirts of Jerusalem, which was captured by an Israeli scout by mistake when he fell into a Jordanian trench in the moonless night at 2:00 o’clock on Tuesday morning and started shooting from the hip (and the fall of Ammunition Hill was the necessary prelude to the capture of the Old City 30 hours later).

(Slide 30) Israel’s Victories

• The 1948–49 War
• The 1956 War
• The 1967 War (The Six-Day War)
• The 1973–74 War (The Yom Kippur War)
• The 1982 War

 

(Slide 31) In the endtimes, all nations will come against Israel

 

“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.“ Zechariah 14:2

(Slide 32) “All nations” includes the United States. Will America turn its back on Israel?

It has already started to happen!

(Slide 33) From Yeshiva World News, America Turns Its Back on Citizens in Israel.

(Slide 34) From the New York Post, May 1, 2009, Jesse Jackson reveals that President Obama will change this nation’s posture toward Israel. We will no longer be an ally they take for granted.

As long as America supports Israel, God will bless us. When we withdraw that support, I believe that we will no longer enjoy the blessings of God.

(Slide 35) The stage is being set for the battle of Armageddon to take place.

“For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Revelation 16:14, 16

(Slide 36) Let us now turn our attention to the second major sign of the coming of Christ: The Cultural Revolution

Does the Bible predict the changes in our society today?

(Slide 37) “As it was in the days of Noah.”

(Slide 38) Question: What was it like in the days of Noah?

•Eating and drinking

•Marrying and giving in marriage

•Building and planting

•Buying and selling

•Unaware of impending doom until the rain began to fall

(Slide 39) “As it was in the days of Lot.”

(Slide 40) Question: What was it like in the days of Lot?

•Eating and drinking

•Buying and selling

•Building and planting

•Perversion

•Rejection of truth

•Unaware until fire and brimstone fell from heaven and destroyed them all

(Slide 41) This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

 

(Slide 42) For men shall be lovers of their own selves,

(Slide 43) covetous,

(Slide 44) boasters,

(Slide 44a) proud,

(Slide 44b) blasphemers,

(Slide 44c) disobedient to parents,

(Slide 44d) unthankful,

(Slide 44e) unholy,

(Slide 44f) Without natural affection,

(Slide 44g) trucebreakers,

(Slide 44h) false accusers,

(Slide 44i) incontinent,

(Slide 44j) fierce,

(Slide 44k) despisers of those that are good,

(Slide 44l) Traitors,

(Slide 44m) heady,

(Slide 44n) highminded,

(Slide 44o) lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

(Slide 44p) Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

(Slide 45) The Sexual Freedom Agenda

•Same sex marriage

•Child adoption for gay couples.

•Sexual orientation as a protected class

•Use of media as change agents

•Use of educational system for cultural change

•Passage of “hate crime” laws

•Eventual restriction of religious freedom

(Slide 46) Make no mistake: There is a “gay agenda.” According to a representative website, everything appears to be on track to achieve their demands. This nation is being remade in the image of the antichrist before our very eyes.

(Slide 47) Finally, we come to the third major prophecy: Globalism. The move toward a one-world government.

(Slide 48) Two Prophecies

 

“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.” Daniel 2:41-42

 

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:7-8

(Slide 49) Are we ready to accept a one-world government?

(Slide 50 media) Listen to the responses of people who are asked about globalism. There is a noticeable shift away from allegiance to a national flag toward allegiance to a single, global entity.

(Slide 51) The world wants a United Nations

“The world needs the UN. Not because we dare to hope for a world that follows the UN Charter to the letter. But because the UN and the whole “united nations” concept is our best guarantee of security, and our best hope for a better future.”

-Norway Minister of Foreign Affairs

(Slide 52) Not only do we want a one-world government, we want one man who can rule it all. Some people think this is Barack Obama. Whether he is or isn’t, the point is that people are warming up to the idea that some man, somewhere, can lead the world.

(Slide 53) One world government can supposedly solve these problems:

 

•(Slide 53ba) War between nations

•(Slide 53c) Genocide

•(Slide 53d) Competition between economies

•(Slide 53e) Climate Change (so-called)

•(Slide 53f) Currency exchange

•(Slide 53g) Environmental issues

•(Slide 53h) International legal conflicts

•(Slide 53i) Immigration, extradition, citizenship laws

•(Slide 53j) Resource development and allocation

•(Slide 53k) Poverty, health, famine

•(Slide 53l) Crime

(Slide 54) Is this next? (The mark of the beast.”

(Slide 55) The FDA has already approved the verichip as a medical implant.

(Slide 56) Who can refuse the mark?

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

-Revelation 13:16-18

(Slide 57) Many more signs…

•Increase of conflicts between nations

•Rebuilding of the Temple

•Birth of the Red Heifer

•Heart disease number #1 killer

•Great falling away, apostasy

•Frequency of natural disasters

•Pandemics (Swine Flu) without antidotes

•Geometric increase in technology

•Quantum leap forward in travel

•Discrimination and hatred against Christians

•Increase of lawlessness

(Slide 58) It is time to get ready!

•You must be born again.

•Love not the world.

•Purify your heart.

•Love His appearing.

•Do not be deceived.

•Reach out to others.