Wednesday, July 09,
2014, 7:03 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put this song in mind:
Shine Jesus Shine / Graham Kendrick
Shine, Jesus, shine
Fill this land with the Father's glory
Blaze, Spirit, blaze, set our hearts on
fire
Flow, river, flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth Your Word, Lord and let
there be light
Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Isaiah 48 (NIV).
Not In Truth
“Listen
to this, you descendants of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel
and come from the line of Judah,
you
who take oaths in the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel—
but not
in truth or righteousness—
you
who call yourselves citizens of the holy city
and claim to rely on the God of Israel—
the
Lord Almighty is his name…” ~ Is. 48:1-2
Physical Israel
The physical nation of Israel today is not to be confused
with the nation of Israel of old. The nation of Israel of old was God’s holy
people, set apart for God and for his service, although they certainly did not
always live like holy people. Still, they belonged to God. He created them for
his purposes. From them would come Jesus Christ, their Savior, into the world
to save sinners, yet they, as a nation, rejected their promised Messiah, the
seed of Abraham, and they had him crucified on a cross to die as though he was
a common criminal, although he had done no wrong. So they, as a people, were
cut off from the vine due to unbelief (See Romans 11). They can be grafted back
in through belief, though. Yet, some Jews have believed in Jesus Christ as
their Messiah, Savior and Lord. Amen!
Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, made
believing Jews and Gentiles one in Christ. He destroyed the barrier between the
two groups. “His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the
two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God
through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility... For through him
we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (See Eph. 2:14-18). So, you
see, God only has one chosen people now, and they are the true church, the Body
of Christ, whether Jew or Gentile by physical birth. Yet, we are no longer
divided Jew and Gentile, but we are divided Christian and non-Christian; saved
and unsaved (See Gal. 3:26-29).
“For
it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other
by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh,
but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. These
things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One
covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is
Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the
present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the
Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother…
“Now
you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time
the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the
Spirit. It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave
woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the
inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are
not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.” ~ Gal. 4:22-31
It is critical that we get this in order for us to truly
comprehend what is going on in the world and in the Middle East today! The
physical nation of Israel today is not of God! It is of Satan! Those who do not
believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives do not worship the
God of Abraham. They are antichrist! They are not the children of promise. Only
those who believe in Jesus Christ are the children of promise and heirs of God.
The physical nation of Israel today is no different from any other nation
created of men. They are of Hagar, so they are no different from the Arab nations.
Do we get this? They are the “Gentiles” now! And, they are opposed to God and
to his Son Jesus Christ, just like they were at the time they killed the Son of
God. So, why do Christians support them?
Oh, church! Why do so many of you not see this? There is so
much propaganda aimed at Christians today to get them to be sympathetic toward
Israel, and to get them to give their support to Israel, but do you really know
who you are supporting? You are not supporting God and his work! You are giving
your support to the devil!! This is what scripture teaches. This physical
nation of Israel of today was a creation of evil humans and for evil purposes.
Pray about this! Check it out on the internet while the information is still
there. See what the word of God teaches. The Israel that the Gentiles
(non-Christians) oppose today is the church. We are the ones they are trampling
down, persecuting and murdering. And, the US government has a big part in this “trampling”
of the Holy City, the City of God, Zion, the New Jerusalem, the church of the
living God, the Body of Christ, the saints of Almighty God.
Institutional Church
This goes for the institutional church, too. Just because it
wears the name “church” does not mean it is of God or that it is the church.
It, as a corporation of humans, and as a business of human beings, is not the
true church! We need to get this, too!! We should not be giving our support
(our tithes and offerings, commitments, etc.) to institutions of men. They
follow after men. They market the church just like big business, and they will
step on anyone who gets in their way or anyone who stands in opposition to
their man-made false religion.
In fact, many of them even teach their people and their
leaders to avoid or to “filter out” those who are versed in scripture or who
have strong convictions of the Lord. They replace worship with entertainment
and the word of God with movie clips and books written by fleshly man. They
prey on the weak, the naïve, and the vulnerable, as they are the ones they can
mold into man’s image. They dilute the gospel to make it more appealing to the
world, and they entertain the world in order to draw them to their places of
business.
Yet, not everyone within the institutional church is like
this, and not every congregation runs their church like a business. Though they
are rare these days, I do believe there are church fellowships within the auspices
of the institutional church today which truly love the Lord Jesus Christ and
are completely sold out to him and to his work, who make him the true head of
the church, which he is, and who let him build his church, instead of trying to
follow the models of human beings. Glory to God! Amen!
Not Heard or
Understood
You
have neither heard nor understood;
from of old your ears have not been open.
Well
do I know how treacherous you are;
you were called a rebel from birth.
For
my own name’s sake I delay my wrath;
for the sake of my praise I hold it back
from you,
so as not to destroy you completely.
See,
I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
For
my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another. ~
Is. 48:8-11
So many people; so many professing Christians will close
their ears to this, though, not that people have to listen to me, but they
should listen to what God’s word teaches. And, it teaches us over and over
again to not be followers of humans, and to put our trust only in God. It teaches
us to test everything we hear against the word of truth, too, to make sure it
adds up to what scripture teaches, so that we are not led astray by the
deceptions of human beings in their deceitful scheming. So, when you are asked
to give support to physical Israel today, you should inquire of your God, and
you should read what the Word teaches concerning the physical nation of Israel,
and to whom we are to give our support. We do not want to, unknowingly, be
supporting Satan and his work, do we?
The same goes for the institutional church. Read what the
Word teaches about the true church. Is this how your “church” is operating? Test
the things you are being taught against the Word of Truth. Is your “church”
following the ways and teachings of humankind and of this sinful world? Or, are
they truly following the Word of God and the Holy Spirit in all that they do?
Are you sure? What is the money going to in your church? Is it going to the
spreading of the true gospel of salvation? Are you sure? Is it going to the
needy, the hungry, the poor? Is it going to meet the true needs of your
congregation? Or is it going toward edifices of men? So many “churches” spend
so much money on “fluff” and on entertainment, the Big Show (the ‘worship’
service), and on “stuff” they don’t need.
God will discipline his wayward church, but not to destroy
her, but to save her. He is saying to his church today that his purpose is to
teach only what is best for us. He says, “If only you had paid attention to my
commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the
waves of the sea” (See Is. 48:18). God will judge the world’s system, even
within the institutional church, so he is calling his true church to come out
from her and to be separate so she does not share in its sins. He will judge
the USA for all her many sins against humanity throughout the world. He will
judge the physical nation of Israel, too. Yet, for those who have committed
their ways to the Lord, who have not denied his name, who have held strongly to
the teaching of the Word as taught by Jesus Christ and the apostles, and who
have not forsaken their Lord or the true gospel of salvation, he will bless
them. They will never be in want of anything they truly need. And yet,
“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the
wicked.”
Above All /Artist: Michael W.
Smith
Crucified laid
behind the stone
You lived to die rejected and alone
Like a Rose trampled on the ground
You took the fall and thought of me
Above all
You lived to die rejected and alone
Like a Rose trampled on the ground
You took the fall and thought of me
Above all
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