“Let no one deceive
you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon
the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6).
“See to it that no one takes you
captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of
men, according to elementary principles of the world rather than according to
Christ” (Col. 2:8).
Hey Gang: When the
disciples asked Jesus, “Tell us, when
will these things happen and what will be the sign of Your coming, and the end
of the Age?” (Matt. 24:3). Jesus laid out a scenario that reads much like
the New York Times. Notice His first
warning, a warning that He continuously reminds us throughout our reading of
the red, “See to
it that no one misleads you. For many
will come in My name saying, “I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many”. (vs. 4-5).
Last night I put my mind in neutral and ask the Lord to put
His words into my heart and mind and His words show up on the page and not my
words. I thought I had a pretty clear
picture of what I should send along to you but this morning my mind is kind of
filled with that hillbilly mush (YUK) that my mamma prepared every morning to
give us the sustenance needed to keep our ships afloat for the day.
So, if it appears I am doing some RAMBLING THIS MORNING
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT I AM. But stay
with me. I do have a clear picture that my days of writing these morning
epistles is rapidly coming to an end, whether it be by my choice or God’s
choice by taking me home.
When I began this series on ‘Your Way or God’s Way’ it was
to share a burden that has been banging around in my head for more than a
year. It was a burden that surfaced as
I watched how they prepared SWAT Teams for action. It was a very enlightening piece which I had
full intention of filing it in the “Never to be used file” but…..
Now for the burden. God’s
church that I attend is a blessing. The
word is clear, the singing and praise wonderful. On Easter Sunday there were 1300 people who
attended one of the three services.
Uplifting, yes, indeed, but, In the weeks that followed I attend two
Bible/prayer meeting evenings. Roughly a dozen attended one and perhaps as many
as twenty in the other. The bride-of-my-youth
was much more optimistic stating that more than a hundred attend the Woman’s
monthly gathering.
Several Sunday’s ago the Lord impressed upon me to do a time
study of the service, which I obediently did.
I discovered that roughly one half of the hour service consisted of
praise and worship, announcements, and offertory and the remainder on the
sharing and teaching of the word.
So what is the
point? If you were restricted to feed
your physical body on one twenty- minute input of food once a week, how long
would your body survive? I don’t think I
need to purse this further, so let’s ramble on.
I happened to tune in to one of those million or so
discussion programs and happened to hear one of the pastor presenters make the
argument that America was down the chute and could never recover. That sounded kind of blasphemous to me,
because my Word tells me that God created everything we survey and, if He
created it, he certainly can fix it. My
Bible also says that “God is all powerful and nothing is impossible for Him.”
But let’s take that a step or two farther. To live in America, now I understand the
longer our country exists under the “Let’s kick God out of everything and exalt
the evil one’ chances of people coming to the full knowledge that Jesus Christ
is Lord is becoming less than a dominate force.
There is much more I would like to say here but let’s skip
to the bottom line. In the first blog of
this series I mentioned that after the 9/11 tragedy, the churches were full but
within months they were back to business as normal.
Well, let’s stop rambling and hit the main button. Me, myself, and I believe that to grow up in
America is to come in contact with God, or something pertaining to God; a seed
is planted in your inner most being whether you like or not. I believe it would be hard pressed for you
not to have seeds lurking in your heart waiting for you to open the door and
let God in.
I also believe that, if another 9/11, or something far worse
should happen in our country, the same thing would happen that a happened in
New York – the churches will be filled.
I also know that the people who came seeking did not find, therefore,
they did not continue to seek.
Conclusion for you to chew on: is it time for every church
in America to develop SWAT Teams in their churches in preparation for that
day. In other words, is it time to build
teams of folks who love the Lord, and are grounded in the Word to come together
in Spiritual Warfare Advanced Training teams that are prepared and ready to hit
the doors- when the seeds that are lurking in the hearts of many become alive
and seeking the Light to make them grow?
From my heart to yours.
Blessings,
Gramps
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