Thoughts on a Sunday Morning 05/16/2010

Thoughts on a Sunday Morning 05/16/2010

The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is anesthetized by the world.
The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is dull and lethargic.
The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is slumbering.
Sin has permeated the air and acts like a sponge to abosorb the Word of God before it can take root in the heart and mind and soul of the body of Christ.
The world can only be saved by the Church.
The purpose of the Church is to be the Salt and Light of this world. Only through the revival of the Church can the course of human history and action be changed.
Because sin permeates the air everywhere the word SHOUT or CRY is used in the Bible.
The prophets had to SHOUT to be heard over the noise of sin that perpetually hangs in the air in this world and in this life.
If world events and people are going to be changed, the change must first happen to the Church - the Bride and Body of Jesus Christ. As long as the Church is numbed by the world - as long as the Church is insensitive to the sin around it, as long as the Church is unburdened by the millions upon millions who enter into eternity every day and are dropped into the fires of Hell without anyone thinking or caring, then the world will contiune on its course of self destruction.
Only a living, breathing, fully awake and revived Church can change the world by the power of Prayer and Action.
Only a Church that is comitted to love each and every living soul - no matter how lovable or unlovable they may be - as Jesus Christ loves them and gave His life to save them from an eternity apart from God. When the Church is revived then the love of Christ will be seen and felt and known in this world, but not until then.
Ezekiel 9 tells of a vision - Israel was wholly given over to sin. Idolatry, Adultry, lying, murder were common practice because Israel had left their first love - the Lord Jehovah.
Even thought they knew that the Lord had delivered them from Egypt and had worked amazing miracles among the people in their wars with the enemies of God, they soon forgot the Lord and started serving gods made of wood and stone and natural elements.
The Lord tells the angel with an inkhorn (we would call it a Sharpie today). to go out throughout the land of Israel and make a mark on the forehead of everyone who sighs and cries because of the sins of the leaders and the people of Israel.
Then he tells the destroying angel to go behind the angel with the Sharpie and slay everyone who does not have a mark on their forehead.
But note what the Lord says,
Eze 9:5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and
begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.

Six angels - called men. One had an inkhorn, the other 5 had their destroying weapons. Begin at my Sanctuary! The wrath of God does not begin upon the world or its leaders, but upon the Holiest place on Earth with those who have served God the longest being singled out as the first ones to be killed if they do not have the mark! The elders - truly an example of the last being first and the first being last!
Notice Ezekiel 9:1 "He Cried" - that means SHOUT! Why? Because like now the air is so thick with sin that it absorbs God's Word. You have to SHOUT to be heard over the deafening roar of sin in this world. Spiritually, we can only hear clearly when we transport ourselves into the Throne Room of God because only there can we hear clearly spiritually. No wonder Paul says "Pray without ceasing."
Notice I use the word 'says' here. Its is because the Word of God is Living - the words of the Prophets and Psalms and Jesus and Paul and Peter and all the others in God's Holy Word are ALIVE. So when I refer to the Bible the Word of God SAYS - not SAID! Present tense, not past tense.
Jesus put it this way - Luk 20:38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.
I think that this is an important point. When quoting the Bible use the present tense not the past tense! It sets the Bible apart from everything else that is written in the world! The other books of the other religions can use the past tense because they are not Holy, not Living! But the Bible is Alive and Well and it has the power to change the hearts and minds and souls to men, women and children. And it alone has the power to save the eternal soul.
There is a tendency today to relegate the Word of God to just another piece of ancient literature to be studied by scholars and CHANGED.
I thank God that He is able to keep His Word Pure, and that no matter how language scholars may massacre the Bible it still has the power to convict of sin and change the Human Heart and save the Human Soul!
As teachers and preachers we must NEVER let out guard down when it comes to the Word of God - because if we do then truly "The foundations will be destroyed and what can the rightout do?"