A Coming Season of Preparation: the word of the Lord on whats happening and what will happen

WEDNESDAY MARCH 25, 2020
“A COMING SEASON OF PREPARATION”

TEXT: Matthew 25:1-13

INTRODUCTION:

Last Wednesday evening we brought you the Word of the Lord on overcoming the coronavirus giant of fear through faith in God. Our text was taken from I Samuel 17:31-54. The giant Goliath stood and spoke threatening words to the army of Israel, causing them to cower in fear! This went on day after day until David came on the scene and begin to speak words of victory over the giant! While everyone else only saw the giant, David saw Almighty God. And because of his faith in God, David killed the giant and won a great victory for Israel!

Likewise, today we are facing a Goliath called the Coronavirus of fear. And every day from all of the major news outlets the giant is speaking threatening words of sickness, death, and destruction of our country. And so many people, like the army of Israel, are cowering in fear. The answer to defeating this giant is faith in God! Like David, the Church must rise up and lead the way. And we do that by doing what David did: First, by faith, get your eyes off of the threats of the giant and onto God who is bigger than any giant that the devil may produce, now or in the future. Secondly, by faith, stop speaking words of death and defeat and begin speaking words of life and victory in the Lord! And third, by faith, know that this giant will be defeated and God will bring something great out of it!

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. It’s time to walk in this truth! (II Tim. 1:7)

Now with that said, I want to talk to you tonight about what we can learn from what is happening and why? What do we need to learn about ourselves? What is God saying through this unprecedented time that we are going through? Is there anything we need to change as the Church?

My goal tonight is to try and answer these questions. What God needs from us is honesty and transparency. As I said last week, we should view what is happening as an opportunity. I personally believe that this is, among other things, a wake-up call to the Church to prepare. I don’t see it as a negative but rather as a positive.

God prepared David to defeat the giant Goliath by first delivering him from the paw of the lion and the bear. So let’s not miss our season of preparation. Much, much good can come from it, for us, and for those following us.

Let’s pray.

I. What is the spiritual significance behind this virus and the reaction to it?

A well-known pastor was asked the question if God was the one who sent the Coronavirus? His response was no, God did not send it, but He would use it for His purposes. I agree.

A. Where then did this virus come from? Obviously viruses are a part of a cursed world because of man’s sin and rebellion against God. “The wages of sin is death,” and viruses are part of that “death.” The Good news is that the other part of that verse says, “. . . but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.” And when Jesus returns to the earth the second time, death—including all viruses, will be no more! For the curse of sin and death will be forever removed! So the coronavirus, then, did not come from God but rather has come as result of man’s sin and rebellion against God.

B. But what about the spread of the virus? The coronavirus that began in Wuhan China, likely from people eating snakes and bats that were carrying the virus, has become a worldwide pandemic because of the unbelieving and atheistic Chinese Communists government who concealed it from their own country and the rest of the world! Consequently, people who were infected in China were spreading it in China and to the different countries where they travelled! So here, we see that man’s sin—via the atheistic Chinese Communist Government—escalated this virus to a worldwide problem causing both death and destruction in numerous countries—including our own!

C. Now along with this virus being spread because of the sinfulness of man, I also believe that there is demonic activity behind it as well. The devil has used the spread of this virus to create a pandemic of fear around the world and also here in our country. And our news media has certainly been his willing spokesman for spreading this fear—a fear that is really hurting the people of this country by essentially shutting down our economy!

I personally believe that Satan’s greatest desire through spreading this fear is to collapse the US economy. Why? The United States is the biggest obstacle to his plan of a one world government, with the eventual one world economic system and one world religion. This will be the Harlot Babylon in the Book of the Revelation. His goal is to use this harlot to eventually bring the world to the place where it will worship him through the Antichrist. But that is a subject for another time. Please consider watching us on Sunday mornings on Facebook Live as I am teaching the Book of the Revelation. I will add one further comment here before we move on. God is definitely using the United States, and President Trump as “a restraining force” to keep Satan from implementing his diabolical plan. One day that restraining force, “he who holds it back” (2 Thess. 2:7) will be removed and the Antichrist will be revealed, but not yet! I am convinced that the time of this virus is coming to an end. And the United States economy will recover and make a speedy comeback. We will have a time of grace. The question is what should and what will we do with it?

II. What then is God saying to the Church through this? Where are we spiritually? What do we need to change to be prepared?

A. What is God saying to the Church through this?

1.) This is not the last or the biggest giant you will face. There are more giants coming and they will be bigger and more difficult to deal with than this one. The good news is that God is bigger than them all! But you have to know that—really know that if you are going to be victorious—and the only way that you can know that is by knowing Him! And that leads to the second question.

B. Where are you spiritually?

1.) This is the time for raw and transparent honesty. Have you reacted to this current crisis in fear or have you responded in faith? No one knows the answer to that question but you. So be honest with yourself. Being prepared for what’s coming in the future begins here. If you have been seized by fear, then you are not where you need to be spiritually. It’s one thing to have a fearful thought, but it’s quite another to be controlled by fear. People who live by faith in God are not controlled by fear. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power, love and a sound mind. “Faith is the victory that overcomes the world!”

We are soon to enter into a season of grace—the giant of the coronavirus of fear will be dead and things will return to normal. But don’t allow yourself to sleep during this time. Be wise and get prepared. Be as the five wise virgins and get the extra oil and be prepared (Matthew 25:1-13).

C. What do we need to do to be prepared? How do we get the extra oil?

1.) I’m going to give you the 101 or the basics of how to get the extra oil that will prepare you for what’s coming. I can give you the basics, but only you can move in faith and actually gather the oil.

1. Find a good Bible believing Church where the Word of God is preached and not just “feel good” sermons to keep you “happy and in the pew.” Feel good sermons are no good against Satanic giants. But the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit that will kill any giant that comes along! (The time will soon come when the Church will be meeting again)

2. Read the Word of God. Get into the Word of God until it gets into you. A life built on the Word of God can and will withstand any storm!

3. Pray. Pray with the mind and pray with the Spirit. Learn to talk to God about everything. And learn to pray anywhere—church, home, work, school, driving, etc. Develop a relationship with God through prayer.

4. Repent of sin. Confess it to God and turn from it. Ask God to show you any area where you may be opening a door to sin—television, music, friends, what you read and watch on the internet, etc. Ask Him and He will show you any place of sin that you need to recognize and turn from! This is not an attempt in being “religious,” but rather it is being wise; it is getting prepared; it is gathering the extra oil. “Unwise virgins” always find excuses not to gather the extra oil. “It’s too hard; it’s not politically correct; I don’t have the time; I’ve always done it; it’s no big deal; God understands me. If you’re making excuses, you ain’t fooling nobody but yourself. And you won’t be prepared for what’s coming.  You are acting like one of the five foolish virgins who were not prepared when the time came.

5. This goes along with number one. Don’t only find a good Bible believing Church that preaches the Word of God, also find one where they do all of the above! Find and be faithful to a church that preaches the Word of God; that allows the Holy Spirit to move and speak freely; where prayer is not just something you do but is a lifestyle; where sin is confessed and repented of; and where compromise with the world is not accepted.

If you do these things, you will be as one of the “wise virgins” who gathered the extra oil, and you will be prepared for whatever giant comes next.

CONCLUSION

Church, we are soon to move into a season of grace. The coronavirus giant of fear will be no more and things will return to “normal.”  But be wise in this next season; don’t slumber and sleep as the five “unwise virgins” did. They were not prepared for what was coming! And they also missed what God had for them! Hear now the Word of the Lord: be awake and alert. Use this season to get prepared for what is coming. It is the time to gather the extra oil as one of the “wise virgins” and in so doing be prepared for what is coming and for all that God has for you!

Shalom

The Gift of Gifts from "The Valley of Vision"

“What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts, thine own dear Son, BEGOTTEN AND NOT CREATED, my Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,; His self-emptying incomprehensible, His infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp. Herein is wonder of wonders: He came below to raise me above, was born like me that I might become like Him. Herein is love; when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace, to raise me to Himself. Herein is power; when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart He united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created. Herein is wisdom; when I was undone, with no will to return to Him, and no intellect to devise recovery, He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost, as man to die my death, to shed satisfying blood on my behalf, to work out a perfect righteousness for me. O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, and enlarge my mind; let me hear good tidings of great joy, and hearing believe, rejoice, praise, adore, my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose, my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father; place me with ox, ass, camel, goat, to look with them upon my Redeemers face, and in Him account myself delivered from sin; let me with Simeon clasp the new born child to my heart, embrace Him with unyielding faith, exulting that He is mine and I am His. In Him thou hast given me so much that Heaven can give no more.” 

The Father's Throne and the Exaltation of Jesus Part II

THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION
The Father’s Throne and Jesus’ Exaltation
“TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS”
(Part II)

INTRODUCTION:

Last week in Revelation 4, we saw John being called up to Heaven and being shown the throne of God the Father. What did John see? He saw the beauty and power of the Father, and also judgment tempered with mercy. It should be understood that Father-God is passionate about removing from the earth all that is standing in the way of His eternal plan to redeem back to Himself all that has been lost. Then in Revelation 5 we saw the Father’s plan (in the scroll) to work through Jesus to accomplish His redemptive purposes. In this message we will continue to look into the wonder of who Jesus is, why He is worthy, and how that worthiness qualifies Him alone to carry out the Father’s plan. 


IV. JESUS IS WORTHY: WE TRUST IN THE LEADERSHIP OF JESUS (REV. 5)

A. To be worthy is to be both deserving and capable (character and ability) to open the scroll and rule the earth. The four living creatures and twenty-four elders agree with the great love song that Jesus is worthy, and they agree with the Father’s decree to give Jesus leadership of the earth. They actually sing about it in worship to the Lamb!

Revelation 5:8-10

8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

"You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth."

B. Jesus is worthy: Three applications

1. Jesus is worth it:  In this faith journey that we are on, sometimes it can become very difficult. And at times the tendency is to just want to quit and give up. The demonic will whisper in your ear, “God has let you down; He is no longer worth it. Just back off; it’s simply too hard and is not worth the trouble to keep going after God.” Perhaps we should remember what the Apostle Paul said during our hard times. He certainly was no stranger to difficult times and hardships! Yet, in Philippians 3:8 he said from a Roman dungeon, where he was in captivity for preaching the Gospel, “I count all things loss for the excellence of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish.” And during trying times, it’s good to remember people like Missionary Jim Elliot who was martyred for his faith at the age of only 29. He said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” The Apostle Paul and Missionary Jim Elliot knew the worth of Jesus! And so should we!

2. Jesus is capable:  To drive evil off of the earth and establish the Kingdom of God over all.

3. Jesus deserves it: The Father will give leadership of the earth to Jesus just as He gave it to Adam. Jesus has proven Himself by making every choice in both love and righteousness.

II Corinthians 8:9 “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”

C. Jesus being slain: He had to become human and live in obedience and dependence on the Spirit.

1. Jesus had to become human forever! Therefore, as a human, He qualified as the sacrifice for humanity.

2. Jesus lived in perfect love, humility, and righteousness. Therefore He qualified as the perfect sacrifice to bear God’s wrath in our place.

3. Jesus lived dependent on the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Ever since the incarnation Jesus has never been less than God, but He has lived as though He was never more than a man. For thirty three years on the earth, He lived in dependence on the Spirit as a man. He waited on the Father in prayer and obedience for Him to release the Spirit every time. His was perfect obedience.

Isaiah 11:2-3, a prophecy about the coming Messiah/Jesus which He fulfilled perfectly: (The sevenfold Spirit of God)

2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears.

D. The humility of Jesus:   It is beyond our understanding in His humanity, anointing and intercession

E. The Father gives Jesus an unprecedented measure of favor over seven areas of leadership:

Revelation 5:11-12

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"

1. Power (political): Jesus will receive governmental leadership over the nations.
2. Riches (financial): All the money on earth will be under the leadership of Jesus.
3. Wisdom (intellectual): Jesus will replace every evil government on earth with new leaders and laws, along with restoring every area of life (political, economic, family, educational, agricultural, media, technology, environment, social institutions, etc.).
4. Strength (emotional): Jesus will have the strength to continue to restore the nations and to contend against any and all resistance.
5. Glory  (spiritual): All will boast in the Jesus with loving delight and joyful trust. Paul gloried in Jesus. Children glory in their father; young men glory in their strength; and we glory in the name of the Lord!
6. Honor (relational): Jesus will be greatly respected and listened to in all the nations (honor means to publically esteem and show unusual respect for someone). Jesus’ words will be respected and reverenced as the greater Solomon.
7. Blessing (social): All will fully cooperate with His leadership, resulting in the mightiest work force in history. The nations will bless all of His plans and policies. Said another way, the nations will agree and cooperate with the plans of the Lord as He rebuilds and rules the earth in wisdom, love and righteousness!

V. All THE NATIONS WILL SEE JESUS’ BEAUTY IN THE MILLENNIUM ( His 1000 YEAR REIGN ON THE EARTH).

Isaiah 33:17 “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty.”

Isaiah 4:2 “In that day the Branch of the Lord (Jesus as Man) shall be beautiful and glorious.”

VI. AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM JESUS WILL GIVE THE NATIONS TO HIS FATHER.

A. The Father’s promise to Jesus: To make Him preeminent in all things.

Colossians 1:18 He is the Head of the Body . . . that in all things He may have the preeminence.”

B. Jesus earned the right to rule the earth, yet He gives it to the the Father. Jesus delights in humility. Another reason why all of heaven worships Him, and so should we!

I Corinthians 15:24, 28:  Verse 24 “Then comes the end (Millennial Kingdom), when He (Jesus) delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He (Jesus) puts an end to all rule (hostile rebellious authorities during the Millennium) . . . Verse 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him (Jesus), then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him (The Father) . . . that God may be all in all.”

CONCLUSION

Next time we will see the beginning of Jesus opening the seals of God’s judgment on an unbelieving world. But today, we ask the question: how should we respond to what we have seen and heard from Revelation 5?

I believe that we should do as the angels in heaven and worship Him. He is truly worthy to be worshipped because of who He is, God; what He has done: became a man forever, lived a perfect life and became the perfect sacrifice for man’s sins; and because of what He will do: redeem all that was lost back to the Father forever!


Rev 5:8-10

8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

"You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth."

The Father's Throne and Jesus' Exaltation

THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION
The Father’s Throne and Jesus’ Exaltation (Rev. 4-5)
(Part I)

INTRODUCTION:

John has had a vision in chapter one of the glorified Son of God. And in chapters two and three John has seen this same Jesus walking in the midst of the seven churches on the earth and holding the seven messengers (leaders/pastors) of these churches in His right hand. Now, after these visions, in chapters 4 and 5 John is now called up through a door in Heaven to behold the throne room of Almighty God! I hope you are beginning to see the storyline as well as the continuity and order of this amazing book. And here is where we begin today.

I. THE FATHER’S HEAVENLY COURT: THE BEAUTY OF GOD (REV.4)

A. Revelation 4 gives us the greatest revelation of God’s beauty in the Scriptures. What God put around Himself expresses His beauty to creation. Revelation 4 is about the beauty of God. After the Father’s beauty is revealed in chapter 4, then His plan for Jesus comes to light in Revelation 5.

B. Revelation 4:2-7

4 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."  2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 

C. Revelation 4:8-11. The government leaders of heaven’s glory (boast with loving delight) in God. Their foundational hymn forever magnifies God’s holiness (Note: there are fourteen hymns in Revelation).

The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

"Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come."

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."

D. To be holy means “to be totally separated from.” God is separated from everything sinful. Therefore He is pure! God is also separated from everything created (or common), therefore He is transcendent or infinitely superior to all that exits. God’s holiness points to His transcendent beauty.

II. THE GRAND DRAMA: JESUS IS EXALTED AS KING OVER ALL NATIONS (REV.5)

A. Revelation 5 gives us insight into the Father’s plan to exalt Jesus as a human being over all the earth. Jesus coming as king to take over the nations is one of the main themes of Revelation

Rev. 1:7 “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him . . .”

Rev. 19:16 “He has on His robe . . . a name written: King of kings and Lord of Lords.

Psalm 2:8 “I (the Father) will give to you (Jesus) the nations for your inheritance.”

B. Jesus is fully God and fully man. This is a great mystery.

John 1:1,14,18 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. V. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. V. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.”

C. The Father promised to exalt Jesus because of His faithfulness in His humanity.

Philippians 2:6-11
 “Although He existed in the form of God . . . being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

D. God gave dominion (authority) of the earth to Adam as a representative of the human race as an eternal stewardship. To reverse this decision would be an injustice and failure to keep His word.

Genesis 1:28
 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Psalm 115:16 
The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
E. By sinning, Adam forfeited his authority to Satan (Genesis 3; Luke 4:6).

Luke 4:6
 And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.”

It would be through Jesus, in both His First and Second Coming, that God would take back the dominion of the earth—through the God-Man. That is the purpose of the scene in Revelation 5.

III. JESUS TAKES THE SCROLL FROM THE FATHER’S HAND (REV. 5)

As Jesus is commissioned, He takes the scroll from the Father’s hand (v.7). This scroll represents the title deed of the earth and the action plan (Rev. 6-19) necessary to prepare the Church as a mature Bride, who partners with Jesus to bring in the harvest and judge the Antichrist’s worldwide empire as a key part of His plan to drive evil off of the earth and establish the Kingdom of God.



Revelation 5:1-7:
“Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. 6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.”

B. The Father gives the title deed of the earth to Jesus as a human king. He is the only man with the ability to govern the whole world and lead all of its governments (v.2). He is the only one found worthy (deserving and capable) to take the scroll from the Father. In taking the scroll Jesus accepts responsibility to cleanse and rule the whole earth.
C. To “open the seals” means to release judgments in the book of the Revelation (Rev. 6-19), to cleanse the planet from evil, and to restructure all the governments of the earth (Rev. 20:4-6).

D. Jesus is the only man with the wisdom, love, humility, and power to open the seals (release judgment) in a way that produces righteousness and love across the entire earth.

E. Jesus has the fierceness and fearlessness of a lion and the tenderness and humility of a lamb.

That’s why He is seen as the “. . . the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David . . .” and as “a Lamb standing as if slain . . .” in Revelation 4.

Only He who has perfect humility, as of a Lamb, and the perfect strength, as of a Lion, could carry out the plan of the Father to take back control of the earth!


CONCLUSION

Hopefully it is becoming clear that Jesus is the center of Father-God’s plan to restore all that was lost back to Himself. And that includes all who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; that includes you and me!

Dear friends, the Gospel or the Good News of the Kingdom of God is this: Jesus, the Lamb of God, who died on the cross to take away our sins and secure our inheritance to live forever with God will return to the earth the second time as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to make sure we have it!

That is what we see in the Book of The Revelation! And blessed are all of those who receive this truth!

COMMUNION

Let’s celebrate this truth today as we remember His First Coming as the Lamb and His Second Coming as the Lion!

1 Corinthians 11:23-26
 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  25 In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."  26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Let’s pray.