“They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” – John 16:2
The same spirit that was at work in persecuting the apostles is still at work today. There is coming and already here a “church” that wears the world’s mantel, that walks with her in lock step, and that church will most assuredly hold the world’s cloak while it picks up stones to throw at the Bride of Christ.
When this happens, it’s my faith that Christ himself will be made manifest in His Bride as she prays for her enemies and those who would stone her.
Entrusting herself completely to her Bridegroom just as Stephen did before he expired, she will be kept in perfect peace knowing surely her Bridegroom is coming soon and that He who is most concerned with weights and measures, truth and error, will be bringing His awesome recompense with Him when he comes.
Hey y’all, Kitty and I wanted to ask for your prayers and also to share something with you that we hope will encourage you as we head into the new year.
For about the last two years Kitty had been complaining that she was experiencing numbness on one side of her face and not the other side. She’s always had bad migraines but this seemed different so we decided she needed to see a neurologist.
As it turns out Kitty has a tumor in her brain and it will require surgery. It’s a meningioma and it’s on the base of her brain stem. It looks to be benign but it’s about the size of a golf ball and it’s certainly the cause of the numbness that she is experiencing and so it needs to be removed.
Kitty is currently scheduled to go in for surgery at UT Southwestern on January 21st and so I’d like to ask you if you could please join me in praying for my precious wife.
When we first got the news about three weeks before Christmas that it was, in fact, a tumor we were both pretty overwhelmed. Kitty was obviously devastated and I was shell-shocked and so we immediately sought the Lord in prayer.
At first our prayers were simply for peace and comfort. We told our families and our fellowship at Bear Creek Bible Church and they all began to pray for us as well.
The Lord heard our prayers and in the next 48 hours he did incredible things to answer us above and beyond what we could have ever expected.
Since then, Kitty and I have really been at peace about this entire ordeal. We are trusting Jesus to be sufficient for us. To be for us what only he can be, our Hope.
This year has been a difficult one for so many and because of that Kitty and I have felt burdened in our spirit to share with you the reason for the hope that is within us so that you too might know this peace that surpasses all understanding.
Simply put, Jesus Christ is our hope.
More than that, He is our all sufficient savior, He is our King and our Deliverer and because we have believed on Him and the good news of his death and resurrection for the forgiving of our sins we can now know His perfect peace.
We really wanted to share with y’all more of our testimony about Jesus and how he has gone before us through this ordeal and done great things and more importantly how you can come to know him and his perfect peace if you do not already.
If you want to hear more about the awesome things he has already done for us you can watch this video.
Thanks again for your prayers, may the Lord bless you and keep you all.
“The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’” Daniel 4:17 ESV https://www.bible.com/bible/59/dan.4.17.esv
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Romans 13:1 ESV https://www.bible.com/bible/59/rom.13.1.esv
There has never been a governmental authority except by God’s explicit approval.
Obama was President of the United States because God said so.
Trump is President of the United States because God said so.
Our next President will be President of the Unites States because God said so.
And God is altogether good.
And his ways are perfect and unquestionable.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Romans 11:33 ESV https://www.bible.com/bible/59/rom.11.33.esv
Let’s do our best to rest in the truth that our good God is sovereign over this American election and over the affairs of men.
For those of you who are brothers and sisters in Christ. Would you please prayerfully consider giving this documentary a watch?
If you don’t feel compelled to watch it, please by all means, act according to the faith the Lord has given you. But if you do feel the Spirit prompting you to give it your ear, then I would encourage you to do just that.
If you grew up or have spent really any time in the American “evangelical” church you’ve probably been taught and generally believed in a form of eschatology (the study of last things, “the end times”) called “pre-tribulationalism”.
I know I was and I did.
In short (and I mean really short) the pre-tribulational position supposes that the famous “rapture” (or “catching up”) of the church referenced primarily in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 will happen before the world enters into a time of great distress most often referred to as “The Great Tribulation”.
“The Great Tribulation” as it is most often called is generally referring to a 7 year period of time that the book of Daniel refers to as, “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble”. This period is also generally synonymous with a term we find throughout the Scriptures known as “The Day of the Lord”, the time when Jesus Christ will return to execute his righteous judgement on the world.
The pre-tribulational position supposes that the Lord will come for his church before all this stuff goes down and that they will be taken out of the world before the Son of Perdition (the Antichrist) is revealed to the world and who will subsequently be destroyed by the appearance of the Lord’s coming.
Over the years as I studied the Scriptures I felt like the Holy Spirit was challenging me on my previously held belief of a pre-tribulational rapture of the church. As I read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, particularly 2 Thess 2:1-12, it was like it jumped off the page at me.
“2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,[a]2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness[b] is revealed, the son of destruction,[c]4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
After reading this passage the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me, more and more in the Scriptures about the Lord’s coming and about his church. Over the years that walk with the Lord has brought me to an eschatological position known as the “Pre-Wrath” position on the rapture of the church.
In a nutshell it presumes two things:
1. The church is not appointed to suffer the wrath of the Lamb and will be raptured before the great and awesome “Day of the Lord”.
2. The “Day of the Lord” will not come until the “rebellion” or great apostasy takes place (a great falling away from God) and the Man of Lawlessness (aka the Antichrist) is revealed to the world.
The issue of great consequence is this: the church will endure much suffering at the hands of the Antichrist and his kingdom before the Lord returns in power and glory.
But the good news is this. In their sufferings they will be more than overcomers in Christ Jesus our Lord who died and who was raised for the remission of our sins.
“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” – Revelation 12:11
Again, if this word finds no place in your spirit please, by all means, throw it in the trash where it belongs.
But, brothers and sisters, if this word pricks your spirit I would encourage you to seek the Lord so that he himself can teach you what he would have you know. I pray that as he teaches you and ministers to you, you would know Him and his peace that surpasses all understanding.
I keep going back to this passage in Ephesians 4:17-24
“17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
If I asked you, “How did you learn Christ? How did you come to know Jesus as Lord?”
What would you say?
Did you study the Scriptures and come to know the Living God?
Or did you hear His voice and believe it?
“39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” – John 5:39-40
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” – John 6:26
“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life…” – John 6:35
“63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” – John 6:63
“47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God.” – John 8:47
“27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” – John 10:27
“17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17
“3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by[a] the flesh?” – Galatians 3:1-3
“22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” – Galatians 3:22
“12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” – Hebrews 3:12-15
“2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.” – Hebrews 3:2
“20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” – Revelation 3:20
Our minds are futile, we must have the mind of Christ. Our intellect is of no benefit at all. In fact, it must be crucified on the hill called “Skull”.
We know Christ because we hear his voice in our spirit and believe it and are born again taking on the mind of Christ through our resurrection from the dead.
We must be renewed in the Spirit of our minds, the flesh is no help at all. Our intellects are flesh.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. 21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! – Psalm 107:19-21
About a month ago Henry was horsing around on his bed and he let’s out a holler like he was in serious pain. Turns out he had a q tip in his ear… while jumping around on the bed, and he punctured his ear drum.
So we take him to the doctor and the doctor says the ear drum is about 50% perforated. He explained that he would need to take some ear drops to prevent infection but that we should give it some time to see if it healed on its own. He said normally with this big of a hole they don’t tend to heal up on their own but that they require surgery and the implantation of a new ear drum.
So it’s been about 4 weeks and Kitty was speaking with an ENT that she works with and he got a little frustrated about what he other doc had said. He went on to adamantly explain that a 50% perforation will never heal on it’s own and tat Henry will require surgery, guaranteed, and that it’s something he specializes in. He was incredibly kind and offered to have Kitty bring Henry in for a free examination (the other exam was going to cost us another $400) and then he’d let us know what the best next steps would be.
This morning before I left for work Kitty and I prayed over Henry laid our hands on his ear and asked the Lord to heal his ear in Jesus’ name. To heal it completely and totally so that no surgery or any other medical treatment would be required.
So just before lunch Kitty called me to let Henry give me the update and the boy says, “God healed me!” His ear is fine.
Kitty explained that the Doc looked in his ear and that his face was in shock, he said, “it looks like there’s never been anything wrong with his ear”. Kitty replied, “shouldn’t there be some scar tissue at least”. Doc said, “yes”. Just to be sure there wasn’t some kind of small hole that they couldn’t see visually they did another test that examines pressure in the ear to see if there truly is any kind of hole whatsoever. No pressure loss, no hole. His ear is totally and completely healed.
Kitty asked about a audio hearing test and the Dr seemed unconcerned and said we don’t need one, the ear looks 100% fine.
Jesus is the great physician. He hears our prayers and he heals us from our hurts.
But he doesn’t just heal our physical bodies, he does a lot more than that. He heals our spirit from the condition it’s in. Our condition is that we are dead because of sin, our spirit has already died and one day so too will our physical bodies. But if we will hear (with spiritual ears that God grants us!) the good news of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the remission of sin, and in hearing the Word of God, repent of our sin and believe on the Lord, then he will heal us completely from our sad state of death. We will be set from from the penalty of sin and he will progressively grant us freedom from the power of sin and one day he will even set us free from the very presence of sin.
The Lord heals and he does so to the uttermost.
I pray that if you would hear this good news today that you would repent (changed your mind concerning your sin) and believe (have faith) in the good news of Christ crucified and risen for the remission of sin. I pray that the Lord would heal you from your sickness, granting you total and complete victory over any disease, deficiency and even death, in Jesus name. Amen.
PS. I took this picture of Henry’s ear about a year ago. And his right ear is the one that was hurt. But that being said, I saved this thinking, “one day I think I’m going to want to share this”.
The following is a story from the Facebook Page “Accepted By Grace” by Jeanette Kelley and I thought it was worth sharing here. Here is a direct link to Jeanette’s blog if you’re interested in visiting it as well. I pray this blesses you. Accepted By Grace Blog
Isaiah 65:24 :- “Before they call, I will answer.”
This is a testimony written by a doctor who worked in Africa.
One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities.
Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.
Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). “And it is our last hot water bottle!” she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.
“All right,” I said, “put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.”
The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
During prayer time, one ten -year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. “Please, God” she prayed, “Send us a hot water bottle today. It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.”
While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, “And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her?”
As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say “Amen?” I just did not believe that God could do this.
Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren’t there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!
Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’ training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the verandah was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas – that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.
Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the…..could it really be?
I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.
Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, “If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!”
Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, “Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?”
“Of course,” I replied!
That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.
And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child – five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it “that afternoon.”
“Before they call, I will answer.” (Isaiah 65:24)
When you receive this, say a prayer. That’s all I ask. No strings attached. Then just send it on to whomever you want to – but do send it on. Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive. There is no cost, but a lot of rewards. Let’s continue to trust in God with all our heart. What a faithful God we serve.
This is a really great story. I’ve heard countless stories like this through out my life. Stories of God’s divine providence working in ways that illustrate so clearly his omnipotence, omniscience and most of all his omnibenevolence.
What I think is really worth noting in this story though is the part where the sender of the package “heard” God and “obeyed” him.
This was a very specific prayer request. There’s no Bible verse to turn to here, no chapter and verse that applies to this situation. But the living God, the Holy Spirit spoke specifically to a person, they heard his voice, believed Him and obeyed Him and their faith was honored by the Lord.
THIS is the normal Christian life. Hearing and obeying the voice of the Lord. This is what it means to “abide” in Christ.
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema, that which is uttered by a living voice) of Christ.” – Romans 10:17
“Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” – John 18:37
“24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” – Mark 4:24-25
“26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” – John 14:26
“12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” – John 16:12-15
“20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.[d] 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us[e]—eternal life.
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” – 1 John 2:20-27
“20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – Revelation 3:20-22
Anybody else have a story like this? Something where you know you heard the Lord speak to you and you obeyed his voice? And then he showed himself to honor your faith? Would love to hear it if so!
