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"Moses" Tagged Sermons

NEVERTHELESS – THERE IS HOPE – Immanuel – God With Us

Timothy Keller “Hidden Christmas”
“What is going on (in Isaiah 8:22)? They are ‘looking toward the earth’ and to human resources to fix the world. They are looking to their experts, to the mystics, to the scholars, for solutions. Yes, they say, we are in darkness, but we can overcome it ourselves. People make the same claim today. Some look more to the state, some more to the market, and everyone looks to technology. Yet they share the identical assumption. Things are dark but we believe we can end that darkness with intellect and innovation.
Can we?
One of the most thoughtful world leaders of the late twentieth century was Vaclav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic. He had a unique vantage point from which to peer deeply into both socialism and capitalism, and he was not optimistic that either would, by itself, solve the greatest human problems. He knew that science unguided by moral principles had given us the Holocaust. He concluded that neither technology nor the state nor the market alone could save us from nuclear conflict, ethnic violence, or environmental degradation. ‘Pursuit of the good life will not help humanity save itself, nor is democracy alone enough,’ Havel said. ‘A turning to and seeking of God, is needed.’
The human race constantly forgets, he added, that ‘he is not God.’”

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW?

www.Christianheadlines.com titled:
“U.S. is Facing a worldview Crisis, George Barna says: 94 Percent reject a Biblical Worldview”
Michael Foust is the journalist that authored the article. You can go and read it for yourself. Or you can go on
www.prayvotestand.org and watch the entire presentation George Barna gave during that Summit.
Here is a small summary from the article:
“What America is struggling with the most is a worldview crisis” Barna said.
“It’s the thing that drives all of these other difficulties that we have in America today.”
The worldview crisis, Barna said, has infiltrated the church, where only 21 percent of those who attend an evangelical church have a biblical worldview.
“Part of that relates to the fact that evangelical churches in America do not teach the Bible as often or as deeply as used to be the case,” Barna said.”
“We are a superficial nation. We’re more interested in DOING than IN THINKING,” he said. “And so consequently, we’re always LOOKING FOR THE NEXT THING THAT WE NEED TO BE ACCOMPLISHING, THE NEXT PLACE WE NEED TO GO, THE NEXT PERSON WE NEED TO MEET – without sitting down and reflecting on what really matters: WHAT DO I REALLY BELIEVE?”
“America’s worldview crisis, Barna said, must be solved if other problems are to be solved. If we don’t solve that crisis, trust me, we are not going to solve any of those other issues,” he said.

Daniel believed just as Barna believed. The issue is never the issue. What we are experiencing as a nation is directly linked to how we as a nation believe. We live our lives based upon what we believe.

Ron Rhodes in his commentary on Daniel makes this observation:
“The book of Jeremiah had not been written for very long, but Daniel already considered it to be Scripture. This goes against the modern liberal allegation that the books of Scripture were not determined until much later by various councils.”

John Lennox in his book “Against the Flow” is telling a personal story:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God, claims the New Testament (2 Timothy 3:16). We should therefore expect corroborative external evidence from history, archaeology, and related disciplines, but in the end the Word of God will authenticate itself by being perceived to be the Word of God by what it says, by its inner coherence and ring of truth. Without indulging in sentimentality or over-imagination, when we engage with the Word of God we can sense in our spirit and heart at times the very presence of God, and know that he is speaking to us.
If the Bible really was the Word of God, why did I not find it more interesting? Surely, if God was behind it, I should be getting more out of it? I noticed too that many of my Christian friends also paid lip service to the doctrine of inspiration, but spent very little time reading and thinking about the book they claimed to be inspired. There seemed to be a deep inconsistency here that affected them as well as me.
my early days as a student in Cambridge I can recall my own questions concerning biblical inspiration. It was not that I did not believe that God had inspired the Scriptures. I did believe it – and that was the source of my problem.
John Lennox goes on to say:
“This began to concern me, and I sought advice from a much older friend and mentor whose grasp of Scripture was profound. He invited me to an evening’s Bible study that was sufficient to transform my entire attitude. For what I saw modelled in him was the attitude of Daniel – a willingness to seek God in his Word and spend time doing so.
The Lord Jesus warned some religious people in his day: You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life (John 5:39-40). My friend did not make that mistake. He sought God THROUGH his Word and showed me how to do the same.
I realized that I have been far too superficial in my approach.”

Let me quickly insert George Barna here:
“We are a superficial nation. We’re more interested in DOING than IN THINKING,” he said. “And so consequently, we’re always LOOKING FOR THE NEXT THING THAT WE NEED TO BE ACCOMPLISHING, THE NEXT PLACE WE NEED TO GO, THE NEXT PERSON WE NEED TO MEET – without sitting down and reflecting on what really matters: WHAT DO I REALLY BELIEVE?”

Let’s continue with John Lennox
“After all, I was prepared to spend hours trying to understand a few lines of mathematics, and yet only a few minutes on a passage from the Bible. What I learned was the need to be patient, to spend time motivated by the desire to hear from God through His Word. God is a person, not a mere set of propositions; and there is therefore A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEEKING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GOD AND SEEKING GOD HIMSELF.”
“In more recent years, I found myself having to speak at the funeral of a lifelong friend from my Cambridge days. He was younger than me, and I had certainly not expected him to die before me. Some weeks before he died, I asked him what he would like me to say at his funeral. Without hesitation he replied: “Encourage them to do what we did when we were students. Tell them to read the Word of God together, discuss it, think about it, pray about it, and wait on God until his face appears.” He paused, and then added: “AND THEN THEY WILL HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.”

ONLY TWO SURVIVED

“You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is required. The stars neither require it nor demand it.” Annie Dillard
“Imagine a world designed so that we experience a mild jolt of pain with every sin and a tickle of pleasure with every act of virtue. Imagine a world in which every errant doctrine attracts a lightning bolt, while every repetition of the Apostle’s Creed stimulates our brains to produce an endorphin of pleasure.” Philip Yancey
In fact, for the Israelites it nearly eliminated the need for faith at all; clear guidance sucked away FREEDOM, making every choice a matter of OBEDIENCE RATHER THAN FAITH.
Power can do everything but the most important thing; it cannot control love. Love does not operate according to the rules of power.
In other words, just as God found it nearly impossible to live among sinful people, the Israelites found it nearly impossible to live WITH A HOLY GOD IN THEIR MIDST.
“In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” Oscar Wilde

THE COVENANT KEEPING GOD

Luke 1:72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember HIS HOLY COVENANT.
People did not believe God and wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. It looked like God is done with Israel. But He is 100% committed to His covenant and His covenant people.
Before God chose David to be the king of Israel, the nation was ruled by 15 judges over a period of about 450 years. Some of the most widely known names are Samson and Samuel.
During that time the enemies of Israel started to infiltrate God’s land over and over again despite the fact that under Joshua’s leadership they were defeated and chased out of the promised land.
The history of the rise and fall of the Hebrew nation are found in the history books (Genesis-Esther). The prophets appeared during the days of the fall of the Hebrew nation. At the moment of the apostasy of the 10 tribes at the close of Solomon’s reign and Israel’s golden age the ministry of the prophets began. The prophets gave a wake up call as soon as people began to forget God.
God warned Israel and Judah over and over again through the prophets. The people forsook God, worshiped idols, did injustice, and loved evil. But God was kind enough to forewarn them of coming judgments because of sin and apostasy, and he would do marvelous miracles through the prophets that would give them hope and encouragement. The prophets even revived their faith in the coming Messiah and His glorious Kingdom. Elijah and Elisha are some of the names that come to mind when talking about prophets.

PREPARED FOR HIS PROMISES

The book of Joshua follows the first 5 books of Moses. In those 5 books we find a great amount of God’s promises that are the foundation of Joshua’s faith in God Almighty. Without those promises, there would have never been a Joshua. Yet, God prepared, protected and also provided for this man everything necessary to become a mighty witness of God’s faithfulness to not just the Hebrews, but also the entire world.
Joshua must first know what the law which Moses wrote down is all about. You cannot observe what you do not know. And if you don’t know what God commanded, you cannot be a witness of God’s faithfulness.
God also commanded Joshua to MEDITATE IN IT DAY AND NIGHT. This was not a weekend course. It was not “when I have time left I will look into it”. Joshua exemplified what Paul wrote later in the book of Romans.
This preparation starts at birth. It is God’s doing. Joshua’s lineage had everything to do with God’s choice. His parents were slaves, experiencing the bitterness of bondage. However, Joshua’s parents never lost faith in God’s promises. They somehow believed that God is faithful even if the circumstances for 400 years pointed into the opposite direction.
At birth, his parents named this newborn boy HOSHEA, meaning SALVATION. In other words, this young boy was nurtured in an atmosphere of HOPE. Still in bondage to the Egyptians, his parents from the tribe of Ephraim, a tribe that comes from Joseph, the very son of Jacob that was sold into slavery by his own brothers.
God prepared Joshua for future battles. How did God prepare him? By example of others who are not fighting with him in the physical, but in the spiritual realm. THE BATTLE IS THE LORDS.
Joshua was alongside Moses for 40 years. He witnessed most of what God did during Moses wilderness wandering. He was taught to KNOW GOD and by observing Israel he was taught to KNOW MAN. Also, Moses’ tent was Joshua’s college.
What can we learn from that? This truth contains the very essence of the Gospel. God’s plan of redemption is very clear throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament.
The law brings no one into God’s heritage. Was Moses could not do Joshua was prepared to accomplish. If you and I want to enter into God’s inheritance, we must turn from Moses (from the law) and look to Joshua.
Just as Joshua was prepared by God to live under the law, under the authority of Moses, so have we been prepared by God to live under the law for a season. It is this preparation that brought us eventually into the promises of God. And people who have not gone through that process cannot be witnesses of God’s faithfulness. God has prepared a way for us to experience His promises. And once we experience them, we become true witnesses of God’s faithfulness.

Let My People GO

Last year we have studied the book of Revelation all the way up to the 16th chapter. So I will not repeat what I have shared with you then. However, to fully understand the 16th chapter before us, we need to read it in context of the previous chapter.
The question must be asked: WHY DOES GOD HIMSELF LET ALL THIS TROUBLE COME UPON THIS WORLD? What’s the purpose of all this? The Answer: Let My People Go. In other words, God’s judgment will always fall on those who tried to destroy everything God has created, especially His crown creation: THE HUMAN BEING made in God’s image.
He will come unexpectedly! The vast majority of people will still be eating and drinking, focusing on their everyday lives, unaware of the dangerous times they’re living in. Just as the people in Noah’s day, they will be ignoring the warning messages and rejecting God’s righteous ways Noah, the prophet of God, was very likely mocked and ridiculed for preaching “righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). The Bible reveals that in the end time, prior to Christ’s return, people will also ignore warnings to repent. As Peter notes, “Scoffers will come in the last days, … saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’” (2 Peter 3:3-4).
Noah preached for 120 years while he built the arch. Eventually only 8 people made it into the arch. THOSE WHO WERE IN THE ARCH WERE SAVED FROM THE WRATH OF GOD. This was not Noah’s idea. It was God’s master plan to destroy wickedness on this earth and to start over again. “I will destroy them with the earth”.
Egypt was the Empire that ruled the known world at this time. Egypt called the shots in this world. Without understanding what God did with Egypt, you will not understand the bowl judgments, the last 7 judgments that will come upon this whole earth, known as the wrath or judgments of God.
Like Egypt enslaved God’s covenant people, so has every world empire enslaved God’s people. The last Empire on God’s calendar was and is the Roman Empire. While today, this empire is fractured, it will COME BACK TO FULL POWER under ONE MIGHTY RULER, THE ANTICHRIST. By the time the bowl judgments will come upon this earth this REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE WILL BE IN FULL CONTROL OF ALL HUMANITY.
And Pharaoh said, “WHO IS THE LORD, THAT I SHOULD OBEY HIS VOICE TO LET ISRAEL GO? I DO NOT KNOW THE LORD, NOR WILL I LET ISRAEL GO.” Wrong thing to say to God Almighty who made the heavens and the earth and who is the owner of His own creation. But the rulers of this world have not learned anything yet. The final ruler of this world, before Jesus Christ will set up His kingdom here, will act exactly the same way. Look at the plagues God brought upon this nation Egypt. Four of the seven judgments of Revelation are copies of the plagues Egypt had to endure. They were literal plagues in Egypt and they will be literal judgments when God will pour his wrath upon this world.
LET MY PEOPLE GO. The final judgment upon this earth is carried out by God to set His people free, to set his entire creation free.
The first time he did use WATER.
The next time he will use FIRE.

Mothers Are Made By God

The Apostle Paul is telling the church at Ephesus that as followers of Christ, we must HONOR OUR FATHER AND MOTHER, which is the first commandment with promise.
What is the promise? That it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. That does not mean that everything in life will go according to our plans. NOT MY WILL BUT YOURS BE DONE, Jesus prayed to His father. And yet, Jesus Himself HONORED HIS MOTHER ON THIS EARTH.
Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was truly blessed among women, yet God made this women the faithful mother she was. So does He with every women who is willing to respond to God as Mary did: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Mother’s you are specially made by God with a very specific purpose.
When God brought you through it all, your job is not yet done. There is one more thing God will bless you with, and that is to become a TEACHER, AN EXAMPLE, TO THE YOUNGER MOTHERS WHO SO DESPERATELY WANT TO PLEASE THE LORD AND FULFILL THEIR CALLING

GIANTS In The Land

As we will learn this morning, this story is all about strongholds; Strongholds that hinder us to enter into God’s promises. Salvation is a gift given by God, yet many who have received the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, struggle in their Christian walk, because they fail to take down strongholds in their lives. While we claim to have liberty in Jesus Christ, we have become slaves to those strongholds.
One day, a student asked Ravi Zacharias, a Christian Apologist, the question: “Sir, can you define freedom for me?” Ravi’s answer is something we all should never forget, because it is packed with spiritual truth. “It’s not the liberty to do whatever we want, rather the strength to do what we should.”
Christians today do not know or do not want to know about their responsibility as parents. They simply believe that they have the freedom, the liberty to do whatever they want to do.
When Jesus says that He came to give us LIFE AND LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY, he makes a promise. Life, spiritual life is a gift from God to those who come to Him. Life more abundantly speaks of a rest, a peace, a fruitful life, belonging to those who are taking God’s Word for face value, implement God’s Word in their lives, living according to the Word of God, and believing that we are soldiers, engaged in a spiritual battle where Satan and his helpers setting up strongholds in our lives from which he will launch his attacks so we cannot find the promised rest.
Assess your situation: Be honest with yourself. What is it in your life that exalts itself against the knowledge of God? What is your stronghold, or strongholds from where Satan can keep you as a child of God incapacitated?
They made up their minds that the problem they saw was bigger than the promises God made. What was their solution? Get rid of their leader. Let’s go back to where we have been delivered from. They never recognized that Moses was bringing them the message which he received from God. Moses never promised them the land, it was God Himself.
Sometimes we are so in the grip of a stronghold, a habitual behavior that seems to keep us in bondage for the rest of our life. Instead of taking the Promise of God’s word to heart and to believe the messenger, we fear the enemy and believe the lie that we have to live with that destructive life style for the rest of our lives. That’s contrary to God’s word. Whatever your stronghold or strongholds may be, don’t fear them. TRUST GOD AND HIS WORD. Yes, we do have spiritual enemies, we do have spiritual giants opposing us to inherit God’s promises, but don’t let that fact fill you with fear.
Lesson: We cannot take on strongholds in our lives when the Lord is not in it. Our reliance has to be on the Lord, His power and His might. We have to be strong in the Lord, not strong in our own judgments. Well, that’s the way I see it. It does not matter. How does God see it? How many times have you tried to take down one of your strongholds only to find out that it did not work? The Giants, the strongholds are still there, occupying territory in your life. There is no rest, no victory without doing it God’s way, according to God’s word.

The Lamb Of God

Why did John call for a water baptism?
The ritual of water baptism was applied to Gentiles, unclean people, who wanted to convert to Judaism. Ritual baptism was never administered to Jews, only to non-Jews who converted to Judaism. Why? Because Gentiles were considered unclean and needed to go through a purification rite, to take a bath – in order to be welcomed and received into the covenant community of Israel.
However, John the Baptist primarily directed his calls for repentance to Jews. With that, he told Israel “the Messiah is about to arrive but you are not ready for Him. It is you, the people of Israel,that are unclean. That’s the reason why John called the Jews to submit to a ritual of cleansing that up to this point had been administered only to Gentiles. The typical procedure when a Gentile was going through the proselyte baptism, he was never baptized by a Levite or by a priest, who normally performed all the other purification rites in Israel. The convert was to baptize himself. No wonder the religious leaders asked themselves: Who does this man think he is, to call us, the children of Abraham, to undergo a cleansing rite?
The Lamb of God is also prefigured in the Passover, when God prepared to bring His final plague on the Egyptians, the death of every firstborn male of the Egyptians, including the crown prince of the Pharaoh (Exodus 12:3-31). Just as the blood of the lamb caused the people of Israel to be spared from God’s wrath, the Lamb of God redeemed His people from the penalty that was due for their sin.

Keep On Believing

The birth of Jesus Christ was the beginning, not the end of God’s good news to all men. The Christian life begins with a new birth, which is great news and brings much joy. However, that is just the beginning.
Growing in grace and in faith is necessary to see the promises of God being fulfilled in our lives.
Today, we claim to believe in the saving Grace of God Almighty, but that’s about how far it goes. When confronted with biblical truth, we simply say: Well, I just have a hard time believing that God would do that for me. That’s what the Hebrew writer means when he says that God has no pleasure in those who draw back.
Spiritual strength has never come to us by OBEYING COMMANDMENTS. Those people who drop out of the race, AND who have no perseverance to the end have simply stopped trusting the promises of the living God. They are children of the living God, they have been protected by the blood of the lamb, but they are being robbed of all the promises God has given them for their future.
The Apostle Peter simply explains that it is these promises that draw the heart to God in faith. In fact, the great command of the New Covenant is TO BELIEVE. The Israelites did not have many words of God they could hang unto, but what they were given was enough to lead them out of bondage.
You and I have the written word of God, but without feeding on the promises of the Word, not faith life will be strong. Without the word we are not able to continue on and persevere.

God’s Glory – Part 2

No one will be able to enter the temple of God UNTIL THE 7 PLAGUES of the seven angels are completed. That is, at the end of the 7 year tribulation period.
We traced the appearance of God’s glory from the Garden of Eden, through Moses’ life and eventually ended up in the wilderness Tabernacle where God’s glory was manifested among the Hebrews.
Now, we pick up from there and jump to the Joshua and Judges period in the Old Testament.
After Joshua’s time came the period of Judges of which Samuel was the last ruling judge of Israel. It was Samuel that was chosen by God to eventually anoint the first King of Israel. And it was Samuel that anointed King David, the man after God’s own heart.
Just as the first King of Israel was chosen by the people, and eventually rejected by God, so will be the first world ruler, the antichrist, chosen by the people, but rejected by God. It will be the second world ruler, the man after God’s own heart, that will be God’s chosen one.
However, just as Moses prayed earlier that the visible manifestation of God’s glory would dwell in the tabernacle forever, so did Solomon here pray to God that the visible manifestation of His Shechinah Glory would dwell in the temple forever.
But God would not answer the prayer of Moses and Solomon at their time.
What happened to the glory of God? Today, people get all excited about the arch of the covenant, asking the question: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ARK OF THE COVENANT? Well, that piece of furniture is just that. The real question should be. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SHECHINAH GLORY?

God’s Glory — Part 1

Looking at this scene, John as a born Jew and a personal follower of Jesus Christ understands what the Glory of God is. He has heard plenty about the Shechinah Glory appearing during the age of the Biblical Patriarchs and he certainly understood what importance God’s glory has played during the history of the Jewish people. If we want to define God’s Glory, we could say that the Shechinah Glory is the VISIBLE MANIFESTION OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD ALMIGHTY.
Because the Hebrew word Shechinah, which comes from the Root SHACHAN, literally means DWELLING.
The GREEK translation of the HEBREW word SHECHINAH is SKEINEI, which means TABERNACLE.
In the Old Testament most of these visible manifestations took the form of LIGHT, FIRE, OR CLOUD, or sometimes a combination of all of them.
After the glory of moses’ face faded, god manifested his glory through the tabernacle. Notice, that the tabernacle itself had no external beauty. It was covered with weather beaten animal skins. It was God who used the unattractiveness of the tabernacle to reveal and manifest His glory to Israel. The Israelites eventually started to believe that the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant where the source of their blessings. They forgot about the Shechinah Glory, that God dwellt among them.

The Most Important Question

WHY DOES GOD ALMIGHTY, THE ONE WHO WANTS THAT NO HUMAN BEING PERISHES BUT THAT ALL COME TO REPENTANCE, pour His wrath upon this earth.
While this question is not the most important one we can ask, it is none the less a crucial one. Isn’t God loving, caring, forgiving, merciful and gracious? Yes, He certainly is; but he also is pure, holy, righteous, and just.
This most important question: WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? Will put every human being on the spot. Now and especially during the tribulation period when the world ruler together with the world religious leader will demand that we proclaim that they are the savior of the world, those who say that they are FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST must deny to worship anyone else and PROCLAIM WITHOUT HESITATION LIKE THE APOSTLE PETER DID:
YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.

The Power of Religion

The false Christ and the false Prophet will precede the Real Christ. Jesus clearly teaches that truth. He also reveals to us that before the final false Christ, which we know as the Anti-Christ, will come, there will be many false Christ’s and many false prophets who claim to be the one or who claim to speak on behalf of the real Christ. The false prophet will be the spiritual leader of the world religions, claiming to represent God Almighty. It will be one of the most incredible deceptions the world will ever witness.
This second beast is necessary to show up on the world stage to complete the counterfeit trinity. This beast counterfeits the holy spirit in the person of the False Prophet.
Remember, Jesus himself confirmed to His disciples that the prophet Elijah will come BEFORE THE GREAT AND DREADFUL DAY. The whole world will be in amazement. This must be the resurrected Elijah. Remember, the one of the signs that symbolizes the Holy Spirit is FIRE. This false prophet will be able to do the same.
Just as the Holy Spirit brings all true born-again believers into one body, so the false prophet will bring all religions of the world into one body. While the antichrist, which will be in charge of the political and economical system of the entire world, he needs the false prophet to legitimize his office. Finally, during the tribulation period, Satan will have his master piece in place, the RELIGEOUS LEADER OF THIS WORLD WILL DEMAND THAT ALL PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH MAKE AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST, THE POLITICAL LEADER OF THIS WORLD.

He Will Reign Forever

It is important that we understand the spiritual battle in the heavenly places that is going on here and how Satan will fight to the bitter end. Yet, as foretold by the prophets of old, God the Father will give everything to His Son Jesus Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. There is no alternative. The great day is at hand.
In other words, signs and wonders do not make the gospel believable. When Jesus walked on this earth, He performed many incredible miracles and gave them many signs, yet these same people who saw those miracles and heard him preach God’s wisdom rejected Him and killed Him.
When these two witnesses preach and perform signs and wonders, the people will listen but also reject their message. Instead of embracing the truth, they will kill those two witnesses and rejoice over their death.

The Two Witnesses

Knowledge of things to come should give all of us a burden for people around us. We cannot stop with the sweet knowledge and forget to warn the people around us and show them the way of escape. This is one of the reasons why I personally love the prophetic Scripture. It is wonderful to see the Revelation of Jesus Christ in all His glory, and yet, at the same time it will give you a burden for the lost like nothing else will.
The two witnesses are referred to as olive threes due to the fruit they bear during the time of their witness. It’s a slow growing tree which reaches a great age and bears fruit until it dies. Before dying, however, new branches sprout from its roots. Likewise, the two witnesses are to be killed. Thus, the olive tree typifies the death of the witnesses and the results of their witnessing; that is, they sprout new converts. The olive tree fruit was harvested by beating the branches of the tree with a stick or by shaking the tree.
Enoch is a picture of the Rapture of the church. Those who WALK WITH GOD will go, and those who walk according to the world will stay where they love to be and live. We, as witnesses of Christ today must WALK WITH GOD LIKE ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD AND ONE DAY, THE LORD WILL TAKE US HOME.

The Four Trumpets

Remember, the first 4 trumpets will deal with the environment, the ecological system, or what people today call Global warming, now renamed Climate Change. None of the judgments released by these 4 trumpets have anything to do with political, social or economic systems of this world. God will take care of that later on.
There is a time coming when people are more concerned about rain forests, global warming, endangered species, spotted owls, whales, condors, and trees, than they are about people and their spiritual and physical wellbeing. People worship “mother nature” which is idolatry.
While it is true that man has failed in his responsibility to properly care for God’s creation, trying to compensate for this failure by starting to worship the creation instead of the creator is utter nonsense.
Woe to the inhabitants of the earth… This is a descriptive term used for those who have repeatedly rejected the offer of Salvation, who will not repent even though they know without a thought that the things they have witnessed up to this point is directly linked to God’s final judgment of mankind before He sets up His kingdom on this earth.

In The Crosshair of The Enemy

This sermon is not going to be on the book of Revelation. Instead, we will focus on another battle that is raging since the dawn of time; and the ultimate target in this battle is the women. We have come a long way since God gave Adam a wife, the future mother of all human beings. The spiritual battle transferred from heaven to this earth in an instance and never ceased since. As a matter of fact, the battle intensified each time period since. This spiritual war has culminated in a total destruction of the family unit as God has ordained it since its creation. We are witnessing right now in our own country the destruction of the family and in the process deliberately distort the meaning of motherhood. Satan forgot to tell them what the true consequences would be. Like always, Satan forgets to tell his targets the whole truth. It is God who speaks the truth and warns his creation in advance of the schemes of the Devil.
Who was the target of Satan this time? The women! They would have to kill their own sons because the government demanded it to be so. Listen, any law that is contrary to God’s Word, no matter what government is writing it, MUST BE DISOBEYED BY THE CHILD OF GOD. The consequences must be left in God’s hands. The old song says: “God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see, he will make a way for me.”
No mother knows in advance what God has in store for her and her children. It is not important after all. What is more important is the fact that God has gifted every mother to be the best mother to her children.

What Do You Long For?

What about those who call themselves followers of Jesus, people who have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and who want to follow the Lord wherever he goes, what is their deepest desire?
Of all the people who received an inheritance in the Promised Land, Caleb was the only one to completely drive out the enemy. And remember, it was Caleb who faced some of the most formidable enemies in the entire land. GIANTS WHERE LIVING THERE. Caleb had the longing to live where God promised him he would live one day. His longing was stronger than his physical limitations. Caleb longed to have fellowship and communion with God and God’s people. Caleb never longed for the approval of man, but he longed for the approval of God. He was not afraid of what the consequences would be if he longed for God’s approval and therefore would lose most friendships.

A Feast of Grace

Instead of presenting Benjamin to the Egyptian ruler and with that releasing Simeon from Prison and the charges of being spies being dropped, THEY RECEIVED AN INVITATION TO A BANQUET.
William Shakespeare, in King Henry VI, WROTE: “Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.” Listen, guilt will always do that to all of us. Guilt has the power to cause us to say strange things at strange times. An Egyptian explaining to God’s chosen people what their God is doing. They could not see it, because they feared the worst.

Things a Child Can Understand

What is it that these disciples did not understand, yet the child Jesus brought into their midst did understand? How could this be that the Disciples who where chosen by the Lord Himself to become the Apostles, the movers and shakers of the 1st century, could not understand what this little child understood? Scientific studies and tests show that a child’s creativity – which includes imagination and wonder – diminished by 90 % between ages 5 and 7. When adults get to be 40, they have about 2 % of the creativity they had when they were 5 years old.
The more we know about God, the more overwhelmed we are with wonder.
Moses was changed because he was amazed by something God did in his life.