Part Two: Preparation
The Lord works from what is, not from what could have been. Neither Ruth's poverty or her heritage as a cursed Moabitess kept the prosperity and provision of God from her. In today's world many claim only a select few "perfect" people can receive blessing from God. The truth is that God is no respecter of persons. The key is getting in line with God's purposes in our lives. When that happens His provision follows, miracles occur.
By Chris McDonald
The Holy Spirit is the agent of God that will bring in the harvest of these last days. The Holy Spirit is GOD Himself living in side of us as believers, who comprise the CHURCH of Yeshuah. We are the Lord's earthly representative in these last days to help usher in the great ingathering of souls foretold in scripture from the prophets right on down through the apostles. Paul, Peter, James and John would have given anything to have lived in the time we live in tonight. They would have given up I believe anything the Lord required to be able to stand if not but for a moment in this time of history to see what was about to take place in the modern church in the very near future. Think about that. That is the awesome time we are living in tonight.
As we have stated in the first three journals of this series on Ruth, Ruth stands as a type of the Gentile church. Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger, a Moabites, who comes back to Bethlehem with Naomi her mother in law after her husband and father in law die while they all are in Moab. Ruth embraces Naomi's God and her people - a type or picture of the grafting in of the Gentile church into the Jewish vine of the New Covenant. Moab stands as a type of the world. Naomi leaving Bethlehem in time of famine to go into the far country to find bread is a type of the Jewish people who for so long have wondered in nations around the world "until the time of the GENTILES" be fulfilled. Neighbor, that time is soon approaching. Let me say it a different way - that time is almost HERE! We don't have much time left.
The setting for this story took place at the end of the barley harvest and near the beginning of the wheat harvest. Interestingly enough the events of Ruth take about 50 days to unfold - the exact time it took between Passover and Pentecost. Ruth's story is read in the Jewish synagogues on Pentecost each year in honor of the fact that her story speaks to us of harvest. Pentecost speaks of harvest. We didn't get the Holy Spirit to get chill bumps and do a little dance from time to time. No, we received the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost to take this mighty gospel to the four corners of the world and proclaim the good news that JESUS SAVES, JESUS HEALS, JESUS BAPTIZES IN THE HOLY GHOST and JESUS IS COMING AGAIN!
Glory to God. I want to say it again - JESUS SAVES, JESUS HEALS, JESUS FILLS AND BAPTIZES WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. He has come to this earth to REDEEM man. Many teach about who Jesus is while not majoring on what Jesus DID. Jesus is more than a person. He IS our salvation. He does not just "have" salvation, HE IS OUR salvation! And when He saves us He makes us fit vessels to be IN FILLED by the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost. The mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit is so needed in this hour. When the Holy Spirit comes "UPON" us, He comes to bring power into our lives so we may become DYNAMOS if you will for the kingdom of God. He comes so we may become a lightning rod and conduit of God's power to a lost and dying world.
So many profess they have the Holy Spirit but very few honor the Holy Ghost with their lives. When He lives inside of us and has control of us as He wishes JESUS IS GLORIFIED in us and thus ALL MEN are DRAWN UNTO HIM! That's the key to harvest. All the secular efforts we may try to do in the church are but a waste of time. We don't need a door-to-door scouring of the city block we live on handing out a few tracts. There is nothing wrong with that don't get me wrong. God bless anyone trying to witness to the lost about Christ but if we don't possess the POWER of the risen Christ in our heart it will just come across as dead men's words to a person whose heart is "dead" and "darkened" by sin already. It will take a move of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and lives to change them.
Sin's dilemma and depth are deeper than what our educational efforts can address. Sin's plight and debauchery are more deeper and more traumatic than what our psychological efforts even in the church can address. Sin's power is so great that there is only ONE POWER IN THE UNIVERSE, ONE POWER IN THE COSMOS that can set the captive free and that power is the power of the blood of the LORD JESUS CHRIST through the office and work of the HOLY GHOST. Neighbor are you hearing me? When you go hand that tract to your neighbor it's just a tract unless the anointing of the HOLY GHOST rests on that tract! It's just words you utter to him unless you have the power of the HOLY GHOST backing up those words! Only the HOLY SPIRIT can convict hearts and change lives into the image of JESUS. He did not come to speak of HIMSELF, but HE CAME to speak of CHRIST!
Most evangelistic efforts today are nothing more than efforts to make people just like our church affiliations. In other words if we are Baptist we go out hoping to make our converts Baptist. If we are Assembly of God we hope to make our converts Assembly of God. That is one reason most evangelistic efforts FAIL in Israel today because the Gentile world as a whole has tried to erase Jewish culture when we witness to Jewish people about Jesus. We tell them "you can become a believer, but you have to give up your Jewish culture." Friend, you can't erase Jewish culture and heritage from salvation - it was given to the JEWS FIRST! Salvation was for the JEWS first. That's why this story of Ruth is so vitally important for us to understand in these last days. She stands as a type of us Gentiles being "GRAFTED INTO" the olive tree of Israel. Naomi was a type of Israel. When Ruth said "YOUR GOD SHALL BE MY GOD, and YOUR PEOPLE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE," Ruth was denouncing everything of her past life to become part of the commonwealth of Israel. In those days that was the only way you could know the God of Israel was to become a proselyte of the faith. To make matters worse, God has cursed the people of Moab for their part in mishandling Israel in the wilderness and forsaking her in her time of need. Ruth stood not only alienated from the promises and covenants, she was under a CURSE! We as Gentiles were under that same CURSE before Yeshuah came!
But today praise God because of Yeshuah we no longer have to become proselyte Jews, but through the BLOOD of Yeshuah we are BROUGHT NEAR to that commonwealth and engrafted into the COVENANTS OF PROMISE. What covenant am I talking about - it's the NEW COVENANT the Lord made with the HOUSE OF JUDAH and with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL! (Jer. 31) Because of the unbelief of some the Lord turned His attention to the Gentiles and offered them salvation through the Messiah. But before it all wraps up - ALL OF ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED! The Jewish people will recognize Yeshuah as their Messiah once again! Glory to God! And that is the key to all harvest in these last days be it for Jewish people OR Gentiles. The way to God is the same - YESHUAH! We are not called to bring people into our denomination, we are called to bring them them to the MESSIAH! There is a BIG difference.
And in this passage in the third chapter of Ruth we see the preparatory work if you will of the Holy Spirit as He gets the church ready to meet our Heavenly Boaz and reap the harvest of the last days. I don't have time go into here but that is the prophetic strain of the New Testament - HARVEST. Nothing more, nothing less. The New Covenant is about harvest. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is about harvest. The Tribulation of Revelation is about HARVEST. The Second Coming of Jesus is about HARVEST. The Great White Throne Judgment is about HARVEST. The New Jerusalem and New Heavens and New Earth will come about as a result of HARVEST. The sickle of Revelation 14 is about to be plunged into Planet Earth and millions, perhaps billions will soon die and perish at the onslaught of God's wrath. Everything that we read in the New Testament concerning the life of Yeshuah was really about HARVEST. His purpose in coming to Earth was to proclaim the good news that a harvest was coming, an ingathering if you would, into the Kingdom of God. Those who embraced the Kingdom through Messiah Jesus would be included in the harvest of the just, but those who refused in the harvest of damnation. (John 5:28-29)
John 5:28-29 - Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, [29] And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
So everything that we do in these last days as the church should be geared to one thing - HARVEST. That's where we should be investing our money - into the HARVEST. That's where we should be investing or efforts and resources - into the HARVEST. If God gives us a million dollars why on this Earth would a sane person sink it into an edifice that will burn away in 10 minutes in the fire???? Why do we not invest it into outreaches overseas to feed the hungry, see souls saved, see bodies healed and see the demonically oppressed set free? WHY are investing our efforts in promoting our CHURCH instead of promoting JESUS CHRIST? There is no salvation in the CHURCH! HEAR ME! The source of salvation for the world is NOT US - IT'S JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And in this beautiful story, the book of Ruth gives us great insight into the preparation of what the Lord is doing in this hour.
Boaz Is Winnowing Barley At The Threshing Floor
Ruth 3:1-3 - Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? [2] And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou was? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.
It is here that Naomi first tells Ruth about a man named Boaz, who was related to Naomi (and Ruth too). Boaz becomes a type of Christ in this story. He will become Naomi and Ruth's kinsman redeemer as we will find out in an upcoming journal "Ho, Such A One!" When Ruth first meets Boaz he is "winnowing barley at night in the threshing floor."
That is a powerful prophetic statement of the time we are living in right now. We are living in harvest time. We are living in the last days. It's NIGHT in case some of you have your head stuck in the sand as most pastors do who don't preach repentance because they fear the people more than God. It's NIGHT neighbor, it's getting LATE. And Boaz is in the fields "winnowing" the barley harvest in the threshing floor. What does that mean - winnowing barley at night in the threshing floor?" I'll tell you what it means.
Those words "winnowing" and "threshing floor" immediately takes our mind to the words of John The Baptist concerning Yeshuah the Messiah. He said that when Christ came he would "baptize us with the Holy Ghost and His fan would be in HIS HAND, He will THOROUGHLY PURGE HIS FLOOR, and GATHER HIS WHEAT into the garner; He will burn up the CHAFF with unquenchable fire."
Matthew 3:10-16 - And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. [11] I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: [12] Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. [13] Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. [14] But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? [15] And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. [16] And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Grain was threshed in the open air, being trampled under the feet of oxen (Deut. 25:4), or by means of instruments (§ Isaiah 28:27). To separate the grain from the hulls and straw a fan or wooden pitchfork was used. As straw was thrown toward the wind, the chaff blew away and the grain fell to the ground (the threshing floor). The grain was sometimes sifted after the winnowing (Luke 22:31). The chaff then was burned and the grain stored. This is used to picture judgment several times (Job 21:17-20; Psalm 1:4; Isaiah 29:5; Isaiah 41:16; Daniel 2:35
Job
21:17-20 - How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh
their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. [18] They
are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. [19]
God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know
it. [20] His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of
the Almighty.
Psalm 1:4 - The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind
driveth away.
Isaiah 29:5 - Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small
dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth
away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Isaiah 41:16 - Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and
shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Daniel 2:35 - Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer
threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for
them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth.
Daniel said that the kingdoms of this world would one day
become "like the summer threshing floors" and that the wind would "carry them
away." The STONE that SMOTE the image (Christ) would become a great mountain
and fill the whole earth! Praise God. Neighbor the Holy Spirit is getting the
church ready for this exact event.
I will be brief but I want to say a few things here which are very very important so hear this good. Not everyone who reads this (if you have read this far) will be used in the harvest field of the last days. The heat will be too great. The Holy Spirit is calling out a remnant of people who are allowing him to take the chaff of their life and "blow" it with the fans of Christ's fire. Harvest people are people whose floors have been THOROUGHLY PURGED. When I say purged, I mean the filth and the stink of this world's idolatry and thinking have been eradicated completely. People who will work in harvest related ministries are people who have allowed Christ to mold them and sculpt them into WHEAT where NOTHING is left of the chaff. This is not easy because to be quite frank with you the Holy Spirit doesn't have too much to work with. I mean He really doesn't.
I don't know how to say this too good. As I write these words the Lord has been doing some major surgery on Chris and Lisa McDonald this past 6 months. Things we once thought were security for us have fallen by the wayside and blown away under Christ's loving winds. He has taken us and prodded us, molded us, loosened us from negative influences in our lives and friend it has NOT been easy! There have been times when Lisa and I have both just wept all day long not knowing where our next meal would come but to obey Him it's had to be this way. He told me in late 2001 to make myself available again for full time ministry and I did. Even that process of letting go of my old job was one of the most difficult decisions I could make in my entire life. Lisa was 7 months pregnant with Caleb and friend it's hard enough to tell your wife you're quitting your job if she's NOT pregnant! But when she is 7-months pregnant - believe me - it's not something I want to do everyday! I've questioned God over and over this year "Did I miss you in that area?" Are you SURE that is what you wanted me to do?" I've cried, "Lord it could be so much easier if I could just go back on the road and work with my old company. It could be so much easier. We'd have money in the bank, we'd have money to pay our bills; we'd have money to give to you Lord, We'd have money to go on vacation on!" There's been days when Lisa and I would not know what we were going to do but through it all we know that this has been doing something WITHIN us that is necessary for the work the Lord has called us to do in the near future.
Some of you are going through what I am talking about and you are bearing witness with these words. The process of sanctification by the Spirit is NEVER an easy process.
You see the church's failure if you want to call it that is that we have offered the world (and the Body of Christ) who worship among us "instant" Christianity. We promise them if they will give a seed offering that a large return of money is coming back to them. We promise people that if they will come forward and have us lay hands on them they will be zapped into Christian perfection and friend that isn't so. We as Pentecostals who are the worst at this promise people that if they will just receive the baptism in the Holy Ghost and speak with tongues that they will become perfect and friend that just ISN'T SO! I don't care how many times we are slain in the Spirit (and I believe in speaking in tongues and being slain in the Spirit) but that isn't going to produce (in itself) a harvest-ready Christian. NO! The only thing that will produce that is a trip to the threshing floor of Boaz - a type of the CROSS of CHRIST. It's where the FLESH OF MAN is killed and the SPIRIT becomes the HEAD of the BODY. Calvary is more than just a word we use in our hymns on Sunday, it's where the CHURCH MUST RETURN to in these last days if we are to see the fulfillment of prophecy in this hour.
There is so much talk about revival it makes me want to puke and I believe it makes the Lord want to puke too. Because our definition of revival in America is so shallow and lukewarm it makes even the demons giggle at our foolishness sometime. We think if we have three-nights of services with a guest evangelist and get about 50-60 people to sign a card saying they made a profession of faith that's revival. FRIEND THAT IS NOT REVIVAL! The Bible really doesn't even talk about "REVIVAL" in the last days - it talks about HARVEST! And there is a big difference between the two. Revival gets people into church. Harvest brings people to our Heavenly Boaz, our Heavenly Christ. Harvest brings the purposes of GOD in heaven to planet Earth and the purposes of God in the Earth into heaven. What do I mean? It means that harvest releases the power of answered intercessory prayers of centuries into the heavens then rains it down on earth through the OUTPOURING of the HOLY GHOST. Neighbor, when harvest time really comes, we won't be dismissing our revivals on "Wednesday" night- we'll be having church 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Our people will no longer be more excited about what TENNESSEE is doing on the football field than they are about our cold dead church services. No, they will be totally immersed in LOVE WITH Jesus who will once again become the object of their affections! Glory to God. That's HARVEST.
There are no shortcuts to this threshing floor experience. There are no experiences out there that will exempt you from this if you want to be used by God in these last days. This is a different time than any time in our past as the church. Things that God tolerated in the past in patience He will no longer tolerate now. He is looking for a spotless BRIDE, a chaste VIRGIN. He's looking for a PARTNER to bring both the harvest of souls into the Kingdom and generate the harvest of judgment through intercessory prayer form the foot of the altar of heaven through the saints! Read Revelation! The mechanism that is turning the machine of judgment on earth are the PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN! It's about HARVEST.
David had a threshing floor experience and lost a friend when God struck Uzzah down at the foot of the ark of the covenant. Abraham's threshing floor came when he fled to Egypt during times of famine. Jacob had a threshing floor experience with God at the foot of that ladder when he wrestled with the angel and said, "YOU'RE NOT LEAVING ME OR LETTING ME GO UNTIL YOU BLESS ME, OR CHANGE ME." Moses' threshing floor came at the ROCK when he disobeyed God and smote the rock TWICE instead of once and as a result failed to reach the Promised Land. Neighbor are you hearing me.
And then there was Jesus on the last night of his earthly life sweating drops of blood in Gethsemane begging God to take the cup from Him. Begging God to do it another way. Begging God to by pass the road that He knew was coming before the foundation of the world. Begging God to deliver Him from the threshing floor of the cross that was soon to destroy His flesh for three days and three nights in the earth.
Neighbor, what the Lord is doing to you and me is not easy and it is very painful at times but it is needed for employment in the HARVEST of the last days! Boaz is threshing WHEAT at night in the fields as we speak. The Holy Ghost is about to be poured out on this earth in such a way that even the skeptics and the doubters and the unbelievers (IM TALKING ABOUT THOSE IN THE CHURCH LIKE THAT) are going to shake their head and say "MY GOD WHAT IS GOING ON." But before that happens, God is going to purge the church. He's going to burn away the chaff in each one of us one way or the other. He is going to make us fit vessels of service for His kingdom. He's going to gather the WHEAT of our lives into the garner so we may in turn go forth and gather the wheat of the harvest into the garner as well! You get this picture?
Naomi, who stands as a type of both the Jewish people, AND as a type of the Holy Spirit here, tells Ruth three things to do to PREPARE Herself for this meeting with Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, the "harvester" at night of the barley on the threshing floor.
Ruth 3:3-5 -
Wash
thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and
put thy raiment upon thee,
and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man,
until he shall have done eating and drinking. [4] And it shall be, when he lieth
down, that thou shall mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shall go in,
and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shall
do. [5] And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.
1. Wash Thyself
You need to be WASHED daily from the daily dirt of this world. We ARE CLEANSED THROUGH Jesus
John 15:3 - Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
We are WASHED by the power of the WORD OF GOD. Jesus is the LIVING WORD and the REDEEMER of man. He is more than just a historical figure we hang from our car mirrors on our cute chains. He is MORE than just the name we put on our bumper stickers to encourage people to "HONK IF THEY LOVE JESUS." Neighbor, HE IS THE WORD. And through His WORD the church will become clean in these last days.!
That is why we need to find a good church. We need to find us a place where the watering of the Word is done weekly. No, I didn't say we needed to hear how great our church was every week or hear a business report on how big the finances have gotten. (THE CHURCH IS SO ARROGANT) NO! We need to hear a living breathing UNCTION and WORD from heaven that will stir us to cleanse ourselves of ALL SIN and repent before God and humble ourselves under His mighty hand.
2. Anoint Thyself
1 John 2:20-22 - But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. [21] I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. [22] Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son.
1 John 2:26-28 - These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. [27] But the anointing which ye have received of him abides in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. [28] And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
In addition to the WORD OF GOD, we need to be ANOINTED by the HOLY GHOST. Preacher, hear me what I am about to say to you. God did not put that call on your life nor did He place you in the position He did for you to spout off at the mouth your unbelief in HIM AND HIS SPIRIT! Dear God help us. I have a nine-year old son who was gloriously baptized in the Holy Ghost about a month ago. In his little heart of innocence he has come to intercede at times while I'm around. I hear him pray and to quite frank with you my nine-year old son has more spiritual insight than most preachers with seminary degrees and doctorates.
Preacher, the HOLY GHOST IS REAL! THE HOLY GHOST IS GOD! THE HOLY GHOST will set you free from your religious darkness and put something in your heart more bigger than that stupid degree you hold so dear thinking that is what makes you a good minister. It's not our education. It's not our eloquent speaking. It's not our reputation in the community. It's not our social graces that make us ministers worthy of our calling. NO. The anointing of the HOLY GHOST, the power of almighty GOD, breathed on us by the winds of YESHUAH is what makes us ministers WORTHY OF OUR CALLING! Preacher you need the anointing. People in these last days are dealing with demons and powers that will not "buke" at your throwing down your educational certificate. I don't care HOW BIG YOUR CHURCH IS. Some of you reading this have churches big enough to choke a mule yet they are deader than Sunday's bread on Friday. Some churches are so dead you'd have a better chance of getting saved in a whore house than you would there. At least at the whore house they know they are sinners and need GOD. We in the church are so SMUG and ARROGANT we don't even recognize our need for HIM any more and don't even realize HE HAS LEFT! NEIGHBOR it's getting late, it's getting late!
3. Put On Your Raiment
Rev. 3:14-19 -
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; [15]
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or
hot. [16] So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will
spue thee out of my mouth. [17] Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased
with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: [18] I counsel thee to buy of me
gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich;
and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint
thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. [19] As many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
This speaks to the church of the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST and the removing of our self-righteousness. The church does not realize how much in darkness it is without our LORD. He is the LIGHT OF THE WORLD AND THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH. The church has gotten very good at carrying on its services without the HEAD being present! As a result we have put on a garment of violence and taken upon us the spirit of the Pharisees as it relates to the world and those around us. Jesus said to Laodicea, "I charge thee to buy of me RAIMENT" to clothe your nakedness. WE ARE NAKED IN THIS HOUR and we don't even know it. When Adam and Eve sinned the first thing that happened to them they realized they had become naked and took fig leaves to hid themselves. We in the church of the 21rst Century have done the same thing. We have paraded our fig leaves to the world trying to show them how "holy" we are when in fact we are just as sinful as they are in many ways. We want the world to think we have it all together but the latest figures tell us we don't have it all together. There are just as many divorces in the church (if not more) as there are in the world. Some of the most hateful, rudest people you'll ever find on Sunday afternoons in restaurants are Christians! I have a waitress friend who told me recently the day she hates to work the MOST is Sundays! I said "why is that?" She said because I work the hardest and get tipped the less. She said she is screamed at, ordered around like a dog and just made to feel awful by church people. Of course during this conversation I was getting ready to invite her to a local church we attended - BUT! The world looks at us and just laugh and snicker because they see one thing coming out of our mouth and a set of actions in direct contrast to what we profess. That will not be an excuse for them on judgment day - but we will be held accountable as God's people for being stumbling blocks to those who are lost!
Jesus said before you try and take the "beam" out of your brothers' eye you might better take the "MOTE" out of your own. I was in a prayer cell group in Knoxville not too long ago when a lady started telling the group that the problem with the BODY OF CHRIST today was the fact that so many preachers had fallen into sin. She named two in particularly who had fallen over 10 years ago, blaming them for why the world called us hypocrites. Her comment was "they are the reason no one wants to be a part of the church. " NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO lady, it is not "them" that is the problem it's people like YOU who want to blame others while never looking at themselves and removing their OWN SIN. Those men will give account for the hurt they caused, but WE need to take inventory of our own lives first! Believe me when we allow the HOLY GHOST to do His true work in us - we won't have time to fret about our brother's sin. We'll be too busy repenting of our OWN!
4. Get Thee Down To The Floor.......
1 Peter 5:5
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be
subject one to another, and be clothed
with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and gives grace to the humble.
This speaks of humility. And God knows the church needs a good dose of that in the worst type of way. God RESISTS the PROUD but He gives GRACE to the humble. Friend, we need all the GRACE we can get! The reason we don't see the grace of God being poured out in a corporate manner is we have become so stinking arrogant in this hour to the point it has become repugnant to the world AND to GOD! I can barely watch Christian television these days because of this spirit in most preachers. There are only a very precious few programs I care to watch period. There are times when I pick up a leading Christian magazine I get so angry I want to spit nails at the outright arrogance and pride of the church. You see we don't rebuke pride and arrogance in the church - we applaud it. We give men pats on the back for their "big churches" and "big ministries," when in God's kingdom there are no big "I's" or big "T's." No neighbor, there is nothing but just servants of the harvest coming forth.
We wrote a journal back in April entitled "The Last Passover: The Coming Servants." In the journal we related a vision that the Lord gave Heidi Baker, a precious woman of God from Mozambique. Heidi saw a vision of several chariots circling the globe being driven by nameless saints. These saints all had one thing in common - they had HUGE hearts which were beating rapidly for the Lord, beating only for Him. They had been freed from self and were set pursuing only ONE THING in their life - to SERVE and bring GLORY TO GOD ONLY, not anyone else or any CHURCH!!, but also to SERVE others. These nameless saints sat in the chariot and did not move as much as a finger until a loud voice came from above the chariots that said "GO!!!!!!!!!!!!" At this moment, the individual who told of this vision said she saw the Lord in front in a chariot of His own directing the nameless saints. At His command, these chariots swept the earth with fire following each one. These fires were the fires of harvest. Not man-made meetings mind you, but a true outpouring of the Holy Ghost enveloped the globe wherever these servant-hearted "lovers" went. That is the army of the last days! That is the second side of the events which are ahead of us. But the riders of those chariots were "nameless" saints, in other words - they had no pride! They had been to the threshing floor and allowed the HOLY GHOST TO DESTROY THEIR FLESHLY pride and egos. As a result they were fit to ride in a chariot for the last days harvest.
Yes, judgment will come. Many will depart from the faith, but many will not. The church's shaking it is about to experience will be one that eliminates the term "superstar," "famous" "well-known" and any other adjectives that do not glorify Jesus, but glorifies man. I read a recent issue of a leading Christian magazine. A few months back, a well-known southern-based ministry ran a full page "ad" in this magazine literally bragging on itself of how many headquarters it had established around the world. The ad made many in the Body mad (AMEN AND AMEN, we're getting the message!) and many wrote letters of disgust to this magazine. Most comments sounded out a clarion call to the ministry of the American church that the days of our "bragging" are coming to an end. Listen preacher, the sinner is not going to get saved by your bragging. He is going to get saved by the powerful agape love and power of the Lord's salvation!
The only thing that will set drug addicts free, alcoholics free, prostitutes free, the religious free, IS THE BLOOD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST - OUR PASSOVER LAMB! The ONLY power that will last for eternity will be the power of servant hood! The power of that towel Jesus used on the night of the Last Passover is an open rebuke to the repugnant arrogance of the church here in America and other parts of the West. A well-known pastor in the city Lisa and I live in recently got up before his people and said that his church would not allow ANYONE to teach in their church who taught anything but the "doctrine" of the denomination the church belonged to. Another pastor looked me in the eye a few months back and said, "I don't let anyone in my pulpit anymore because the people in my church only want to hear "ME" preach." How lovely, yet how arrogant and sad.
Other ministries are reeking with a wound of open defilement from pride and arrogance. God is about to bring it all down soon. The lofty looks of man and the haughtiness of the fellowship will be brought low. NO FLESH WILL GLORY IN ITSELF but our praise will be of God. That is why the American church cannot reach the society we live in. We have lots and lots and lots of buildings and "activity," but the local baker laughs at us when we see him on Monday morning and brag on how "great" our church is. When we make statements that our church "is on the cutting edge of ministry," we are embracing what the Bible calls "the pride of life." John the apostle said the pride of life was one of three things that were not of God - BUT OF THE WORLD. And the things of the world are at enmity with the things of God. We cannot keep walking down this path if we are to see a harvest of souls in the near future.
We have no better example of servant hood than Jesus himself left for us on the night of the Last Passover. Even though He made the heavens and earth and breathed into man the breath of life, He was not too proud to get on his knees, humble himself and wash the feet (including Judas!) of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. Today we can't even get people to offer a homeless person shelter when they see him on the side of the street. We have neighbors who live in our subdivision who are very poor. When they called a very large church (I want to say the denomination but I won't) in our community for help, the first words out of the ladies' mouth on the other end of the phone was "we need to ask you several questions to see if you 'qualify' for our help." GOD HELP US!
Neighbor if America goes down it will go down because of the arrogance of the American church! It will go down because we have not "GOTTEN THEE DOWN" to the threshing floor of Jesus.
As I close this journal which I have not even scratched the surface of concerning this subject, I ask you a question today. Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to remove the chaff out of your life. Do you even recognize the fact you have chaff in your life??? That is a key first step in seeing the salvation of the Lord and the harvest of the last days. That is a key to seeing the outpouring of the Holy Ghost in our lives. That is one of the greatest needs of this hour and one of the most powerful expressions of God's prophetic voice as I write these words. It's getting late neighbor. It's HARVEST TIME! It's harvest time! And the Holy Ghost is getting us prepared as Naomi got Ruth prepared so long ago to meet our Heavenly Boaz. He is out in the fields right now "winnowing" the fields of harvest. Amen And Amen.
Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, take our chaff and BURN it with unquenchable fire. Remove all measure of the FLESH in our lives so that even our garment is not spotted with it! Crush our egos and pride, do what you have to do to PREPARE us for the coming harvest. Lord we want to be a laborer of these last days for you. In Jesus name, Amen.