The First Message And The Last Message
The Forerunner Season - Part One
John the Baptist brought a message to prepare the way for Messiah's FIRST coming. I believe the Lord is getting ready to birth a season where the FIRST message will once again be preached as the LAST message on earth before Messiah's SECOND return. We are entering into some of the most riveting prophetic times known to humanity. The church must return to preaching the gospel, winning the lost and having intimacy with God. We cannot lose this battle for truth in these perilous days we live in. This is the mandate for the 21rst Century church.
By Chris McDonald
TEXT: Matthew 3:1-3- In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, [2] And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. [3] For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
As I open this journal, I want to relate a prophetic experience of Bob Jones; a Charlotte, North Carolina based minister said he received in 1975. This prophetic experience gave him insight as to what the Lord would do in the church right prior to His return. The Lord said that three seasons of change were coming to the Body of Christ that would happen in succession and usher in Messiah’s Second Return. One was the season of wine, one was a season of fire and the final season would be the season of the wind. The third season of the wind of the Spirit would be the fan that would gather the “wheat” into the garner and barn in one of the mightiest outpourings of the Holy Ghost the world will ever see.
Jesus told Bob that over 1 billion souls will come to Him during this harvest. We have not experienced that yet. That is yet future. Jesus told him that the two seasons prior to the wind – the fire and the wine – were necessary seasons to prepare the church for the season of the wind. The harvest would never come unless the church experienced the wine AND the fire FIRST.
After reading the prophetic experience, I realized that the three seasons highlighted three events that took place on the day of Pentecost (Shavuot) - wind, fire and wine. It was actually Pentecost in reverse:
Acts 2:1-4
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. [2] And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. [3] And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. [4] And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Luke records they heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind FIRST, then SECONDLY, tongues of FIRE sat on those gathered, as they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God gave the utterance. After this tremendous move of heaven the men walked out of the Temple court into the public square where they were accused of being “drunk” on new wine during the morning hour because of the overwhelming influence of the outpoured Spirit. The wine experienced happened last during the original Pentecost:
Acts 2:12-13
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? [13] Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
Peter said “these are not drunk as ye suppose,” but have been filled with the Holy Ghost. Wine is a type of joy in the Holy Ghost. It was the first miracle of Jesus to illustrate the Kingdom’s power and the purpose of the Spirit’s work – JOY. Paul said the entire Kingdom of God was “righteousness, peace and joy in the HOLY GHOST!”
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:14-16
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: [15] For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. [16] But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
The church experienced the beginnings of Messiah’s return I believe in the mid-1990s when the latter day outpouring of new wine hit the Body for the first through ministries such as Rodney Howard Browne and the Brownsville Revival. Other works such as Toronto’s Vineyard Movement and Smithton Church in Kansas City experience tremendous outpourings of the Holy Ghost accompanied by heart pounding signs and wonders along with tremendous healings and salvations. The holy laughter the Holy Ghost outpoured on the Body was the first season of preparation Bob Jones saw in 1975. The Lord said there would be three seasons – wine, wind and fire. The wine has come and long gone.
Let me talk about the third season for a brief moment before I get to the second season – the subject of this journal. The third season in Bob Jones’ prophecy was the WIND of the Spirit. The season of the wind is going to be the season of harvest. We preach about it, we proclaim it and we pray for it – but neighbor it’s going to be a reality very soon. We’re not quite ready in the Body to handle it yet and for that reason it is tarrying. There is going to be a second preparatory season the Lord is producing NOW that will further prepare us to handle it. All the joy and grace of the 1990s was needed but it was not the full outpouring of revival like many claimed.
Revival never comes without the preaching of the WORD and deep repentance. All true revivals always will have this earmark. That is why the second season of FIRE is so vitally important.
The Lord told Bob that this season of fire would be a time when anointed preaching would come back to the Body of Christ. The message that prepared the way of the Lord’s FIRST COMING to Earth would be the same message that would be preached prior to HIS SECOND COMING. There was man whose name was JOHN THE BAPTIST who God ordained to be the forerunner or messenger for the Redeemer.
Malachi 3:1-3 - Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. [2] But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope: [3] And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
The messenger that was to come to prepare the Lord’s way the first time was tied into the ministry of FIRE and REFINING – just like the Lord showed Bob Jones the second season of preparation would be. This is the season the church is about to go through VERY shortly!
I want to relate a separate yet very relevant part of this same vision the Lord showed Bob in 1975 when the Lord declared that in 1973 the enemy used an American court decision to try and snuff out a generation of deliverers.
“Many of My anointed deliverers were killed in abortion clinics after America passed “Roe V. Wade and legalized the killing of the innocents,” the Lord said. If we pause to think it’s easy to remember that every season in the past when God raised up a deliverer, Satan always sought to destroy those deliverers in the womb before they were ever born. During Moses day it was Pharaoh who slaughtered millions of Israel’s firstborn. In the time of Christ – it was Herod perpetrating the same evil and horrific act of barbarism in hopes of snuffing out the potential deliverer and redeemer of all mankind. In 1973 Satan attempted this on a global scale because of what he knew was coming to the church of the last generation. We are that generation or at least holding the hands of those after us who will be. These things are THAT close neighbor.
The Lord told Bob that when the generation of 1973 who survived this attempted effort by Satan to destroy the babies became of mature age (the age of 30) He would unleash this army of young worshippers upon the Earth to help usher in part of this second season of fire. That would have been in 2003.
He said that those in this last day’s army would have one thing in common other than the year they were born – they would not fear death. “They will not care whether they live or die for Me,” the Lord said. “No arsenal or gift will be withheld from them, they will be given heaven’s entire arsenal of spiritual gifts to fight in the season coming to preclude a great harvest of 1 billion souls I will bring to Myself immediately following those days of warfare,” the Lord added. “Most of these coming into this season will be youth!”
These words should make us all pause and see the awesome work of God in the church of this hour. These are the days we are living in. Glory to God. I’m glad to be alive today how about you? I don’t think of any other time in history I’d rather be living in than right now. The power of Almighty God is about to be loosed upon those with hungry hearts and thirsty souls – people like you and me, longing for nothing but just more of Jesus. We’re not looking for the latest conference to attend, the largest church to join, the latest fad to chase – but a simple love for our Lord that supercedes EVERYTHING and ANYTHING the enemy may try to counterfeit through organized religion.
But what is ahead carries a cost. The season of the WIND of the Spirit will not come until the season of FIRE returns to the Body. The season of fire is the SECOND season and it’s about to be unleashed again on the preaching of the gospel around the globe. The year 2004 is going to be unlike any year we have experienced in America or the church in general. Deep travail of the spirit is taking place in many cities both corporately and individually all over the globe, especially in America, as the Spirit calls us to attention to get ready to march.
What I’m about to say next you’re not going to shout about, but I need to say it. MOST of what God is going to do in the next three to five years will be MISSED by most in the American church and the institutionalized church around the Globe. The modern church has become so religious, especially here in America, and our hearts have been hardened to the gospel. We no longer feel simple gospel preaching under the anointing of the Holy Ghost is sufficient for the society we live in. As a result we have turned to humanistic psychology and other craziness in the name of ministry to try and win a generation bound for hell.
God has had to jump over MOST of this generation and is now dealing with the young people among us. They are the next generation. It’s always been the pattern of God’s dealings with His plan. If one generation rejects Him, He turns to the next. Just ask the generation who wondered in the wilderness for forty years after 10 of 12 spies came back with a negative report.
The season of fire preaching, I’ll call it, will be a corporate message when the gospel message the church preaches will be one message again and will turn the hearts of the people back to God in an unprecedented way.
The season of the WIND OF THE SPIRIT IS coming. I believe there is going to be a revival. Too many prophetic voices and people have seen it and been told it’s coming not to believe something huge is on the horizon. What I DON’T believe is going to happen is the fluff and circus you see being promised today by a majority of the so-called Christian community at large.
During this same visitation the Lord had with Bob Jones, He showed him a vision of three ministries on Earth during the season of wine that would parallel the incidents of Joseph, the baker and the butler. The Lord told Bob that some ministries would seem to be pouring out “wine,” when in fact they were trying to “poison,” the Body. I believe that is the false doctrines we have seen spring up in the last decade or so that have become so prominent in church theology today that it seems like these doctrines have always been around. THEY HAVE NOT. The enemy is busy trying to destroy God’s work on the earth and there is no greater way he does that except through false doctrine and sowing tares among the wheat. It’s not our job to worry about the tares, but it IS our job to point out the truth and let the tares be seen for what they are – FALSE.
What I am trying to establish here as we lay this foundation is that there is a move of God coming. I don’t believe we will recognize the church in the next 10 years as we see it today. Something huge is about to shake everything that can be shaken. Foundations that are not anchored to the cross of Christ and the Lord’s heart are going to be destroyed. Huge ministries that have exalted man are coming down. The body will be a corporate body again without superstars or super ministries. There is going to be a refining unlike we have ever experienced.
Malachi 3:2-5
But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' sope: [3] And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. [4] Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. [5] And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.
Malachi warns us that a refining will come first, and then judgment. The house cleaning we will experience is going to rival anything we saw in the 1980s. That was a preview. This judgment will be even more exhaustive and exposing. My advice to you if you are in the ministry is “judge yourself so you won’t be judged!” The Lord is about to come to His Temple once again so we can be a pleasant offering once again.
And to state it again – most of this move of God is coming to and birthed through the generation of youth among us. The Lord gave me a vision not too long ago where I saw my lovely wife and me behind a glass window. We were sitting in what I could best describe as an amphitheatre where battles were going on beyond the window. Lisa and I were much older, both having gray hair and noticeably weaker in body and frame than we are today (even though I have the gray hair already!). It was evident in the vision we were not able to get into the arena ourselves but were a vital part of the fight. We had our hands on the window praying for those fighting when the Lord showed me that all our children were fighting in the arena against the powers of darkness. Even though me and Lisa were older, they were not. They were fighting the forces of darkness in their youth. Lisa and my role were no longer front line fighters but support. We were almost like Moses on the mountain with Joshua fighting in the valley against Amalek.
It was at this time the Lord spoke to my heart in a soft way and said, “this generation has by and large rejected the moving of the Holy Ghost. I’ve had to turn my attention now to the next generation to get THEM ready to bring in my harvest. I will be raising up those in THIS generation now to mentor the next generation. Those who have been faithful and NOT rejected and resisted will still be used but it’s THEIR TURN NOW –those who follow you including your children.” As the tears flowed harder than a river at this scene and the voice that spoke to my heart, I cried to the Lord and said, “Lord help me mentor those in the fight and be a help and support to the coming generation.” The Lord said, “Intercession and travail for the youth and young people of today are the greatest weapons you can use in your role as supporters and observers.”
I can’t help but wander as I write these words how this generation has fallen so far away from God’s plan for the earth. How have we been so busy and yet missed His heart so greatly?
We have had all the technology, the computers, the Internet, the mega-churches, the multi-million dollar television ministries, the finest ministry facilities in the world that would make King Midas blush, yet society as a whole has not changed one bit for the better under our watch. THIS generation has seen the greatest increase of homosexuality, abortion, pornography, promiscuity, abuse, theft, murder, rape, racism, betrayal and debauchery ever known to man. One can argue certainly these are the last days and Paul said these things would occur, but if we are going to argue that, then we had better take responbility for the fact that in the same vein Paul saw a last days apostasy, he also saw a church in the last days able to withstand the powers of darkness and bring in the harvest. We have done neither because we have by nor large rejected the Holy Ghost.
2 Tim 3:1-12 - But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth-- men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
The Message and the Ministry
In 1995, about 20 years after the Lord appeared to Bob Jones, He appeared to another prophet, Rick Joyner. Rick was taken to heaven to see the Judgment Seat of Christ. At this event, the apostle PAUL met Rick and looked into his eyes. He placed his hands on Rick’s shoulders and said, “we are the witnesses watching you of the last generation.” With tears in his eyes, Rick asked the apostle what advice he could give to those of us living in these momentous times. The apostle quietly spoke and said, “You must recover the first MESSAGE and the FIRST ministry.”
The message of the first was the message that prepared the way for the Lord’s FIRST return. It was called a “forerunner” message. It’s the same message that carried over into the first church AFTER the Lord’s ascension into heaven.
To see the harvest and the season of the wind of the Spirit we must recover the MESSAGE of the first church that shook the world without any of the modern day trinkets we have today. The power of the early church was because men and women preached the word of God under the anointing of the Holy Ghost that shook hell itself and caused demons to tremble under the power of God. There was nothing held back and no compromise with evil.
2 Tim 3:12-17 - In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The word of God must be preached again. Paul told Timothy that all scripture was GOD-Breathed, and USEFUL for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
1 Tim. 4:1-4 - Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; [3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. [4] For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
2 Tim. 4:1-4 - I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; [2] Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. [3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; [4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Those are terms we don’t hear today too much because we too busy being entertained and promised great riches and wealth. In this age of political correctness there is a clarion call of the Holy Ghost to the church to return to the MESSAGE of the gospel of Christ, a message that will once again have the FIRE of the Lord’s anointing on it. This season as we have stated many times already is necessary to prepare us for the season of the WIND of the SPIRIT. We’ve had the wine, we need the fire, and THEN we will see the WIND!
Preachers, preach the word! Preachers, preach the word! PREACH THE WORD of Almighty God without fear or favor. Preach it with tears; preach it with fire; preach it loud; preach it soft; preach it during the day; preach it during the night; preach it during the noon time; preach it in the morning; Preach the good news that Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus baptizes in the Holy Ghost and Jesus is coming again. Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus baptizes in the Holy Ghost and Jesus is coming again! It’s a message worth shouting about. It’s a message worth living for; it’s a message worth dying for; it’s a message worth giving our all for; it’s a message worthy of our passion and praise; it’s a message worth us getting excited about; it’s a message worth us getting happy about. It’s the GLORIOUS gospel of Christ!
1 Tim 1:11-12 - that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.
John the Baptist Was a Forerunner of Messiah’s First Return
Matthew 3:1-3- In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, [2] And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. [3] For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
John the Baptist’s message was a type of the message the church will once again preach before the coming of the Lord. His message was what prepared the way for the Lord’s FIRST return. The message that will be birthed in the hearts of preachers in the coming months will be a similar message with similar themes that will birth the way for the Lord’s SECOND return. It’s a pattern that is unmistakable and impossible to miss.
Israel was 400 years almost without a prophetic voice before John the Baptist appeared like a lightning bolt on the scene. His words stung the ears of the religious because they had never heard any such preaching. John was more than a preacher; he was a prophet, sent to a backslidden nation to prepare its heart to receive the Messiah. To be sure, not all received John, no more than all received Christ. John’s message however was anointed with FIRE. It convicted those who heard it and received to where they would be baptized in the river Jordan confessing their sins! Since when have we had a baptism service where those we are baptizing are confessing their sins? Not in a long time!
The religious of Israel wanted a deliverer to bring them out of Roman rule, the Lord sent them a prophet. Israel wanted a religion of ceremony and rules, the Lord sent them a prophet. There is evidence that the fact 400 years had went by without a prophetic voice didn’t bother the religious of Israel but the nation needed a prophet to rip a part its religious hardness.
We are in the same boat today in the modern church. There is no prophetic voice calling the nation back to God. The church says, “We need to be entertained,” the Holy Spirit is saying, “YOU NEED A PROPHET!” The church says, “We need a psychologist on staff to help people with their behavioral problems,” the Holy Spirit says, “you need a PROPHET!”
There is no greater hour with a greater need for a prophet than this. We are the “last generation,” Messiah is coming! He’s even at the door. There is a rumble of thunder in the distance that can be heard by the ears of those in tune with the Spirit. Those who hear what the Spirit is saying to the church are hearing Him say, “EVEN SO COME LORD JESUS!” They’re hearing Him tell the church, “HEAR and OBEY” the word of God. They’re hearing Him say, “Get your house in order, I’m coming!” He’s telling us that a shaking is coming and everything that can be shaken will be shaken! He’s telling us that nothing as we know it today in church circles will remain the same. There’s a wind of change coming and it’s coming on the heels of a Holy Ghost revival that will change nations.
This revival is coming because men and women of God will once again preach the anointed word of God with fire and say “THUS SAITH THE LORD!” They will once again stand behind pulpits full of the Holy Ghost, full of the power of Almighty God, full of the unction of the Spirit that will pierce the hardest of hearts and set the captive free. A drunk will no longer be able to come into our churches and listen to a three-point poetry lesson and feel nothing. He will feel the word of the Lord cutting him as the two-edged sword it is! He will feel the hand of God upon the words of the man of God once again.
Israel needed a prophet to bring them out of their backslidden state and we need a prophet to bring us out of our backslidden state today! We need to see that the coming season of the Spirit that is upon us is not going to be all the whoopla and circus many predict. This is going to be a time when the church once again becomes the church and the world once again hates the church! It’s going to be a time of great persecution for when the word of God is preached, there will be persecution!
Prophets are not liked too much. Prophets don’t go around (at least true prophets) telling us how great we are. True prophets give us a picture of how heaven views us – not how we view ourselves. True prophets do bring a message of encouragement, edification and exhortation, but it’s not JUST encouragement. There are times that the prophet warns God’s people of what will happen if God’s people don’t heed their warning. There are times when prophets predict the future. There ARE times when a prophet will speak encouragement to our battered hearts and uplift us in a time we’re unsure of our faith. Without a doubt ALL of these are ministries of true prophets.
But the NUMBER ONE office of a prophet is to illuminate the word of God and call the people of God back to single devotion to their Creator and Lord. Those who only prophesied prosperity to God’s people were labeled, “pillow prophets,” by Ezekiel. Let’s just be frank with each other about the condition of today’s church. The reason we’re in the mess we’re in both doctrinally AND spiritually is because there has not been a clear prophetic voice calling the church to repentance.
John’s message as we will see in part two of this series of journals was very simple and to the point – REPENT! He didn’t mince words with them. He was not just any prophet – he was the prophet God called and ordained to prepare the way for the Messiah. It’s sad that Israel rejected the Lord, but they could not blame John the Baptist. John’s message was to prepare the hearts of the people to receive their Redeemer. The message of the 21rst Century church should be the same, yet it is so far removed from that it is not funny.
The gospel preached today is a wrapped up version of New Age humanism with no power on it. It’s a gospel that puts MAN in the driver’s seat, not God, when it comes to man’s salvation and deliverance. There is no salvation in the church. The church is only the vehicle to bring the world’s source of TRUE deliverance and that is the CROSS of CHRIST.
Without the preaching of the Cross of Christ, where the anointing and power rests no lost souls will be saved. No sick bodies will be healed; no demon possessed people set free; no drug addicts’ delivered; no broken marriages put back together; no power to set sinners free. Only the message of the cross of Christ can do that. The cross is what John was pointing Israel too and it’s what the last message of the 21rst Century church will once again point a lost society to. John proclaimed “Behold the LAMB of God which takes away the SIN of the world!” He was preparing them to receive the LAMB, not even the KING!
John 1:28-29 - These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
Let me state that again this way. John was not concerned with Messiah’s ultimate ministry that would one day liberate Israel from her Roman rulers. John’s concern was that those in Israel would have their HEARTS changed and that the KINGDOM OF GOD come WITHIN the hearts of those He preached to.
If the last message is going to be like the first, which I believe it will be, then our message to will be more concerned about men’s hearts, not men’s pocket book! We will be concerned about eternal matters, not temporal ones. We will be concerned about the fact that every single human being on planet Earth has a date with eternity. Young and old, men and women, boys and girls, white or black, Hispanic or Asian, it doesn’t matter the skin or the race – ALL have a date with GOD! All have an eternal destiny to either heaven or hell. ALL have a date with the fact that their acceptance or denial of Christ and what He did at the Cross will determine where they spend forever and forever!
Jesus Christ didn’t come to break Rome’s rule over Israel. Jesus Christ came to break Satan’s rule over humanity! John was not coming with a message that said, “Everything will remain the same and things will be all right.” NO! His message was there is one coming who is mightier than “I and HE will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE!” His message was the axe is laid at the root of the tree and the tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.” His message was “HE MUST INCREASE, I must decrease.” His message was “BRING FORTH fruit meets for REPENTANCE.” His message was one that was so strong many even ask Christ at times who this man was in the wilderness to which Christ replied, “WHO DID YOU COME OUT TO SEE?!”
Matthew 11:7-15- And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? [8] But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. [9] But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. [10] For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. [11] Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. [12] And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. [13] For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. [14] And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. [15] He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Christ said, “Did you expect to see a reed shaken in the wind?” And when you get down to the bottom line in the church world today that is what we expect now from our preachers. We expect them to preach a gospel that changes with the times and adjusts to the culture we live in. NEIGHBOR, GOD DOES NOT CHANGE!
Jesus went on to say that He likened the generation that came out to listen to John as spoiled children.
Matthew 11:16-18
But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, [17] And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. [18] For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
He said some wanted music that made them dance. Others wanted music that made them mourn. Some lamented, some didn’t. John’s preaching was too soft for some, too hard for others. Jesus said that those who rejected John were rejecting “MORE than a prophet.” I’m warning you church – get ready. The messengers the Lord is about to raise up are going to minister in the same spirit as John the Baptist and be “more than a prophet.” The hearts of men will burn once again under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and FIRE!
The demands of eternity are the same today as they were 2,000 years ago on the shores of the Jordan River when John stepped out and began to prepare Israel for Her Messiah. We need a prophet friend. We need to hear the prophetic voice once again in the church bring us back to a place of repentance. We need a heart change today. We need an infilling of the Holy Ghost. We need ANOTHER Pentecost! We need the FIRE of God. We need the fire to pray. We need the fire to sing. We need the Fire to see visions and dream dreams. We need the power of the Holy Ghost to anoint our preaching again. We need to have preachers who don’t care who they are preaching to anymore. We need to have preachers who care more about the spiritual state of their people than the number on their church rolls.
The second season is going to be a season of fire anointed preaching like that of John the Baptist. The first message of preparation will be the second message of preparation. It’s going to be a season of anointed preaching unlike we’ve ever seen or heard before. It’s going to be a preparation of hearts for the wind of the Spirit which will usher in Messiah’s return.
I ask you today as we close this journal – are you saved? Is your heart ready for the days ahead? Are you hearing what the Spirit is saying to the church? Are you ready to hear what the Lord is going to say to us? We cry, “Lord, speak to us, speak to us, speak to us,” not understanding that when He does speak sometimes we may not want to hear what He has to say.
We need a prophet today like Israel needed one then. God sent one in the person of John the Baptist. He’s raising up a generation of preachers today to be the John the Baptist’s to the 21rst Century Church. Let the revolution begin today in our hearts as the Spirit of God gives us the grace to receive our coming Redeemer.
We have a saying on our website, “will work for revolution.” Are you ready? Blessings
