Call To Remembrance The Former Days....

The remembrance of the former days is a call to remember the season of our first love for Christ, when we were willing to pay any price to follow Him. As Paul wrote this from a prison cell to the Hebrews, many were turning back to the weak and beggarly elements of the world in hopes of finding victory and release from the sufferings of the early church. Sometimes it is necessary to call to remembrance the former days of walking with the Lord. We cannot cast those days away, yet let them always become a source of encouragement and strength for walking with our blessed Christ and now and in the days that are to come. The days ahead are going to be full of wrath, deception and death for many. Things will not be getting any better friend. Yes, revival is coming, but in the midst of revival, a great testing is also going to descend upon the Body of Christ unlike anything we have ever seen in our history. The key to surviving this testing is to call to remembrance our former days.

 

By Chris McDonald

 

Text: Hebrews 10: 32-39 - But call the remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great flight of afflictions, partly, while you were made a gazing stock by both reproaches and afflictions; and partly, while you became companions to those that were so used. For you had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joy the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance.

       

        We are living in some of the most unique times in human history. It is the opinion of our family ministry that the Body of Christ will soon enter into one of its most TRYING times as well prior to the Lord's return. For some, those days are already here. There is a church that is already paying the ultimate price for their faith in having to give up their lives to stay true to Christ. I have never lived anywhere else but here in America so I can only speak for the American church. We are very pampered here but ever since we started studying the persecuted church around the globe, we have come to a new appreciation for our brothers in chains and bonds.

 

Hebrews 13:3
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
       

        I know there is a stream of preachers in our country that try to deny that anything bad is coming to the nation. To be frank you'll be hard pressed to find ANYONE predicting anything but blessing and great revival in America. There is certainly without a doubt a coming a harvest and we believe that America will benefit from this coming move of God on planet Earth. But I submit to you ladies and gentlemen this for your consideration. America has been one of the most blessed nations on the face of the Earth over the past 200 years. We have been given more gospel LIGHT than any other nation in history other than Israel when the Lord of glory came to earth and stood in Her very midst revealing Himself to her, not only as Israel's redeemer, but the redeemer of all mankind. Yet with the Light of the World in their midst, Israel blasphemed the Holy Spirit and rejected her salvation without hesitation.

 

        Sinning against God's laws and word is one thing, but sinning against the LIGHT we receive concerning God's laws and word, is quite another. When Jesus came to Chorazin, Capernaum and Bethesda, He denounced the unbelief in each one of those towns stating that the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah would be less than them. That's a POWERFUL statement considering the state of Sodom and Gomorrah when God rained down fire upon them because of the perversions and homosexuality.

 

Ezekiel 16:48-50
As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. [49] Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. [50] And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
 

        History tells us that Capernaum and Chorazin were much more sophisticated cities than Sodom and Gomorrah. It is clear that homosexuality was not really that rampant in these cities, yet their judgment was decreed to be greater than that of two cities that went down in the annals of civilization as containing some of the vilest acts of depravity ever imaginable. How could Jesus say such then? How could the judgment of these affluent cities who by all accounts were actually very moral in many ways receive such an announcement of woe? One simple reason - they had been given more LIGHT than ANY other city in human history, yet they persisted in the most unbelief.

 

        Having said these things, let me bring it down to our nation today. America has been given more LIGHT than ANY other nation in human history. We are the last great superpower on earth prior to the rise of Antichrist, which will take place in the very near future. We were created to be a bastion of righteousness for the other nations and to protect Israel. In spite of all these blessings, we have sinned grievously against the Holy Spirit. Isaiah calls our condition "vexed."

 

Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
 

        Jesus warned the religious of Israel that sinning against the Son was one thing, but sinning and blaspheming the Holy Spirit was quite another.

 

Luke 12:8 - 12 - Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: [9] But he that denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. [10] And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. [11] And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: [12] For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
 

        America teeters on the brink of blaspheming the Holy Spirit as a nation. Yes, I believe a nation can do that. Israel did it and as a result they were destroyed in 70 A.D. by the mighty armies of Rome. America's problem runs deeper though because our sin is not just sin in the sense of perverted acts. We sin against a myriad of light that it beggars description. In other words, we don't just do these things in rebellion against God blind, we do them open faced, unashamed, unrepentant and unmoved by the plight and darkness of our hearts. Israel called evil good and good evil and descended into a religious stupor so deep that demon powers literally blinded her of her utter need for a Saviour. You say, "that sounds way over the top, there is no way the modern church with all its knowledge would or could ever reach a state like that." Don't be naive friend. We're not descending into apostasy in this last hour, the apostasy is already here. It's already corrupted the gospel message so much that you can't go to two separate churches on back to back Sundays and hear the same message. Call it what you will, but if a church isn't preaching about Christ and Him Crucified, I'd rather stay home and mow my yard (which I utterly hate doing).

 

        Israel blasphemed the Holy Ghost and perished and I'm afraid the church in America teeters on this same precipice in this very hour. Does that mean God can't move in revival? God forbid. Absolutely not. God can do anything He wants to do in His own timing and season. I believe before the final end America WILL see revival. But I also believe that tough times are coming to Planet Earth including America and should the Lord tarry any length of time, YOU and I child of God will be in the midst of those tough times. And you need to understand that the coming days are not going to be a walk in the park as some are predicting. Tyranny, the spirit of antichrist, and deception are going to descend upon Planet Earth unlike anything any generation has seen in the annals of human history. We are living in the last of the last days.

 

        Child of God hear what I say to you. THOSE WHO LIVE FOR CHRIST AND GODLINESS WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION. I'm not sure what part of that scripture some ministers don't understand. The American church has become the most pampered, selfish and lazy than any other part of the body of Christ in the entire world. Much of the reason for this state is what has been preached to the masses for the past 15 years declaring that there God's plans for us are all rosy and if anything bad is happening to us, God is not in it. There is a thumbnail of truth in that because the enemy seeks always to steal, to kill and to destroy. But ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that happens to you child of God does not take place without God's attention. You're HIS now. You don't belong to YOURSELF or to the enemy any longer. And while certainly God doesn't will for any to perish, He sometimes uses loss to bring us into maturity unto Christ. The text for this journal was written to a group of people who also needed reminding of the days when they endured great affliction and were suffering loss for the cause of Christ.

        The writer of Hebrews reminds other Hebrews the day in which they had endured fiery trials and suffering, yet stood firm in the face of the onslaught of hell itself. Many were tempted to return to Judaism and to the legalistic bondage of keeping the law in order to be saved. It is evident that there were not people who were new to the ways of God. They had had a walk with the Lord in the past. They had been willing to sacrifice and endure persecution. There had been a time when they had had love and compassion for one another. Now they were being tempted to cast this all aside.

 

        I feel as I write this that I'm writing to someone, possibly YOU, who is reading this. You once loved Jesus with such a passion and nothing was too impossible to reach to because of His Spirit inside you. Your faith was vibrant, always believing the best, yet some how, some way, life has taken a turn for the worse and you've become cynical, bitter, angry and no longer have the joy of your salvation. Old temptations have crept back into your life and what once was a temptation you had victory over, you are finding yourself falling again into the same sin that so easily beset you in the past.

 

Hebrews 12:1
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

        It is IMPOSSIBLE to cast aside that which has never been possessed. The hearers of Paul's letter to the Hebrews had had confidence; now they were in danger of losing it. This epistle was not written to Jewish people who were trying to make up their minds whether to find Christ or not. These were individuals who had already accepted CHRIST and were now in danger of falling from the grace of God. The Holy Spirit shows us that the readers of this epistle had known the power of the blood of Jesus, the sanctifying, cleansing, strengthening power of the blood of the Lamb. This was a warning to them, as this journal is to us, to walk in the LIGHT we have received.

 

        The Lord's coming is NEAR. Soon He will come and no longer tarry. We must be found faithful and ready. We must continue to follow Him in true faith. What is true faith you may ask? It's not the hyper-active, crazy, foolish and almost apostate faith you see portrayed today on most of Christian television I can tell you that. It's not "faith" in our "faith." It's not faith in the fact we have "attained" or "earned" something from God. It's faith in the FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST and knowing that upon those grounds ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO GODLINESS have been given to us - the HOLY SPIRIT, the blessings of the Lord, prosperity, the power to witness, the power to defeat sin and on and on. The list cannot be exhausted. If we started today and kept studying what CHRIST has done for us, the annals of time would not contain the minutes to do so. My Lord, my Lord, I feel that. It's not about ME, it's about HIM! It's about HIM! It's about what HE HAS DONE, not about my church, or my doctrine, or my preacher, or my denomination. CHRIST IS THE SUM OF ALL CREATION and HE IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH!

 

Ephes. 3:10-13
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, [11] According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: [12] In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. [13] Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Ephes. 2:20-21
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; [21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

       
            We were created by the SON for one purpose - FOR THE SON.

 

Col. 1:16
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

        We were created in His image. This sums up the purpose of all creation. When we determined to love for ourselves instead of God, we marred the image in which we were created. Our whole purpose now is to be restored into the image of CHRIST. This is called restoration and it's part of the process of calling to remembrance the former things. We need to remind ourselves that Christ has restored us to a place of fellowship with God.

 

Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

 

Called To Fellowship

 

Acts 3:19-21
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; [20] And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: [21] Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

        The first chapter and the last two chapters of the Bible constitute a complete story. In Genesis 1, man has a position and relationship with God that is unique in creation. In chapter three, man loses that position and relationship because of his rebellion. The entire remainder of the Bible, except for its last two chapters, is devoted to restoring man to the position and relationship that he lost. In the last two chapters we see man restored.

 

        We have been called to remember our fellowship with God. Regaining that fellowship is the first main goal of restoration. Our first calling is to fellowship with the ONE who redeemed us.

 

1 Cor. 1:9
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 John 1:7-9
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. [8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

        This is the FIRST priority of all true Christianity and the primary issue that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. Christianity is not just a formula for moral living. It is the restoration of union with God. True Christianity is being BORN AGAIN by God's Spirit. This rebirth initiates the process of restoring our union with Him. The new birth is a new beginning, not an ending. It is but the first step in our restoration process. True Christianity is a journey to intimate fellowship with our Father. If Christian maturity can be measured at all, it would have to be measured in relation with one thing and one thing only - OUR INTIMACY WITH GOD.

 

        When we begin to measure our spiritual stature by how long we have been Christians, by how much knowledge we have, or even by our acts of faith, it is only a reflection that we have somehow departed from the course. That's what the Hebrew Christians had done. They had stopped pressing into intimacy with God and had reverted back to the weak and beggarly elements of the LAW. Faith is not some formula to obtain riches or whatever we want from God. Faith is an ANCHOR of the soul that must REST in CHRIST and CHRIST ALONE!

Hebrews 6:18-20
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: [19] Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; [20] Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchezidek.

        True faith brings us into a new birth that is not an ending but a beginning. It is but a first step into the restoration process. We have "been" saved by HIS blood, we are "being" saved by His blood and one day we will ultimately "BE SAVED" from this corruption by His blood and put on incorruption and immortality.  True faith is a journey into an intimate relationship with the Father. The term "communion," comes from two words "common" and "union." To say we have "common" "union" with God speaks of us being like one another or having a union of purpose. Both of these meanings relate to the nature of our union with God. Through our fellowship with the Lord we become like HIM and ultimately will have a common purpose with Him.

 

        Through intimacy with CHRIST, we are changed into the Lord's image, simply by being with Him.

 

2 Cor. 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.


        It is as we behold the Lord that we are changed into His image. We do not change so that we can fellowship with Him; we are changed BY our fellowship with Him.

 

Called to Fellowship, Not Self-Righteous Induced Works

 

        Our first calling is FELLOWSHIP, not works. Our work is to ABIDE in Him and let Christ work through us. That is so easy to hear and think we understand it but it's the hardest to follow and carry out in our Christian lives.

 

John 14:10
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.


      Jesus walked in total obedience to the Father. Many times we see a need and feel like we need to "do" something to meet that need. Christ never responded to human need on those terms. He only responded to the Father's voice and what the Father did. When we do the same, our work becomes grace and fellowship with the Father and HE GIVES US THE GRACE to carry out the command. Sometimes the hardest part in this process of fellowship is when we're called to "WAIT." I can tell you friend, there are many a gray hair on top of this writer's head because of this very thing. I know in my heart I have short-circuited the plans of God on my life by getting ahead of Him time and time again. I know in my heart that even my failings in the flesh over the years have been tied to a greater problem of not waiting on God and allowing Him the time to do the work instead of me. When we get ahead of God and go on our own we are opening ourselves up to the enemy's attack and attack he will do friend, mark my word. Satan's plans for us do not always come to us wrapped up in a ugly package. Some of our best intentions and good effort have suicide written all over them without us knowing it. That's how deceived we can get sometimes if we're not fellowshipping and abiding.

 

John 15:1-3
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. [2] Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he takes away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. [3] Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

 

John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

 

    IN THESE LAST DAYS, IT IS UTMOST IMPORTANT WE LEARN TO FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER AND COMMUNE WITH HIM SO HIS NATURE AND IMAGE CAN BE IMPARTED TO US. WE WILL NOT SURVIVE THE ONSLAUGHT AHEAD OTHERWISE. WE WILL NOT SEE THE FULLNESS OF OUR CHARACTER AND DESTINIES WITHOUT IT. LOVE GOD first, then work second. The church at large has always had it backwards. We want to WORK FIRST, then fellowship and have God bless our work. Our first calling is not works - it's communion!
       

        We must remember the former days when we first found CHRIST and our first experiences of walking with the Lord.

 

Call To Suffer and Endure

 

        We must also call to remembrance the days we were willing to endure and suffer all things for the gospel of Christ.

 

1 Cor. 9:23 - And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
Heb 10:32-34 - Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
 

Heb 10:32- But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;
        The days in the past when we were willing to suffer all things for the gospel sake will keep us for the days ahead. Neighbor, the times ahead are going to be some of the toughest the Body of Christ have ever known. We may not see the whole scope of what is ahead at this moment but rest assured that scripture foretells a time of betrayal and persecution for those who name the name of Christ.

 

Luke 11:49-51
Because of this, God in his wisdom said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world,

Rom 8:35-  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

        Paul encouraged the Hebrews to remember the days of their past to endure the persecution of their present. The cry of the tribulation saints in Revelation asks the Lord to "avenge the blood" of saints on the earth. That tells me that there will be bloodshed so great on the earth that even heaven will be calling for the earth to be held accountable. Jesus warned that the generation that would be here would be held responsible for the blood of ALL the prophets that had been shed since the beginning of the world. That is a LOT of blood!

 

        That is the scope of what is ahead. Now, one may say, "well most of this is going to take place during the great tribulation and the church won't be here." That is the view of a pre-tribulation rapture. I personally believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. I also believe however that we as the Body of Christ are going to see more than just a glancing peek at events on the earth prior to the rapture. We've been led to believe that no harm or offense will come to us and somehow the rapture will just "yank" us out of all trouble and turmoil prior to Jesus comes.

 

        That is a naive view of coming events. Things are NOT going to get better for the true church. The apostate church will continue to grow more and more apostate. The true church will grow more and more like JESUS and love HIM with all their hearts, souls and minds. Yet in the midst of this growing intimacy the apostate church and a backslidden world will turn their anger at God towards those representing Him on this earth - the born-again believer. And those who name the name of Jesus WILL suffer persecution. That is why the Holy Spirit proclaimed through Paul for us to rest in the fact that NOTHING separates us from the love of God through Christ. Not tribulation; not distress; not PERSECUTION; not famine; not nakedness; not peril; NOT a sword!

 

In Closing

 

        This message is simple today. It's one of encouragement and study to "consider" the days of remembrance and to call us all back to a simple child like faith in Christ. It's also a call to love one another with a fervent love so the world will know we belong to Christ. We're going to need one another friend. This coming wave of persecution will try even the strongest of friendships but it will bring about I hope one of the greatest unities ever known to the Christian community since the early church - a church that had ALL things in common. We must have that once again and not be carried away with divers meats and so many diverse doctrines that divide us instead of bringing us to Christ.

 

        Along those lines, let us call to your remembrance today the persecuted church around the world. By the time it took you to read this message at least 100 Christians lost their lives for their faith in Christ somewhere in this world. Neighbor, the seeds of that persecution around the world is coming to America soon and without delay or remedy. We need to be watching, praying, seeking God's face and loving the brethren at all costs:

  • John 13:34, 35- A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

  • John 15:12- This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

  • John 15:17 - These things I command you, that ye love one another.

  • Romans 13:8- Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another hath fulfilled the law.

  • 1 Thessalonians 3:12 - And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

  • 1 Thessalonians 4:9- But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

  • 1 Peter 1:22- Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

  • 1 John 3:11 - For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

  • 1 John 3:23- And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

  • 1 John 4:7, 11, 12 - Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knoweth God. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

  • 2 John 5 - And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
     

     Love will be what will keep us in the coming drama on Planet Earth. It's getting late neighbor and it's harvest time. I pray you now the risen Christ today. I pray He lives inside your heart and has set your heart free from sin. Keep the faith. Praise God.

 

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Heb 13:3- Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.