Edition 315: June 8^th 2016

The Lord is coming – tear your hearts:

The Lord is coming – tear your hearts and not your clothes:

Introduction:

Joel 2:13-17 “Rend your heart and not your garments; return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness...Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. Let the ministering priests weep, and let them say, ‘spare your people, O Lord,’”

Do you see the connection between the coming of the Lord, revealed in the “gathering” and the “marriage”, in the verse above and the rending (tearing) of your heart?

We have not got much time left. Our Lord is coming soon. It may be this year; it may be next (more likely.) Either way, do you know what that means? How does that impact you, if at all?

Our Lord is coming soon – tear your hearts!

A friend of mine recently died of cancer. He was well prepared to meet the Lord. Whenever a friend dies my mind always goes back to my days as a war correspondent and news man. I have seen so many people dead and dying right in front of me. I have seen people die so suddenly that their eyes were still open, though they were dead. They had no time to prepare for death!

Time is short my friends! You can’t carry on as always. If you are wise you will get ready to step into eternity now, before you arrive.

The doctrines of brokenness, cross-bearing, heart-rending, fasting and the like, all have synonymous aspects and applications to them. They are generally not popular and not liked, especially amongst the “name it, claim it, frame it” bunch.

But these doctrines and their applications into our lives are perhaps the most powerful of all. In fact the Bible says that the cross and resurrection are the very “power of God”.

If you knew without any doubt that you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do now?

If you knew without any doubt that our Lord was coming within a year or two, what would you do now?

Adding and subtraction:

True Christianity involves adding and subtracting, believing and rejecting, joining and leaving, putting on and putting off.

There are some people and ministries that you need to avoid. Do not open yourself to everything dressed in religiosity in these days.

►Acts 5:38-39 “Keep away from these men and leave them alone; for if this plan or work is of men it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it – lest you even be found to fight against God.”

You can get one of the most powerful insights into a person’s life by simply observing their attitude to God and His word. Show me your friends and I’ll tell you what sort of person you are.

Isaiah 66:2 “On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

There are so many indicators and signs, ancient and modern, Biblical, secular and in nature, all pointing towards the soon-coming of our Lord.

Note that the title verse says that in light of the coming of our Lord, “rend your hearts”, tear your souls open, “fall on this Rock and be broken” (Matthew 21:44)... before He gets here. This Matthew verse goes on and says, if you don’t fall on this rock and be broken, it (He) “will fall on you and grind you to powder.”

Simply put, if you don’t tear your hearts open to let the Lord into every aspect of your life now, it will soon be too late and you will “suffer loss of reward.”

Are you preparing your heart for our Lord, for eternity and for your glorious future? It’s almost time!

The great man of God is the separated, surrendered, broken man! He will be empty of self and the world, but filled with God. He will know the word of God in his head and spirit. He will know the word of the world, and the word of Satan.

He will know exactly why God’s time clock of judgement is ticking away and about to strike midnight! He will see that the world’s “cup of iniquity” is just about ready to overflow – bringing the fury of God.

As a true disciple of Messiah, you cannot believe what you like. You are to be arrested by the Spirit of the living God and the word of God...Do it now. You can’t turn the clock back once you’ve stepped into eternity.

Today, shockingly, many so- called believers have been and are being handed over to Satan. Beware that your beliefs don’t get you “handed over!” (1 Corinthians 5:5, Romans 1:26.) Study those two verses!

Because the world says, now this is okay or now you can do this or that does not mean God says now you can. The world has legalised, moralised and justified sin, corruption, evil and wickedness like never before!

And many Christians buy it all, because it gives them status and acceptance with the world.

The world is becoming more and more dangerous. It is a spiritual quagmire of deceit and few can even see it, because they are in the boat going with the flow, and God has blinded their eyes.

Why so many, including many Christians, hate God:

John 1:4-5 “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

John 3:20-21 “Everyone practising evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Evil is a strange thing. Actually it’s alive! It lives with the spirit of death flowing and morphing in it. Just like Satan himself, evil masquerades in numerous forms of camouflage. It appears in flashes of beauty, lust, desire and power.

But all evil has over it a garment hiding and covering its true identity. It has a time stamp on it!

“The heart of man is desperately wicked”, says the Bible (Jeremiah 17:9). Man was born with the unredeemed, wicked blood of Adam, which had been poisoned by Satan, in his veins. He has a natural propensity for evil flowing in his veins.

It’s one of the Bible “mysteries”, called the “mystery of iniquity.” Only the work of the cross and shed blood of Messiah can deal with it.

So, with this mysterious, evil, wickedness deep in the heart of man, by nature he is going to choose wickedness and not the holiness of God.

►Beware of crowd-speak and confirmation bias! “Crowd-speak” comes down to the majority consensus. It’s what everyone is saying, and carries with it the idea that it’s therefore right and okay. Confirmation bias is similar in that it looks to the majority consensus or that crowd-speak for confirmation that they’re okay and right, because that’s the bias of the majority.

How wrong could you be!

Many Christians have been fleeced and stripped of spiritual wisdom by Hollywood and the entertainment world. The wicked wisdom of the world is now confirmation that they’re okay. Many of these people have been handed over to the spirit of Hollywood and the morality of the demon possessed celebrities of the entertainment world.

The world is their god – with a few selected Bible verses thrown in to camouflage it all as “Christian.”

A world with no restraint:

A major characteristic of the world in these end-days is it that it has no restraint. It’s on a morality slippery slope. If you are not horrified by the bias of the modern world – you need to get saved.

Hosea 4:1 “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land...They break all restraint with bloodshed after bloodshed... Therefore the land will mourn and everyone who dwells there will waste away...”

Psalm 119:53 “Indignation (Lit=horror) has taken hold of me because of the wicked who forsake Your word.”

The shocking, secret, pride of man:

Hidden deeply within the heart of man, in his veins is a deadly, secret pride, which only the cross can remove. But our Lord must have your permission to destroy this aspect of you. And most people would never agree with God on the issue.

Most people want only certain aspects of God in their lives, although they won’t admit it. They don’t want to know anything about God the destroyer of pride, ego and self-respect. They want to control their Lord.

►People try to control God like they control religion. They think they can form Him into their own creation and make Him dance to their tune. What they have is a manufactured God, manipulated and stage-managed. He’s ready to come out on demand and be put away on demand. He’s manufactured according to many selected verses which He speaks just like a ventriloquist, when required.

People think they can own and possess God. They have God, but they themselves are still on the throne of their lives, with Jeezuus sitting in sight, but just a little back.

●John 6:15 “When Yeshua perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.”

John 6:26 “Most assuredly I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”

These two verses above are indeed shocking and insightful. Our Lord ran away from people trying to elevate Him! He condemned people for seeking to be filled with God, but with ulterior motives, and who were not fully surrendered to Him.

“Ah, c’mon Jeezuus, be a sport, we want to make you king – our hero! That will be so good for our image and yours too.”

This is a condemnation upon self-motivation preaching. “You can do it, just believe it.” They believe God is their sponsor, waiting to jump when they say jump. “Come to our miracle crusade,” they say. “Miracles will be there – just for you. And we’ll let Jeezuus out of the box to perform for you too!”

Today, so many ministries, people in the pulpit and on the net are automatically geared just like a big Coca Cola advertising board. Their Jeezuus is another commodity or product which they can buy, sell and control at will. Listen to their manipulation and subtle intimidation to get control!

These people want a convenient top-pocket Jeezuus, who fits in with their cell phone and pen.

These people might have some of the word, but there is no spark of real life even in the few verses that they think they “have.”

When you speak about Yeshua, the Lion, they want Jeezuus the little baby lamb, and your truth becomes the new hate speech as they reject you.

With self on the throne you have no genuine fear of God. You only have the fear of the approval of your equally stupid friends motivating you.

Psalm 19:9-11 “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether...and in keeping them there is great reward.”

Many of the ministries on the internet are dangerous and suspect. We have the YouTube of Jezebels, the spiritually spineless, superficial, shallow and gullible. We have presumptuous ministries of biblical ignorance and some simply repeating hand-me-down second-hand used “goods”.

Error is not truth because it’s on a YouTube video. Error is not truth because it wears a stupid Catholic / Anglican hat called a mitre, a tribute to the fish-god Dagon and pretty frocks and collars condemned by our Lord as Nicolaitanism. Error is not truth because it comes from the mouth of some fool who insists on being called “father” when our Lord condemns that.

Error is not truth because it is preached from church pulpits by ministers with ulterior motives to gullible masses.

The only thing that can be done and must be done by anyone wanting to serve our Lord is this: You must strip yourself bare of all doctrinal beliefs, presumptions and fall on your face in brokenness and surrender to our Lord. As you do this like the broken alabaster box, the glorious truth-centred spiritual “smoke” arises and fills you, and the air around you with a new, wonderful, deep, true experience in our Lord.

My friends, the doctrine and experience of brokenness is despised today, but it is the most powerful you will ever encounter. Beware of ministries who do not speak of required brokenness.

Let me quickly add that there are many wonderful ministries today preaching the deep truths of God on the net and on YouTube videos. We must be discerning and selective.

Repentance today:

2 Timothy 2:24-25 “...Correct those in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”

The propensity for sin and evil in all of our lives increases as we move away from our Lord and decreases as we walk closely with Him.

Do you know why so many “believers” are superficial, don’t endure, and are full of worldliness? It is because they are believers. That is not good enough and may not even get you saved. Our Lord’s command is to “repent and believe.” (Mark1:15)

The Spirit of the living God leads those whom He knows will repent! He does not give the gift of repentance to those whom He knows will trample on it.

This explains just why it is sometimes so frustrating trying to get someone to repent and see the truth. If you have not been given the gift, you can feel sorry, change your mind on things, but you can’t repent deeply as required by the scriptures.

So what is the requirement for the gift? It is quite simply to come before our Lord in total surrender, brokenness and all humility.

Imagine the real shock and awe and incredible regret when people find out that the fair judgement of God for them was available through the cross, and it was a free gift, held out in front of them all their lives!! They rejected it and now they ask for justice. They will get it, be absolutely sure of that.

They will have to pay the un-payable price that our Messiah paid in full when He purchased forgiveness for them on the cross.

God’s just and fair judgement says, you rejected the free gift of the work of the cross, now you must pay for every single sin you ever committed, right down to your thought life. But you are bankrupt, you can’t pay for a single thing – “get out”, says God.

The politically incorrect God:

Isaiah 44:18 “They do not know nor understand; for He has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand.”

God gives to those who have and takes away from who don’t have!

He blinds the wise so that won’t see and shuts up their ears!

But many verses show that God highly esteems wisdom.

But it’s always, only the wisdom originating from our God that is blessed. Man’s wisdom is the pinnacle of humanistic man devoid of God. One of the great towers of man’s wisdom is the idea that man can save himself and the world.

One of the powerful ways to know if you really are saved: Do you think there are other legitimate ways to God. If so you are either very new to salvation and naive in the kingdom of God, or not saved.

John 18:37 “...Everyone of the truth hears my voice.”

Mark 4:11-12 “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things come in parables...Seeing they may see and not perceive, hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they shall turn and their sins be forgiven them.”

Clean and pure:

Brokenness, humility, cross-bearing and heart rending unto God is pure. It leaves you clean and holy. It empowers you with new eyes. It gives you the very wisdom and insight of God Himself. It draws you into His presence. It makes you want more of Him as it spoils you for use by the world.

Psalm 149:4 “He will beautify the humble with salvation.”

With self crucified and out of the way, the Spirit of God rules in your life. This is the way to victory and endurance. You will not backslide when the pressure is on!

As self gets destroyed you see with new eyes – His eyes! What a wonder that is. You become sensitive to things that before, you would just not see. You begin to gain compassion for many almost obscure things, like ants, sunsets, stars and the heartbeat of a dog.

You begin to appreciate the finer details of nature, environment and all things beautiful. You see things God’s way and get mad at what makes Him mad! You become a very different person.

Keeping external laws, traditions or customs can never deal with the internal sin-nature problem. It is only this way, through the cross working from the inside out, that we are made pure and clean and can endure in holiness.

Without the work of the cross in your life, you will be bitten by a beautiful, but poisonous snake.

Only with the work of the cross destroying self in your life can you really see, comprehend, understand and experience the deep love of God. This is the way to real success with eternal results.

Finally:

So, our title verse says that our Lord is about to leave heaven as the Bridegroom to fetch His bride. And what should our response be? It must be to tear our hearts open now and allow the Spirit of God to renovate us totally!

This message is equally for the Jew and the Gentile.

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

Proverbs 10:11 “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.”

I did this painting using printing and texture techniques and superimposed the butterfly picture, which I created from an original normal photograph.

Shalom and grow in grace!