“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13–14).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Training, precision, discipline, hard work, diligence, resolve, dedication, faithfulness, loyalty, clarity of purpose.
As if it were a coded message for a secret mission, the wording is precise, terse and clear: “Enter through the narrow gate”.
All of the commands and disciplines listed in this study which are a Disciple of Jesus, have two things in common:
1. They are hard, if not impossible, for the natural mind.
2. The only way is for a Disciple of Jesus is by God’s Grace through our faith in Jesus. Jesus is the way, the Truth and the Life. There is no other way except by Him.
“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
“7 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me[a] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” John 10:1-9, CSB
HOW MUST YOU DO IT? ____________________________________
HOW YOU MUST TEACH IT? ________________________________
NOTE: This teaching by Jesus is critical for us to know and to do especially in the day and this age. His Return is near, and the ONLY way we will successfully “endure to the end” is by being His Disciple.
I don’t know exactly how to explain what I experienced yesterday. So, I will just guess at how to say it. (And I hope this finds a listening ear).
Call me crazy.
Call it an ‘epiphany’.
Call it a vision (I really don’t like that description, but…)
I was simply sitting on our lanai (that’s a screened patio area, for you who are not familiar with Florida patio names) drinking a cup of coffee, taking in the scenery across our pond and thoughts or visions began to flash across my mind. They were so vivid that they almost seemed visible (notice, I said ALMOST).
These images were reminiscent of scenes from “The Lord of the Rings” movies. The images were not of the ugly distorted creatures or monstrous figures like in the movies, but they were people with hatred and anger distorting their expressions. They were charging across a landscape, destroying everything in their path.
But, this was not movie. I thought, perhaps these are just images from the news media of the recent riots which my mind is recalling. Maybe it was as simple as that.
But, I couldn’t shake the realism. And, it was easy to relate what I was “seeing” to what is happening in our world. I kept thinking, “How could the people of our nation go from law-abiding citizens to domestic terrorists in such a short time?
How could almost half the population, in the year 2020, endorse a political party espousing godless Socialism and Communist style rule? How could so many people endorse desecrating our religious institutions, our history and legacies, going about indiscriminately killing our police and first responders? They are destroying business, killing the owners, looting, stealing and rioting saying it is for justice? How could the Democrat Senators, Governors, mayors and public officials allow and even encourage this anarchy? Have they lost their minds?
As I pondered on the thought “Have they lost their minds?”, I wondered, “Or, is something more sinister occurring?”
I asked myself, “What would cause so many people to begin to call what been considered as ‘good’, for centuries, now call it ‘evil’ and call evil as being good?
They murder babies for body parts, kill our police our of anger, disparage and attack those who don’t agree with their points of view. These people loot, steal, threaten, murder for no real reason or for any reason. Dishonesty is rampant is all areas of society. Immorality, perversion and pornography is so prevalent and pervasive that one cannot escape it.
I’ll spare the continuing long-winded review of this upside-down world-wide phenomenon, but the one thought that struck me: “Something is going on that is just not right. It is not of this world.”
That’s when the lights came on in my head. “It is not of this world”.
Read Ephesians 6:11 – 12
(verse 11) “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. (verse 12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
OUR STRUGGLE IS AGAINST
THE RULERS AND POWERS AND WORLD FORCES OF DARKNESS
AGAINST SPIRITUAL FORCES OF WICKEDNESS IN THE HEAVENLY
Genesis 6:5-6 tells us what was going on in the days of Noah. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
We read in Genesis 6:11 that “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Pick up the newspaper, and you will see the hostility that fills the earth.
For those who have read (or have not read) the “White Stone” articles on the Tribulation, maybe this will bring you “to the table”, so to speak.
1. We MUST recognize where we are in “eschatology“.
2. We are at the 12th hour, we are seeing the opening of the 5th Tribulation Seal of the “eschatological clock“. (There is only one more Seal left)
3. There is only ONE WAYwe can deal with what is upon us, until our Lord returns.
This is URGENT, dear friends. If you have come this far in this letter, thank you! Now please click and read the links.
We must be ready. Please, call, email or text me if you want to talk further. Let’s join together and get this word out. Christ is our ONLY and BEST HOPE!
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
The opening of this verse is read at plain face value, “treat people the same way you want them to treat you”.
The interesting word in this verse is “treat“. It comes from the same Greek word as “make“. As in Matthew 4:19, Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
TREAT and MAKE. as used here, is translated from the Greek word “poieo”. “Poieo” is a CREATIVE word. It means to make something according to what it is called. This is the New Testament Greek word equivalency to the Old Testament Hebrew word CREATE, or “Bara”. As in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
“WHAT IS VISIBLE COMES FROM THAT WHICH IS UNSEEN”
Please, proceed intentionally. What comes next, is a game-changer for most Christians and particularly for a Disciple of Jesus:
In other words, when you TREAT others the same way you want to be TREATED you, are MAKING (creating) a relationship by the way you think and behave, from what is unseen, the Spiritual realm, which manifests itself into the natural world!
To wit:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” Hebrews 1:1-3
To reinforce the fact that this teaching or command rests on a Spiritual basis, Jesus finishes with the profound remark “for this is the Law and the Prophets“.
“The Law and the Prophets“. is another way of saying “the entire Old Testament”. The night before his death, Jesus meets with Moses (the LAW) and Elijah (the greatest of the prophets) and talks with them at length. This is important because Jesus was clearly not on Earth to oppose the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)
In other words, as a Disciple of Jesus,
How you TREAT people reveals your true relationship to Jesus
How you TREAT people allows Jesus to CREATE or MAKE a relationship come to pass which is according to His Righteousness.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” Ephesians 2:10
We must remember that it is Jesus Who prepares the Works ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
It is both an awesome responsibility and the highest honor to Walk in Works of Jesus, (and in His own Words), and even greater Works than these, because He is with the Father. So, it is no wonder that Jesus said,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:12-15
Now it is your turn:
HOW MUST YOU DO IT? _______________________________________
HOW YOU MUST TEACH IT? ____________________________________
He Who is in us, is greater than he who is in the world, and He has overcome the world!
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7–8).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN? This teaching is, essentially, about prayer. Jesus is not teaching just how to pray, but, He is commanding His Disciples to pray effectively.
Jesus is, by this teaching, is teaching about the critical importance or prayer.
He is telling us how we get results! In contemporary terms (metaphorically), Jesus is saying that prayer, is a search and rescue mission!
At first look, it may seem like praying is making a simple request and presto, like calling a genie from a bottle, we have our answer. Or, glancing about and easily finding that which you are hunting. Or, tapping on a door and the gates of prosperity swing wide open to you.
Reading the rest of the verses in context of the Biblical teaching on prayer we see the seriousness urgency of the matter.
verse 9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?
10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
In this case “Ask”, literally means to beg, to call for, to crave, to deeply desire, to require. It is in the “imperative mood” which expresses a command to the hearer to perform a certain action by the order and authority of the one commanding. Thus, the word Jesus uses, “Ask”, is not at all an “invitation,” but an absolute command requiring full obedience on the part of all hearers.
It is the same for “Seek”. In this case, “Seek” means, seek in order to find out by thinking, meditating, reasoning, to enquire into; to aim at, strive after, to require, to crave, to demand something from someone. This too, is in the “imperative”.
To “knock” is in the imperative and carries the idea of “unfailing”. This is saying that it is not enough to ask and seek, but you must not fail to knock, also.
God tells us we must pray fervently to have effectual prayers.
In other words, you must use all resources at your disposal, praying fervently, seeking intensely, knocking persistently, with purpose of obtaining the thing you seek, keeping in mind that God tells us that His Word will achieve the very thing it is purposed to achieve.
Most importantly, Jesus reminds us that He can only do what He sees the Father is already doing, and we, AS HIS DISCIPLES, must do that very thing. It is His Will, not our own ideas, to accomplish a thing.
THE EFFECTIVE PRAYERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS CAN ACCOMPLISH MUCH
“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7:6).
Now Jesus is telling us to make a judgment on what is Holy, who are the “dogs”, what is a “Pearl” and who or what are the “swine”.
It is important to understand the words and the context being used.
Jesus is NOT SAYING we should never make judgments. He IS SAYING we should not judge people unfairly but we are to make right judgments. THIS IS IMPORTANT, especially in our world.
I will define terms so we can begin to understand the differences between being judgmental and making righteous judgements.
“Holy” is the word hagios (hag’-ee-os) which refers to the Holy characteristic of God, or being separated to God, who is worthy of veneration.
Its highest application is to God himself, in His purity, majesty and glory. It is also applied to persons as separated to God’s service and is in regards to Christ, of Christians and in the moral sense of sharing God’s purity, including sacrifices and offerings.
“Pearls” are referred to as a Proverb or a word of Great Value.
A “Dog” is a metaphor for an impudent person. Someone who shows no respect for another person.
A “Swine” is colloquially, the ultimate symbol of loathing by ancient Jews. Pigs were considered as symbols of disease, filth and hypocrisy.
We learned, in Lesson #14, the we are not to “judge hypocritically”. Jesus teaches us that we are not to pronounce judgment on someone and that we, as Jesus’ disciples, correct our own attitudes and behaviors.
At the same time, we are told to judge, and “judge righteously”. That is to say, we are to judge using righteous discernment. “Do not judge according to appearance, but do judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24
Discernment is the word, dokimazo (dok-im-ad’-zo ) which means to “prove” or to try, to discern and to examine. To test, examine, prove, scrutinize to see whether a thing is genuine or not, such as metals. To recognize whether it is genuine after examination, to approve, deem worthy.
Judgment is the word, krino (kree’-no ) which means to determine, to condemn, go to law and to call in question. It involves esteem. It is to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong.
RECAP:
Disciples of Jesus are not to judge hypocritically. We are to judge righteously using righteous Discernment.
DISCIPLE OF JESUS, are to judge righteously.
We are to pray for and use righteous discernment
We are to determine (judge) who is worthy of the things of God.
We are to Determine what is Holy and Pure, His majesty and glory.
We are to determine who are the people of God and Christ and in His service.
We are to know who is sharing the Truth of God’s purity, including sacrifices and offerings.
We are to determine what are the “Pearls” of God, which is a Proverb or The Word of God, which is of Great Value.
Disciples of Jesus are not to give what is Holy or of Great Value to those those who prove to be impudent people full of hate and hypocrisy.
“Do not judge according to appearance, but do judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24
Now, it is your turn:
HOW MUST YOU DO IT? _____________________________________________
HOW YOU MUST TEACH IT? __________________________________________
Remember that phrase? Siblings arguing. One kid says “I can do what I want!”, and the other sibling says, “Oh, yeah? Says who?”
Now the argument gets serious. In other words, the second sibling is saying, “On whose authority do you do these things?”
If the first kid says, “I say!”, then he carries only the weight of brute force or superior intellect.
But, if he or she says, “Dad said so!” then the first sibling has assumed a superior and credible position. He or she is speaking from authority.
Incidentally, I was in a discussion with a friend and he said, “I believe we are close to the Rapture and we won’t have top see or endure much more of the troubles of this earth.”
I asked, “Isn’t that time called the Tribulation or the “Last Days”, or the “End of Days” or the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord”?”
“Yes, it is”, my friend replied.
I responded with, “Oh, yeah. And, when is that supposed to happen?”
My friend said, “You know, before the tribulation starts.”
I responded again, asking, “When is that?”
He looked at me quizzically and said, “Before the seven years of tribulation.”
I had to say it, “Oh, yeah? Says who? Who in the Bible says that?”
(I honestly could not help myself. But, I know it had to be some pastor or Bible teacher who said what my friend is now saying. My friend is just repeating some guy.)
But, now the discussion began in earnest
So I continued with,“I have it on good authority that The Apostle PETER SAYS, in Acts2:14
“Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15“For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;
18 EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.
19‘AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW, BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.
20‘THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME.
21AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’
PETER GIVES THESE KEY POINTS:
This is what Peter said about Pentecost, in AD 1, “but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel’ indicating the LAST DAYS have begun.
AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says. (also in Joel 2, Matt 24, Rev 1 – 13)
This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel about the Last Days (Joel 2)
AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE (also in Matt 24, Rev 6, Joel 2)
AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW, (also in Matt 24, Rev 6, Joel 2)
BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE. (also in Matt 24, Rev 6, Joel 2)
THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, (also in Matt 24, Rev 6, Joel 2)
BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME. (also in Matt 24, Rev 6, Joel 2:2)
And I continued with,“I have it on good authority that The Prophet JOEL SAYS, inJoel 2:1
“Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near,
2A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.
28“It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.
29“Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30“I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
31“The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
32“And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be delivered;
JOEL GIVES THESE KEY POINTS:
Display of wonders in the sky and earth (also in Matt 24:29 and Rev 6:12-14)
The sun will be turned into darkness (also in Matt 24:29 and Rev 6:12-14)
and the moon into blood (also in Matt 24:29 and Rev 6:12-14)
BEFORE the day of the Lord comes
And, I went on with, “I have it on good authority that The Apostle PAUL SAYS, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
PAUL GIVES THESE KEY POINTS:
The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout AFTER wars, famines, plagues, death, (also in Matthew 24:31)
with the voice of the archangel (also in Matthew 24:31)
and the trumpet of God (also in Matthew 24:31)
And, I went on with, “I have it on good authority that The Apostle PAUL SAYS, in Hebrews1:1
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son,”
PAUL GIVES THESE KEY POINTS:
In these last days, and these Words were spoken in 62 AD. These were the Last Days.
God has spoken to us in His Son in these Last Days. AD 62. The End of Days had begun.
And, I went on with, “I have it on good authority that JESUS SAYS, in Matthew 24:4
“See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8“But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
9“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10“At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11“Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13“But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
JESUS GIVE THESE KEY POINTS:
“See to it that no one misleads you.
“For many will come in My name, and will mislead many.
“You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. (Rev 6:3)
But that is not yet the end.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, (Rev 6:1)
and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. (Rev 6:5)
“But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
“At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. This is the Apostasy.
“But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved” and Jesus says wars, rumors of wars, famines & earthquakes are only the beginning of birth pangs, but it is NOT THE END.
And, I went on with, I have it on good authority that JESUS SAYS, in Matthew24:15
“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 21“For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.”
JESUS GIVE THESE KEY POINTS:
When you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, Then there will be a great tribulation (also in Daniel 9:25-27, Dan 11:29-32, Dan 12:11-12, 2 Thess 2:3-4)
Then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.” (also in Daniel 12:1, Joel 2)
I finished with, “AND I HAVE THIS ON GOOD AUTHORITY. “
RECAP:
The Last Days, The End of Days, began in AD 1, according to the Apostle Peter.
The Apostle Paul repeats the same thing as late as AD 62.
The again the Last Days had begun as witnessed by Jesus remarks when referring to the first five Tribulation Seals, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
The world has suffered wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines and deaths from global plagues (Tribulation Seals 1 through 4) for many centuries.
The Church is now undergoing a phenomenon of a worldwide Apostasy, the rejection of Christianity by someone who formerly was a Christian. The term apostasy means a departure, revolt or rebellion. It has been described as “a willful falling away from, or rebellion against, Christianity, which we see as churches, worldwide, have rejected the Bible and the final authority and twist scriptures of satisfy their own lust and their seared conscience. (the 5th Tribulation Seal).
Everything up to and including the Great Apostasy have occurred and is occurring.
We are now waiting for the revealing of the “Man of Perdition”, also known as the antichrist, the one who stands in the Holy Place and commits the Abomination if Desolation. And, once that occurs, the timing of events will accelerate wildly.
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
“But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
“For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
We have to get this right because we have His Work to do until this has come to an end. And standing around, looking skyward, waiting for the Rapture is a fatal mistake. He is going to ask what we have done of which He told us to do. By this we will know if we are His disciples
There are a group of us participating in a Home Study, “THE TRUTH PROJECT“.
The study itself is called a “World View Tour”. We are told that “there is no direction you can travel that God has not spoken”. It teaches the Christian World View from twelve areas and disciplines:
1. Truth
2. Philosophy
3. Anthropology
4. Theology
5. Science
6. History
7. Sociology
8. “Unio Mystica” – Am I alone?
9. Law
10. The American Experiment
11. Labor
12. Community
Each week’s lesson is called a “Tour” of one of the twelve “tours” or disciplines.
The first Tour started by asking the question, “Why did Jesus come into the world?”. Jesus answers that question in John 18:37,
“Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Which brings us to the Cosmic Battle: TRUTH vs THE LIE which has been raging since the very beginning of time. And, Jesus said, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Those who say they are Christians, but do not do as Jesus said, are liars and do not follow Him.
Jesus gave Peter these marching orders: Matthew16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
We are still in this Cosmic Battle. It is not just defensive. We are on the offense and crashing the gates of hell.
Which brings me to the point, if we are FOLLOWING JESUS, where is He telling us to go and what are our “Marching Orders”?
1. Jesus said we are to follow Him. Have His mindset. We are to do The Works He has done and even greater Works. We are to be going and making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to observe and do all He has commanded us. (Follow: Matthew 4, 8, 16, 19, John 12. Have His mind: Philippians 2:5. Do His works: John 14:12. Make disciples: Matthew 28:19)
2. We are to gird ourselves up with Spiritual Armor and stand strong. We are in a spiritual Battle which is being fought in the Heavens and is being played out on the earth through men and women. The origins and spiritual but the manifestation of the battle are real and deadly. (Ephesians 6)
A. The Camp: The prayer warriors, planners and doers of the Word, deacons and pastors. Those who don’t mind (would prefer) to be in the background, working without notice, helping. Praying, encouraging, protecting, planning, supporting, serving, building up the Body.
B. The Front Lines: The evangelists, teachers, preachers and front line workers. Those who don’t mind being in view and out-front, taking the heat and standing strong with the support of the prayer warriors. Preaching the Gospel, teaching everything Jesus taught, prophesying the truth, calling out evil, casting down strongholds.
C. These are the guards of the camp: These are ones who will defend the camp, using force, if necessary. These are called the “Army of God” – 1 Chronicles 12:22. Defending the Body, apologists, warriors, self sacrificing for the good of the Church.
The Army of God. ‘Elohiym-machaneh (el-o-heem’- makh-an-eh’
Reach – “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Teach– “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Send -Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
I don’t know exactly how to explain what I experienced yesterday. So, I will just guess at how to say it. (And I hope this finds a listening ear).
“The Law of Reciprocity”
