Of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of prophecy Rev. 19:10
What great mysteries of God the book of Revelation holds!
In it the fullness of His glory is revealed!
In the days of past the Spirit led the Prophets to prophecy of Christ, Speaking through the Spirit of Christ
In the last days at the culmulation of the ages, after Christ has risen, we who are witnesses of His glory through faith,testify.
This testimony given to us by Him is the Spirit of Prophecy.
The final prophecy of His great return.
Everytime we witness and tell of God's power in our lives, we are prophecying the final and greatest prophecy to be fullfilled.
We are essentially in a way prophets of Christ
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
George Fox
The Reformation fires of one hundred years before had burned themselves out. Among the clergy there abounded much education, loose-living, and ease. The Protestant church had a name to live but was dead. George Fox did not enjoy any personal direct communion with God until he was nineteen. Then for some time his soul was full of strange longings and continual reachings out after God. The Christians he met did not possess what they professed. So deeply was he grieved and distressed over examples of their hypocrisy that he could not sleep all night but walked up and down in his room praying to God. He sought help from man but found none. His relatives did not know what to make of George. One kind soul said that marriage was the remedy for his melancholic state of mind. Another preferred the view that he should enlist in the army. A third believed the use of tobacco and singing psalms would bring relief. No wonder the seeking soul thought that his advisers were all "miserable comforters." One man, supposedly experienced in the things of God, was "like an empty hollow cask" to George Fox. Seeking the advice of a clergyman, Fox accidentally stepped on the minister's flower bed, whereupon the angry cleric flew into a rage.
Finding no help from men, Fox gave up seeking from that source. With the Bible as his guide, he began looking to the Lord alone for help. Slowly the light began to dawn upon him. He was led to see that only those who had passed from death to life were real believers in Christ. Once and for all Fox settled it that "being bred at Oxford and Cambridge did not qualify or fit a man to be a minister of Christ." When George Fox was about 23, he began preaching to others the truths revealed to him. He was mightily used of God. Thus he came in the nick of time "to save the church from deadness and formalism, and the world from infidelity." He was sent of God to call the church to real spiritual worship. Fox began his preaching with a limited education, without any special training, and without special advantages of any kind. He so preached that men got the shakes. The name Quaker was attached to Fox and his followers because of the quaking of the men who came to scoff but stayed to pray. Though he made others shake, no man could make him shake.
Walking bare-footed through the crowded market at Litchfield, England, this man in the leather suit upraised his hands and voice, shouting, "Woe unto Litchfield, thou bloody city! Woe unto Litchfield!" He feared neither man nor the consequences of his tirade. At first the crowd was amused, then serious, then terrified. Here was a man with unquenchable zeal. He had "heard a voice." Beat him they might, cast him into prison they would, mock him as a madman they laughingly did. But still he proclaimed the message of Christ. Shut out of churches, George Fox made a stone his pulpit and preached to the crowds in the streets. Taken from the street meeting to the jail, he made the jail a cathedral to declare the wonderful works of God. Often he was found praising the Lord in a stinking prison cell. From judge to criminal, from Lord Protector to kitchen maid, Fox bore a burning witness. "He iterated the British Isles," says one of his biographers, "preaching and protesting as no man before him had ever done. In his preaching he wore out clothes, horses, critics, persecutors, and eventually himself." Many times Fox prophesied of future events that were revealed to him. Visions often came to him. Once in Lancashire, England, as he was climbing Pendle Hill, he had a vision of a coming revival in that very area. He "saw the countryside alive with men, all moving to one place." I have worshipped in the old mullion-windowed meeting house erected after the great visitation of God in that area.
In personal appearance Fox was a large man with remarkable piercing eyes. His words were like a flash of lightning. His judgment was clear, and his logic convincing. His great spiritual gift was a remarkable discernment. He seemed to be able to read the characters of men by looking at them. He likened the temperaments of people to a wolf, a serpent, a lion, or a wasp. He could meet a person and say, "I see the spirit of a cunning fox in you." "You have the nature of a serpent." Or "Thou art as vicious as a tiger." Fox was far in advance of any other person in his day. The great secret of Fox's power was his faith in God. He started with scarcely any advantages, but soon he influenced the whole world for God. His one desire was the extension of Christ's kingdom on earth. Through his influence England, Ireland, and Scotland were soon ablaze. In 1661 several of his followers were moved to go beyond the seas to publish truth in foreign countries. In 1664 he married Margaret Fell. In 1670-73 he sailed for the West Indies and North America. Though he was persecuted even there, the work spread. No religious or political reformer was ever imprisoned as many times as George Fox, and oh, what prisons! But his times in prison were missionary labors. Not in solitary confinement, he always had a congregation. But he made converts. His fame spread and people came in crowds to hear him. A distinguished American governor, Livingston, was justified in giving the following elevated opinion of "the unshakable shaker": George Fox alone has, without human learning, done more than any other reformer in Protestant Christendom towards the restoration of real, primitive, unadulterated Christianity and the destruction of priest craft, superstition, and ridiculous, unavailing rites and ceremonies.
He left us an example of fearless, devoted service that alas, but few have ever tried to follow. "He saw hell and heaven, God and judgment with such a clear vision that he was forced to go out in season and out of season to snatch poor sinners from their awful doom. Constantly he appeared just where nobody expected him, blocking the road to hell and pointing the road to heaven - and all because he was completely delivered from all regard for public opinion and utterly impatient of useless routine." How cities throughout the world today could be made to quake by workers as full of God and faith, as reckless as to their life and interest and comfort, as determined to wreck the devil's kingdom as George Fox was!
Excerpt taken from sermonindex.net
Finding no help from men, Fox gave up seeking from that source. With the Bible as his guide, he began looking to the Lord alone for help. Slowly the light began to dawn upon him. He was led to see that only those who had passed from death to life were real believers in Christ. Once and for all Fox settled it that "being bred at Oxford and Cambridge did not qualify or fit a man to be a minister of Christ." When George Fox was about 23, he began preaching to others the truths revealed to him. He was mightily used of God. Thus he came in the nick of time "to save the church from deadness and formalism, and the world from infidelity." He was sent of God to call the church to real spiritual worship. Fox began his preaching with a limited education, without any special training, and without special advantages of any kind. He so preached that men got the shakes. The name Quaker was attached to Fox and his followers because of the quaking of the men who came to scoff but stayed to pray. Though he made others shake, no man could make him shake.
Walking bare-footed through the crowded market at Litchfield, England, this man in the leather suit upraised his hands and voice, shouting, "Woe unto Litchfield, thou bloody city! Woe unto Litchfield!" He feared neither man nor the consequences of his tirade. At first the crowd was amused, then serious, then terrified. Here was a man with unquenchable zeal. He had "heard a voice." Beat him they might, cast him into prison they would, mock him as a madman they laughingly did. But still he proclaimed the message of Christ. Shut out of churches, George Fox made a stone his pulpit and preached to the crowds in the streets. Taken from the street meeting to the jail, he made the jail a cathedral to declare the wonderful works of God. Often he was found praising the Lord in a stinking prison cell. From judge to criminal, from Lord Protector to kitchen maid, Fox bore a burning witness. "He iterated the British Isles," says one of his biographers, "preaching and protesting as no man before him had ever done. In his preaching he wore out clothes, horses, critics, persecutors, and eventually himself." Many times Fox prophesied of future events that were revealed to him. Visions often came to him. Once in Lancashire, England, as he was climbing Pendle Hill, he had a vision of a coming revival in that very area. He "saw the countryside alive with men, all moving to one place." I have worshipped in the old mullion-windowed meeting house erected after the great visitation of God in that area.
In personal appearance Fox was a large man with remarkable piercing eyes. His words were like a flash of lightning. His judgment was clear, and his logic convincing. His great spiritual gift was a remarkable discernment. He seemed to be able to read the characters of men by looking at them. He likened the temperaments of people to a wolf, a serpent, a lion, or a wasp. He could meet a person and say, "I see the spirit of a cunning fox in you." "You have the nature of a serpent." Or "Thou art as vicious as a tiger." Fox was far in advance of any other person in his day. The great secret of Fox's power was his faith in God. He started with scarcely any advantages, but soon he influenced the whole world for God. His one desire was the extension of Christ's kingdom on earth. Through his influence England, Ireland, and Scotland were soon ablaze. In 1661 several of his followers were moved to go beyond the seas to publish truth in foreign countries. In 1664 he married Margaret Fell. In 1670-73 he sailed for the West Indies and North America. Though he was persecuted even there, the work spread. No religious or political reformer was ever imprisoned as many times as George Fox, and oh, what prisons! But his times in prison were missionary labors. Not in solitary confinement, he always had a congregation. But he made converts. His fame spread and people came in crowds to hear him. A distinguished American governor, Livingston, was justified in giving the following elevated opinion of "the unshakable shaker": George Fox alone has, without human learning, done more than any other reformer in Protestant Christendom towards the restoration of real, primitive, unadulterated Christianity and the destruction of priest craft, superstition, and ridiculous, unavailing rites and ceremonies.
He left us an example of fearless, devoted service that alas, but few have ever tried to follow. "He saw hell and heaven, God and judgment with such a clear vision that he was forced to go out in season and out of season to snatch poor sinners from their awful doom. Constantly he appeared just where nobody expected him, blocking the road to hell and pointing the road to heaven - and all because he was completely delivered from all regard for public opinion and utterly impatient of useless routine." How cities throughout the world today could be made to quake by workers as full of God and faith, as reckless as to their life and interest and comfort, as determined to wreck the devil's kingdom as George Fox was!
Excerpt taken from sermonindex.net
Monday, January 17, 2011
Enough
All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
Ecc. 1:8
The Lord God is the God of every human spirit. He speaks and the peoples in the cities shout and dance. But in the world we live in He has departed and our souls are disconnected from the Creator. So we naturually and sinfully look to the things of the flesh.
The darkness is very great so great that we do not even realize it.
We do not realize the sinfulness of our sin unless God in His mercy reveals it to us.
One of the great grieveances of humankind is that they are deceived into believing that the things they lack in the flesh are better than what they seem.
When I fast, food looks so much better and everything in my mind craves it, but when I stop fasting it's never as good as I thought it would be when I was fasting. In fact my spirit is more alive in the times when I am fasting then when I am not.
I realized that food doesn't really taste that good.
I used to feast after I stop a fast but after I had eaten my fill. I felt worse then when I was fasting.
When I fast, I realize my vulnerability and dependency, then I can understand God's sufficiency and sovereignty. When I understand who God is then I can love and do His work.
My friend ask me "Evangel how come you're ok with being alone so often?"
I didn't really realize but I guess I do spend a lot of time alone.
It's not that I do not enjoy relationships, its that there comes a point when they tire me and I would rather spend time with the Lord.
When Jesus says Seek First His Kingdom and His righteousness
Only when your whole being is focused on God, can you enjoy the things he created without indulge in in sinful excess and with the blessing of God. and so the last part is then all these things will be added unto you
The Lord created the good things as life to be gifts, not to be nesscessities.
As we learn and mature and are refined then we can say
The Lord is my Sheppard, I shall not be in want
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
Ecc. 1:8
The Lord God is the God of every human spirit. He speaks and the peoples in the cities shout and dance. But in the world we live in He has departed and our souls are disconnected from the Creator. So we naturually and sinfully look to the things of the flesh.
The darkness is very great so great that we do not even realize it.
We do not realize the sinfulness of our sin unless God in His mercy reveals it to us.
One of the great grieveances of humankind is that they are deceived into believing that the things they lack in the flesh are better than what they seem.
When I fast, food looks so much better and everything in my mind craves it, but when I stop fasting it's never as good as I thought it would be when I was fasting. In fact my spirit is more alive in the times when I am fasting then when I am not.
I realized that food doesn't really taste that good.
I used to feast after I stop a fast but after I had eaten my fill. I felt worse then when I was fasting.
When I fast, I realize my vulnerability and dependency, then I can understand God's sufficiency and sovereignty. When I understand who God is then I can love and do His work.
My friend ask me "Evangel how come you're ok with being alone so often?"
I didn't really realize but I guess I do spend a lot of time alone.
It's not that I do not enjoy relationships, its that there comes a point when they tire me and I would rather spend time with the Lord.
When Jesus says Seek First His Kingdom and His righteousness
Only when your whole being is focused on God, can you enjoy the things he created without indulge in in sinful excess and with the blessing of God. and so the last part is then all these things will be added unto you
The Lord created the good things as life to be gifts, not to be nesscessities.
As we learn and mature and are refined then we can say
The Lord is my Sheppard, I shall not be in want
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
In this hour
in the last days there be many false teachers, teaching false doctrines
dry springs that cannot fill but entice the flesh
something along the lines of....we all have brokenness.
and this secretly makes the carnal mind compromise so that they don't think they don't have to confess that their heart is full of wickedness because they're just in "brokenness" but NOT in anyway rebellious.
creates.. needy people who walk into the steeple
put a band-aid that says peace peace when there is no peace, but in truth there is no proof of salavation no spiritual fruit..love joy peace, hate, anger, disobedience, lust all the same somehow... wow
dead bodies enter the "house of the Lord" no joy
trying to work something up, but no faith because deep inside the mind is a mess trying to look the best but no peace for the wicked.
Come generation wake up
o NO this cannot continue enough is enough.
don't let the devil continue to deceive you.
cuz if something doesn't get through the world is going to be through
even now light getting slimmer, world getting grimmer if those who confess Christ aren't being the light than we are in a serious plight.
fews years now when this generation is on the world its gonna be horrible, something resembling hell.
are there none that will stand and fight?
see no power in these last days.
no soldiers only defeated ......believers? disciple? sorry don't what to call them don't want to disgrace the name I guess just the in betweens...lukewarm
caught up and locked up by the weeds of the world, blinded to spiritual realities
caught up in TV, media they all have worldly ideas opposed to the gospel. spewing out lies.......so why is the light so ready to compromise and suck in the world?
If the darkness inside is light how great is that darkness.
don't those who love the Lord hate evil? then how can they willfully gaze and enjoy it, lust it?
without holiness no one will see God.
so either the definition for holiness has changed or there are a lot of frauds.
thinking they so holy they got it going
might know the Word inside out but not knowing Christ. like the pharisees in John 5
lacking Spiritual power cuz they've strayed from heart of the Father.
can't pray....they don't "feel" it
but of course they still followers of Christ
I guess they got it soo right....they don't even need to depend on Christ
I mean isn't prayer taking to God.
no prayer no relationship with Christ......simple right?
I love Jesus?
no you don't cant even talk to Him for one hour.....
Beware the devil is roaring....
keep WATCH.
Its too hard?
have you even got on your knees to ask for more?
don't receive because you don't ask.
don't receive because your heart is whack.
this generation.....is gonna be blown away like the chaff.
common people of God we need to stand in the gap.
get on our knees mourn and fast.
cuz if this keeps going .... we're not going to last.
a famine is in the land.
everthing is dry like sand.
its like God has closed His hand.......
so is anyone going to start asking for
water?
streams of living water?
There is River who's streams make glad the city of God.
dry springs that cannot fill but entice the flesh
something along the lines of....we all have brokenness.
and this secretly makes the carnal mind compromise so that they don't think they don't have to confess that their heart is full of wickedness because they're just in "brokenness" but NOT in anyway rebellious.
creates.. needy people who walk into the steeple
put a band-aid that says peace peace when there is no peace, but in truth there is no proof of salavation no spiritual fruit..love joy peace, hate, anger, disobedience, lust all the same somehow... wow
dead bodies enter the "house of the Lord" no joy
trying to work something up, but no faith because deep inside the mind is a mess trying to look the best but no peace for the wicked.
Come generation wake up
o NO this cannot continue enough is enough.
don't let the devil continue to deceive you.
cuz if something doesn't get through the world is going to be through
even now light getting slimmer, world getting grimmer if those who confess Christ aren't being the light than we are in a serious plight.
fews years now when this generation is on the world its gonna be horrible, something resembling hell.
are there none that will stand and fight?
see no power in these last days.
no soldiers only defeated ......believers? disciple? sorry don't what to call them don't want to disgrace the name I guess just the in betweens...lukewarm
caught up and locked up by the weeds of the world, blinded to spiritual realities
caught up in TV, media they all have worldly ideas opposed to the gospel. spewing out lies.......so why is the light so ready to compromise and suck in the world?
If the darkness inside is light how great is that darkness.
don't those who love the Lord hate evil? then how can they willfully gaze and enjoy it, lust it?
without holiness no one will see God.
so either the definition for holiness has changed or there are a lot of frauds.
thinking they so holy they got it going
might know the Word inside out but not knowing Christ. like the pharisees in John 5
lacking Spiritual power cuz they've strayed from heart of the Father.
can't pray....they don't "feel" it
but of course they still followers of Christ
I guess they got it soo right....they don't even need to depend on Christ
I mean isn't prayer taking to God.
no prayer no relationship with Christ......simple right?
I love Jesus?
no you don't cant even talk to Him for one hour.....
Beware the devil is roaring....
keep WATCH.
Its too hard?
have you even got on your knees to ask for more?
don't receive because you don't ask.
don't receive because your heart is whack.
this generation.....is gonna be blown away like the chaff.
common people of God we need to stand in the gap.
get on our knees mourn and fast.
cuz if this keeps going .... we're not going to last.
a famine is in the land.
everthing is dry like sand.
its like God has closed His hand.......
so is anyone going to start asking for
water?
streams of living water?
There is River who's streams make glad the city of God.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
I'll Walk With Him Always
The sheep know the voice of the shephard!
One of the biggest concerns I have is how there are so many false teachers out there! Some of them are very deceiving and are extremely hard to discern! I am always worried that immature belivers will be led astray and confused because of the many different voices. It also makes me very discouraged, there are so few people who teach the Word of truth and when it is preached not many people listen. It feels like we're losing the battle!
Many times I will see fellow belivers trying to preach or teach but they do not do it with the power of God but rely on their own strength to teach God's Word. They have not really been taught in their heart what they are speaking on so it is very dry and dull. This is also discouraging because many sermons that I hear are lacking and therefore unfruitful.
But the Lord has reminded me:
The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ....I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
-John 10:2-5,14
No matter what if the voice of God isn't in the person preaching, the sheep won't respond to it! Jesus is the true Sheppard but He shares His heart with His people and calls some of them to be temporary Sheppards. When He does, He Himself manifests power into the person so that when the person ministers through teaching,preaching, leading Christ can be seen in Him and through Him!
Sometimes someone will be preaching and the theology may be right, but it seems sorta boring or a bit off. Other times, right when the Pastor speaks, my spirit in me stirs and is very attentive to every word that he has to say.
The Lord is my Sheppard I shall not want.
He makes me lay down in green pastures
He leads me beside still waters
He restores my soul and leads me in the paths of righteousness for His Name Sake...
His rod and His staff that comfort me
-Psalm 23
When we make the Lord our Sheppard we will never want anything else. He will lead us to the things that we need to thrive on; the green pastures and still waters. The Sheppard knows the where the greenest pastures are and where the waters are the clearest and cleanest for us to drink. He will not lead us to waters that are rough and dangerous but rather waters that ar calm and safe. As our trust in the Lord increases and learn to follow Him more intimately, He will restore our souls more and more, piecing back together our whole being and leading us down the path of righteousness. Many times we struggle with not being able to hear God, we find assurance in the conviction that He brings to our souls each time we sin. The Lord uses His rod and staff and disciplines those He loves. We should be concerned if we do not feel convicted when we sin or if we can easily brush off the conviction. This desensitization is a clear indicator that we are not in line with the heart of the Sheppard.
One of the biggest concerns I have is how there are so many false teachers out there! Some of them are very deceiving and are extremely hard to discern! I am always worried that immature belivers will be led astray and confused because of the many different voices. It also makes me very discouraged, there are so few people who teach the Word of truth and when it is preached not many people listen. It feels like we're losing the battle!
Many times I will see fellow belivers trying to preach or teach but they do not do it with the power of God but rely on their own strength to teach God's Word. They have not really been taught in their heart what they are speaking on so it is very dry and dull. This is also discouraging because many sermons that I hear are lacking and therefore unfruitful.
But the Lord has reminded me:
The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ....I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
-John 10:2-5,14
No matter what if the voice of God isn't in the person preaching, the sheep won't respond to it! Jesus is the true Sheppard but He shares His heart with His people and calls some of them to be temporary Sheppards. When He does, He Himself manifests power into the person so that when the person ministers through teaching,preaching, leading Christ can be seen in Him and through Him!
Sometimes someone will be preaching and the theology may be right, but it seems sorta boring or a bit off. Other times, right when the Pastor speaks, my spirit in me stirs and is very attentive to every word that he has to say.
The Lord is my Sheppard I shall not want.
He makes me lay down in green pastures
He leads me beside still waters
He restores my soul and leads me in the paths of righteousness for His Name Sake...
His rod and His staff that comfort me
-Psalm 23
When we make the Lord our Sheppard we will never want anything else. He will lead us to the things that we need to thrive on; the green pastures and still waters. The Sheppard knows the where the greenest pastures are and where the waters are the clearest and cleanest for us to drink. He will not lead us to waters that are rough and dangerous but rather waters that ar calm and safe. As our trust in the Lord increases and learn to follow Him more intimately, He will restore our souls more and more, piecing back together our whole being and leading us down the path of righteousness. Many times we struggle with not being able to hear God, we find assurance in the conviction that He brings to our souls each time we sin. The Lord uses His rod and staff and disciplines those He loves. We should be concerned if we do not feel convicted when we sin or if we can easily brush off the conviction. This desensitization is a clear indicator that we are not in line with the heart of the Sheppard.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)