"So It Will Be"!

"So it will be at the end of the age." (Matthew 13:49)

 

There are so many, "so it will be at the end of the age," in Scripture.  Four times in the NKJV of Matthew's Gospel alone our Lord Jesus speaks the words of our text, "the end of the age."  It is coming as sure as anything in the universe.  All of the Bible Prophets gave encouragements and warnings of the time to which all of history is headed.  Some people spend great money and time preparing for their retirement, but so very little in preparing for, "the end of the age."  Churches too spend much money and staff nerves preparing for their particular kingdom's future, but how much in the preparation of their people for, "the end of the age"?!?  Some  "spiritual" people will say, "But no one knows when that will be."   Precisely. 

 

At, "the end of the age," the reality of, "For whoever desires to save (literally, "protect") his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it," will manifest more intensely.  Today in America there is the so-called Right and Left.  The Left just hates the America they were handed and is fighting to change the cultural base.  The Right, on the other hand is fighting to preserve "the American way of life."  And many in the Right "camp," which includes many sitting in church buildings all across America every Sunday, are those who are no more interested in the Kingdom of Heaven than those of the Left.  For Followers of Jesus Christ in any culture, however, it is going to be increasingly a choice between, "desires to save his [own] life," i.e., comforts, security, and, "the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." 

 

Bonhoeffer faced precisely this choice in 1933 when he wrote to his grandmother referring to the gathering storm in Germany.  It is prophetic particularly for the American Church today.

        It has become ever more evident to me that we are to be given

        a great popular national Church, whose nature cannot be reconciled

        with Christianity, and that we must prepare our minds for the entirely

        new paths which we shall then have to follow.  The question is really:

        Christianity or Germanism?  And the sooner the conflict is revealed

        in the clear light of day the better."

Later when Bonhoeffer was asked why he did not work within this "popular national Church" for the survival of the Church in Germany, he said,

        "If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in

        the opposite direction."

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray in these days that I will not "board the wrong train."  Amen.

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Read a Main Reason For the 9/1 DC Mission:    www.apf327.blogspot.com 

      

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"If the Lord Had Not Been on Our Side,..We Would Have Been Swallowed Alive"

"If the Lord had not been on our side (let all Israel admit it), if the Lord had not been on our side, we would have been swallowed alive by our enemies, destroyed by their anger....Our help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth." (From Psalm 124- Living Bible)

 

The testimony of our text, indeed, that of all Scripture, is the testimony of not just the Jews and Christians; it is the testimony of the human race. History just affirms the Bible.  As I read Psalm 124 today, I came to the conclusion that it could be the Israeli "National Anthem," the motto of the Jews, and indeed, that of Followers of Jesus Christ through the centuries.  "Our help is from the Lord [Jesus Christ]."  Moreover the Church of Jesus Christ today faces the same battle, the same, "wrath...kindled against us," as the Covenant People through the ages. 

 

The biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer which I am currently reading has gone to the top five books I have read in my life time.  In it the author says of the rise of National Socialism what is a dire warning to the Earth's people groups today, "No one dreamed how quickly and dramatically things would change;" and the greatest "change" would come in the form of the infamous "Jewish Question," that which would soon become the defining "change" of the Third Reich.  In this hellish atmosphere, Bonhoeffer's challenge to the German Church rings in our ears today-- "What is at stake is by no means whether our German members of congregations can still tolerate church fellowship with the Jews.  It is rather the task of Christian preaching to say, here is the church, where Jew and German stand together under the Word of God, here is the proof whether a church is still the church or not."

 

Yes, "Our help is in the name of the Lord," but you and I are called to participate in the, "help."  Today, where is the Church in America, yea, the world, "when men rose up against us", i.e., the Jews and indeed the Believers in Jesus Christ throughout the earth, especially in persecuted  lands?  Unmistakably "It is...the task of Christian preaching to say,.. here is the proof whether a church is still the church or not."   

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, when life would swallow me, You're my Help. Amen.

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See Article on Obama Losing Jewish Support: www.apf327.blogspot.com  

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"The Church of God Has Only One Altar" (Bonhoeffer)

"But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." (1 Corinthians 11:32)

There is the way of Jesus Christ, and then there is the way not of Jesus Christ.  This is the simple, fearful, clear division of humanity.  It is not tags and cliches, not catch phrases, and insider talk.  It obedience to Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible, which determines condemnation or freedom from condemnation.  What keeps me in this thinking is the "God-Breathed" Word Himself.  Regular, daily reading, not just of favorite passages, but a reading which takes me frequently through the Bible keeps me focused on, "not my will, but Yours be done."

The battle of the Church historically always has been the conflict between the will/agenda of Jesus Christ and the will/agenda of men.  Indeed, impure men have attempted to use the Church of Christ for their own purposes, their own will, their own "kingdoms" since the beginning.  During his rise in the German political scene and even after his election to the German Chancellery, Adolph Hitler used Christianity to further seduce the German people.  "We are determined, as leaders of the nation, to fulfill as a national government the task which has been given to us, swearing fidelity only to God, our conscience, and our Volk."  He would declare, that his government would make Christianity "the basis of our collective morality.....May God Almighty take our work into his grace, give true form to our will, bless our insight, and endow us with the trust of our Volk."  History is the judge. 

Yet in these same days, Bonhoeffer was also rising to prominence in Germany.  He once stated, "The church has only one altar, the altar of the Almighty... before which all creatures must kneel.  Whoever seeks something other than this must keep away, he cannot join us in the house of God....The church has only one pulpit, and from that pulpit, faith in God will be preached, and no other faith, and no other will than the will of God, however well-intentioned."

It is no different today, politicians, friends, religionists attempting to use smooth talk to seduce, and men of God proclaiming the Truth of the Word of God.  I have lost friends over the years because of this.  We all have sin in our lives and sooner or later the Word of God will deal with it in our lives.  Now we can choose to attempt to justify ourselves, and in the process deceive ourselves, or we can face the Word of God and embrace Him, His purposes, His will, His "assessment" of our lives, and the victorious way out.  This struggle will either unite us or divide us.  I pray God, it will be the former.

Father, in Jesus' Name, if I ever try to justify my sin or the sin of others, convict me deeply.  Amen.
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Prophetic News at:     www.apf327.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"I resolved"

"For I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing, to make a display of the knowledge of nothing, and to be conscious of nothing) among you except Jesus Christ...and Him crucified."  (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Some of the things which I have been sharing recently about Dietrich Bonhoeffer are from my reading of Eric Mataxas' biography of his life.  While spending a year at Union Theological Seminary in New York, he made observations of the students there.  "They become intoxicated with liberal and humanistic phrases, laugh at the fundamentalists, and yet basically are not even up to their level."  What he observed was the plight of the mainline denominations in early twentieth century America.  The man touted as the greatest preacher among them in those days was Harry Emerson Fosdick (I had to listen to one of his sermons in my graduate school homiletics class).  In 1922, while pastor of New York's First Presbyterian Church, he had pushed the session to its limit by expressing his doubts about the virgin birth, the resurrection, the divinity of Christ, and the atonement (cross), among other things.  Fosdick took preemptive action and left the church.  The Rockefeller Foundation, "seeing an opportunity to knock out fundamentalism in New York, funded the construction of a church for Fosdick," the famous Riverside Church.  The battle was escalating in America. 

Yet such is the draw of a religion devoid of the Cross of Jesus Christ.  Now while to you and me this is no religion at all, but a sham of personal gratifying, self realization, anything-goes-and-believed mockery of the, "faith of Jesus," it nevertheless dominates the American and European landscapes.  And do not be fooled!  A large, growing, local church does not necessarily equate with Biblical Christianity and "anointing."  By this standard, our Lord Jesus was a failure!

That which equates with the message of the Bible is centered in our text today.  While it must be clear that Paul does not advocate the repetition of the same words and messages, the foundation of Genesis- to-Revelation Theology is the Cross.  Some people try to separate Jesus' teaching and miracles and contemporary feel-good religion from the Cross.  That is like trying to separate Hydrogen and Oxygen and still have water.  The teachings of Jesus center in His Cross; the miracles center in His Cross; the prophetic utterings center in His Cross; the deliverance from sin, death, and Hell are only in the Cross of Jesus Christ and His resurrection.  That joy and peace to which so many of us give witness is because of Calvary, of which there can be "no more"-------------------------  and certainly "no less."

Father, in Jesus' Name, grant me the discipline in the midst of pop culture religion to, "know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."  Amen.
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* I am preaching the next two weekends in the CCE meetings. 
* No devotional tomorrow
* News, Commentary:     www.apf327.blogspot.com

  When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2