Dying in the Lord:

It is time now for four great events. The first event is the preaching of the original Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The second great event is the maturing of the religious systems. The third great event is the maturing of the Antichrist world-system. The fourth great event is the only successful response to the three events. That response is for each saint to die in the Lord.

(11/14/2004) This morning I preached from Revelation 14:6-13. I spoke briefly of how the original Gospel of the Kingdom of God is being restored to us.

Then I reminded us of the difference between religion and salvation. Salvation is God reaching out to man through the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion is man by means of his own mind and efforts trying to find God and use God for man’s own purposes. Religion is referred to as Babylon.

In addition to the maturing of the religious spirit, we notice the Antichrist world-system. We see this in the wealthy nations in which the god is money and material goods. We in America suppose that democracy and capitalism are Christian models of government and finance. They are not. If we will look about us we will see much that is destructive and hurtful to people in the democratic nations, including America.

Religion, and a world system that holds the acquisition of material wealth as its supreme value, are more of Satan than they are of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us that from the time that religion and the Antichrist system have come to fruition, we must die in the Lord. If we are to survive and help others we must die in the Lord. This means we are to deny our own lives and bear our cross so that Jesus Christ and the Father can find Their home and resting place in us. When it is true of us that we have become the dwelling place of God, then our works shall follow us. Then it shall be true of us that wherever we go, love, joy, and peace will follow in our train. We will be a continual blessing to needy people.

Goodness and mercy shall follow us because it is Christ who is thinking, speaking, and acting in us. This is the Kingdom of God and it always bring righteous, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit—and this throughout the darkest hour every to come upon the earth!

At night I held forth on "This is that" from the Book of Joel. You know, the Book of Joel is couched in agricultural terms, but, as in some other Prophets, there is a parallel spiritual meeting that floats to the top as we pray. Some are saying today that the second chapter is speaking only of locusts, but I see in it the coming of Christ with His saints to execute judgment. However, I would not argue with anyone.

The main point is, Joel is a book of restoration. It commences with destruction and ends with Divine Glory.

Some years back, Aimee Semple McPherson had a vision of a clock. A tree in full bloom was at twelve o’clock. Then as the hands move toward six o’clock the tree was reduced until it was only a stump. Then at 7 o’clock the leaves and fruit began to return until at noon it was fully restored. God shows us through this vision the history of the Christian Church. It began in glory, was reduced to a stump, and then shall be restored to much, much greater glory. Wonderful days are ahead of us!