“He has made everything beautiful in
its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of
men...” (Ecclesiastes 3:
11).
What a glorious heritage Father has given
each person He has created! By His wisdom and grace He has
formed us in His image, born with the reality of eternity in our hearts. Sadly, though, as our years advance, this awareness
diminishes in importance. Our God-given insight into eternity
is obscured by the goals and motives of this world, rendering
us blind to the ultimate reality of God and His purposes for
humanity.
Are you among the multitude of fathers and
mothers who view their parenting role in terms of preparing
their children for worldly success? By contrast, our Father’s
perspective of raising sons and daughters requires that one
generation prepare the next to experience
eternity with Him through an
intimate relationship of loving, obedient trust in Jesus. If your goal for your
kids falls short of His goal, you’re doing a huge disservice to
the generations to come.
Our merciful Father is well aware of how
distracted we are from a focus on living with eternity in mind.
He has left no doubt, though, that life beyond our earthly years
is a priority. Take a moment to check for yourself this
scriptural sampling which testifies to that truth: Matthew 6:
19-21; 25:31-46; John 5:24; Galatians 6:8; 1Thessalonians 4:
17,18; Titus 1:1,2; Hebrews 5:8,9; 2Peter 1:10,11.
• The most important goal one
generation passes on to the next is to do whatever is necessary
according to God’s Word to spend eternity with Him.
Anything less leads to everlasting loss. Do you believe this?
• What are you doing to promote
eternity with God as a goal of utmost importance in your
family? Ask them on a scale of 0 to 10 what loving and serving
our Lord for eternity means to them.
“...God waited patiently in the days
of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people,
eight in all, were saved through water” (1Peter 3:20).
Many years ago we did some math to see how
many people might have been wiped out in the flood. We came up
with a minimum of 3 million. Think about it. God preserved only
eight righteous people. They, along with countless animals and
birds, would have had no way of escape if it hadn’t been
for Noah’s trusting obedience to build the Ark!
The righteous justice of our God
hasn’t changed between the Older and Newer Testaments. He
is longsuffering and takes no pleasure in destroying the
wicked; rather, He longs for them to turn from their evil ways
and live (Ezekiel 33:11). Yet those who refuse His amazing
mercy in Jesus bearing the death our sins deserve must face
that penalty themselves. History demonstrates that suffering of
immense magnitude comes upon people groups and nations through
sword, famine and plague (see Jeremiah 27:8, for example). God
can use both military might as well as angelic intervention to
bring about massive destruction (Jeremiah 51:11; Isaiah 37:
36). Yet in His kindness we often find a remnant surviving the
devastation (2Kings 19:30,31).
After Elijah had fled the powerfully
wicked Queen Jezebel (1Kings 19), the prophet was so
downhearted he complained to God, “I
am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me
too” (v.10). God responded by
giving Elijah, and us, a vital insight of hope: “I reserve seven
thousand in Israel—all whose
knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not
kissed him” (v.18,
apperceived by Paul in Romans 11:4).
Centuries later, as countless numbers of
Jews rejected Jesus the Messiah, God affirmed that, “So too, at the present time there is a remnant [of Jews]
chosen by grace” (see
Romans 11:2-5).
In Discussing
How to Restore the Early Church,
Lesson 48, we discuss the biblical basis of
“culling.” You may want to look at the biblical
basis in which God removes both the wicked and those who fail
to bear fruit in His Kingdom (John 15:1-6).
Pause here to think about the people you
know, whether relatives, neighbors, coworkers, even friends.
Does it grieve your heart that so many of these may never be
welcomed in heaven if you don’t show them Jesus and His
Gospel through words and actions?
Our Father seeks a remnant who’ve
chosen by His grace to live in Covenant union with Him, loving
Him and doing His will. From the mouth of Jesus comes a
staggering implication that perhaps this remnant may be few
indeed: “Someone asked him,
‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’ He
said to them, ‘Make every
effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to’” (Luke 13:23, 24).
Again, Jesus warns, “For many
are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
• Will you and those you care about
be among the few who love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength—a love that is reflected in doing Father’s will? Are
you REALLY sure that you know what Jesus calls for in His Word
to be among the few? It’ll be too late to find out at the
Judgment Throne. What changes do you need to make in your heart
and life right now so that you and those you care about will be
counted among the few? Cry out to the Spirit of Christ for His
perspective!
“If you do not stand firm in your
faith, you will not stand at all”
(Isaiah 7:9; see also John 15:18,19)
Think about Noah as he was constructing
the ark according to God’s command. He certainly must
have faced a lot of rejection and ridicule during the process.
After all, it was because of the unspeakable wickedness of the
people on earth that destruction was coming!
If we’re going to stay true to our
Lord in this evil age, we must also be willing to experience
rejection and ridicule when we confront sin in those around
us—especially when it’s taking place in those who
call themselves “Christian” yet by their lives
they’re tarnishing His pure reputation.
When our Father’s children do nothing, sin
always triumphs. And where sin is allowed to go unconfronted,
it only gets worse. Aptly titled “soldiers” for the
Lord are called to battle against the darkness of evil, first
making sure that we ourselves are free from sin’s strong hold on us.
(See Ephesians 6:10-18.)
Our Father commands His children to not
just to avoid evil but actively
oppose it. We who follow Jesus are
ordered by His Word to “have
nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). If you do nothing about
sin and evil, then you’re helping sin and evil to
prevail. Make sure your own heart is clean first; then take
action and speak up. A person who is silent when those around
him in sin call themselves “Christian” becomes a
partner with them (Ephesians 5:3-7).
Review the pilgrimage to your salvation in
the diagram on the right. As you go over each point, picture
your Father lovingly observing you becoming more like His Son,
Jesus, in your obedient trust and character transformation. How
He rejoices when in loving obedience through His indwelling
Spirit you are doing your part to extend His Kingdom into the
lives of those you know!
When you’re following Jesus as Lord
of your life, your love for Him compels you to remain repentant
and free from all stronghold influence that would compromise
your trusting obedience. Purpose in your heart to stay in the
middle of the funnel and prayerfully pro-gress down into
greater Christ-likeness.
If someone close to you in the faith
decides to remain with unconfessed sin or hold onto their
stronghold(s), your response is clear. Matthew 18:15-17
presents steps designed to bring a person to repentance. If
they resist, they’re refusing to “return to the
center of the funnel”. You need to leave them and press
on in your own sanctification.
Paul offers the purpose for this command: “Hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord” (1Corinthians 5:5; see also 1Timothy 1:20). In their
ongoing disobedience they’ve already chosen Satan, a hard
master indeed. Leave them with him until they come to their
senses and return to the center of the funnel where Jesus is.
Authentic fellowship with our Lord and
with each other can only be experienced by those in the center
of the funnel.
• How “strong” are you in
the Lord? (Ephesians 6:10) Does your obedient trust in God
enable you to speak up when those you care about sin? Does your
faith give you the loving boldness to help them become
completely free from demonic strongholds?
• Are you able to leave those who
wish to hold onto their sin and darkness and press on the
pilgrimage of your own salvation, even as you pray for their
repentance and return to Him?
“Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her
holy, cleansing her
by the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:25,26)
The statement “cleansing
her by the washing with water through the word” indicates a vital role for a husband in his
wife’s spiritual development. “Word” in this
passage is rhema, not the logos generally used to refer to Jesus or to the
un-changeable text of the Bible. The husband is being enjoined
to seek how to apply God’s Word—the rhema of His revealed
will—to her and his family.
Rhema may be
described here as our Father imparting His wisdom to a
husband/father to guide his family. Like Abraham, “he will direct his children and his
household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what
is right and just” (Genesis
18:19).
A recent news segment disclosed why so
many women today are seeking divorce: they are failing to see
their need for their husband. Without Christ and the need for her
husband’s spiritual guidance (rhema), women are easily
deceived by the sin of false
expectation. (See Discussing How To Restore the Early Church, Lesson 32, for extensive discussion on the sin
of false expectation.)
If you’re a husband, don’t use
your wife as an excuse for why you refuse to seek and obey the rhema of God.
We’ve heard too many say, “My wife won’t go along
with what He’s shown me!” When you nullify
God’s commands by refusing His guidance because you fear
your wife’s response, you’re placing her above Him.
The frequent result of this misplaced alignment? Ongoing
marital tension, and maybe even divorce. Your humble quest for
God’s guidance and willingness to obey His commands can
keep your marriage from false expectation.
• If you have a wife, how much does
she respect your convictions to obey God no matter what the
cost? Does she commend you for the intensity in which you seek
God’s rhema on her behalf?
“Our Father Who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven” (Matthew
6:9,10).
The will of
our Father can seem as far removed
from everyday life as eternity is to many of those who claim to
belong to Him. To recite The
Lord’s Prayer is far easier
for most within Christendom than to intentionally take action
in doing His will. Nothing grates the sin nature more than
pursuing the will of our Father.
As Jesus demonstrated, seeking to do our
Father’s will requires utter humility and dependence on
our Father. Doing His will reflects the complete emptying of
self from all earthly goals, and calls for us to have the
wisdom and power of His Spirit to do it. Keep this mind: God’s will: nothing more, nothing less,
nothing else.
The wealth of a Jesus follower is found in
wisdom, not money. “Wisdom is
supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get
understanding” (Proverbs
4:7). Let’s examine what the wisdom of our Father looks
like:
God’s wisdom is the quality of being
wise by the standards of His Word, and is accompanied by having personal
experience and good judgment in applying that Word to our
lives. His wisdom provides the building blocks of Christ-like
character in us.
Wisdom sees life from God’s perspective and causes us to reflect on and scrutinize our lives in light
of His Word. Wisdom seeks to please our Lord and fulfill His
purposes for our lives. Wisdom will always cause us to trust
our Lord Jesus more and more as each year passes.
Sadly, we all too often trust in reason rather than
wisdom. Reason views life from our own perspective, and
eventually results in disillusionment, despair, and fear.
That’s because reason relies on human rationalization instead of on the unchanging truth of God’s Word. Think
of how many of your life problems emanate from, or are worsened
by, leaning on your own reasoning rather than seeking
God’s ways—His wisdom.
• Is your way of life a summary of
biblical applications of God’s Word? Can you describe
particular choices you’ve made, or changes you’ve
made, based on what the Spirit revealed to you from God’s
perspective in the Bible? Would others say your life reflects
the wisdom of God’s perspective, or the
“wisdom” of the world? (1Corinthians 1:19-21)
“When times are good, be happy; but
when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as
the other.” (Ecclesiastes
7:14)
We all face times when things aren’t
panning out as we’d hoped. Sometimes we might even wonder
if it’s God bringing the trouble to test and refine us,
or Satan afflicting us to bring doubt and despair. But how
important it is that we not come to wrong conclusions
concerning our circumstances. This is why we need God’s rhema, that is, His
wisdom for our particular situation—and all the more so
if the cause of our problem is God chastising us for
unconfessed sin.
When it comes to forming wrong conclusions
we can learn a lesson from the Israelites of old. In Jeremiah
44 we’re told that the Israelites who’d fled to
Egypt in disobedience to God after the fall of Jerusalem
worshiped a demonic entity known as the Queen of Heaven. God had
banished them from His land because of their many sins, their
spiritual adultery with demonic gods, and their stubborn
refusal to repent.
But listen to what the people believed had
caused their current distress:
We will certainly do everything we said we
would: We will burn incense to the
Queen of Heaven and will pour out
drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings
and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no
harm. But ever since we stopped burning
incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings
to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing
by sword and famine (Jeremiah 44:17,18).
They came to the wrong conclusion about
their suffering, and that lie cost them dearly because they
never did repent of their sins. All
but a few fugitives perished in
Egypt as God had warned them. So learn from their tragic
example as God intends! (See 1Corinthians 10:11, 12.) Make sure
you have biblical wisdom, rhema, as you address the situations you’re
encountering, especially when “times are bad.”
The Queen of Heaven is in fact a spirit of
control, exercising influence through witchcraft and immorality.
Do you see how directly in opposition giving allegiance to this
entity is to single-hearted trust in Jesus and total dependence
on God and His guidance? Through rituals and incantations many
women in particular look to this entity (which has gone by
various other names over the ages) and its apparitions for
blessing and favor. As with the Israelites, their husbands are
either nonparticipants or spiritual eu-nuchs who allow their
wives to disobey God’s direct command against praying to
anyone but Him.
Others who have researched this topic have
for centuries been pointing to the demonic spirit of Witchcraft
as well as the deceiving Queen of Heaven spirit in their
syncretistic influence over Christendom. Church history is
replete with examples of the institutional church having
adapted pagan entities and practices to make
“Christianity” more accepted to the people. Because
there is so little obedient-trust application of the Bible
within Christendom today (only 4% consider themselves to be
Bible-based), powerful demonic principalities are now free to
reign in this nation.
This ancient feminine spirit is THE main
destroyer of marriage and family, thriving wherever God alone is
not upheld and honored, and where His Word and His wisdom are
not sought and obeyed.
The Queen of Heaven demon is manifested
through manipulation, through control by mood changes, through
withholding affection, through false accusation, and through
despising male authority. Its goal? To produce disloyalty in
relationships and ultimately estrangement. Its highest purpose
is to separate you from the Lord by subtly luring you to serve
and honor it while believing you are still serving Him.
Wherever the Queen of Heaven spirit
operates unchallenged, marriages and families are destroyed.
This demonic entity is able to easily enlist the help of women
whose fathers, husbands, sons, and sons-in-law fail to fulfill
their biblical responsibilities as spiritual leaders in their
households.
Wherever you find women reluctant or
refusing to submit to God-ordained authority, or wherever that
authority person fails in his responsibility, the Queen of
Heaven rules. This is especially obvious in women who operate
independently of their husbands under the guise of
“greater spirituality” than he has.
• Do people who know you well
consider you a person who avoids wrong conclusions and
generally makes wise decisions?
• If you’re married, are any
vestiges of the Queen of Heaven entity present in your
marriage?
• Do you grieve and pray for those in
your relational realm who pray to anyone other than God in
violation of His Word? Have you ever confronted anyone who does
this yet considers himself/herself a “Christian”?
“The Pharisees and experts in the
law rejected God’s counsel
for themselves, not being baptized
by John.”
(Luke 7:30)
Have you and your family been baptized
during the time since you embraced our Father’s Covenant?
Why do you think He considers this personal identification with
Jesus’ death and resurrection in baptism so important
AFTER you’ve joined Him by faith in covenant union?
In the above verse Luke notes that the
religious leaders rejected God’s purpose by not being
baptized in repentance for their sins. If they had embraced
John’s baptism, they would have had to acknowledge the
sin of their own hypo-crisy (Matthew 21:25,26), something
neither their pride nor their prestige would permit.
The need to be baptized as an authentic
Jesus follower finds several substantiating reasons. First,
Paul proclaims,
We died to sin; how can we live in it any
longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into His death?
We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from
the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also
be united with Him in His
resurrection” (Romans 6:2-5).
Baptism is our assurance and pledge
to God that we want to die to our sin nature and to the desires of this world, and that we
want to live in holiness for Jesus through His Spirit. It’s analogous
to a marriage vow in which the parties are forsaking all other
potential love interests to be true only to their spouse.
The second purpose for being baptized is
that it “is your pledge to keep a good conscience toward God” (1Peter
3:21). A person who lacks a good conscience can “talk
Bible” and still enjoy sinning. But someone with a good
conscience speaks glorifying testimony of our Lord’s
personal presence and intervention. Paul gives us an essential
life goal in this matter: “...I
make a point of always having a
clear conscience in the sight of
both God and man” (Acts 24:
16).
If you desire to live a life pleasing to
God, be baptized with the motive of dying to your sin nature
and pledging to keep a clean conscience with God. In that way
you can be used by Him to bring glory and praise as you love
and serve Him by serving others.
• If you have not been baptized AFTER
becoming a follower of Jesus: How dead have you been to your
own sin nature? How well do you endeavor to keep a clean
conscience? Are there sinful habits that still control you?
• Are you willing to publicly
identify with the the death and resurrection of Jesus by being
baptized as a follower of Jesus? When do you purpose to do
this?
