Omega Message – September 2005
Burt Asbill
(Message given December 2004 at the Sonlight Gospel Conference in Florida)
Prayer – Peter Schneider
Father, we thank you for the Word of God; for the Blood of Yeshua; for the power of the Spirit of God that comes in the midst of the congregation; to make right everything that is crooked; Father, to bring the balm of Gilead, to bring healing for every wound God; to anoint the tongue that speaks – Father, not just at the pulpit, but our tongues we are asking oh God, for that anointing, that you would put a watch guard over our lips; Father, that we would speak evil of no man; but God that we would begin to magnify you in the midst of the congregation of the righteous. Father, we want to bind the spirit of division; the spirit of divorce; the spirit of intellectualism; by the Blood of Yeshua. You have no place in the midst of the congregation. My God, every schism, every division we bind and we cast you into the pit of hell. My God, let the Blood begin to move and touch the souls of men. Father, that the things that we are singing – about being the ‘Battle-Ax of God’ – that they are not words on paper, but that they are the Words, the Breathe of Heaven that begins to come in and to touch our soul; to elevate us to a place in the Spirit, Father, where the things of our humanity have no power to encroach upon the land that has been taken, by the Blood of Jesus Christ.
Oh God, we are asking, bring full repentance to every man, every woman, every child. Father, let there be no impediment to the moving of the Spirit in the midst of this convention. Let the Spirit of God have dominion in our thoughts, my God, in our words, and in every action. My God, let the Prince of Peace bring peace, between husband and wife; brother and brother; children and parents; my God, that there be no schism in the house of the righteous. Hallelujah! Father, we pray for Your Anointing; God, that the Holy Spirit would dig – like the excavator – into the deepest recesses of our soul, to expose every measure of darkness, that the Light of God might come in, that it might be dissipated, and thrown into the pit of hell.
Father, we want to rebuke the ancestral demons that rise up to exert dominion in our soul. We want to bind them by the ministration of the Spirit of God and the Blood of Yeshua. My God, we cast you into the pit of hell – for the Word says, ‘He has given us the necks of all our enemies’. That all of you that have gone before, we have you by your spiritual necks according to the Word.
Prophecy – Peter Schneider
And I am going to destroy, saith the Lord, hallelujah, all of them that hate thee and me, in the midst of your circumstance; so faint not in the day of battle. For surely I have given unto thee, yeah, even a word – a mandate. As thou dost believe the word, as thou dost humble yourself before thy king; as thou dost believe and begin to walk in that which I have spoken, surely you shall see the victory of the Lord, in that thing that hath vexed thee in days gone by, if thou dost humble thyself. As thou dost repent; as thou dost refuse to participate; as thou dost refuse to take up thy sword against thy brother; surely the balm of Gilead will flow and the yoke of hell will be broken – Ye shall have the victory saith the Lord, in Jesus Name.
Message – Burt Asbill
In the name of Jesus! Glory to God! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.
If you have your Bibles you might want to open them up to II Corinthians, Chapter 5. I was told that we had a few minutes more, and I wanted to give you some of the scriptures that the Lord had been speaking to me this morning. I think it was necessary for us to have the session that we just had, in order for us to come to grips with the responsibility that God is putting on to us individually, as well as the Church. But, the fact of the matter is, that it is no longer on the individual that the responsibility is falling, as much as it is falling on the corporate level.
You see that God has given us a timeframe to work out all of our individual idiosyncrasies. Do you know what I mean? There has been a timeframe. We have had this Word for many, many years, and there is a timeframe that God is working by. How many of you know that God’s timeframe is not in accordance to the calendar that you’ve got on your desk or your wall at home? And although you may have appointments scheduled up through next year, something could happen on God’s calendar that could intervene and interrupt that and completely displace it to where it is of no value to you. How many of you really believe that? Well, praise the Lord! Amen. I hope you really believe it – because I believe that it is really true. Praise the Lord!
I think that events and circumstances are going to change so radically; and so drastically; and we are moving from the point of individuality in the individual realm – of where God has given us the means, the grace by which we could overcome, in order for us to be elevated and brought up into a higher realm of responsibility; because our responsibility is no longer just individually. As every man is working out his/her own salvation with fear and trembling, I believe that in the mechanics of God it was said this morning that the government of God shall be upon His shoulders. (Is. 9:6) And I believe that there is a position or a place that God is offering to the household of God; to the Elect of God, to come into that position; to come into that place. But, the cost of that place is everything that we have; everything that we desire, individually on a natural plane, on a natural level.
Now what I am talking to you about is totally impossible for any of us to accomplish of fulfill, because of our humanity. But, the fact of the matter is, that there has been an apportionment; there has been a measure of grace that has been given to give us the ability to move into that place; move into that realm and do what God would expect us to do. Hallelujah!
My father was a very successful business man, and I think that it was ordained of God that I was put in the home that I was put in, and brought up the way that I was brought. He was a very successful business man, but you know, for us kids, we always had to start at the bottom. That meant that when the store was opened and everybody was down there – I as a little child, was down there sweeping the floor. On my days off, or in my free time, I was down there sweeping the floor; and I got all of the ‘grunt’ jobs to do. When I got my driver’s license, they put me in the Delivery Department. I was heir apparent, I was in line to be in charge of his business and here I was sweeping floors, or working in the TV Repair Department, blowing out old TVs and dirt and stuff of that nature. And I did that for years.
But there came a time when all of that training came into play and I was very instrumental in helping my father in those last days of his life and his business. And getting, helping him getting his things organized and doing what was required of me, because of my position, my place as a son; and because of my experience and my concern for him. I began to be involved in his affairs, and working out those things that were pertinent to his life and his living. Hallelujah!
And so it is within the realm of God in the household of God. There is a scripture that says – (now I am ministering to you out of this chapter) – so if I don’t get to it, I really don’t know if we have the time to get into it today; but I want to touch a few scriptures and it is all pertinent; because we are living in a different dispensation. Do you believe that? We had six thousand years, and we believe that there was an event that happened that brought us from the six thousand years, into the seventh thousand years.
Now the six thousand years was the Dispensation of Grace. How many of you know that? The working of God’s grace individually to the world at large; the gospel was going out; the ministry of the Word. Salvation and all of the things that are written about in Hebrews, those things were being perpetrated in the Church realm. Hallelujah! When we went from the sixth thousandth years into the seventh thousandth years, we went out of the realm of grace into the realm of ‘fullness’. Now what does that mean? Well, that means that the road is a little more straight; the world is a little more narrow; and it is a little more confining, and some of the restrictions and some of the requirements that are on us as a people collectively. Up until that time you and I, to some degree might have been involved in some sort of body effort and body movement and at least under the “Body” word. But we really have not had the evidence of that “Body Ministry”. Hallelujah! And it is not because we could not do that – it was only because of the dispensation that we were living in.
Recently the Lord began to reveal to me the responsibility of the fact of what is laid to you and I in accordance to the place that we are in. And the way that He did that was with the scripture, and I ministered on it in Champaign, where He said to His disciples, ‘I must go and prepare a place for you, that where I am – “I am” – you may be also.’ (John 14:3) And yet He was right there, right with them in that place; they could physically touch Him; physically see Him. But He wasn’t talking about that physical, natural environment. He was talking about an environment that was outside of Himself – and yet He said ‘where I am – you might also be.’
Now, I want to tell you something. Up until that point, until that time, there was an allowance given to them for their stupidity. (Oh! I’ve been told not to use that word!) But I can’t call it anything other than that – because if Life is being offered to you on one hand, and death and hell are being offered to you on the other hand, and you choose death and hell instead of Life – what would you call it brother? Huh? I would call it stupid. Hallelujah! And yet that is the position and that is the place. Now there was a tolerance, there was an allowance made for that place for them and all of their stupidity. Okay! Humanity! There was an allowance made for them in the midst of their humanity. Do you know that?
Peter could do what Peter wanted to do and get away with it. John could do what John could do and get away with it. All of them could do what they wanted to do and get away with it – because He had not yet gone; He had not yet done what He said He needed to do in order for them to be in that position. But I want to tell you something. When He did; when It happened; it was a whole new set of rules. In fact He prophesied to Peter. He said, ‘you will do what you want to do, you will have what you want to have, you will think the way that you want to think’ – of course none of us have that problem, do we? We don’t have that problem of thinking the way we want to think; of thinking that things should be this way or that way. Peter did. Peter had that problem. But He said, ‘your day is coming Peter, where you are going to be bound up and carried where you would not go.’ Why? Because it is a new set of rules; it is a new ball game. It is not that they are a new set of rules – it is that they come into the position, the place of responsibility, where those rules now apply to them – that were applying to Jesus.
Have you ever thought about that? Huh? Have you ever thought about that – really, really thought about that? He says, “…where I am, (there) ye may be also.” (John 14:3) Where? There, in that place, in that position – well He was in a different type of relationship. Do you know that? He said, ‘I don’t do anything except that which I see the Father do.’ How many things do you do? Huh? That you don’t see the Father doing? He said ‘I don’t say anything..’ I can tell you about half a dozen things just this morning. (maybe a dozen times-maybe two dozen times) If I really knew the many times that I spoke, I probably really wouldn’t be speaking much at all. I’m really accused now of being an introvert. I don’t know why that is, but never-the-less, there is a position, there is a place, there is a quality of relationship that is not being given – or offered; like when you are offered an opportunity. It is a Demand! It is a new set of rules. Do you understand? It is a new dimension; a new position of experience, and we cannot do what we had done before in the way that we did it in that manner, because there is a consequence to that.
Recently there was a Word – well not recently, it could have been a year ago, I don’t know. You know how time is. It just kind of PPpp – FWOOM! All gathers together, yesterday was twenty years ago. But recently there was a Word that came forth in the midst of the congregation, that God said ‘I’m going to be opening doors and I’m going to be giving opportunities’. But He said ‘thou must be careful, thou must know by my Spirit what door to go through, because all doors that open are not all doors that are being opened by me.’ And, you have the responsibility of hearing God. What does that say to me? It says that if I do not discern – what is the door that God opens for me, and I go through it – I am in trouble. There is something about all of that, when God speaks, in times past He might have spoken once; He might have spoke twice; He might have spoke three times; He might have even went up to five or six times – saying- “Don’t do it”. “Don’t do it” again. Don’t do it” again.
But it is in this ball game, in this rules, in this dimension, where we are living – it isn’t like that. He says “Don’t do it.” And He doesn’t say anything else about it. So many times people are coming to me with “I want to know what the will of the Lord is for my life! I want to know what is going on in this arena!” (and blah – blah – blah ) And I’m sitting there and I’m thinking, because some of these people that are talking to me have heard the will of God; what God has prophesied, or has spoke to them in counsel, or in the Word, and has prophesied to me, or testified to me, the fact of what they said that God said to them, for them to do. NOW they are wanting to do something different and God isn’t saying anything – so they say that God isn’t talking. HELLO! HELLO!
There is something – you know if we really desire to know the will of God, God wants us to know what His will is. How many of you know that? How many of you believe that? How many of you believe that God would leave you sitting out there on a limb, hanging in limbo, without some sort of revelation or Word, or direction, or understanding? How many of you really believe that God is concerned about YOU? So that means that if you want to know something from God concerning His will, He is going to talk to you about that will and He is going to give you a Word. Somewhere in the midst of your experience – well one of the things that I have found out about God is that sometimes He speaks prior to the experience. “God speaking prior to the experience? Can you imagine that?” Sometimes it is years before the experience.
And then we get into the experience, and whose responsibility is it to keep that Word? And I’ll tell you, God even goes beyond Himself, because He will sometimes remind you – “Well didn’t you have a Word back there?” ‘Yeah, but that was almost twenty years ago.’ God is the same today as He was yesterday. (Heb. 13:8) And there is not shadow of turning for Him tomorrow. (James 1:17) And I want to tell you something. If God gives you a Word concerning a situation that you find yourself presently in, and no other Word comes, then the Word that you got there in the previous – (just because you want something else) – is still valid and still apropos and is definitely still the Word that God has for you in the midst of that situation.
Most of us, we take those Words, and we put them in a notebook and we file them on the shelf. Or we put them in our Hope Chest, or where ever it is; or just stick them under our beds and they gather dust and dirt and all that other stuff. Huh? I want to tell you something. I went through a period of my life where I dreamt prolifically, dream after dream, after dream. I wrote them down, wrote them down, wrote them down. Do you know it was ten years before those dreams started coming to pass? Ten Years. Ten Years. And if it wasn’t for the mercy of God, I wouldn’t have remembered those dreams from ten years before God spoke to me, because I wrote them down.
Some dreams, not all dreams mean anything. But I’m telling you that some dreams do! We don’t necessarily know what dreams come from God, that is why we have Body; there is strength in the Body. I’m always getting this e-mail coming through “I had this dream the other night.” And I appreciate that, because it gives us an opportunity to pray about that is being spoken, if it really is the will of God. But sometimes I wonder if the people really want to know what the dreams are saying? (laughter) Hallelujah!
Often times the will of God conflicts with our own will; our own opinion; our own place of personal assessment. Or we are getting our toes stepped on. Or pushed beyond – “well, I don’t have to take that!” YES YOU DO! HELLO? You Do! You Do! You Have to take it! Either that or you cut it out of your Bible.
The Word that we have is different than the Word that we had twenty years ago in the Church realm. Do you hear me? The Church (realm) has been given to the Gentiles to be tread under foot. It is unclean. It is unclean! It is unclean! I don’t know what other evidence we need? We were talking twenty years ago about the defilement of the Outer Court Church, and the position and place of religion and how – MY GOODNESS! I saw – MY GOODNESS! I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT! I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT! – and people were out there ‘Praising the Lord’ and accepting it as God and God has nothing to do with it. God has nothing to do with it! Fornication and homosexuality and all manner of perverse things going on in the name of God; and in the midst of all of that God has given you and I a WORD that has birthed something into our hearts; has given us an experience that many people, it says that many people in times past have desired to look into the thing that God has given unto us! And we can’t settle our personal issues. Or we can’t settle the issue of self.
You know I came in on this Word with the “death to self” message. Me – do you hear me? That was the Word that I heard. That was the quickening that was given me. It has been the Word that I have been preaching ever since. It has been a matter of just preach it, there has been something of a matter that God has been trying to work out in my personal set of circumstance. You know, if you don’t think that I have had a rough time serving the Lord, you are mistaken. You are sadly mistaken, because this wretched fellow; I know what he is, what he wants, and I know what he thinks. Do you hear me? Hallelujah! And I know the contention and the contending that I have to do, and the place that I have to be in the Lord, in order to subject and to put my position of subjection before Him always on the Altar. There is nothing easy about it. There is nothing easy about it. Nothing easy about it! Nothing, totally contrary to everything that I desire – that I want in the natural realm! There is nothing easy about being Christian!
Hallelujah! We are not spoiled brats, spoiled babies. We get put into a situation and we begin to whine and to moan and to cry and wiggle and squirm. Huh? And we think that we are treated unjustly and unfairly. And we think that this person is this, and that person is that. All the time it is in here – the sin that doth so easily beset us. (Heb. 12:1) It is in here and it is causing the problem, and God wants you to deal with that problem! God wants you to get down to the nitty-gritty of it and deal with it! “Why?” Because He knows the timeframe in which you have to deal with it is coming to a close. It is coming to a close!
What are we talking about Brother Mark? Are we talking about the shutting of the Door? Do you hear me? The shutting of the door – “We heard it and heard it and heard it. For years I’ve heard it – five ‘wise’ and five ‘foolish’.” Huh? It’s the ministry do you hear me? Foolish ministry! Foolish ministry! Foolish ministry! It says that the devil will come as an angel of light. (II Cor. 11:14) And you know we might think we are right. We might think that we are in the right spot. You know what? You may really be in the right place. (you are just surrounded with the wrong people) [laughter]
Well I don’t know. When I plant a plant, I plant it where it needs to be. Do you hear me? I don’t plant broccoli with cabbage, and I don’t plant cabbage with strawberries. I plant it where it needs to be. There is a determination of where I want to put it; the reason that I need to put it there. And if I can be so precise and so determined in the area of broccoli and cabbage and strawberries and all that sort of stuff, how much more care do you think God gives to the planting of an individual in a particular spot, in a particular place, with a particular thing in mind? You know, I don’t know what I would do if I had a broccoli plant that thought he was a cabbage. Or a broccoli plant in the midst of cabbages and he wanted everyone to behave like a broccoli. Hallelujah!
Never-the-less, where ever you are planted, God plants you. God puts you there for a purpose, and it is not for you to change everything around you. We think that is our eternal destiny – change this, change that, change this. Change over here, change over there, change everything – so that everything comes into the conformity to the way that we think. “Now I’m comfortable. I’ve got everybody that thinks like me. They think like me on the right. They think like me on the left. They think like me in front of me. They think like me in back of me.” There is no contention, there is no frustration, everything that I want done is done. The only position and only place, that is given to the pre-eminence of the head, which is Jesus Christ.
My mother used to always tell me ‘You’ve got to bloom where you are planted.’ Hallelujah! I think it was my mother. Bloom where you are planted! BLOOM! BLOOM! BLOOM! Have you ever noticed – you haven’t, but we can plant a row of plants. There might be 50-100 in a row, and these up here in the front, they are just so green and vibrant and just a good as can be. Then right here in the middle, there are these scrawny little dwarf things, then right after then, nice healthy plants. Why? There is something wrong? I mean is the dirt different in that much space? Come on! There is something wrong with the plant that needs to be fixed. Now our natural tendency is to pluck the plant up. We don’t have the right in God to pluck plants up. HELLO? HELLO?
We want to pluck plants up because – well, we’ll just put something in there. Why cumber the ground with it? Huh? The ministry that has been given to you and I is the ministry of the husbandman. He says, ‘Give me yet one more year. Give me one more opportunity. Give me one more chance to work and work and work.’ It is God’s privilege to pluck up. HELLO? HELLO? Maybe I’m preaching to the wrong people. Hallelujah!
We’re living in a different dispensation than we were living in three years ago. (911) Three years ago! Hallelujah! Do you know when I first heard this Word? In the beginning, that was almost 35-40 years ago. The Word was to get out of the cities. Hello? Get out of the Cities! How many of you are out of the cities? (laughter) Listen to me. Don’t — You’ve got to hear from God. I’m not saying ‘I’m your Holy Ghost.’ I’m telling you that there was a Word that was given to us and if the Word is apropos, there is something that you and I need to be having a responsibility in the aspect of the thing that God has spoken. If not just for the fact the God might save us! Or that we might have a position of control, that we might have a position of authority. “Well if you want to live on my place, you’ve got to live by my rules.” I’m telling you, you don’t make the rules. You don’t make the rules. You do not make the rules. There is a standard of righteousness. ‘If you want to start making the rules, okay, make the rules.’ But I want to tell you that the standard of righteousness that you exact should better be the standard of righteousness that you shall have to live up to. And it’s not going to be by your perception, or by your assessment as to whether or not you’re living up to that standard. (laughter) Aren’t you just so glad that Someone else is in charge of your situation and your circumstances? Huh? Not too many of you are! Hallelujah!
You know, you and I don’t have a right. I don’t know what it is. I think it is the foundation teaching when we first come into the Way of God that we teach that there are certain unalienable rights that you and I have as individuals. You and I have no rights when it comes to God – EXCEPT TO HEAR GOD & TO DO WHAT GOD SAYS TO DO! Now there are certain things that God exacts – HELLO? – with regards to living and the behavior that we behave with and all the things we – I’m not talking about any of that. I’m talking about the thing that governs, that makes the whole thing work. I’m talking about coming from one position of authority into another position of authority. I can’t help but think that when Paul was addressing the Corinthian Church so many thousands of years ago, that there was a place of authority; that Paul knew that they had to come through; they had to achieve. And yet they were not in that place. He said that when I was one that should be able to give you meat, I must give you milk. How long will it be before you and I are weaned off of the bottle, and become one of age and maturity and strength that we can handle?
The sin of everyone else around us – HELLO? – without it affecting us much; without it making us physically ill; without it making us spiritually ill? Sometimes some circumstances bring us into a sense of termination. This is what the fifth chapter of second Corinthians is all about. This is the position, this is the place – do you understand – of the coming of the sons of God and where they have to come to? It is right there in black and white in II Corinthians 5; and it is the same when it talks about the two witness company. How many want to be a “two witness”? OOH! Fire coming out of your mouth! People falling down dead all around you! Wickedness being smitten! Oh come on! You didn’t have those visions of grandeur! You didn’t have those thoughts of reeking havoc all over the worlds wicked system? Come on! Of course, maybe I’m the only one that ever thought that way. “Oh – wait till I get the power – I’m going to show you.”
Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. We have certain perceptions of certain things and we believe that perception is God’s perception and we don’t act like God. We act like humanity. We act like human beings that got their toes stepped on – all because we wanted to bring everything in line with the way that we think. Hallelujah!
2 Corinthians 5
1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
I don’t know that you and I have even a rudimentary understanding of the reality of our spiritual house. One of the things that I have elaborated on in the recent past, is the history of the Church. I have elaborated on the history of the Church, because I’m telling you what, there are men and women and children. Your children should be a vital part of the operation of the Church. There was a place that I was once and the Spirit of God fell upon us, and we began ministering to the children. We began to lay hands on them. We began to prophecy over them. We began to command the gift that God had for them; the speaking in tongues; the prophesying; the dreams and visions; even the interpretation of the Word of knowledge of the Word of discernment. We began to lay hands on our children. We think it is more important that the children color the little pictures and draw the little things or little circles or lay down and sleep. All of that is well and good if in the midst of that they are getting something of the reality of the kingdom that is being moved in the midst of the congregation – and God is moving around in that place.
I got an e-mail from a mother saying, ‘remember when we prayed for my daughter?’ She is six.
I said, ‘Yes. We laid hands on her. I had the dreamer lay hands upon her, because she had that gift.’
Well, she has been dreaming prolifically. And she got filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah! She is operating; she is moving in the Church; she is having visions. Now, what is the Church going to do with her? ‘Oh, she is just a little child having a dream. We don’t really know if it is from God or not.’
‘What are you talking about!!!! Wasn’t the hands of the elders laid on her? Wasn’t she anointed with oil? Wasn’t the Word of God prophesied over her? What do you mean you don’t know if the dreams are really coming from God or not?’ Hallelujah!
I don’t know. We would have a very hard time if it was one of your children that had the dream for the dispensation of the time we are living in. Hallelujah! How many times do we think about it? How many times do we pray over it?
What is our responsibility in the midst of all of that?
We Don’t Believe it! We don’t believe it!
Well, I’ll tell you, we had better start believing it, and we had better start doing something about it, because with the dispensation of times – it is a new set of rules! HELLO? And what was allowable before is not allowable any longer. Not because God doesn’t have grace and isn’t gracious to us – it is because there just isn’t enough time. Not enough time! Now you can play your little games and you can have your little church and you can do your little religious thing. But what will happen is that God will go out and get the” mule ministry”. Are you known as a ”mule ministry”? HELLO? Am I talking to the wrong people?
Did you know there is a ”mule ministry”? Did you know that? Brother Val, do you know about the ”mule ministry”? Hallelujah! It was where Jesus said, ‘go in and get me the ass’s colt, on which no man has rid.’ Where did he ride that colt into? HELLO? He is talking about the end time. He is talking about the time and the place and the appearance of God in the midst of humanity. As He appeared before, and He wrote upon an unbroken, an untrained, stubborn, rebellious mule – on which never a man had rode. It isn’t so much that I am afraid of a rock taking my place. I’m afraid of a ‘mule’ taking my place. What does that say for me? If a’ mule’ can do what I wouldn’t do? (laughter)
Think about it! New set of rules! New legislature! In position of power, new government. It says the government of God shall be upon His shoulders. (Is. 9:6) How do you and I expect to run the world – “They’re coming after me Mark!” How do you and I expect to run the world if we can’t even run our own lives? We can’t even run our own lives. We have subversion and lies and all manner of wickedness going on in our heart. My God! Hallelujah! Know we not that we have this earthly house, this tabernacle? The Word is dissolve – brother I’m telling you, the dissolve, the heat is coming.
Turn with me over to 2 Peter, Chapter 3:
2 Peter 3:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
You need to get your Bibles and write down the spirit of perdition, and go through it and look at how it is used. There is another verse coming to me and I just can’t pass it up. It says ‘haven’t we cast out devils in your name?’ (Mat. 7:22-24,) Who do you think that they were? Or who do you think that they thought they were? They thought they were Church. HELLO? HELLO? How many of you think that you are something other than Church? Maybe I should say, ‘How many of you think that you are Church?’ Who do you think the scripture is apropos to? It is in relationship to the End Time. He is not talking about a Church necessarily at that time, although He may have been addressing that same spirit of anti-christ.
When you are talking about the ‘spirit of perdition’ you are talking about the ‘spirit of anti-christ’. Hallelujah! Oh my goodness.
2 Peter 3:
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Well that means that some could perish. I have a responsibility quite frankly, for my own position of relationship to make sure that I am not in the “some that perish”. And that I can do everything that I can possibly do for you. HELLO? To ensure that I have done whatever I can do to make sure that ‘you don’t perish’. Only then, and only then can I stand before God justified. “clean hands, pure heart” Because I did what I was required to do. It’s not just that I was required to do it. But because I had a genuine concern about your soul; about your calling and your election.
You know, one of the worst things for me to think about is if I could stand before God, but God says you could have – but you didn’t. You could have – but you didn’t. You could have – well I could be rejoicing, I’m in heaven! Hurray! Praise the Lord. THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE. I don’t believe it. I believe that there is something of our sense of shame, if that is at all possible to have in heaven; that there is a sense of loss of something anyway of being able to achieve a certain position, a certain level that had been delegated for me; that had my name written on that slot. HELLO?
Do you know that is what He said, ‘I have a name that is written that no man knows.’ What is He talking about? He is talking about the fulfillment of a Nature. He is talking about the destiny to which you have been called. You know God saw in me in the beginning, as well as in the end. When I started, He said, ‘You have the potential to do everything. Therefore I am delegating this position for you. This is reserved. This has your name on it.’ Hallelujah! And it is not the name that I was born with. Hallelujah! It says that it is a name that no man knew.
2 Peter 3:
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Not willing that any should perish, BUT some are going to perish. The Bible tells us that some are going to perish. It is my responsibility to do everything that I can to work out my own salvation; and to do whatever is necessary to ensure that you are able to get your position, your place, your election. Hallelujah!
2 Peter 3:
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Now that word ‘elements’ is the same word that is used over here in II Corinthians [5:1] when it talks about our tabernacle being dissolved. There is another scripture that Paul wrote that says, not turning again to the rude elements. [Gal. 4:9] Yes, the weak and beggarly elements, and yet it is surprising to me, how many of us are confronting a position or place that Esau confronted? Why do you think that these things are in the Word? What do you want? Do you want something here, something natural, temporal something – a position or place of pre-eminence – recognition? What is it that you want?
“…whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister.” [Mat. 20:26; Mark 10:43;] “ …and let him be servant of all…” – so that you don’t know the Master from the servant – that is washing the feet. It could be the servant that is washing the feet – it could be the Master. Often times if that is not so, that is the point; that is the place; that is the thing needs to be manifested
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
I think the scriptures are very clear, very precise concerning you and I with regards to where we stand, and what is being required of us. Hallelujah! Lets go back over into II Corinthians to the end of the Chapter 5:17:
2 Corinthians 5:
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
Has given to US the ministry of reconciliation. If you ever want to know what your ministry is – go to II Corinthians 5:18. That is your ministry. That is your ministry – individually; collectively. That is the foundation on which God is working in the new dispensation. It is the rules by which the new dispensation is run. Hallelujah! Now that is not “Sloppy Agape”. What I call “Sloppy Agape” – ‘oh, poor thing, he can’t help himself. Oh, we have to make allowances.’ POPPYCOCK! We have got the Holy Ghost.
2 Corinthians 5:
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
To wit, that God was in Christ – HELLO? HELLO? ARE YOU THERE? God was in Christ. Where is God? God is in Christ. Where is Christ? Christ is in God. What is God doing? Reconciling the world unto himself. Oh my goodness, we are in trouble?
2 Corinthians 5:
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Do you hear the terminology? We – who is we – Them. That was the apostles. That was the Church. Right? Come on, am I taking this out of context? We do what? We pray you in Christ’s stead. Where I am ye may be also! HELLO? Where I am – there you might be also! So that I become synonymous with Christ; because I am swallowed up in Christ. IN CHRIST is in me – working to reconcile my brethren and the world at large. Hallelujah! “We pray you in Christ’s stead”. The next time you get into a confrontation; conflagration with your brethren – just think “Where I am, ye might be also.” What is the onus of responsibility with regards to that position?
2 Corinthians 5:
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Well, I really need to elaborate on that, but I don’t have the time. We need to make a decision with regards to the position that we are in; the thing that we want; and what we are willing to give for it. I believe that these meetings are going to be a decision-making set of meetings to bring us to a place where God can begin to do with the Church what God wanted to do with the Church from the beginning of time. So let us examine ourselves and determine what it is that we really want with regards to God and the Word that He is speaking.
God Bless You!
Sonlight Devotional 