In agony man is unpredictable. When you get hurt, that’s when you’re real. Only Golgotha will save. You have to go through the Cross.
Imagine that we have two martyrs before us, and we don’t know how each of them died. One renounced and in humiliation crawled on the ground before the murderers, while the other simply prayed. It’s all about how you die. You can die with dignity. Like the two thieves on the Cross – one repented, and the other spoke evil of Christ.
Therefore, being murdered for Christ doesn’t mean that you will certainly go to heaven. How will you accept this death? Your own willingness is what matters. This moment is your Christianity. And not the one when you come to church.
Some people think they heard the Word, but they actually didn’t. There is no fruit. If nothing changes in your life, then you haven’t heard anything. My prayer today is that we hear what we are here for.
One of our brothers received the Word in such a way that he went through a serious illness. He heard, accepted the Word, and today he is alive with us. Because he heard the Word.
We need to evaluate the Word today. Many preachers rise up, but they don’t even preach the Word, they speak their minds. You listen to them and understand that you are not interested, you didn’t come to listen to someone’s thoughts. I came to hear the Word of God. Give me, please, the Word of God! In the church, not human thoughts should sound, but the Word of God. Everything must be based on it.
Therefore, dear brothers, pastors, preach the Word. There may be experiences, but the Word of God must sound in the church.
“The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), – the word was to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah. In the first year of the tyrant, who made Judea his colony. – Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” – This is such an important historical moment. What is our evaluation of the historical moment we live in?
Some believers live so a relaxed life, that it’s hard for them to understand that the church has to learn to live a life of overcomers. That if persecution comes the church has to live underground. Some people don’t even know what persecution is, they don’t believe, they criticize those who understand about persecution. That’s bad.
We heard the testimony of a brother who was on the All-Union wanted list in the USSR because of his faith. At that time, only maniacs, cannibals, etc. deserved this kind of life. But he was a believer. He didn’t go into bondage, not because he was a coward, but because he had to keep printing the Word. It was much easier for those who were in prison: they could meet with their families at least once a year, the term could be reduced, and so on. And it was much harder for such brothers: they had to break completely with their families and hide underground. If such a person was discovered, according to his status, he could be shot immediately to kill. As it is written about Christ – “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”
When such brothers ordained someone, they took from him a promise that he would not go to surrender. The persecution was so hard that people couldn’t endure it. Such brothers didn’t even tell their wives where they would be. So that if tortured, the wife doesn’t tell the information. This is how brothers and sisters lived.
The church must have the true nature, the true Bride of Christ, to be ready to die for Christ. And not only for Christ, but for your neighbor. But how can one endure persecution if he gets offended just at one word. How can one suffer or die for Christ?
Brothers prisoners shared how their time of custody would be ending, and the officers came, asking if he would still be a believer, take his children to meetings, demanding to sign papers. If the brother “had not corrected” and refused to sign, they would add another five years just a couple days before the brother was to be released. This is how brothers were tortured, and they stayed in prison, would not sign. Are you ready for such a thing? How about your beautiful wife and children – are you ready to part with them?
And these are normal questions. This is not any forbidden subject, as not to think about it. If you remove them as far as possible, then you don’t what it means to have the dying of the Lord in your heart. You’ve never known it, you are afraid of it, you don’t want even to think of it. But Apostles teach they lived and walked and slept with these thoughts in their head.
But many think, better not preach of this, because people would not return. If they don’t return – this is the kind of people that you’ve raised. This is all serious.
And here we listen to Jeremiah: “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty third year, in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.”(Jer. 25:3-4)
Jeremiah has listened to the Word of God for twenty three years. And he had no “holey” seasons of silence – twenty three years of faithfulness in hearing the Word of God. Of course, to compare with Jeremiah is as if with a mountain, but this is serious Word. He didn’t simply stay in church and didn’t fall apart, but he kept himself in such a condition that the Lord kept speaking to him for twenty three years. This is called faithfulness. Some people walk away, have a dirty lifestyle, then return, as there’s no life out there, the foreign world. Not so with Jeremiah – he didn’t wonder anywhere. He came to the Father and stayed with Him forever. This is the kind of people the Lord is looking for.
The ministry of the prophet was from early morning. That’s what we need today, not the church that has to be always entertained, but this kind of ministry – this is where I want, this is where my heart is, because I know this is where my Lord is.
This is the way God is, not like one from pictures, but the God of the Bible. And God hasn’t changed, He is unchangeable. Christ came and took the curse on Himself, but God hasn’t changed.
Are prophets different? Are they supposed to be different in the New Testament? They must be the same! Perhaps more is revealed to them, but the prophets should be not less faithful and not less serious about God! Different clothes, but the inside of the prophet is unchanged.
From early morning the Lord has been sending prophets… That means when you are not yet so defiled. “But you did not listen and incline your ear.”
This amazes me, I’m amazed! I want to live like Jeremiah, like my brothers, who didn’t ask unnecessary questions. They didn’t just gather to gossip, they didn’t even ask too much. This is strength, this is courage! This impresses me!
How persistently is the Word of the Lord delivered through you? Do you ever preach the Word of the Lord? You know, brethren, where the Word of the Lord is preached, there the people of God get saved. Because your word will not. It doesn’t regenerate, it doesn’t work, it is not an incorruptible seed. And where there is a Word — real and pure — people will be saved there. And why are they not saved – because there is no Word. And for the Word to be, one must be with God. God hasn’t changed.
It blows us off to the ground. This is right. God has to bend us to our knees so that we can be lifted up again in a new kind. It’s good to crush ourselves before Him. The most holy men, like Daniel and John, fell before Him as dead. God raised them again.
Martial arts of the spirit in this new season. Be warriors. Because there is a spiritual war going on the earth. If you are spiritual, you are a warrior. Even if you are a worshiper, you are a military man. The prophet is a military man. A priest is a military man, he wears “official” uniform, he can’t “have it made” for himself how he likes. He must take what the Lord has given him.
“In those days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 11:27-30).
This martial art of the spirit we convey to you today – to act according to what has been revealed. The prophet said there would be a famine. Everything around them speaks the opposite – there is food. But they gather by believing the Word that they haven’t seen yet. That’s what it means to believe – you do when you can’t see. Not when circumstances prove it, but because you have evidence, you make the invisible visible. The church gathers according to their ability simply on the basis of faith in prophecy. They a responding to the prophecy.
Today the Word is sounding. What will you do with it? Just take what you like? It doesn’t work that way! It “doesn’t”! That’s why, we often come back with emotions, but nothing changes in our heads. Because you can’t selectively take the Word – you have to take all of it. They generously gave – “each according to his ability.” They sent it to Jerusalem on the basis of the prophecy. What a church, so pure! How they treated the Word!
Today there is so much emptiness, so much chatter, that it is already difficult for us to figure out where the Word was, and where the human thing. We need to stop speaking human thoughts. We must speak from the Word. Take the Word and reveal it.
Do you receive revelation? What are you doing with it? Until we learn to believe and move on the basis of revelation, we will not see miracles. Abraham went first, and then God revealed exactly where he should go.
Everything we do, we do by faith. You don’t need guarantees because it’s not faith, it’s pragmatism. Don’t move where it’s cheaper, but move where it’s right. And God will manifest. That is why the church has such an always “damaged” spirit – it is constantly wounded, constantly sleeping, and weak.
We don’t have enough fury! One has to arise, then the prophets will rise. All the prophets that will rise will have the fury of God.
We need to upgrade our bars. For some, they are normal, you’ve decided you are good at such a height. And for others they are too low. And someone has thrown the bar up – praying for the awakening of the cosmos – and these are unrealistic things.
Listen to what God says. And start doing what He said. God told the prophet, “Go out into the field.” The Prophet came out and saw it full of bones. God said, “Come out, I’ll take you to the promised land.” And the man of God comes out. This is beauty!