This week the church I attend had a guest speaker for 4 days, who came to talk to us about revival.
The messages he gave us were convicting. They are not easy to hear, but I feel they were filled with wisdom.
When we become convicted it's easy to get mad, to point fingers at people, to accuse the messenger, and to do anything really that diverts the attention away from ourselves. But the wise person would do well to focus inward instead of outward and examine the message against their own heart. It takes a lot of courage and a strong love of God to do that.
One of the things our guest speaker talked about on the first day was about King Josiah; his grandfather was King Manasseh who broke just about every rule God gave to Israel through Moses, and committed great evil in God's eyes. King Manasseh sacrificed a child to Molech, used divination, worshipped other gods, and was likely the one who was responsible for having the prophet Isaiah killed by having him sawn in two.
King Josiah led the greatest spiritual reform in Judah that ever existed. No one had followed the LORD as closely since King David as King Josiah did. The book of the law that had been lost was found (likely Deuteronomy), and when it was read to King Josiah he rent his clothes and mourned. He destroyed all the idols, had them removed out of the temple, turned Israel back to God in repentance, and led them in celebrating the Passover as God had commanded it for the first time in 400 years. He recognized that Israel's sin was great, and He sought the counsel of the LORD through a prophetess named Hulda, who told him that because his heart was tender he was going to die before God's judgment for the things King Manasseh did was meted out on Judah.
The opportunity for repentance for the prior evil that had been done was already closed.
Let that sink in.
Our speaker said "God has a time where He shuts the door of opportunity of repentance, and we don’t know when
it is. Only history tells us that."
What a terrifying yet true statement.
Our speaker said "God wants us to rend our heart, not our clothes. He wants us to be broken hearted over our sin."
Another true statement.
But are we truly broken hearted over our sin?
Our speaker also said "As goes the church, so goes the nation."
Given the state our nation is in I think it's fair the church has been sleeping on the job. I think it's fair to say our hearts have grown cold to the things of God, that we've gotten in a rut.
Our speaker mentioned the crisis of abortion in our country (over 60 million children), the influx of people who have come over our border, that the USA is nowhere in end time prophecy, and that our country is not likely to get a free pass with God because we are unrepentant.
These aren't just problems that are rampant in the USA though; these problems are a global issue as well. Sin doesn't only affect an individual; it affects our families, our loved ones, our communities, our countries, and our world.
Friends, we are running out of time to repent. We may already have judgment declared over our countries and the window to repent may already be closed. But we need to repent. We need to repent of unholy lifestyles. We need to repent of our lawlessness. We need to repent of our godlessness. We need to repent of our sin. We need to repent of thinking we can fix things and do things on our own without the divine intervention of God above. We need to turn back to God and howl with broken hearts over our sin. We need to pray. We need to spread the news of Jesus Christ (we're COMMANDED to). We need to beg God for forgiveness and mercy.
We may not be able to stop judgment, which is rightly deserved. But we may still be able to find mercy.
God dealt with our sin already. He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
God's judgment is about to come upon this world. Giving your heart and your life to Jesus Christ is going to be the only way you may obtain mercy. It is the only way you can avoid the judgment that is coming.
If you don't know Jesus Christ, then I highly urge you to call upon Him today and ask Him to forgive you, and to lead you in the way He wants you to live going forward, living in your heart.
If you've backslidden, I highly urge you to repent and re-devote your life to Jesus Christ.
Time is not on your side.
Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.
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