Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy Spirit bring you His comfort and His peace. Join us!!!
Zoom Link:
For Study, Prayer and Fellowship - 8:00 AM PDT on 06/28/2025:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82968961343?pwd=LzcwVjJKcWVESDRURlhDcXlNV0JUdz09
Meeting ID: 829 6896 1343
Passcode: 77299ere:
06/28/2025 – Prologue – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”[Rom. 8:28] This verse refers to the Holy Spirit. We must not be surprised that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us; because He works together with God’s saints in all they do. This is a foundational verse. It is sweetness for those who accept and love Him. It is like the taste of gall for those mired in the ‘world’. Luther tells us that the one divine purpose, of God, is our salvation.
If one does not know where one is headed, one is certain to arrive there. Clearly, that is a way to go nowhere in this life, which may carry over to the next. Jesus said, “… go and make disciples …” [Matt. 28:19] and “… love one another.” [John 13:35] These are not suggestions. These are clear, unambiguous, and focused yet broad in scope. They are commands, but in a life of subjective, individualized truths we will always be tempted to find exceptions to their application. We lose our focus.
We have an elite cadre in the Western world, especially in the US, that teach in our colleges and universities. We call them intellectuals. We are faced with the fact that the mentally tepid and/or ‘spiritually’ blind lead the mentally tepid and/or ‘spiritually’ blind. If one wants to float an idea that should never see the light of day, simply expose the ridiculous idea to a group of PhD’s. No one else would believe the idea. All is well while the grant money and tuition payments continue uninterrupted. Combined, this has produced a world crisis. Think Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, LA, any city in the US with a Progressive mayor and the thousands of folks we see with their faces planted in a mobile digital device.
Our society has been seized by lust and greed; or more succinctly sex and money. The myth is: If we have unfettered access to both we will be happy. If that is true, then why are these indicators rising: physical suicide – physical death; Teen suicide – adrift; marital suicide – divorce; family suicide – abortion; civic suicide – war. In a sense this was prophesied nearly one hundred years ago by Chesterton and reformulated by: Mother Teresa, C. S. Lewis, A. Solzhenitsyn, John Paul, R. Reagan and Pastor Gary Clark. It was the latter who referred to our society as: “the culture of death.” One does not need to be a 21st Century prophet to see where this road leads. How is God responding to this “culture of death”? Many will respond, is not God merciful and forgiving? Never was made a truer statement! The challenge is that some who profess Christian faith are unrepentant and refuse forgiveness. And as we dis-cussed last week, we have a rising number of ‘nones’ who wander in ignorance, thus darkness and death.
Forgiveness is a gift from God. Without forgiveness we can have no reconciliation with the Father and that is how He reveals His love. The blood of Jesus shakes heaven and earth and we are not to turn away from Him. [Heb. 12:24-26] Human sin offends God’s holiness and creates a separation between God and sinner. Thus, we have God’s offered forgiveness through the atoning work of Jesus. [1John 1:9] The crucial lesson we must learn is: if we are forgiven, we must in turn forgive others. [Matt. 6:14-15; Eph. 4:32] “blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” [Ps. 32:1-2] One must ask how can this gift be received by a moral relativist who denies that there is anything to forgive, except unforgiveness; nothing to judge, but judgmentalism. We all have our 21st C. Pharisees.
Others ask, is not God compassionate? He assuredly is, but He is not compassionate to demons. Some folks are demon worshippers. Witness the demons worshipped by the Canaanites and God took them all away.[Ez. 20:31] Those who worship the god of human sacrifice is not the God of the Bible. God is called by many names, but perhaps the most significant is God, the Father. The road from paradise lost to paradise regained is soaked in blood and at its center is the cross.
The theme of spiritual warfare is never absent in the Bible. It is never absent in real life. How-ever, it is not present in most forms of religious education. Here is the reality of the past two or three generations – we are at war and the barbarians are coming over the walls. They have infiltrated most of our elite institutions. At one time this was by stealth; now it is with impunity and defiance. Many ask from whence cometh “the culture of death?” America is now the epi-center – America remains the cultural superpower of the world. We may try to deny this, but the Muslims call us “the Great Satan.” The truth is - we are what we are!
In recent weeks we have covered America’s origins. We studied the history of our morality and the nature of our government. We observed that we were the most biblical nation ever and it was reflected foundationally, historically and constitutionally. We had the perfect model – just like ancient Israel. We were one of the most religious countries in the world – just like Israel. The church in America is big and wealthy – just like Israel. If God loves the church in America; He will make it small, poor, and persecuted – just like Israel. Please take to heart [John 15:2-6] “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” Think of that societally!
If we believe God loves us, then we will accept His teaching. He will cut away the deadwood and cast it into the fire. If we look at the branches that are pruned, we will note they weep. This helps form a barrier to prevent being easily reinfected. We as believers, will bleed. We will shed the blood of martyrs for it is the blood of martyrs that provides nourishment for the recast church. It never happens without suffering, without sacrifice, without blood - without Christ!
Let us cut through the static – we are at war. If that is true then our first goal is to acknowledge the fact. Failure to do that is a prerequisite for failure. We cannot be in denial about this! If there are two warring parties and one thinks they will win and the other does not even acknowledge the conflict, who do you think will win? It is obvious that knowing we are at war means our mind makes a dramatic adjustment. Our perspective on all things - changes. I have lived through two distinctly different attitudes when our nation was at war. The first was WWII; the speech that defined that era was FDR’s, “We Have Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself.” As a nation we suffered, we sacrificed, we bled and we won. The second was in Vietnam and the defining speech was LBJ’s, “Guns and Butter”. As a nation a few suffered, a few sacrificed, a few bled and we lost.
This war is spiritual which means the battlefield is everywhere. That makes the danger more extreme and everywhere because this war will determine whether our souls live or die. It will determine our eternal address – heaven or hell. Those who oppose us, seek our bodily death and the death of our souls. Of that we must be aware – we must ask who our enemies are! AMEN!
Love, hank
Cell: 541-973-5442
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