WATCHMAN ON THE WALL

Brothers and Sisters:

This is something the Lord has been putting on my heart the last few weeks.  I can’t write all that I would like because it would take to much time.  Please read carefully, pray over and study the scriptures and let the Lord shine upon His word.  Daily Watch and Pray that you will be counted worry to escape the things that are coming upon this earth as the time is drawing ever so close.  He is coming soon and we must be found feeding and taking care of His sheep, building up the body of Christ according to His heart desire and standing in oneness for Christ and the Church.
 
As we look around today we see this world is in big trouble.  Our leaders are telling us that we will be hit by another terrorist attack in six months or less.  Our economy is on the edge of collapse because our government has sold our nation to China.  The EU, politically and economically, is also about to collapse.  The government now believes that Israel will attack Iran sometime in April, 2010.  If these are not dark days then I don’t know if we will ever see one.
 
In Ezekiel Chapter 33: 2-7, the Lord tells us He has set Watchman upon the wall. The job of the watchman is when they see the enemy coming they are to sound an alarm. If this watchman does not sound the alarm the blood of the ones that are destroyed by the enemy will be on his hands.  If the one that hears this alarm does not prepare for what is coming and is destroyed then his blood will be on his own head.  But the one who heard the alarm and prepared for battle shall save his soul.  Brothers and sisters we are the watchman God has set on the wall today, if we don‘t cry out against the tide of this age then who will?  We are entering into the time of great sorrow such as never has been seen,  judgment is coming upon this world.  America has chosen to go her own way and she is no longer a nation that stands on the principles of God.  She has become a nation filled with violence and crime.  She murders thousands of babies everyday, and openly flaunts homosexuality, sadomasochism, corruption, drunkenness, drug abuse, divorce and adultery, lewd pornography, child molestation, and occult practices run rampant in her streets.  This nation has sinned against God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Other nations are just as sinful as America, but none have had the gospel preached in them like America.
 
1 Peter 4:17-18 says, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God”.   In Revelation 18:4 God is calling for His people to come out of the great harlot religious Babylon.  It is imperative that we hear and answer this call.  Because God is about to judge this harlot and He does not want us to be judged with her.  In Numbers 16:20-21, God told Moses and Aaron to separate yourselves from among the congregation that I may consume them in a moment.  Today that same call for separation is being made.  God’s judgment is coming and we have to separate ourselves from the world and all religion, if we don’t, we will suffer the same judgment as they do.  We have to go outside the camp to meet the Lord (Heb. 13:13-14).  It is not going to be easy but we have to go.  When we choose to go outside we will be hated of all men just as our Master was.  We will be persecuted and suffer the same things He did and be made to drink of the same cup as did Paul, Peter, James, John and all others that have chosen to follow Jesus.  When this judgment starts it will not be a bad thing.  Persecution and judgment has a positive side such as: (1) It causes us to pray and seek a closer relationship with God.  (2) It causes us to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together.  (3) It causes us to turn from our self-centered ways and forces us to pray for and help each other.  (4) It destroys idleness and complacency.  (5) It causes us to get our eyes off men, the world, religion, and onto Jesus. 

It is time for us to get serious about our walk with the Lord.  We have to get our eyes off ourselves and onto God’s heart desire, we must know what the will of God is.
What is the will of God?  Why did God create the universe?  Why did God create the earth?  And why did God create man?  And why did God save me?  If we don’t know the answer to these questions how can we ever know what the will of God is.   Christians often speak of the will of God in relation to trivial things such as their occupation, marriage or where they should live, etc.  Speaking of the will of God in such a casual way belittles and underestimates the will of God.  This is selfish and self centered.  When we speak of God’s will we must always trace it to the desire of His heart.  God created the universe for the earth, He created the earth for man and man was created for God.  God’s hearts desire is to have a corporate bride for His Son, this is God’s will, this is God’s heart desire.  This is why God saved you, to be a part of this corporate bride He is building for His Son. Ephesians 1:5-12 is one of the most important portions of the Bible concerning the will of God.  It says that God in eternity has a plan, which is according to His good pleasure.  These verses mention three related items:  (1) purpose (2) pleasure (3) will.  Pleasure is of the heart, since the heart is an organ for delight.  God has a heart as well as man, therefore, God also has things that please and delight Him.  He also has affection which means He has heart desire.  To attain His pleasure God has a plan which He purposed to fulfill to reach His goal.  This purpose is His will.  So God’s will and heart desire are one and the same.  Anything not touching God’s heart desire is not His will!  The Bible tells us that God’s heart desire is to have a group of people to be companions of His Son.  To reach this goal God planned the heaven, earth and man according to His pleasure.  Then He created everything according to His plan. At that time creation was God’s will.  Plainly speaking, today God’s will, His heart desire, is to complete His plan which is to build a corporate bride for His Son. How can we be a part of what God is doing today?

Now I want to share with you two principles that will help you to know the will of God.

(1) The first step is to present our body a living sacrifice. Romans Chapter 12:1-2  show us the clearest way to know the will of God: “I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect”.  Here, both the presenting of our bodies and the knowing of God’s will are joined together in one passage, because the presenting of our body as a sacrifice is the first condition for knowing God’s will.  When we present ourselves as a sacrifice we become qualified and have the ground to know God’s will.  You might ask why we must present ourselves as a sacrifice in order to know God’s will?
When a person has not yet presented himself as a sacrifice he is himself the center of his life and the motivating factor of all his behavior and actions.  His every thought is of himself, he loves himself, even his slightest pursuing in the spiritual realm is for his own pleasure and enjoyment of his future reward.  However, he is oblivious to what God desires to do in this universe and never seeks to know the purpose of God’s salvation for him.  Outwardly he appears to be seeking God’s will but really he is wishing that God’s will would fulfill his own desires. So the first step to knowing God’s will is to really present your body a living sacrifice to God.  We need to check our lives daily to see who and what we are living for, making sure that we stay on the altar so that our life is a living sacrifice to and for God.

(2) The second step to knowing the will of God is to deny the self.  The two most important passages relative to knowing God’s will are Romans 12 and Matthew 16.  Romans 12:1-2 ,  “I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect”.  Matthew 16:21-24, “ Then said Jesus to unto His disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”.  Romans speaks of the relationship between a sacrifice and understanding God’s will.  Matthew speaks of the relationship between God’s will and denying the self.  To be a sacrifice deals with the problem of our living "for" ourselves.   Whereas denying our “self” deals with our living "according" to ourselves.  If we are just a sacrifice and have not learned to deny ourselves, even though we are living for God, we do so according to our own thoughts, opinions, and ideas and by doing so we can never understand His will.  Therefore the denying of self is also a basic requirement for knowing the will of God. We need to truly learn to take up our cross daily, deny ourselves, and follow Him.  We need to check our lives daily to see if we are truly living for God or if we are still living according to our own thoughts, opinions, and ideas.

I hope this will be a help and blessing to all who read it.  I have so much more to say but if I keep going this could turn into a book.  May the Lord grant us His light and grace as we study His word and prepare for the day that is coming upon us swiftly.

In His Life,
Pastor Harry