Powerful message from Leonard Ravenhill
"Leonard Ravenhill - Sins of Laodician Church"
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This is an update to the original 9/06/2018 post on this topic -- "What more could He give?" “Oh, how He loves you and me, Oh how He loves you and me. He gave his life, what more could he give?”
So I join the multitude around the throne and shout:
THANK YOU LORD JESUS! Now, one can ask, “What more could He give?” Note: 02/05/2019 re: Jesus going to Hell for our atonement -- subsequent to the first posting of this entry, I encountered different teaching from well regarded teachers and sought their counsel on the subject. The link below comprises the text of my email to and the very helpful response from Joshua Chavez / Servus Christi. I publish it here with his permission. In addition, Jacob Prasch/Moriel Ministries has posted a YouTube video on the subject with a little different understanding.
youtu.be/nYF8vw-juc0 These teachings were a help to me and I hope they are edifying to you. Your thoughts and comments are welcome. Blessings in Jesus, Duncan You Must Hate Your Father and Mother
Luke 14:26 -- “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Our regard for father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even our own lives must be as hatred in comparison to our love and devotion for Jesus Christ. If there’s ever a choice to be made between anything in the world and Jesus, there’s not to be an instant of doubt of whether to choose Him who suffered and died for us and is the only Way provided by our loving God to be delivered from an otherwise inevitable eternity in Hell. Jesus told the Ephesian church in Revelation 2 that unless they repented and returned to their First Love, He would remove His lampstand from their midst -- He would withdraw His presence; they could not be His disciples. So let us draw near and devote ourselves anew to our sweet Lord, remembering our honeymoon when He first became precious to us and we became His beloved Bride, and set aside any and all things that distract us from our only true love, Jesus Christ. BREEZE - COME! July 30, 2018 Last Friday and Saturday the weather was very hot and sunny when Ginger and I were planting a garden. We set up the Caravan Canopy for some shade but the air was very hot and still. We had recently read Matthew 8:23-27; the account of Jesus calming the wind and the sea.
As we were reading that passage, we concluded that Jesus thought they should have had faith to take care of the storm themselves.
As I remembered that, the Lord encouraged me and I commanded the breeze to come - we needed relief from the heat. When I commanded, a refreshing breeze came. Over those two days we were working out there for 6 – 8 hours, and this happened several times. Whenever we would have no wind and want refreshing I would speak to the wind and it would blow, having an assurance that the Lord was in it. I know coincidence ≠ correlation; but the way it came about, I’ve ruled out coincidence. It’s wonderful what the Lord will do with mustard seed faith. Regarding that mustard seed faith: the wind responded because the command originated with the Lord. He birthed that and encouraged me to speak to the wind. Otherwise, my commands would have been empty and without power, not from faith. (see WHAT I'VE LEARNED ABOUT FAITH for more on this) Paul, a man who walked by faith, was shipwrecked by an angry sea - with no lives lost. God's will was different from calming the wind and sea. Rather, He gave Paul wisdom and instruction as to how to save all on board in the midst of the storm. Lord, You are wonderful! Thank You! You are worthy of all praise and glory! Walking with You is such a joy and so exciting! Duncan “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong.” A few days ago, we were sharing lunch with some friends and one lady asked what we experience as we read the Bible. It was a great way to open discussion about the Lord, and I was glad to be able to tell them that we are still learning new things all the time after 38 years in the Lord, and in our later years (70’s). I have not formulated a detailed eschatological time-line, and much of the book of Revelation remains a mystery. But recently, when reading through Revelation, the Lord opened up some very interesting things. One was as I read through the very last chapter I came to:
This verse contains some of the final instruction to John by the angel of the Lord, and as a stand-alone doctrine the angel says not to evangelize. But that contradicts so much other Scripture that I knew that couldn’t be right. Otherwise, why then would Christ’s gifts to the church in Ephesians 4 include evangelists – and what would you do with “The Great Commission”? Further in the chapter I read:
In this last chapter of Revelation Jesus refers to His “coming soon" several times, and the Book ends with “Come, Lord Jesus.” But that’s not this. This invitation to “come” in verse 17 is to “the one who is thirsty” and “the one who wishes (to) take the water of life without cost”. The Spirit and the Bride are saying “Come” (evangelizing), and at the same time the instruction is to: “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy . . .” Throughout the OT and the NT the Lord has reiterated; “he that has ears to hear, let him hear” – not always those exact words, but the message is consistent. And the lady who generated the conversation observed that Jesus says in John 6:
I’m reminded of the account of the “rich young ruler” in Matt 19:16-27. Jesus said to him, “Come, follow me” having explained the cost; and the man walked sadly away. Jesus didn’t try to stop him and convince him with more appealing arguments. He let him go. For whatever reason the young man did not have “ears to hear”. I began to think about how this applies to what we call apologetics. Most of what I have seen is ineffective. People on either side win the debate, but make no spiritual gain. One man at the table questioned -- if no apologetics, then how do you reach those with a logical mind-set? Later, the Lord prompted me to look at Paul's message in Athens at Mars Hill:
Note what happened in verse 32. When some began to sneer, Paul departed and others that “had ears to hear” followed him and believed.
The Holy Spirit gave Paul a specific and unique message for these people. His “Come” message wasn’t a simple invitation to "come to Jesus", or a Bible tract, or memorized verses through “the roman road” methodology of evangelism. His message of “Come” was authored and anointed by the Holy Spirit specifically for that encounter. He was saying “Come”, but when they sneered, he discerned that they had not “ears to hear” and he walked away. Others heard, received the message, followed, and believed. Praise The Lord! My previous negative perception of apologetics has stemmed from believers persisting in their debating when the opposition has no ears to hear, and the Holy Spirit is not in it. However, that does not invalidate the Holy Spirit’s use of apologetics in order to say, “Come”. So, the lesson for me is that I am to give the message to “Come”, however that may be formulated by the Lord; and being assured of the message, I am not to get into disputations. I am not to contend. This is very freeing. There is no striving. The results are the Lord’s. Thank you, Lord Jesus!! And, Yes, Come Lord Jesus!! In Christ, Duncan #1 "How To" When Coming Out of the I.C. There's one thing that is essential for anyone coming out of the Institutional Church. Having had our eyes somewhat opened to that religious system, we need to ask the Lord to show us His perception of it and to recognize what our part has been in it. In order to be free to move forward in our walk with the Lord, instead of pointing the finger at “them”, we need to repent of having become a part of that. God has always held both the shepherds and the sheep alike responsible for whether they walk with Him or depart from Him. In our culture, every born-again believer has a Bible and the Holy Spirit to be able to walk in the truth with no excuse. No one can just say “I was led astray.” Without this repentance we are doomed to replicate the past problems, even if maybe in a different form.
In summary, people need to get a glimpse of how God sees things rather than how they see it, no matter how enlightened. The more we see things as He sees, the better we can walk together with Him. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Dt. 4:24 Thoughts provoked by, "So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore" by Wayne Jacobsen & Dave Coleman -- recommended reading.
God has been renewing my understanding of what His perspective is. I’ve learned that the words “jealous” and “zealous” in the Bible are actually the same word in the original language. God was so jealous/zealous for Israel that He did what today would be labeled “crimes against humanity” as He wiped out nations – committed genocide in order to preserve His plan of salvation and the seed of our Messiah. He’s no less jealous/zealous today for us; His Bride, His Children; and I believe the institutional church is repugnant to Him. This book and other articles and VLOGs address what men are seeing as problems with the IC, but I don’t see an understanding of how God sees it. Until very recently, I also was in the camp of not really giving input to someone struggling with the decision to come out of the IC, except to encourage them to seek the Lord for themselves. With a new understanding of God’s zeal and His hatred for the dead religion of the IC that separates and destroys His children, I’m now of the attitude of exhorting whomever, to come out and “he who has ears to hear, let him hear”. I’m at a point that I think that’s God’s heart. I’m thinking of the character, Bryce, in the book. I don’t think there is an understanding that God views the IC as a total abomination. |
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