Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…I want to begin today’s message by thanking Messianic Rabbi, Jonathan Cahn and his entire staff and production crew, for the superb presentation of “The Return” last Saturday on the mall in Washington D.C. It was a day of intercessory prayer, not only for our nation, but for the world, and the purpose was to be obedient to the truth found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, and to honor the age-old proclamation, “Repent! Turn from your Sin and turn to God.” (These powerful words have been spoken numerous times by prophets throughout both the Old and the New Testaments.) There were fifty plus religious leaders and prayer-warriors, representing the major world religions, repenting and asking God’s mercy on us for turning away from His statutes and His will. Tens of thousands were present in Washington D.C., but there were millions watching and participating around the world. It was indeed a powerful day of prayer and rejoicing, and no doubt, there were smiles in heaven!
I stood and applauded Rabbi Cahn’s opening statement: “If you came here today to hear a politically correct message, you came to the wrong place.” How refreshing it was to hear just that bit of truth, but his exceptionally powerful words substantiated his boldness. I couldn’t help but think of Jesus talking to the Pharisees: “Hypocrites! The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So, practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach…” (Matthew 23:2-3) Or, “I tell you, unless you obey God better than the teachers of the law or the Pharisees, you can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all! (Matthew 5:20) I believe that Jesus’ example to us carried this message: Stand against evil wherever and whenever you see it. Unfortunately, many – but certainly not all – modern-day churches have adopted the policy of soft-pedaling the truth for fear of offending someone. Too often the intent is to send the flock away with a “feel good” message that brings them back the following Sunday.
No doubt, many people don’t want to hear the truth. Why? Because the truth is contrary to the way they have chosen to live. Therefore, what follows is the process of “justifying in their own minds” why or how they can still fulfill the desires of their hearts without the baggage of guilt, shame or remorse. For example, when considering abortion: “it’s not really a baby yet…it’s just a blob of cells”, or “it’s really best, because I can’t afford to take time off from work to raise a baby!” Or, when considering an extra marital affair, “it’s OK as long as no one gets hurt”, or “if my spouse would just do this or that, I wouldn’t have to do this.” These are two prime examples of the truth found in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” And the heart, spiritually speaking, is the very core of our being. What we put there defines what comes out. Without the truth of God’s Word in our hearts, and the Holy Spirit empowering us, our sin-nature (coincidently referred to by our culture as our “human nature”) always leans toward gratifying self. That is the very definition of Sin! (choosing to satisfy self rather than exalting God!) In this crazy world in which we are living, if you are not consciously focused on bringing honor and glory to Him, the distractions offered by our phones, social media, the entertainment industry, TV and the news media can lull us into a numbed down, dumbed down state of being.
The truth found in Romans 12:2 is our pathway to victory over that darkness. “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what He wants you to do, and how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is for your life.” Without the knowledge of His Word, and the power to carry it out, the alternative is to get ensnared into worldly teachings and philosophies. If you look at the world around you today, you can see exactly what that looks like. Our culture has expunged God from its midst and has exalted human wisdom. Remember, the world God created was paradise. So, you be the judge; does our culture, with its doubt, fear, anger, hatred, lying, cheating, stealing, addictions, suicides, mental and psychosomatic illnesses, guilt, shame and remorse, look like paradise to you? This is what happens when Man exalts himself as god.
In our culture’s effort to find that magical elixir that will bring joy, peace and serenity, they have settled for a counterfeit remedy that promises to fill that proverbial “hole in the soul”, such as drugs, alcohol, sex, new cars, bigger houses and more material things. Alas…those things are only temporal. What our culture is really looking for is Jesus Christ, and as the popular song of the 80’s so accurately portrayed, “they’re looking for love in all the wrong places”.
As I stated earlier, “The Truth” (meaning God’s infallible truth) has been replaced with relative truth, (meaning, it is conditional: I’ll believe this if it works for me; I’ll believe this if it pleases me; I’ll do this if it exalts me, etc. Notice that the focal point is “me”.) The Truth is out of style today because it challenges us to live according to God’s plan for our lives. For example, when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, the Israelites were in a state of disarray in the wilderness, much like our culture is experiencing today. He gave them these directives for three reasons: they were His blueprint for civil law, meaning it was for their safety, health and wellbeing; it was His standard for eternal life, and it was also to prove to Man he could not meet this standard through his own best effort. (Remember, He gave Man from Creation to 2020 years ago to wrestle with the dilemma of Sin. And how did that work out? Romans 5:6 gives us the answer: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time to die for us sinners.) And what was “just the right time”, you might ask? When we proved ourselves utterly helpless to overcome Sin through our own best effort.
Let’s connect the dots from the previous paragraph with the Truth found in Ephesians 1:4-5, 10: “Long ago, even before He created the world (and Man), God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan was always to adopt us into His family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and this gave Him great pleasure. And this is His plan: At just the right time, He will bring everything together under the authority of Jesus Christ – everything in heaven and on earth.” (And what was “just the right time”? When we proved ourselves utterly helpless to earn salvation through our best effort.)
This is The Truth that seems to be lost on our culture today; God IS love! His plan has always been to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ. Why? Because He knew we could never save ourselves. (Remember…He proclaimed, “I am holy; therefore, you must be holy”. {Leviticus 19:2} In other words, we can’t come into His presence if we are stained with sin.) He didn’t give us the 10 Commandments because He is a kill-joy; He gave them because He didn’t want us to experience the dire consequences that inevitably results from yielding to our sin-nature.
Our culture believes that those musty old 10 Commandments are old fashioned, that they are too confining and stifling. After all, we are an enlightened people; we are called to live outside the box. The message from the prevailing marketing companies is, “You deserve a break today”; “be yourself, be all you can be”, or “Go for the gusto”, etc. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t realize the source of these “me centered” messages. Satan, the master deceiver, always wraps his lies in the most alluring wrapping, but truth be told, his schemes are always to keep us separated from God. That’s who he is; that’s what he does, and he is a master at his craft. So, unless we know The Truth of God’s Word, we are easily manipulated and led astray.
What hopefully came out of last Saturday’s “Return” message is an awakening of how desperately our culture needs the Truth of God’s Word. No person, no government, no other philosophy is the answer to this hopeless quagmire. I believe this is the time for the church to renew its purpose of proclaiming The Truth of His love. He paid the penalty for our sins with the blood of His Son because He created us for an eternal relationship. He knew we could never be sin-free through our own best effort, so He paid our sin ransom. That Truth is the ONLY hope for our salvation. Who wouldn’t want to accept that offer? But in order to accept it, we first have to hear The Truth in all of its splendor, and without compromise. The Truth itself IS that magic elixir.
Please feel free to respond to this message, and please share with other social media friends.
May God Bless You abundantly,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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