|
|
|
|
When The First Are Last! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 8/Issue 2 Prophecy: This is My new covenant church. My church that hears My voice, which says walk ye in it, this is the way to go, turn this way, or go that way. It is not the church that follows man. It is not the one that hears all these self-exalted and man-exalted people who say that they know Me but I tell you they know nothing except for the voice of themselves and the voice of others like themselves. For the people who know My voice, they walk in My ways. They do My things and they are My people, My children, and I lead them by the hand like a father leads his child by the hand. My children are led by My Spirit. They are Mine and they hear My voice and they obey My voice. Just as a child knows the father’s voice and obeys because he knows the father’s love and he knows the father’s wrath and he knows the father only looks out for the child’s best interest. So My children know that I look out for them. I uphold them and if they will heed Me, if they will let Me discipline them, if they will let Me lead them, then they will come to that perfect place where I am completely and absolutely pleased. And I will come for them and I will bring them into My bosom and we will live in joy and peace forever. This is the hope. This is the joy. Reach for it My children. Thus saith the Lord. (Prophecy delivered at “My Father’s House”) Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: my Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. (Isa 5:1-2) The idea expressed here is the same as what God would do in planting His true church. He would find a fruitful hill to plant it on. In a way a fruitful hill would be a true pastor with a glorious calling. He would clear out the stones and we know in the parable of the sower, the stones represent the shallow people who are without sufficient roots to endure persecution for the Word’s sake. So those unfruitful people, who cannot endure persecutions and afflictions, will be cleared out. And then God plants His church with the choicest vine. We know the vine is Christ as in John 15. Next God builds a tower. And the tower represents having true watchmen, real intercessors within the church. I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent, And give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. (Isa 62:6-7) Those in the tower are praying and watching to see that the will of God is performed in the church. As in: Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. (Col 4:12) God puts a wine press in His church and we see this as where the Holy Spirit is able to press on the hearts of the congregation into sharing the joy of their salvation with others – “wine that maketh glad the hearts of men.” (Ps 104:15) So a useful produce is coming from God’s vineyard where the good news of the gospel is causing many to be saved and rejoice in God, as the wine of salvation flows freely. And so we see this in The LORD their God will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over His land-- For how great is its goodness and how great its beauty! Grain shall make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women. (Zech 9:16-17) And also, For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected. (Heb 6:7-8) Now in Isaiah God rejected the vineyard because it did not bring forth good fruit. So God takes away it’s hedge, breaks down its wall, lays it waste, so it will not be pruned or dug. (Isa 5:4-6) Eventually the Lord will burn it with fire. (Heb 6:8) So here is a warning that if we obey God and are fruitful God will protect us but if we disobey God and we are an unfruitful place then Please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge…break down its wall… and it shall be trampled. (Isa 5:5) But if we are fruitful He will not take away our hedge or break down our wall. If we are a fruitful place God will keep the hedge and wall in place, because they are there to protect the fruit. A fruitful vineyard will not be trampled down. Now what does the word trample remind you of? Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is at an end. But you see if our church is fruitful it will not be trampled down, and that means unbelievers, “Gentiles,” false christians will not be able to get into our church to ruin it. “And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture-- and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.’” (Ezek 34:17-19) In His fruitful church God will judge and eliminate those false brethren that muddy up the water for the others – the ones who backtalk, argue with and cast doubt upon Godly doctrine and holy preaching. But a church that is bringing forth good fruit will be pruned and dug. Now, what does it mean to be pruned and dug? “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2) For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.” (Jer 4:3) Jesus says thorns represent cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches and lust of other things. (Matt 13:22) In a church where God is pruning and digging those things that would hinder your fruitfulness are continually being dealt with and eliminated by God. God keeps digging into your heart. He keeps us contrite, tender hearted and humble before Him. Where God is keeping the church contrite, He’s pruning us and digging us. If we are pruned and dug, He keeps our hearts broken, keeps us in a submissive state listening to Him. Pruning also means He is cutting off the useless things. He cuts off all those unfruitful things the world may try to get us involved with. (2Tim 2:4) He cuts them off so we can keep focusing on the fruitful things. Because when God has a fruitful place, He protects it. So when we read Isaiah we can see that God is saying this is what I will do to a place that is not fruitful. But from this we can also understand what God will give to a place that is fruitful. He will give them a hedge; He will give them a tower; He will give them a wall; He will prune them, and He will water them. They will have the finest grain; they will be well fed; they will have Spiritual wine; they will thrive; and God will give them a protected and sanctified environment in which they can bring forth good fruit. And all this is what a real church should be. God has been moving very strongly here at “My Father’s House” to get us into that condition. And in doing that, He’s had to remove the stones; the people who were not in one accord, who did not have a heart to serve Him, who were rebellious against His word, people who were self appointed lords and wise in their own conceits, and who were stubborn and haughty and pushy. For us to enjoy unity, God had to remove all that. Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1Cor 1:10) Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, (Phil 1:27) Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (Phil 2:2) Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. (Phil 3:15) In order to be of the same mind – we have to give up our “mind” and learn of Christ. We must all put on the mind of Christ. Paul says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” (Phil 2:5) and “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” (Phil 3:15) And the mind Paul describes is, “But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,” “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:8-10,14) And If God is telling us to have this same mind and be of one accord then, when we are praying for the increase we must understand we are not praying for God to bring back into this church the same kind of people He just got rid of. Remember all we went through, as God eliminated the rebellious, conceited, self-opinionated, and haughty people; those people who contend with the priest, (Hos 4:4) and those who think they know more about how we ought to serve God than the pastor God has appointed. How many weird people we’ve dealt with here. Remember that one who just a week before was trying to commit suicide and then she comes in here arguing about what the preacher preaches. How can someone whose life is so screwed up think they have the wisdom to lead the church to Godliness? People like that do not have a heart for God. They are not humble. They do not try to commit suicide because they are humble, but because they are full of themselves – selfish, and things aren’t going their way. They aren’t broken. Jesus says, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven unless you humble yourself like a little child and when we pray for people to come into God’s church we have to pray that they come in like little children. They have to come in convicted that they need to know God; the God that is here with us. And to get to know Him they need to humble themselves and listen. (Eccl 5:1-2) If they don’t come in that way we do not want them. God has been teaching me for over 20 years how to have church His way and how people ought to conduct themselves in the true House of God. (1Tim 3:15) Yet people, who don’t even know God, as soon as you mention church they are ready to argue and fight about how they want to have church and what they think church ought to be. They are not prepared to be part of God’s church. They are not fit to come to God because they are still full of their own ideas, full of their own conceits. They’re still trying to have it their way. Now how did the new believers come to God in Acts? They came broken. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37) God broke them. And concerning the church in the book of Acts, from the very first, you keep hearing the word one accord. The believers prayed in one accord. (Acts 1:14) The Spirit fell, new believers came in, but they all stayed in one accord. (Acts 2:46) They had one mind. They did not have to come into the church and then get straightened out to be in one accord, did they? They came in straightened out in the sense that they had all repented and turned to Christ. They were in submission to God and they were all listening and obedient to what God said. They came in as little children, not to tell God what to do, but they came in to hear what God had to say. And that is why they were in one accord. Whenever people come in with the heart to hear what God has to say, it is no problem for them to stay in one accord. When people come into the church with a heart that is rebellious and they want to have things their own way and they are holding back on God, there isn’t any way to get the church in one accord. Proud people will not listen to you. Whatever differs with what they already think, they are going to fight over it. So, to have that kind of people come into the church is just going to put the church back into disunity, as where we were before God got rid of the divisions. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. (Titus 3:10-11) So do you know what you are asking for when you pray for the increase? And what are we willing to settle for when we pray for God to increase us? Because if you will settle for carnal, lukewarm, proud or foolish people as the increase that is what you’ll get. The devil will send you garbage if you will take it. If you are so hungry for an “increase” that you will accept false christians who come in not as little children, but as pushy bullies trying to have their own way, then you’re going to get trouble. Your church will be filled with divisions if you will accept such people as the increase and then brag on how God is blessing you with growth. But in the Bible that is not the way God builds His church. He does not bring that kind in to His church (John 6:44) and when that kind tried to come in He put a stop to it. He killed Sapphira and Ananias didn’t He? (Acts 5:1-10) He wasn’t going to have such hypocrisy dividing His church. He rebuked Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:21) He wasn’t going to allow a carnal show off to lord it over the true believers. Now He’s done a work here in “My Father’s House” to get the church into one accord. Yet we are also praying for an increase but the question is, do you believe God can bring in believers who are already in one accord with Him and with us? Or do we have to settle for these screwed up, proud, arrogant, haughty, opinionated people on the theory that, after a year or two here, God will break them down and straighten them out! What do you think? The truth is the church wasn’t designed to break the proud or rebellious down. God will do that before He brings them to church. The church is here for the ones who are already broken. The people who have to be broken, that is going on outside the church. Look at what Jesus did with Saul. (Acts 9:1-28) Saul was completely broken by Jesus before he was even introduced to the church. That is the work of God to bring the elect into humility and make them fit to enter into the church. And that is what we are to be asking Him to do. We are to be asking for the children of promise. (Gal 4:28) Children of promise are born from above. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13) People who are born from above cannot be filled with self-conceits and flesh and heresies and such. To be born from above is to be of God and to be in agreement with God. Now consider how often Christ has said the first shall be last and the last shall be first. (Matt 19:30, 20:16, Mark 9:35, 10:31, Luke 13:30) Over and over in the scriptures God has not chosen the first-born. Saul was the first king but God chose David, the second king over Saul. You can see this in Jacob and Esau, Isaac and Ishmael. This has been a standard pattern for God. The first shall be last, in other words, the one who gets the first shot at it is not the one that ends up being the one that God chooses. And this is the wisdom of God. If God gave David first shot, then Saul would never have had a chance. And God would not have been able to demonstrate the unworthiness of Saul. So the only way that God can righteously demonstrate the worthiness of the worthy and the unworthiness of the unworthy is to allow the unworthy to have the first chance. If God did not do it this way in the judgment the unrighteous could say – “God never gave us a chance. How can you know for sure we wouldn’t have been successful if we had a chance?” They could have a legal gripe against God that way. But in order that God should be shown completely righteous, God in His wisdom says, “I’ll take the ones that think they are something but are not and I’ll give them their chance. And then what they will do with their chance is demonstrate that they are not fit. And then I’ll be able to replace them with someone who is fit and no one will be able to complain. Everybody will be able to see the righteousness of what I do: the unworthiness of the wicked and the worthiness of the righteous.” God is so wise! In everything God does He has this awesome understanding of how to demonstrate His righteousness. So, for the wicked, there is no excuse left. Do you want to know God? Do you want to know His ways? Well, this is one of His ways. “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matt 20:16) In His absolute righteousness God offers the unworthy their chance first, else they could never have any chance at all. But after they fail at or reject their opportunity God finds the ones who will receive and brings them in. Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’” “So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ ‘For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’” (Luke 14:16-18,21,24) God has a preordained number of seats at His table. And He will fill every one of them. From the foundations of the earth, He knows who’s going to fill every one of them. And yet were He to fill the positions in His Kingdom up without ever offering an opportunity to the unworthy then the unworthy could accuse God of partiality, “How could we be saved, You never offered it to us?” But if He offers salvation to the unworthy and they reject it, then their blood is on their own head. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.” (Acts 13:46) Now God’s free to offer salvation to the righteous. And no one can complain because everybody’s had a fair chance. God has demonstrated that the people who rejected their salvation, rejected out of their own wickedness and not because of His unrighteousness. It was their own unrighteousness that causes them to reject God’s grace. “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) And so God is righteous to replace the ones who reject with those who will receive His grace. And the first shall be last and the last shall be first because God does what is right. Now this means that, even through us, God will offer things to the unrighteous first, and when they refuse to have church God’s way, then God will bring in the righteous. So we have experienced that the gracious truth God has shown unto us at “My Father’s House” was first offered to those “Christians” who already claimed to be God’s people just as the gospel was first offered to the Jews who thought they were God’s people. But as most of the Jews rejected the gospel – so most of those who already claim to be “saved” today have rejected what God is offering them in coming to a true “Spiritual Christianity.” And then again that is the method that God has always used, and therefore we don’t get discouraged when the first ones reject because the first shall be last. The ones who refuse it first prove themselves unworthy and then God opens the doors for the truly worthy ones to receive. But it is righteous of God to offer it first to those who have claimed to be His people. As when He says, “I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good...” (Isa 65:2) And when God established “My Father’s House” and took us through the battle to produce a real unity here, God gave us our introductory pamphlet which has been an offense to many people. But that is exactly what it is supposed to be, because it is part of God’s hedge around us. Introduction to "My Father’s House" Church We are a church, not of man nor of the will of man, but of God the Father, and directly appointed by Jesus Christ. Our pastor, Bill Taylor, was converted by a divine revelation of God without the instrumentality of man. God instructed him that he was not to be taught of man but by God Himself through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures. In subsequent meetings the Lord expressed a serious dissatisfaction with the contemporary churches in that Christ was not, in reality, the head. Nor was His Spirit free to manifest as He desired. Man was in control! The Lord requested that Bill Taylor would establish and pastor a church where Jesus would indeed be head and the Holy Spirit free to move as He willed. A church to please God and not man! The Lord named this church “My Father’s House.” WE ARE OF THE TRUE CHURCH WHO WORSHIP GOD IN THE SPIRIT, REJOICE IN CHRIST JESUS AND HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH. Jesus guides us Himself by His Spirit and His word. He keeps us sufficiently occupied with His work that we have no time nor inclination to be involved with the programs of other so-called churches or religious organizations. Jesus’ true church is not a milk cow to be milked by every one who claims to have a need or a cause. We jealously guard ourselves for Christ and His will is what we do. Those who would come to us to promote their causes, such as Gideon’s, Teen Missions, etc., no matter what merit they may seem to have, they are not our calling and we do not have room for them. We recognize “brethren” as those who hear the word of God and do it, as a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. If you believe in the heretical doctrine of “Once Saved - Always Saved!” we do not recognize you as brethren. God knows and we know that those who teach this lie are not of God, because God is truth and no lie is of the truth. The Scriptures teach that you must diligently make your calling and election sure! If you think that believing salvation is by Grace through faith means your conduct is irrelevant to your Christianity, then you are not true brethren and we cannot fellowship with you. You need to repent and be saved! God knows and we know that true Grace brings us the power and Spirit of God who enables us to live in a manner becoming to the Lord by a faith that appropriates the Grace to live Holy! If you are living a worldly Christian life then you need to repent to be saved, for if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you and you are not fit to fellowship with the true brethren. God is Spirit and if you have the Spirit of Christ then as He is so will you be in this world. If you do not have the Spirit of Christ then you are NOT HIS! And you are not of His church nor fit to fellowship with His true people! Christ’s church is composed of those who have been truly baptized, born again, picked up their cross, are daily crucifying their flesh, have come out of Babylon, have lost their worldly lives and are now living for the Lord in such a way as they are presenting their bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is their reasonable service. These doctrines and all the others found in the Word of God are important to Christ and to us that we should not be hearers only but doers of His words! We are not the church of the broad way for Jesus has taught us broad is the way that leads to death and many go that way. But narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. We are the church of the narrow way. We are not seeking fellowship with the many but with the few. If you are a true servant of Christ, humble and contrite, a lover of the Lord and His word and a keeper of His commandments, serious about your relationship with the Lord and your salvation, then you will find us to be worthy brethren who will help you on your way, that you may be found blameless in the day of Christ and walk worthy of the Lord in the here and now. But if you are shallow, foolish, silly, worldly, self seeking, hypocritical, looking to get your ears tickled or trying to feel “saved” by having a couple of hours of church a week while you continue to pursue your own interests and your own gain... Well, then do not trouble us for we bear in our bodies the marks of the Lord!
God gave us this introduction and what God is saying is He doesn’t want you in His church unless you are a real Christian. If you don’t have a heart for God don’t bother us, because we have no place for those kind of people. We’ve had enough of the hypocrites, we’ve had enough of the false believers who were serving themselves and just trying to use the church as something to please their flesh or excuse their sin. And in “My Father’s House” we are not here to do that. We are here to serve the Lord and we are not going to permit false brethren to come in and mess up what we’ve got. But to any believer who wants to serve the Lord with a heart that’s true – Come on in, we would love to have you. And so God has set a high standard here. But in reality it’s no higher than He has set for any other church. God has set the standard and if a person is to come into God’s true church, he must come in submitted unto God, he’s to come in submitted unto the pastor, he’s to come in submitted unto the brethren, he’s to be submitted unto God’s word, and he’s to come in submitted unto Christ. In that submission unto Christ, he’ll be in unity with everyone else who is in unity to Christ. Nobody would have a problem being a part of this church who is submitted to Christ. Anybody who has a problem with us and is not in unity with us, is not in unity with Christ. There is something in their lives that’s not submitted yet. And that makes them unworthy of God’s church because they are not of the same mind, they are not of one accord because Christ isn’t their head. And if Christ isn’t their head even if they come in and are physically present in the midst of the congregation, they are not part of His Body. And why would we want them to be part of our congregation if they are not part of Christ’s body. Does that make sense? And notice what the scripture says about Abraham. Abraham did not consider his own body which was, in a sense, already dead. He wasn’t looking to produce an increase by anything that came out of his own power or abilities or anything in the natural. He was trusting completely in God to produce that child of promise. Now as a church that’s what we must do. We must go to God with the attitude that we are not going to lower the standards just to get more people in here. We are not soliciting for just any kind of people. We are not going to use flesh or worldly programs or carnal promotions to attract new members.
We are not interested in having a child by Hagar – born of the works of flesh. (Gal 4:23) We will not put up with rebellious, opinionated, proud, haughty people just to have an increase. Lord, we are going to stay faithful to You; we are going to stay faithful to the things You’ve shown us and we expect that You have a people born from above who want to be part of a real church like you’ve given us here. And, God, you are going to make the new believers properly fit to be a part of your true church because they are Your children born of God. And You have made them what they are. They are the children of promise, not of the will of man. (John 1:13) We are expecting God to do that, which is what Abraham’s faith was expecting. And the only way you will have a church that’s a real church is to expect that. The increase must come from God (1Cor 3:6) and it must come by promise. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise… Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. (Gal 4:23,28) People go to the false church because they don’t really want to obey God and give Him His just due. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:1-2) Yet they do not want to admit that they are rebellious and disobedient. So they find a church with a hireling pastor who doesn’t care how holy or obedient his people are – He is just hoping they let him be their pastor and pay him his wages. And he doesn’t expect much of the people and the people only expect him to tickle their ears and tell them God loves them and they are saved and such. So they can reject God’s ways and feel like everything is still fine. And they are fraudulent illegitimate Christians going to fraudulent churches. But it is not that way in God’s real church. In the true church where there is real godly fruit, God will keep the walls up. And we are going to cooperate in helping Him keep the hedges up. We will keep trusting God for His increase and we will not let disobedient unregenerated people come in here and trample God’s courts (Rev 11:2) just so we can appear to be having an increase. Regarding the true increase we expect God to convict them, break them and bring them in as little children. If they are to be fit to be a part of this church, God’s true church, they must come in as little children. (Mark 10:15) When people look at the introduction to our church and speak against it, we aren’t shaken because the people we are talking to aren’t the ones who think, “These people are too hard; this church’s standards are too high.” Well God didn’t call us to have church the way most people have church – to please men. He called us to have church His way – to please God. And God is the one who sets the standards for His church, and instructs us that we may serve Him acceptably. The person we are looking for is not the one who thinks the standards are too high but the one who thinks, “This sounds like a real church. I wonder if I can be a part of such a church. God, could I be made worthy to be in a church like this?” That is who we are looking for. Most people think they are doing God a favor when they go to church. The truth is God is doing you a favor if He counts you worthy to be a part of His real church. And it is the ones who realize God is doing them a favor who will come submitted and able to receive God’s word. And newcomers are no good to God or us if they don’t come that way. So why should we pretend we want them. God doesn’t want them if they don’t come submitted. Why should we pretend we want them? God wants people to come to His church ready to learn, to obey, to follow Him. And that is what we want. We want them to be in unity with God and everything He’s done in us. We want brethren who are real Christians, little children ready to learn of God. And we thank you, Lord, You have done that in us and we pray that You preserve it and increase it in Jesus’ name. Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah (Ps 24:3-6) God’s holy mountain is Zion – His church. Who’s worthy to enter God’s church? One who’s clean and pure in heart, who doesn’t speak what is false. He will be of the congregation, the generation who seeks the Lord. These are the ones worthy to come in. Not just anybody can come in to God’s true church. Only the worthy are allowed in. They must come in with a right attitude. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isa 2:2-3) People aren’t coming to Mount Zion with an attitude that they can boss God or His people around or tell us how they think we ought to serve God. They are coming because they know God is here and they know the people here know God and these people are coming because they want to be taught of God. “Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts … and to pray before the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (Zech 8:22-23) These prophecies show us that the true believers are not arguing with God. They are coming together in unity. They are coming to God in humility. These people who God will let into His Kingdom are saying, “Teach us Your ways.” They are not telling God or His preacher, “You have to do it our way or we believe this that and the other and you need to teach us according to what we already believe.” God won’t accept them until they come to that place where they are humbled, where they will listen to Him. Now there will be a final fulfillment of this at the end of the age but there is also a present fulfillment of this. The final fulfillment will apply to everyone who survives unto the end of the age – but the present fulfillment applies to the elect individuals, as to how they must come to God. And no individual is ready to come to the mountain of the Lord until he’s been humbled or until he’s willing to recognize a true believer and say, “God is with you and I want to go with you so you can teach me about your God.” And only when they have that attitude in them are they fit to enter into God’s true church. As long as they are still full of themselves and their own conceits they aren’t fit for God’s church. You’ve got to let God break them. God is a consuming fire. (Heb 12:29) And He’s called all the birds of heaven to the great feast (Rev 19:17-18) where He will have more mercy on the vultures than the people who have continually resisted and made war against Him – God will give such people to the birds to eat if they don’t repent because in the end there won’t be anything left but what submits to Him. And so if you’re wise you’ll Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. (Ps 2:12) …whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Heb 12:26-27) And His shaking is going on for the purpose first to bring the disobedient to repentance and finally to the purpose of saving the whole creation from the wickedness of the unrepentant by destroying them. He will save you from your wickedness if you repent of it. He will purify you and purge you and make you fit for the kingdom. But if you won’t repent God will save the universe from you by destroying you and all the unrepentant people. It is a certainty that He will do it and nobody gets into God’s true church who doesn’t repent and come with humility to learn of God. But to those who properly repent they will be taught of God. “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:24-30) Prophecy: Thus saith the Lord, There are those who think they will enter the everlasting Kingdom of God who are not even fit to enter into My church in the world. Do you think the standards I set for entering into My Kingdom will be less than those I set for My church? I have set a plumbline in the midst of My people and that plumbline is Christ. You will measure up to His righteousness or you will be thrust out. My true church is the place where that standard of Christ’s righteousness is being lifted up and where My elect children are tutored in faith that they may be conformed to Christ’s righteousness and be found worthy of My everlasting Kingdom. Those who have been thrust out of My true church have already been rejected from My Kingdom. Those who have rejected My true church and left it of their own accord, have judged themselves unworthy of eternal life. If they do not repent, they will be forever lost. Those who go to the false churches which have lowered My standards in order to please men will be thrust out when the time comes to enter My Kingdom – for I do not have various standards – higher ones for those, lower ones for these. My standard is Christ – you will meet the standard of His righteousness or you will not enter My Kingdom. And many who have thought themselves to be first in acceptance and secure in their salvation will find at the Judgment that they are least and rejected, for they have rejected My high standard for man’s lower standards – and they are unworthy of eternal life. For many, I say, who are first shall be last and perish – whereas many who have been late to see My standards but have at last seen My true righteousness and have accepted My standard and have come in faith to Christ to be made fit for My Kingdom – many, I say, who have been rejected by men because they have taken hold at last of My vital truths and turned away from mankind’s corrupted versions of Christianity, they shall be first – for what the first have not seen the last have seen – and what the first have rejected these last have whole heartedly accepted. And so what the first are found unworthy of the last will be counted worthy of. And there will be great rejoicing in these last who have made themselves worthy by faith in Christ and have become first. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in those first who by rejecting My truth and My Spirit have made themselves last by their disobedience and unbelief, thus saith the Lord. (Prophecy delivered at “My Father’s House”)
The Glory of His Grace is offered free of
charge. However, tax-deductible contributions can be made to “My Father’s House”
and are much appreciated.
113 Martin St. Indian Harbour Beach, FL, USA 32937
|
|
Copyright © 2006 My Father's House Incorporated
|
