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In a startling prophetic experience, the Lord said, "
I have a message for the Church!"The message is - "Brace yourself!
The hand of the Lord is coming down upon the Church." I said "Lord!" that
sounds threatening, He replied "It is!"
THE HAND OF THE LORD
The hand of the Lord deals with
His Divine Government. His hand will come down and commence to shake down everything He
has not built. The hand of the Lord also speaks of the functioning fivefold
ministry flowing together. The Word of God declares in Psalm 127:1 "Unless the LORD
builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the
watchman stays awake in vain." The writer of the book of Hebrews warns us concerning
this upcoming shaking, in Hebrews 12:25-29 declaring See that you do not refuse Him who
speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we
not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 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. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let
us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our
God is a consuming fire.
God Is Going To Deal With Our
Foundation
God will Demolish Mans
Self-glorifying Efforts.
God is beginning to reveal and
shake down every work that is not of HIM. The example of how He dealt with the tower of
Babel is a warning for all who attempt to build a name for themselves. In Genesis 11:1-9
Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they
journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt
there. Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them
thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had slime for mortar. And they said,
"Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us
make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole
earth." But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men
had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one
language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be
withheld from them. "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they
may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from
there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its
name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and
from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
God is again destorying every
effort of mankind to build a name for themselves and attempting to get to heaven without
God. This coming judgnment of God will deal with fruit as well as foundation. The
Refiners fire will only serve to purify and make more precious the true faith. (See
Malachi 3:1-3)
The Tower of Babel was an ancient
tower symbolizing man's pride and rebellion that was built during the period after the
flood. The teachings are many for us in this display of Gods disapproval of our
efforts to seek a name and a place for ourselves apart from the Spirit of God. We must
remember salvation is from the Lord, man can not work his way into the kingdom of God.
(See Eph. 2:8-10) also (Titus 3:5-7).
Brick In The Place Of Stone-
Bricks Speaks of the work of man.
The tower was constructed of
brick, brick is always the type of mans labors and mans work. Man builds with
brick because they are all formed alike, uniformity is not a substitute for true unity,
however bricks are an inferior substitute for stone. ( see Is. 9:10). No matter how big a
tower we build it is nothing for God to shake down. To men the tower is a architectural
monument Deut. 1:28, but to God it is so small that He must come down from heaven to catch
a glimpse of this tiny endeavor. The construction of the tower and city is described as an
act of self-glorification by the builders. Mankind continuously plays the role of a fool
when he attempts to seek for his own protection, attempting to be his own salvation. It is
a mistake to seek salvation and help from any source except God. See Proverbs 14:12, and
Acts 4:12.
OUR FOUNDATION IS FUNDAMENTAL
Foundation is the strong, stable
base on which a building is built. Jesus spoke very powerful about foundations in the
Sermon on the Mount, teaching that believers should build their faith on the strong, solid
foundation of obeying His Word. The apostle Paul also referred to Christ as a foundation
for believers (See1 Cor. 3:11). The Prophet Isaiah reveals how precious and powerful
Christ Jesus is in Isa 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion
a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
whoever believes will not act hastily.
In this vision I was told that we
must examine the foundation to make sure it was solid. It is crucial that we have the
correct foundation. Hear the warning of Jesus Christ spoken in Matthew 7:20-27
"Therefore by their fruits you will know them. "Not everyone who says to Me,
'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in
heaven. "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your
name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I
will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a
wise man who built his house on the rock: "and the rain descended, the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the
rock. "Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be
like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: "and the rain descended, the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its
fall."
Notice Jesus was inspecting the
foundation not just the deeds being done. This is a strong warning, against just trusting
in what one does as evidence that they are right with God.
EXAMINATION TIME
It is time for some very close
investigation and examinations. Hear these instructions found in 2 Cor 13:5 "Examine
yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-- unless indeed you are disqualified". It is
time to ask the Spirit of God to turn on the search light and expose everything false and
fake in our life.
The only sure foundation is the
Word of God. Paul writes in 1 Cor 3:11-15 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that
which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day
will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's
work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will
receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be
saved, yet so as through fire. The fire of Gods judgment will only work the work of
purifying if our foundation is correct and will only prove what we have built.
THE SURE SOLID FOUNDATION
Jesus Christ is the only true
Cornerstone and Foundation. Ps 118:22-23 The stone which the builders rejected has become
the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD'S doing; it is
marvelous in our eyes. We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builder together for
an habitation of God through the Spirit.
THE FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY
This coming Government of
Gods hand will be the functioning five fold ministry spoken of in Pauls letter
to the Church at Ephesus in Eph 4:11-14 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints
for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children,
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men,
in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.
We are experiencing the unfolding
of the promised five fold ministry. Thank God for how the Spirit of God is releasing
understanding about the roles and responsibilities of these ministries. God is bringing
about a team ministry that will prepare the Saints for the work of service. The Christian
life was never intented to be something we observed someone else doing. It is time to be
actively serving Jesus.
THE PROPER POSTURE AND POSITION
In response to the warning of
"brace yourself" I questioned "Lord! How can we be ready for the hand of
God?" He said only in the place of true humility. It is time to get honest and
humble before the Lord. We have been brought to a place of real repentance. It is a broken
and contrite heart that touches the heart of God. (See Psalms 51:17.
May God grant us the grace to fall
upon the Rock in true humility. Asking God to prune us and cut away from our lives
anything that would keep us from being fruitful for the Kingdom of God. We welcome this
coming shaking in order to deal with any deception. Remember it is only on Christ the
Solid Rock we can stand, all else is sinking sand. (Amen)
Eagle's View
Ministries with Bobby Conner
Box 1028 Moravian Falls, NC. 28654 |