Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

October 7, 2019

As we experience the news these days, it seems like we are the generation that has death stalking us. Apart from the soon return of Christ, we will all pass through death, so the fact that we die is not extraordinary. What seems extraordinary is the way death surrounds us in increasingly unexpected ways. In the past week we have witnessed a raging gunman in Texas taking lives with seeming randomness. We have seen a raging fire on a diving excursion kill the 34 below deck in berths that became fiery tombs. We have seen a raging hurricane in the Bahamas all but obliterate buildings with a death toll that seems certain to rise into the hundreds. These events make us realize there are no safe places and no ways to protect ourselves or our loved ones from death that seems to be stalking us.

The Lord Jesus and the Bible warned us it would be like this in the times immediately before the Lord Jesus takes His church home, beginning the seven years of the Great Tribulation. Jesus said that the time between His first and second comings will be marked by wars, diseases, famines, and earthquakes and other natural disasters.  However, He said that it will be like birth pangs; the closer to the end, the more rapid and severe the labor pains. He said in Matthew 24:8, “All these are but the beginning of birth pangs.” The Lord Jesus specifically mentioned nations perplexed at the roaring and tossing of the sea and a feeling of distress and helplessness over our powerlessness to change it. Certainly we experienced this the past week with hurricane Dorian.

As Christians living in this season of history, the Lord Jesus wants us to live in His peace. As we consider the reality of death, we realize in the Bible there is an enormous difference between dying and perishing. Christians pass through death into the presence of the Lord Jesus, while those without Christ perish, held in torment in Hades awaiting the final Day of Judgment and eternity in torment separated from God.

The Lord Jesus drew the distinction between dying and perishing in a teaching in Luke 13:1-5. The teaching came from the news that some people from Galilee had been killed by Pilate as he offered their blood in pagan worship. In another recent event, 18 people had been killed by a tower of Siloam falling on them in Jerusalem. It is here that the Lord Jesus drew the distinction between dying and perishing. Here is the account:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”  Luke 13:1-5

Why did Jesus use the word perish? Perish means to be destroyed. Jesus didn’t use it to mean the ending of existence. He used it to describe being forever separated from God and assigned a place of eternal judgment. He put it this way in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”

The Lord Jesus left no question of eternal torment as He said in Matthew 25:46, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” The Lord
Jesus stated there is an equivalence of eternity both for judgment and for eternal life with God and the Lord Jesus.

What does the Lord Jesus mean when He calls us to repent? To repent is a total turning of direction in life. It is turning from sin and a self directed life to trusting in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and following Him as the Lord of life. It is the promise of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Notice the promise of Jesus that those who believe in Him will not perish. The word I love in this verse is the word “whoever” because I know I can put my name in that truth. I am one who is fully trusting in the Lord Jesus for salvation and seeking to follow Him, however imperfectly, as the Lord of my life. How important it is for you to make sure you are fully trusting Jesus for salvation and following Him in loving worship, trust, and obedience as the Lord of your life.

Thus a Christian does not fear death though it seems to be stalking this generation. A Christian is confident that nothing, including death, will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39). A Christian is confident that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-7). A Christian is confident that death is not random for a Christian, but that all our days are already measured out by God (Psalm 139:16). A Christian is confident in the face of death because we know He will not leave our side, and His grace is always enough (2 Corinthians 12:9).

It is the reality of people perishing if they don’t have faith in Christ that compels a Christian to go into all the world and proclaim the Good News of the Gospel to all who will listen. It is why Christians today in many places go to share the Gospel even at risk of imprisonment or death. The real tragedy is not that people die from gunmen or fires or storms, but that people die without the Lord Jesus, heading into eternal judgment. The Lord Jesus wants us to understand this because the reality of death stalking us as a generation would lead to fear if we didn’t have confidence that our lives are safe in Jesus. The Lord Jesus wants us to know so that we will with urgency proclaim the Gospel to all we can while still there is time. We can live with fearless abandon to the cause of Christ because our future is secure, and yet we know that God is not willing that any perish, and that He wills that all people groups and nations will have a chance to hear and respond to the Gospel (Matthew 24:14, 2 Peter 3:9).

The events in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton have spurred a national discussion on words and their power. What accountability should a person have for their words and their impact on others? It is an important issue. One study I read determined that women on average use 16,215 words a day. Men use slightly less words averaging 15,699 words a day. That means the average person speaks or writes over 5.8 million words a year. With social media, everyone’s words have the potential of being spread around the world.  So, do words matter?

This blog is not about sharing my perspective. Its purpose is to bring the perspective of God’s Word, the Bible, to the key issues and questions of our day. On this issue of determining if words matter, the Bible and the Lord Jesus Himself speaks with such clarity and urgency it should give each of us pause to consider how we are using words. Words matter so much to God that every word we have used has been recorded for review by God when He sends the Lord Jesus to judge each person (Matthew 12:36). The Bible warns us that in the Last Days words will be used as weapons of destruction. In the toxic world we live in, how important it is that we examine our use of words.

Why does the Bible say our words are important? There is power of spiritual life and death in them. Proverbs 18:21 puts it this way, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” The Bible says there is a power in word that brings life to others (builds them up) and a power that brings death to the spirit of others (tears them down). As Jesus calls us to love others with a commitment to bring life to them, to do and say only what is good and true, it brings a high accountability for our words.

The Bible teaches our words have a life of their own once spoken or written and read by others. You can’t pull words back once delivered. How many of us have the words of a frustrated parent still speaking to us? On a few projects with my father when I wasn’t able to do it as he wanted, a few times the careless words would come, “What’s the matter with you, stupid, can’t you do anything right?” It was just frustration in a moment, not really meant, yet those words still live in me. When I make a mistake on something I am trying to do (and believe me, I make a lot of them), the words still speak, “What’s the matter with you, stupid, can’t you do anything right?” Words have a life that continues after they are spoken or written that can’t be pulled back — particularly negative words which may live in others the rest of their lives. Obviously, when people in high office use words that denigrate whole groups of people because of their nationality, ethnicity, skin color, cities they live in, economic status, there is a power in their words that brings death to the spirit as it takes away dignity, worth, value that all human beings have as ones created in the likeness of God.

The Bible teaches that the words we use matter because words express the true character of a person. The Lord Jesus says that the words we use reflect who we are on the inside. Here is what the Lord Jesus said in His critically important teaching on words in Matthew 12:33-37:

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The Lord Jesus says as a simple truth that words are one of the best revealers of the true character of a person. You can’t blame others for the words you use. You can’t use reciprocity as a standard to justify your words. The other person or persons didn’t create your response, your words are the revealing of your character, not the character of others.  One who uses words to hurt, to denigrate, to attack, to tear down, to destroy are reflecting the dark character of his or her own heart. Words matter, for they reveal who we truly are.

It is interesting that the words used by the person in the highest office of the land are said to be expected, because if that person perceives he is being attacked, he will attack back many times as hard. It’s as if this is OK, or that somehow the responsibility lies with the other person for saying something critical in the first place. This person in a tweet in 2012 put it this way, “When someone attacks me, I always attack back … except 100x more. This has nothing to do with tirade but rather a way of life.” Of course this strategy of leaders is not new in life. The first person to express that attitude was Lamech, a descendant of Cain, who was the first murderer. What makes Lamech noteworthy in the Bible is that he is the first man to have multiple wives. In Genesis 4:23-24 it describes  what Lamech said to his two wives, “Adah and Zilah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:  I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”  Thus Lamech sees himself so self important, so full of dangerous pride, that he will strike back seventy-seven times as hard as he was hit. Even he didn’t go as far as a hundred times. The Lord Jesus says that responses like that are important, for they express the true heart of a person.

Words matter, the Lord Jesus says, because when they become weapons used to attack others they become a violation of the sixth commandment of God, “Thou shall not murder.” As the Lord Jesus gives His key teaching in Matthew 5-7, it is important to note that the first issue He addressed is how we use words. The Lord Jesus said He did not come to destroy the moral and spiritual law of God, He came to fulfill them. He then preceded to take key commandments and bring true understanding to what God’s intent is with the particular law. The first commandment He used was about how we use words. Think about that — using words as weapons against others is the first issue the Lord Jesus addressed! How important our words are to God. The Lord Jesus said this in Matthew 5:21-22:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says,’You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Words matter, Jesus says, because when they are used as weapons to hurt, denigrate, demean others they are acts of murder subject to the judgment of God. Thus words are important not just because they may incite others to acts of physical violence, they are important because they are acts of violence in themselves. They are acts of violence that come from a spirit of murder as much as the one who actually takes a gun to murder. No good that a person does or stands for would be greater than the evil done.

The Bible teaches that words are important because when we use them to hurt, demean, denigrate others we grieve the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. Everyone is accountable for their words but those who are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ have a direct accountability for their words. The Apostle Paul by the Spirit of God put it this way in Ephesians 4:29-32 says this about words:

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  

Words are important, they are only to be used to build others up. Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ need to lead in this by example. We need to hold one another accountable for our words, whether spoken or posted on social media. We also must humbly but clearly speak to those in power and influence and to all who will listen to be careful what you say. We must remember our words are much more important than the particular political agenda we pursue. We are eternally accountable for our words and whether they were used to bring life or death, to build up or to tear down. We must be clear to the world that those who are denigrating and demeaning others based on where they are from, their ethnicity, their city of residence, their economic status, or their nationality, aren’t speaking “truth”.  They are instruments of hate. We may be the lambs of the Lord Jesus, but we will not be silent.

We’re poor little lambs who’ve lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa!

This line comes from a Rudyard Kipling poem about soldiers at war far from home who are drinking away their sorrows because they have lost their way. They went to war with vision and purpose but that got lost in the realities of war and distance from home. The poem says in one stanza,

We have done with Hope and Honour, we are lost to Love and Truth,
We are dropping down the ladder rung by rung,
And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth.

That in many ways describes the church in the USA.  We have lost our way.  We have lost our influence.  We have lost our Hope.  We are lost to the Love and Truth Jesus calls us to live for.  We have lost our mission.  We have lost our prophetic voice.  The Holy Spirit, Who is so powerfully at work right now in other places in the world, seems to have quietly slipped out the door while we are engaged in other ideas of church that are not His.

The purpose of Morningcomes.blog is to call out, awaken, and to encourage a movement of the remnant of the church, still faithful but needing a voice, a perspective, a wisdom to stay faithful. There are remnants in various places, but I think in many ways we are like champions in a heavyweight bout who have taken a major punch and are getting back on our feet struggling to fight one more round.

All of this is exactly as Jesus said it would be in the Last Days. The church in the last days for the most part is moving to apostasy. It is asleep, distracted, morally compromised, and so busy with the daily activities in life that they have little time or energy for a significant spiritual life. When the Lord Jesus taught on the importance of being persistent in prayer, He raised this question about the Last Days in Luke 18:8, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” It is my prayer and effort that at least among the remnant Jesus will find those living by a bold, confident faith that compels them into the world to make disciples.

I think there are two major movements in the church in the USA today that have caused the church to lose her way. One is a movement that started in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly led by two men who were most known for the Gospel: Jerry Falwell and James Kennedy. Both men spearheaded efforts to focus on political movements to save America, and with Dr. Kennedy, to bring righteousness to earth all over the world.  To Falwell, the majority of America was good, but there was a small group of elitist leftists who had stolen the country. The need was to awaken the Moral Majority politically and bring Christian values to society. In Dr. Kennedy’s theology, he believed the church was to bring righteousness to earth and that in every voting cycle the moral majority would gain influence in a movement that would not only bring righteousness to the USA but would bring it to all nations. These two who came to prominence, being known for the Gospel, lost their way and with them, a significant part of the church also lost their way.

Perhaps the height of this came politically under the presidency of Ronald Reagan.  His philosophy throughout his life, brought to climax in his presidency, is that America is the “city set on a hill” whose purpose is to bring light to all nations. To Reagan, America stood for the longing of all people for freedom. But in the Bible, the concept of a city set on a hill whose light all can see is not about a nation, but about the church (Matthew 5:14-16). To the Lord Jesus, the root of freedom is not political. It is spiritual. Only the Lord Jesus can set a person free from the power of sin, Satan, and death. The purpose of the founding of the nation was to give freedom to the proclamation of the Gospel, because only the Lord Jesus can truly set people free.

This substitution of the USA for the church has resulted today in an ambition that seems only to desire to make America great. Today the greatness of America is not defined by classic definitions of freedom, but by financial prosperity and security. We live for no greater values than personal prosperity and security. Greatness is only defined by the American dollar. We have no desires in the world but that our financial interests are always the priority and that we are protected from anything that would threaten our prosperity and security. The American dollar is the measure of all our relationships, dramatically changing the world and even more significantly advancing a vacuum in leadership that a global system and leader will fill.

The evangelical church in this movement has become merely a voting block. We have joined a tribalism that divides politically, not spiritually. The church has lost its voice. In the chaos of spiritual and moral outrage that demeans, diminishes, and divides us. the church is silent. We are divided in such a way that we are either for them in all their political agenda, or we should leave.

While this is happening, another major part of the church is lost going in a radically different direction. The first group who saw “America as a shining light” was birthed by the generation that came out of World War 2. There is a second generation of the church mostly birthed since the 1960s and early 1970s. This generation that came to adulthood in the 1960s, my generation, was a generation of revolution. It started out with the call of civil rights.  We believed all the ways people were discriminated against by color should be eliminated from our laws and practices.  But the civil rights movement was overtaken by protest against the Vietnam war. That was quickly replaced by the sexual revolution. Freedom was expressed in a sex, drugs, and rock and roll mentality that said evil was the Puritan restrictions that kept us from our freedom to live by our own rules. We were very good at tearing things down. We did nothing though to build anything up in its place.

Paralleling this was the rise of evolutionary theory that went way beyond theories of origins. If man is not a creation of God but a consequence of random evolutionary developments, that means man has no significance as one made in the image of God. Man has no more significance than any other being. There is no inherent purpose to life beyond survival and pleasure. Also, if we are not created by God, there is no moral accountability that we have before God. There are no moral or spiritual absolutes. There is no God to bring eternal judgment or reward. Thus we have to figure it out for ourselves, and no one has the right to tell us what is personally right or wrong for us.

As the church seeks to relate to this generation born and raised post 1960s, a generation raised with evolution as fact and not theory, it has lost its way. It seeks to be relevant and tries to attract people to Jesus and Christianity. In this desire to attract people to Jesus, they have made Jesus and God in their own image. In this method of attraction, God is only love. This God is nonjudgmental, He is incredibly tolerant, and He is just as upset about the world as you are.  In this method of attraction, we don’t talk about sin and repentance; we talk about brokenness and healing. In this method of attraction, church is about creating warm, enjoyable places where not only can you come as you are, you can stay where you are because Jesus loves and accepts you no matter what.

To reflect on this method of attracting people to Jesus, I think you need to go back to the lies of Satan in the Garden in Genesis 3. The strategy is the same. The first lie was to deny the clarity and authority of God’s Word. Satan asks, “Did God say …?” In this lie, it is for man to decide what part of God’s Word is clear and authoritative. In many places, in the church that seeks to attract people to Jesus, the Bible is no longer considered clear and authoritative. Principles of the Bible understood and accepted by all the previous generation of the church are abandoned. Issues of sexuality that the Bible has addressed without ambiguity are now seen as having room for different interpretations.  Now we no longer need to understand what is truth or not; we just need to learn to love each other, because who can really say, “Thus says the Word of God.”

Coupled with that first lie in the Garden, Satan moved on to a God who does not judge.  Satan said, “You will not surely die.” To this part of the church that wants to attract people to Jesus, God is only love. God has no wrath against sin and sinners. There is no judgment or hell to fear. The attraction church would never seek to create a fear of judgment as a key motivation to faith, even though the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To the attraction church, God is love; He would not put people into torment in eternal hell. Somehow, if you don’t join in following Jesus, you will be eternally terminated. The existence of your soul will end.  It’s interesting why eternally destroying a soul is of more comfort than an eternal hell.

The third lie that Satan told is that the most enjoyable things in life are outside God’s will. The forbidden fruit is the best fruit. It is only a rules-obsessed God who has selfish desires that would keep you from the best in life. In Jesus we have someone who loves us no matter what we do, so let’s not make moral conduct an issue.

The church in the USA are poor little lambs who have lost our way. We lost our way through politics, and we lost our way through trying to make a Jesus into a modern figure of tolerance. We have lost our voice because political tribal loyalties are greater than spiritual truths. We have lost our voice through a fear of offending anyone, as it is okay for everyone to do what is right in their own eyes.

For the remnant Christian church, the way forward is clear. We stand unashamed of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, for in it alone is the power of God to save. We have one message to the world: Christ and Him crucified (Romans 1:16-18, 1 Corinthians 2:2). We stand on the Word of God as clear and authoritative and all that we need to know for life and godliness. We believe the Spirit of God moved and superintended through human authors so that what is written is not the word of man, but the Word of God (2 Peter 1:20-21). We believe that God has called all to be holy, because He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). We believe repentance of a self-directed life and a commitment to follow Jesus as Lord, as well as trusting Him as Savior, is essential to being saved (Matthew 4:17, John 14:6). We believe Jesus did not come to destroy the moral Law, but to empower us by His grace to fulfill it as we walk in the truth of His Word and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 5:17-20, Romans 8:1-11). We believe in an eternal place of reward with Jesus, and we believe in an eternal hell of judgment for those who stand on Judgment Day on their own (Revelation 20:11-15, 21:1-8). We believe the church has a simple mission in life to seek to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20, John 20:21). We believe Jesus is coming for His church soon and judgment is coming to the world, so we live with an urgency to proclaim the Gospel (John 9:4).

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to live in Biblical times and to have your life as part of the story? Wonder no more. You are living in Biblical times and your life is part of the story. One of the most written about generations in the Bible is the generation alive on Earth when the Lord Jesus Christ comes for His church and then comes to Earth to bring His kingdom and reign for a thousand years. All of this is foretold in the Bible through the Lord Jesus and the prophets. Jesus wants His church to recognize their times and to redeem the time.

The purpose of MorningComes.blog is to help bring understanding of what is happening in the world and how to use the time for the purpose God has for His church in the last
generation. Jesus said it would be very simple to recognize the last generation. He said to watch Jerusalem (Luke 21:24). Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Jesus and the Bible prophesied of a reborn nation of Israel that will once again have authority over Jerusalem. Israel as a nation was reborn in 1948. Jerusalem took full control of Jerusalem in 1967. Jesus says the generation that sees this will see the second coming of Jesus (Luke 21:28-36).

Jesus wants us to know the time we live in for three reasons. First, we will be the generation of the church that completes the Great Commission. Second, it will be an age of the church marked by false teaching, great immorality, and lukewarm Christians. Third, it will be a time so busy and troubling that being preoccupied with the cares and anxieties of daily living will keep people from watching and praying.

One role God has given within the church is as Watchman. Early in my Seminary life God made that calling of Watchman so clear through the call of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:16-21). Watchmen had a particular role in ancient Israel of keeping watch through the night as people slept. They were to awaken and warn people of danger if it was threatening. A key passage that God has used in my life and ministry is Isaiah 21:11-12:

“One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?” The watchman says, “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.”

How can a watchman look at a night and say that the signs indicate that both morning is coming and also the night? This prophecy has particular application to our generation. The signs indicate Jesus is coming soon for His church. We see the approaching of the dawn, when Jesus comes to take His bride home. This is the blessed hope that causes us to lift our eyes in anticipation of His coming. But this day will also bring the terrible night of seven years of trouble and great tribulation that will precede the coming of Jesus to bring His kingdom to earth for a thousand years.

In this blog, we will look together at the signs of Biblical prophecy being fulfilled daily. We will bring clarity to Biblical teaching of the spiritual and moral issues we will face. We will have times to lament. We will have times to reflect. We will have times of devotional thoughts. We will have times of Biblical exposition, explanation.

Joining me on this blog will be my daughter Jennifer Hall. She is a wife, a mother of three, and a woman of great insight, wisdom, wit, and spiritual depth. She will bring a unique voice to the issues of the day. She will speak to the hearts and minds of her generation and her children’s generation.

We hope to have opportunity for some interaction with us through a commentary opportunity with each new post.

What in the world is happening with the weather? It seems like extremes are the new normal. California has gone in this season from years of drought to record rainfall and snow. In the Sierras at Tahoe there is already well over 400 inches of snowfall with us being only part way through the 2018-19 snow season. Yet in the last 18 months California has lost 27 million trees to drought. There is a Billy Joel song, called I Go To Extremes in which Joel asks himself the question, “Why do I go to extremes?” Well, why is the weather right now going to extremes?

Many point to this as the consequences of global warming caused by our abuse of the planet. There is no question we as mankind have not been good stewards of the planet, and extremes in weather are partially a consequence. From the beginning in the Garden, God instructed Adam to rule over creation on God’s behalf. Abuse of that stewardship is another consequence of our rebellion against God. We have exploited earth for our own purposes.

But I don’t think that rebellion of our stewardship fully marks the reasons for the extremes in weather. I think behind it is a God of mercy and justice who is likely speaking through what we call nature to warn us of the danger of our ways and warn of the soon coming judgment of God.

Throughout the history of mankind God has used the natural world as a voice to shout to us the dangers of our ways and the need to repent and turn to God. Droughts and floods have both been used by God to warn us. They were key tools of God in the history of Israel to warn and call to repentance. The Lord Jesus specifically mentioned droughts and earthquakes, evidence of disruption in the natural world, as warning signs of the soon coming of judgment (Matthew 24:7-8). Jesus describes these like birth pains of a pregnant woman.  The closer to birth, the more frequent and intense the birth pains. To me it is impossible to look at the 21st century and not describe it as the natural world going to extremes.

For we as disciples and the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, these extremes bring us to the awareness of how soon our Lord Jesus is coming for His church. They remind us how soon the night is coming in which we can no longer do the work of taking the Gospel to all nations and building up one another in the love and truth of knowing Jesus and becoming like Him. There are so many people even in our daily lives that are invisible to us, but clearly seen and passionately sought by our Lord Jesus. The effort of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God is to help us see, care about, and seek to reach those who are perishing in their sins. Go into daily life asking God to help you see people through Jesus’ eyes, to feel for them with Jesus’ heart, and to reach out to them by the Holy Spirit’s leading and enabling.

One way to help us keep focus is to use the news of how the weather and the natural world are going to extremes to remind us of what it means. The night of judgment is coming soon for those in this world, as well as the morning for the church of being taken up from earth and home to heaven for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. May God find us faithful and hard at work in His harvest. May He help us to have eyes that see and hearts who care about the invisible in our world that we might reach them for our Lord Jesus Christ.