Why I changed My message today in church...

I changed my message today, in church. I had been going through a short series of messages on Psalm 1 and 2, â€œThe One and The Manyâ€, in which God showed me that these two Psalms are placed together and begin the Psalms for a reason.

As Individuals we must go to God, know God and live before Him, and one day as individuals we will answer to God. The Psalm speaks of the individuals separation from the world, in his thoughts and inner life, due to his being â€œPlanted by rivers of waterâ€¦â€ i.e. being born again of the Spirit. The Psalm assumes that the prevailing opinions of the world, are â€œthe counsel of the ungodlyâ€ but this individual has been separated from all of that, by the Word of God.

This morning I was going to adress Psalm 2, which by contrast, steps back and takes in the whole world, â€œWhy do the Heathen Rage?â€. â€œWhy do the people imagine a vain thing?â€, this Psalm speaks of the masses, and their confusion, due to being so badly mislead by their â€œExpertsâ€, they hold to a â€œVain Imaginationâ€, which will bring upon them the wrath of God.

But I never got that far this morning, because while we were worshipping, a group of young men, whom we in the church had been evangelizing through a basketball team we formed , named â€œThe Defendersâ€ came in among us.

I realized as we sing the familiar songs, hymns and Spiritual songs as we always do, in the church, that perhaps these young people had no idea why we should do so.

Our service was powerful and dynamic this morning, there was a prophecy, which was very edifying, and the Spirit of God was very evident.

Fully intending to do my exposition on Psalm 2, I felt the leading to give a mini-sermon n why we sing praises to God. I explained the theological truth that God doesnâ€™t need our praises, HE knows who He is and has myriads of Angels to praise Him.

We need to Praise God, however. Why? Because our primal human problem, which lies at the root of all of our problems, is that we have tried to be God ourselves, making our own rules, deciding for ourselves what reality is, what our morality should be, and how our life should be lived.

I explained to the young people that what a Christian conversion is, is the repudiation of our own godhood, â€œI donâ€™t want to be a â€œgodâ€ anymoreâ€ I want to accept Godâ€™s forgiveness, and humble myself to God and become a man under God, a worshipper.

But the spiritual plague of wanting to be â€œGodâ€ is so strong, that we constantly need to worship and adore the one above us, He who is Holy, we need to hear ourselves praising Him, and adoring his attributes, and re-asserting our own humble creature-hood. This is the meaning of the lifting of Holy Hands, and exalting him, we need Him we look up to heaven, from whence cometh our help.

But one thing leads to another, and before I knew it I was discussing the sure judgment coming upon all â€œpretender godsâ€. A terrible time of testing and then judgment is coming upon the world, and I saw (perhaps by the Spirit) how unready and mislead and distracted these young men were for it.

The urgency of this late hour seized upon my soul, and all I could do was try to reach them with the blessed gospel of the one who has â€œloved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloodâ€.

Compassion came heavily upon me for these young people, of a different generation and outlook than my own. How can we reach them? How unique they are in history!

When I was young, I knew about God and Jesus and that God was above me. I was born and raised in a world that still gave outward respect to God and Christianity, I knew what it was to pray and ask for Godâ€™s help.We now have completely godless generations in America! This is the hellish world the leftist cultural revolution has left us.

I didnâ€™t have technology that constantly distracted me, I wasnâ€™t awash with the rebellion and disrespect that inculcates the young through entertainment, â€œeducationâ€ and the general media.

So I just gave way to the Spirit and tried only to tell these precious ones, the eternal gospel of the substitution of Jesus for our sins.

I know I will get back to the second Psalm, it is the WORD OF GOD after all and full of prophetic application for our day. And when I do,(God willing) God will use it and perhaps even save souls through it, but this morning I caught a glimpse of the very severe urgency we must have for the salvation of souls.

Why I Changed My Message...
Posted on February 1, 2016 by billrandles

I changed my message today, in church. I had been going through a short series of messages on Psalm 1 and 2, “The One and The Many”, in which God showed me that these two Psalms are placed together and begin the Psalms for a reason. Psalm 1 emphasizes the individual, “Blessed is the man...”.

As Individuals we must go to God, know God and live before Him, and one day as individuals we will answer to God. The Psalm speaks of the individuals separation from the world, in his thoughts and inner life, due to his being “Planted by rivers of water...” i.e. being born again of the Spirit. The Psalm assumes that the prevailing opinions of the world, are “the counsel of the ungodly” but this individual has been separated from all of that, by the Word of God.

This morning I was going to adress Psalm 2, which by contrast, steps back and takes in the whole world, “Why do the Heathen Rage?”. “Why do the people imagine a vain thing?”, this Psalm speaks of the masses, and their confusion, due to being so badly mislead by their “Experts”, they hold to a “Vain Imagination”, which will bring upon them the wrath of God.

I realized as we sing the familiar songs, hymns and Spiritual songs as we always do, in the church, that perhaps these young people had no idea why we should do so.

Our service was powerful and dynamic this morning, there was a prophecy, which was very edifying, and the Spirit of God was very evident.

Fully intending to do my exposition on Psalm 2, I felt the leading to give a mini-sermon n why we sing praises to God. I explained the theological truth that God doesn’t need our praises, HE knows who He is and has myriads of Angels to praise Him.

I explained to the young people that what a Christian conversion is, is the repudiation of our own godhood, “I don’t want to be a “god” anymore” I want to accept God’s forgiveness, and humble myself to God and become a man under God, a worshipper.

But the spiritual plague of wanting to be “God” is so strong, that we constantly need to worship and adore the one above us, He who is Holy, we need to hear ourselves praising Him, and adoring his attributes, and re-asserting our own humble creature-hood. This is the meaning of the lifting of Holy Hands, and exalting him, we need Him we look up to heaven, from whence cometh our help.

But one thing leads to another, and before I knew it I was discussing the sure judgment coming upon all “pretender gods”. A terrible time of testing and then judgment is coming upon the world, and I saw (perhaps by the Spirit) how unready and mislead and distracted these young men were for it.

The urgency of this late hour seized upon my soul, and all I could do was try to reach them with the blessed gospel of the one who has “loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood”.

Compassion came heavily upon me for these young people, of a different generation and outlook than my own. How can we reach them? How unique they are in history!

When I was young, I knew about God and Jesus and that God was above me. I was born and raised in a world that still gave outward respect to God and Christianity, I knew what it was to pray and ask for God’s help.We now have completely godless generations in America! This is the hellish world the leftist cultural revolution has left us.

I didn’t have technology that constantly distracted me, I wasn’t awash with the rebellion and disrespect that inculcates the young through entertainment, “education” and the general media.

What is going to come of these youth?

So I just gave way to the Spirit and tried only to tell these precious ones, the eternal gospel of the substitution of Jesus for our sins.

Dear friends, give the gospel, everywhere you can, for the time is short!

Time is really, really, really short.
Revelation Chapter 12:
1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.
2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

Nelson, Thomas (2009-02-18). Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 1193). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Previous Bible commentators have taken this as a symbolic vision about Israel (Mary) giving birth to Jesus, and marking the start of the 3 1/2 year Great Tribulation.
However, since “knowledge had increased”, we can use star charting programs such as Stellarium to see that this could be a literal “great sign” in heaven.

The constellation “Virgo”, the Virgin, has always been identified with Mary the Mother of Jesus. The nine stars of Leo, the Lion (of Judah), form a “garland” above her head.
Jupiter has always been identified as the “King” star. It is striped (by His stripes we are healed) and has a large, red spot (they pierced His side).

Here is the sequence of events regarding the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Virgo, Leo, Mercury, Mars and Venu

Mon, 21 November 2016 = 20th of Cheshvan, 5777
Jupiter enters Virgo (the Virginâ€™s Womb) crossing line from Spica to Porrima

Sat, 28 January 2017 = 1st of Sh’vat, 5777
Jupiter retrograde motion begins inside Virgo.

Sat, 10 June 2017 = 16th of Sivan, 5777
Jupiter prograde motion resumes inside Virgo

Thu, 17 August 2017 = 25th of Av, 5777
Total Solar eclipse across America (Charleston to Portland)

Sun, 10 September 2017 = 19th of Elul, 5777
Jupiter crosses Heze — Spica line. Virgin gives birth? Conjunction Regulus and Mercury

Wed, 20 September 2017 = 29th of Elul, 5777
New Moon, Venus — Regulus conjunction

Sun, 24 September 2017 = 4th of Tishrei, 5778
Sun at Virgo’s shoulders (clothed), the Moon is at her feet, Mercury, Mars, Venus are added to Leo’s nine stars as Virgo’s 12-star ‘garland’

The great sign in the heaven is complete. This formation has not happened in the past 6000 years and won’t happen again for at least another 2000 years.

Luke 21
25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
26 “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
27 “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

Nelson, Thomas (2009-02-18). Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 1023). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

See the image at: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_1y_hLqVXf4/maxresdefault.jpg

One fine Sunday, based on a random comment, a pastor up and decided that he needed to present a lesson on being God’s co-laborer.

It would be a real mess getting the topic changed for next Sunday but staff assured him that they were up to it, even without the pizzas he offered.

So Monday morning he sat down at his trusty old Power Mac and ... nothing. The day a bust he prayed for guidance.

Tuesday ... the same.

Wednesday was a flurry of other activity.

Thursday was a wedding and a funeral.

Friday he cleared his appointments and ... nothing.

Saturday morning he fell on his knees and prayed earnestly for quite some time. Then when he just felt like he’d run out of things to say he was just silent before the Lord for maybe an hour or three.

His wife brought him lunch but left without a word, only a hug.

As he glanced at the sack lunch he got up, sat down at his computer and ... started typing. And typing, And typing. Words came fast and furious and before long the sermon was complete.

He was stunned, really.

It was the best thing he’d ever written!

No typos, no bad grammar. Perfect.

Glancing around the office to make sure he was alone he selected all, and then had the Mac read him back the sermon.

He hadn’t been wrong, it really was that good!

The Mac fell silent having reached the end but then it’s monotone electric voice piped up unbidden: “That’s amazing! I didn’t know I had it in me!”

Astonished to hear his computer take credit for his work the pastor blurted out: “Didn’t know you had it in you?!?”

At which point a soft still voice from nowhere but everywhere seconded: “Friend, I know just how you feel....”

Thank you PastorBR. My reading for the morning was the lengthy list of praises in the fire of Shadrach Meshach & Abednego. It was very interesting to see how they praised wind and rain and snow! And afterwards I read the parable of how the Word gets snatched away and bears no fruit for those who have NO UNDERSTANDING of the Word. (I’d never understood that it is because of a lack of understanding of the Word, that the Enemy snatches it away and robs us of a hundredfold fruitfulness!)

Tonight you just gave me an entirely new understanding of the reason for praising Him...

...it dethrones self.

Thank you.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow and thank you for this post.

The Word never comes back void without fulfilling the will of God in sending it; trust it will find its place in the heart of the young men you preached to this morning.

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