Can everyone hear me? Okay. Is this thing hooked up? Is it too loud? No? Thank you. Okay, loud. Okay.
Well, it is a pleasure for me to be back in Richmond and to be with all of you. I have been edified this morning simply by being here in the meeting, praising the Lord, being with the Lord’s people, and seeing so many dear brothers and sisters whom I have known over the years.
You know, when I come to Richmond now, it is really not like a visit; it is like being down the street from home. That is a good thing, because it is supposedly snowing later today. Our flight is supposed to go through Charlotte to get back to Memphis, and I understand that it is already sleeting there. So Richmond may have to be my new home for a while, until things change.
I told the brothers when I knew I was going to be here this weekend that perhaps it might be therapy, in some ways, for me to be here. It was just two weeks ago today that my dear friend went to be with the Lord.
I was asked if I might say something briefly about him, and I thought that I would. All of you who knew John, at least through his ministry—if you did not know him personally—you heard him speak at a conference or here at the assembly. You were touched by his ministry. So you knew his gift. If you did not know anything else, you knew him as one who had an unusual gift.
If you knew him a little better than that, you knew that he had not only a big gift but also a big personality—the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with every personality. If you lived in Memphis, or if you rubbed shoulders with John and knew him up close and personal, you knew something about his personality. Of course, everybody has one.
In my case, I knew John not only as a person with a gift; I travelled with him. I got the benefit of hearing him speak probably more than anyone, because sometimes we would go to Europe for a month or more, and we would both speak every day. I would hear John give thirty messages in thirty days—and two on Sunday. I heard many, many messages from John over the years. That was a privilege, a blessing, and something good for me.
I also slept in the same bed with him sometimes while travelling abroad, and we were both light sleepers. So I knew John very well, and he knew me very well.
I think the thing John imprinted upon my life, as we were the best of friends, co-workers, and neighbours—and sort of grew up together, especially over these last twenty years—is this: you can know someone’s gift, and you can know something of someone’s personality, but you really know a person when you have seen them under trial.
I saw John disappointed. I saw him heartbroken. I saw him under trial and testing, up close and personal. He never put on any airs around me. I saw a man who believed what he said, who conducted his secret business as a spiritual man, who always loved the Lord’s people, and who was easily and quickly turned by the Holy Spirit.
There was no argument with the Lord. He was always quickly moved to rededicate his life, to repent, and to be humble before the Lord. That is what I remember most about my dear brother.
That is what I know the Lord wants to imprint on our hearts: that this should be our legacy—that we should be spiritual people.
Thank you for having me here today. It is good to be comforted. By the way, we in Memphis appreciate and know very much how much you have prayed for us, not only over the last two weeks but over the last nine months. The brothers and sisters in Memphis are very aware of how you have stood with us and stayed with us in our time of difficulty and sadness. The friendship means very much to us, and we praise the Lord for that.
I am going to read two Scriptures from the Old Testament to begin with this morning. You can either read them with me, or you can just listen—whatever is comfortable for you.
The first is Exodus 17:1:
Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink.
The emphasis is that they journeyed by stages.
Then Deuteronomy 11:11:
But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven.
It is a land of hills and valleys.
Then we will go to what was already mentioned: Acts 27. I know some of you have already read this. I am going to read most of the chapter, because there is just no way around it. Please feel free simply to listen if that is more comfortable for you. I think, for some, it is better to listen, while some of you may want to read along.
Of course, most of you know by now that I like to use the New American Standard Bible, because that is the one the disciples used.
Acts 27. I will begin at verse 1, and I am going to skip around a little bit.
And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.
And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.
And the next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care.
And from there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
And when we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.
When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone.
And with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.
And when considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them, and said to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be attended with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”
But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul.
And because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
And when a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had gained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, close inshore.
But before very long there rushed down from the land a violent wind, called Euraquilo; and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along.
And running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control.
Skipping down to Acts 27:21:
When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.
“And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
“For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong, and whom I serve, stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’
“Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on a certain island.”
Then Acts 27:30:
And as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship, and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea, on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.”
Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.
And until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation, for not a hair from the head of any of you shall perish.”
And having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all; and he broke it and began to eat.
And all of them were encouraged, and they themselves also took some food. All of us in the ship were two hundred and seventy-six persons.
Going down to Acts 27:41:
But striking a reef where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the prow struck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves.
And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, that none of them should swim away and escape.
But the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, and that the rest should follow, some on planks and others on various things from the ship.
And thus it happened that they all were brought safely to land.
Just one brief word of prayer.
Lord, this morning we are completely dependent on You. Lord, we want to thank You for the Word. We want to thank You for Your speaking to us this morning, Lord. We tell You that we need You to speak into our hearts.
So, Lord, we ask You this morning to help the speaking and help the hearing, and to open and enlighten the eyes of our hearts. Lord, unless You do this, all the words just fall to the ground.
We give ourselves to You this morning. We ask for Your anointing on our ears, our eyes, and our hearts. Help us to apprehend and to be apprehended by You, and to see more than we have in the past.
Lord, we ask You to get glory for Yourself this morning as You see Your children responding to You in spirit. In Your precious name we pray, Lord. Amen.
Well, the first thing that jumps out at me in this Scripture is that Paul is on a journey. You know, we are all on a journey. Every Christian—and really every person—is on a journey, although most people do not know it.
Most people, even unsaved people, are seeking for something. They are on a journey, although they have no idea. But as Christians, we are on a journey.
Now, our journey is not the same as that of unsaved people because, in one sense, our journey is over: we have crossed the Jordan. We have been baptized into Christ. We have come into the land. So we are not on that wilderness journey. We are not those who are still seeking. We have been found, and we have crossed the Jordan. We have come into a place. Part of our journey is over.
However, I have found—and so have you—that when we get into Canaan, that land which speaks of Christ, a land of milk and honey that speaks of coming into Christ, we also find that it is a land of giants. It is a land of walled fortresses and strongholds that appear to be walled up to the heavens. It is a place of giant fruit, and a place of giant, scary things as well.
So the journey now becomes: go and take the land. Every place where the sole of your foot stands—where you go by faith—you take it. So we are still on a journey, are we not? Still learning to possess, still learning to take by faith, and still learning to walk.
It is also a land of hills and valleys. It is a land of ups and downs. The reality of the Christian life is that it is a life of ups and downs.
Everything in the Christian life is contrary to what some of us were taught in our youth, many years ago. When I came to the Lord, many of us were told by well-meaning people that all our problems were over now—that it was going to be clear sailing.
Apparently, the people who said that to us, and those of us who believed it, had only sailed as far as Fair Havens.
That first retirement gated community they had there near Crete. My parents live in a place down in Florida with a name similar to that: Fair Havens. I love that name.
They took off on a journey, and one of the first places you come to on the spiritual journey is Fair Havens. It looks like everything is okay for a while. If you just go by sight and appearance, it is clear sailing.
There are a lot of things I want to touch on this morning, and I will try to limit them so there will not be too many. But you notice early on that the winds were contrary. We know that the wind often, as a type, speaks of the Holy Spirit, does it not? The wind has a spiritual significance to it, and the winds were contrary on this trip.
But the most important thing from the beginning is that Paul is a prisoner on this boat. Yet he does not see himself as a prisoner of Rome. He does not see himself as a prisoner of circumstances.
You do not get any fragrance whatsoever that Paul is bitter, feeling sorry for himself, or in any way sees himself as a prisoner—other than as a prisoner of the Lord.
This makes me think of the bondservant in the Old Testament: the one who is free to go, free to leave, free to go his own way and exercise his own rights. But because he loves his master—because he loves his master—he says, “I will not go away.”
He chooses, of his own free will, to stay with that one. You all know they take that awl and nail it through his ear into the door of the master’s house, signifying that he will stay there with his master. He becomes a love-disciple.
A bondslave is one who has given up all his personal rights. It is an amazing thing, and I think it is impossible for anyone who does not love the Lord and is not loved by the Lord. Because we love the Master so much, we give up our rights. We do not have to; we do it out of love because He has put that love in our hearts.
And of course, guess what happens when your ear is up against the door? You hear what is going on inside the house.
When your ear is nailed to the door of One whom you intimately love, you hear the whisperings that go on inside. You are supposed to. Other people do not hear them.
The people you love most, and those with whom you are most intimately connected, are the ones with whom you share secret things. You actually have the need to do so, because you are made this way in the image of God. We are made with the need and desire to express our most intimate things to those with whom we are most intimately acquainted.
You would be a fool to share your intimate secrets with people who do not love you. That would be foolish.
The Lord Jesus shares with those who love Him. He shares His intimate secrets. It is a great benefit to being the Lord’s bondslave. Paul was the Lord’s bondslave. He was the prisoner of the Lord, not the prisoner of circumstances.
So here he is on this ship: a spiritual man, a prisoner on this boat. Early on, while everything still looks pretty good and there is only a little contrary wind, Paul says, “Men, I perceive that this voyage is going to be accompanied by great loss, not only of the ship and the cargo, but of our lives.”
Paul did not say, “The Lord has told me this.” He did not say, “Thus saith the Lord.” He said, “I perceive.”
I believe Paul had spiritual perception, or spiritual discernment. Oswald Chambers made an interesting comment once. He said, “Spiritual discernment is simply human discernment plus the Holy Spirit.”
I like that. In other words, everyone has discernment to some measure, I think. I cannot prove it. Oswald Chambers says they do. It seems as though everyone does.
Even in the world, you hear about a woman’s discernment. Often a woman knows something is wrong with her baby. She knows something she would not otherwise be able to know. There is no human, scientific explanation for why people have discernment.
Perhaps everyone has some human discernment. But for you and me, it is our birthright to have our human discernment under the dominion of the Holy Spirit, and it becomes spiritual discernment. Then we really have something.
Of course, it is also our birthright to have everything under the dominion of the Holy Spirit—our mind, our will, and our emotions. Paul was a person whose soul was under the dominion of the Holy Spirit. He had spiritual perception. He sensed something. He knew something was in the air, so to speak, and he spoke a spiritual perception.
Then the interesting thing is that the majority made a decision. Paul said, in effect, “Folks, here is what I perceive: there is going to be great loss.” But he was a prisoner on the ship, the last person you would expect to say anything, and certainly not someone to whom they would pay attention.
Basically, Paul spoke, and everyone said, “Thank you. Next.” The pilot and captain said, “Everything looks good. Full speed ahead.” The majority said, “Amen. We are going ahead.”
Everything looked as if it was going to be okay. There was no appearance of bad weather or anything happening, so they decided to press on.
Human reason versus spiritual perception: that is one thing we see on this boat.
The other thing we see is majority rule. It says that the majority made a decision. We see majority rule versus divine government.
As Americans, we have a tendency to think that majority rule is a supernatural, divinely ordained principle. We think democratic voting and majority rule came down directly from heaven.
But in God’s government, I think there is only one vote. It is a theocracy, not a democracy.
Non-Christians—and unfortunately, it seems even most Christians—do not understand this. “Well, that is not fair. One vote? How will we know what it is?”
We will have to get the mind of Christ on the matter.
“Well, how will we do that if we do not vote?”
We are going to have to be spiritual and get the mind of Christ. There is one vote: the Lord’s vote. That is it. What we need to do is find out what the one vote is. We cannot lean on our own understanding.
I thought that was a significant little thing: majority rule, man’s good intentions, and man’s response. Then the Lord’s response was a mighty opposing wind. A mighty wind rushed down, kept them from doing what they wanted to do, and they found themselves being driven along.
It really speaks to me of God’s response to human will.
Of course, there are all these problems at sea, all these problems with the boat, and people are not eating. They are frantically working, apparently day after day, trying to save the boat, save the cargo, and keep things going.
Then comes the most interesting thing. Paul, the prisoner, could humanly have said, “Fie on you guys. I am going to let this boat sink, and I am going to escape. The Lord must be providing this storm so this boat will sink, all my enemies will be killed, and I will escape and go on with my ministry.”
That is probably, unfortunately, what I would have thought if I had been in Paul’s shoes. I would have been tempted to look for an opportunity for personal escape and vengeance on the people who had me imprisoned on this boat and who were not listening to my spiritual discernment.
You know, one of the most annoying things I know personally is when I feel as if I have a word from the Lord, share it with a few people, and they simply say, “Thank you, sonny,” then go right on with whatever they were going to do.
I would feel better if they beat me up and stoned me. At least if they slapped me around a little, I could feel like a martyr and have some vindication. But when people dismiss what I feel is important, that hurts.
Paul was dismissed, and he was a prisoner. Yet his response to the storm was to feed the people on the boat and encourage them.
They had gone without food for many days, and Paul began to say, “Guys, you have not eaten. Now you have got to take some food.” The spiritual man rises up and begins to feed the other people on the boat.
I realize the people on this boat were not the church. But I think the spiritual man rises up and feeds those who are around him.
Together, in a real sense, we are on a journey in a boat with each other. When you have eyes to see what the Lord has done, what He is doing with you, and what He is doing with the assembly in which He has placed you, it is as if we are in a boat together on a journey.
Sometimes that journey is accompanied by storm, and spiritual people rise up and begin to feed one another—without any vindication.
Now, Paul did say, “Brothers, you should have listened to me.” Literally, it says, “You should have obeyed me.” He got that in there: “You should have obeyed me and not incurred this loss.” Nevertheless, he said, “Do what I say now.”
The second time Paul spoke was different from the first. He said, “An angel of the God whom I serve stood before me and said this.” Now he was speaking exactly what the angel of the Lord had said to him: “Not a hair on your heads is going to be harmed.”
I do not want to say too much about this because I do not want to get off track. But brothers, consider this and meditate on it.
There is a lot of spiritual activity going on. We have spiritual perceptions, discernments, and senses about things, as we should. I think that is a reality. We get a sense about something, and there is something to it.
However, it is not the final word. Do you understand what I am saying? That spiritual sense or perception we have about something is not the final word on the matter.
Sometimes our spiritual senses get mixed with our human senses. If we are not careful, the whole thing becomes foggy and mixed up. But when we receive a sense or perception about something, it is an opportunity for prayer. It is an opportunity to search out and seek out a burden. It is an opportunity to find the absolute answer and not pass judgment too quickly.
Paul did not give up on the ship, even when he said, “This voyage is going to be accompanied by loss, even of our lives.” He had that perception, but he did not translate it into giving up on the voyage. See the difference?
He kept a heart of compassion. He kept a heart of sensitivity before the Lord. He kept a heart of hope. Later, the angel of the Lord spoke to him, and now he heard a different word—not a contrary word, but a more complete word than what he had heard in the beginning.
That is something worth every one of us considering: What is the Lord saying to me? What is the Lord trying to accomplish?
The key thing is that Paul began to feed the brothers—excuse me, the people on the boat. I do not think there were any sisters on that boat; it does not say that in the Bible. But we are the brothers and sisters.
He urged them to keep up their courage, saying there would be no loss of life, but that he must stand before Caesar. Then, in Acts 27:26, he says, “Take some food, get your courage, get some strength, but we are going to have to run aground on a certain island.”
I think sometimes, in our own spiritual journey, we have to run aground. It is not punishment, destruction, or judgment. It is actually the Lord’s love.
It is the Lord’s loving-kindness and His loving discipline that sometimes cause us to run aground. Sometimes we run aground for our own good because our will gets set in motion, and we cannot seem to turn it back.
Sometimes our loving Lord causes us to run aground, but not so that we will be destroyed. It is so that His will will prevail over our will. It is actually a kind thing sometimes.
Being in a storm is an emotional thing. I do not know whether you have ever been at sea in a storm, but to me it is absolutely—not necessarily the most frightening thing—but the most disturbing thing.
A storm at sea attacks your senses. You see the sky and the waves, the ocean flashing around, especially if you cannot see shore. There is something about the awesomeness of the sea. It affects your senses. It is disturbing, capturing, and overwhelming.
For every one of us, sooner or later, we find ourselves in a storm at sea—spiritually speaking. Every one of us will eventually find ourselves in that storm.
Here is a wonderful thing about it: I know my brother John because I saw how he conducted his secret business when the waves were splashing into the boat.
That is how we find out something about each other, and that is how we find out something about ourselves.
Often we say of somebody—usually someone we love and have great affection for—“Oh, that person loves the Lord with all their heart.” I have found myself doing that, then caught myself.
I have said about certain people, in their defence, “Oh, they love the Lord with all their heart.” Then I realized: I do not know whether they love the Lord with all their heart. I cannot see into their heart.
What I was really saying was, “I love them so much. I like them so much. I have so much affection for them. Surely they must love the Lord with all their heart.” But I do not really know whether they do or not.
When we go through divinely orchestrated crisis, that is how we find out about ourselves. It is a wonderful thing because we discover whether we really love the Lord, and we get to see something of our own heart and our reaction to these divinely orchestrated crises.
Paul’s reaction—the reaction of the spiritual man—was that he fed the brothers.
So the obvious question is: Will I feed the brothers and sisters? Will we feed one another? Not only looking out for ourselves, but will we encourage others during a period of personal crisis?
I can say that, for me personally, over the last five or six years, whether or not I was going to love and serve the brothers and sisters where I live has been the single biggest issue in my life.
If you travel around and minister, people only see you for a day, a night, or a few days. In my case, when I travel and speak in different places around the world, you get the star treatment. Everybody likes you—except the few people who find some fallacy in your message and talk to you about it afterward. Other than that, everybody likes you. It is a very pleasant thing.
It seems like the people who live in places other than Memphis are the most loving, kind, and generous people in the world. Then you get back home, and it is, “Oh, you again.”
It is easy to love people you do not know very well and who do not know you very well. I have found it to be a completely different issue to serve and love from my heart the people the Lord has placed me with at home—in that boat.
It has tested my heart over the years. I do not think I am alone in that. Sooner or later, everyone gets that test, and it is for a reason. It is so the Lord can have something for Himself. It is so that we can really become those who know how to feed one another.
I have often thought that if I were walking through a parking lot and someone was locked out of their car, and I happened to have a spare key in my pocket that I had just found somewhere, I could feel good about walking up to that person and saying, “Oh, here is a key. Try this and be blessed.”
I could feel good about giving them a key, but it would have nothing to do with their problem. It would not open their door or solve anything. It would only make me feel good about giving them a key.
But in order to get the key for somebody else, I have to get the key for myself. The Lord has a divinely orchestrated way of getting the key that becomes the key that unlocks doors and sets prisoners free.
In order to get that key, we have to walk through divinely orchestrated circumstances. Sometimes it is a storm at sea.
When the storm is going on, all we can see is the storm. But the purpose of the storm is not destruction. It is actually for increase of life and for fruitfulness.
At the end of this chapter, everyone came safely through. Along the same line, Acts 27:30 tells us that some of the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship’s boat into the sea on the pretense of laying out anchors from the bow.
I think sometimes we are tempted to flee the scene.
Lance has told us this for years and years: the Lord is building a spiritual house out of the only building material in the world that is able to get up and leave the building site. Living stones are the only building material that can actually get up and leave the building site.
When things are difficult for us, we come up with all sorts of good ideas about why we might be able to leave the building site.
I tell you honestly, brothers and sisters, I know that I have been tempted at times to find some way to leave the building site. “People do not appreciate me enough. They are not receiving what I said. It is very important.”
When you receive something from the Lord, it is important to you. It is really important to you.
You can step on my blue suede shoes. You can maybe smack my kids around—I do not have any kids. Actually, I have spiritual kids. But do not you dare dismiss the thing that I believe is important, the thing the Lord spoke to me.
People have killed each other over that. There have been religious wars over that.
What an amazing test it is of our heart. It all comes down to the simple issue: Will I stay in the boat?
I thought the amazing thing was that Paul told these people that unless everyone stayed in the boat, they themselves would not be saved.
There is something important about staying together. It is important that we commit to each other.
How important is it to you that the brothers and sisters stay together? How important is it to you that no one jump out of the boat and go away somewhere else?
I have to put a disclaimer on this, because I am not talking about, “We are the only group, and if you leave us and go anywhere else, you are leaving God’s chosen people.” I am not talking about that.
I am talking about the matter of the secret heart. I am talking about those people who are a thorn in my flesh.
If any of you from Memphis are listening to the tape, none of you are a thorn in my flesh.
But there are people who are thorns in our flesh—people who bother us and hurt our feelings. Sometimes, in our secret heart, we sort of hope they will go away.
Sometimes some of us actually pray that they will go away: “Lord, rid me of this person. Would You just have this person get a hundred-thousand-dollar-a-year job in another city? Or something—just get them out of my life.”
So many times the Holy Spirit, in His graciousness, grace, and kindness, comes back and speaks into our heart: “No. This person is in your life for your good. I put this living stone right next to you in order to rub off your rough edges.”
There are no accidents in the building of the Lord’s house. He has placed us together perfectly.
So here is the question: How important is it to us that we keep one another, that we love one another from the heart, and that we do not allow our secret heart to rise up and chase each other off? Does it matter to us?
In Memphis, we have heard for years some brothers say—and John used to say this, and Kit says it all the time—that the Lord does not have any throwaway children.
Among the brothers I respect most, one of the things I have personally seen in their lives is a continual reaching out to the Lord’s people: reaching out in gentleness, meekness, weakness, and feeding the Lord’s people during times of trial and difficulty.
I think it is the only reason we are still together in Memphis: a few brothers and sisters were able to overcome their own secret hearts and, by God’s grace, love the brothers and sisters from the heart.
So I ask you that question, and I honestly ask myself that question: Will I love the brothers and sisters—not only the ones who love me, but the ones who do not? Does it matter to us that everyone stays in the boat?
It ought to matter, brothers and sisters. It is an important deal.
Coming to the end, the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that none of them should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention. He commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, and that the rest should follow—some on planks and others on various things from the ship. It happened that they were all brought safely to land.
The Lord is committed to increase of life, fruitfulness, saving, and bringing everyone through. The Holy Spirit is committed to bringing everyone through safely.
When that becomes our commitment, and when that becomes our vision, it changes everything. It changes everything about our ministry, our relationship with one another, and our secret life, when we really understand that the Holy Spirit’s attitude is to bring everyone safely through.
Back to those verses we read at the beginning from the Old Testament: it is a land of hills and valleys, and all the Lord’s people do not arrive at the same place at the same time.
When Israel went through the wilderness, it sometimes appears they all got there at once. I do not know how it was possible for over a million people—perhaps two million people or more—to all get to the same place at the same time. But spiritually, sometimes they all arrived at the same place.
Spiritually, sometimes we do not all arrive at the same place at the same time. Sometimes we arrive, even as a company, in stages.
If you arrive at a stage before your brothers and sisters, what will be your attitude? Will it be pride? Will it be aggravation toward those who did not arrive there first?
If you are at a stage behind, where others have arrived at a place first, will you be jealous or aggravated? Or will we, in either case, encourage one another?
“Brothers, come on. We are almost there. Just a little bit further. Hang on.”
By the way, that is what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us all in these days: “It is just a little bit longer. Hang on. Just a little bit longer. Come on, encourage one another. Take something to eat, and give the brothers and sisters something to eat. Just a little bit longer, and then we will be with the Lord.”
This is what I saw in the Scripture. I think it is what the Holy Spirit desires to speak among the assemblies where we live in these days.
In assemblies like ours, where we endeavour to meet under the headship of the Lord Jesus, I believe that is where there is the most shaking. I am not speaking judgmentally; this is simply the vision I have.
I believe personally, and I have it on the authority of others whom I respect and appreciate, that everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken soon.
I believe the Lord is preparing us for the shaking that is coming. None of us knows exactly what it is—well, some may know; I do not—but the Lord is preparing us for shaking and for things we do not yet know.
We do not have to be scared or frightened about whatever is coming upon the earth. At the same time, we should not be asleep with regard to what is coming.
We want neither to panic nor to sleepwalk through life. We want to be spiritually sensitive. We would be foolish not to be spiritually sensitive, because the Holy Spirit is speaking to us through those who have spoken to us, in our hearts, and through our own testimonies.
I heard a testimony yesterday from a sister who had gone through difficult things in her life and practical issues. Toward the end of it all, she realized that it was happening because the Lord was trying to teach her something.
Her response was that she realized she wanted to rededicate herself to the Lord.
Brothers, it is not too late for any of us, right today, to rededicate ourselves to the Lord. Sometimes we think we do not need it. We think, “There is not much wrong with me. I do not need to rededicate myself to the Lord.”
Sometimes we have to run aground. We have to be in a storm at sea. Things have to happen to us. It is not to destroy or ruin us. It is to bring us to a place of absolute dependency on the Lord.
It brings us to the realization that we can rededicate. We can give ourselves completely to the Lord: our minds, our wills, our emotions, our futures, all our hopes and plans. We can give everything to the Lord today, and we ought to.
Because He is coming soon, and His reward is with Him. I am telling you, He is coming soon, and His reward is with Him.
We want to be found in that moment as those who have loved one another.
When you clear all the smoke away and clear everything away, I think the question the Lord is going to ask us is this: Did you love the brothers and sisters from your heart?
Today is the day of testing, the day of overcoming, the day of the Lord’s kindness, and perhaps the day of His visitation.
May we all come through the storm and help each other through the storm. The Lord is so good to us. There is nothing happening that He does not know about. His love is even greater than we think it is.
Well, praise the Lord for listening at this time and for all His loving-kindness to us. May the Lord speak into our hearts and make us into different people.
Lord, we want to thank You and praise You for Your goodness this morning, for all that You have done for us and for all that You are doing in us.
Lord, we ask You to continue to speak into our hearts today. As we have conversation with one another, as we eat together, and as we share with one another this afternoon, would You continue to reveal Yourself to us?
Teach us how to feed one another and how to strengthen the body of Christ.
Lord, in Your precious name we pray with thanksgiving. Amen.