Three and a Half Years

These are the last days.  The fig tree has budded.  Matthew 24:32-34, Jesus prophesies of the world’s end and gives the sign of the fig tree:

32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Israel is the fig tree (Jeremiah 24).  From the days of Old Testament Nebuchadnezzar until 1948, Israel did not exist as an independent nation; in 70 AD, the Roman Titus destroyed much of Jerusalem, including the Temple, and scattered the Jewish people to the four corners of the earth.  When the American author Samuel Clemens visited the once land of Israel, he had this to say: “Nowhere in all the waste around was there a foot of shade.” He said it was a “blistering, naked, treeless land.” When speaking of Galilee, Twain said, “There is no dew, nor flowers, nor birds, nor trees. There is a plain and an unshaded lake, and beyond them some barren mountains.” Finally, he said, “Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. The hills are barren, they are dull of color, they are unpicturesque in shape. It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land.”

But in 1948, after approximately 2500 years, Israel was restored as an autonomous nation, once again taking its place on the earth’s globe of nations.  If evangelicals are reading the parable of the fig tree correctly, then it has budded.  Mark 13:28-30:

28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.

30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.

The time of gross darkness is upon the earth and at such a time as this, Christ will return for His church.  Wickedness will have come to a full.  Consider:

⬛ Hundreds of millions of the world’s babies have been murdered in the safety and sanctity of their mother’s womb. 

⬛ Hundreds of millions—if not billions—of the world’s population are carriers of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)—110,000,000 in the US alone—a result of fornication.

⬛ Homosexuality has been mainstreamed and even glorified. 

⬛ Gay marriage is now the law of the land in the US and other countries.   

⬛ Children no longer know whether they are boys or girls.

⬛ Multitudes of the earth’s inhabitants are bound by alcohol, drugs, pornography, and more—all at epidemic proportions. 

Doesn’t sound very good, does it?  But keep in mind that gross darkness is the candle’s best friend.    

Jesus Christ will return for His church (I Thessalonians 4) without warning as “a thief in the night” (I Thessalonians 5) and He comes for those who watch for His returning.  Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21:27) will be counted. To be registered in God’s book of birth certificates, one must be as Jesus said: “Born-again” (John 3:3)—literally born a second time, this time of the Spirit of God.  Let there be no doubt about it: Jesus Christ will return a second time. 

Has your name been written in the Lamb’s book of life?  Have you yet to be born again?  Today can be your day of salvation, where all sin and shame are washed away and all of Satan’s bondages broken. No matter how hopeless you think your situation is, Jesus Christ is surely the answer.  Don’t be caught sleeping!  A miracle awaits you.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Matthew 25:21:

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

GOD SAID, Mark 16:15-16:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

MAN SAID: The preaching of the Cross is foolishness!  Only the uneducated and easily-led would waste their time embracing it! 

Now THE RECORD:  Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 877 that will once again certify the full inerrancy of God’s Holy Bible.  All of these features are archived here in text and streaming audio for the edification of the blood-bought and as bait for the fishers of men.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one. 

Thank you for visiting.  May the power of the Cross reign supreme in all the days of your life.

Much of Christianity today is a sham.  Truly, the love of many is waxed cold.  Jesus speaks of the last days in Matthew 24:12:

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Masses seek God for what’s in it for them.  While it is true that this is how we came into the Kingdom of God, and yes, we will always need God’s support and protection, our focus must change.  The quest for blessing dominates and many measure the blessing by a yardstick of wealth, health, and happiness—the blessing is measured in the getting, the gettingof physical things.  However, the real and ultimate measure of blessing is in the giving.  Acts 20:35:

I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. 

Jesus Christ died a naked pauper. 

These are the last days and our Lord said to work while it is yet day.  I, personally, have decided to begin an accelerated 3½-year journey in the faith and I am looking for a few good men and women, boys and girls, to go with me.  If you decide to come, your departure date will be your own; mine begins January 1, 2018 and will end June 30, 2021. 

The question is often asked: “Where are all the miracles—miracles like the ones Jesus performed?”  While talking to an individual who was pondering that very question, I answered: “First, you need to be where miracles happen, which is on the front lines of ministry, not typically found in being glued to the TV or smartphone, or cheering at a sporting event. You’ll find the miracles with the saints who are laboring in Word churches, jails, hospitals, orphanages, missionary fields, and the like.” 

The real question should not be where are all the Jesus miracles but where are all the Jesuses?  I have seen many miracles over the years and glorious miracles are happening all over the earth and I personally want to participate in more of them.  How about you? 

A famous evangelist had asked God for a ministry full of signs and wonders—signs and wonders like Jesus did—and God gave him a list of things he would need to do and understand in order to be used in such a powerful way.  A few paragraphs from A.A. Allen’s book, The Price of God’s Miracle-Working Power, follow:

“The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord.”  What strange words!  Why should God speak thus to me? 

Somehow, I knew that I had read those words somewhere, but where?  (I later discovered that this was quoted from the Bible—Matthew 10:24.)  But this was the voice of God, speaking directly to ME.  This was the same voice which had spoken to Phillip (Acts 8:30), saying, “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”  It was the voice which Peter had heard (Acts 10:15), saying, “What God hath cleansed that call not thou common.”  The voice which God’s Word tells us may still be heard today.  “As the Holy Ghost saith, today if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness” (Hebrews 3:7-8).  Now I was hearing the voice of God.  All others who might share in the message of these words were, for the moment, blotted out of my thinking. I had asked God for a solution to my problem, and God was giving the answer.

First of all, I must know that never could there be any possibility of being above my Master, Jesus. 

You say, “What is so strange about that?  Surely no one would expect to be above Him?” 

But wait! You may find that you, too, just as I had, have been seeking and expecting that very thing.  I had read His promise, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

Every believer has promised to him the same power which Jesus used—miracles after the same pattern which they saw their Master do, first in the flesh and later through the written record found in the four Gospels.  What mighty things would have been accomplished had all the followers of Jesus made use of this power! 

Again and again, Jesus pointed out to His disciples the price of following in His steps, recommending that they count the cost, and offering them the opportunity of turning back if the price seemed too great, in proportion to the value of the blessing to be received.  Our Master, “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). 

If the Son of God must suffer rejection, persecution, cruel scourging, and crucifixion at the hands of those to whom He came to minister, His disciple is not above suffering in order that he may carry the gospel of deliverance to those in bondage.

If Christ Himself must reject all earthly ambitions—even refusing the opportunity to rule the world, when that opportunity was presented aside from the principals of godliness (Matthew 4:8-10)—then surely His disciple, if he is to know real power, must have an eye single to the purpose of God, rejecting all offers but His, no matter how attractive they may be.  His cry must be, like his Master, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7).  Like Paul, he must be able to say, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ” (Philippians 3:8). 

If the Son of God must spend long hours of the night, when the rest of the world was sleeping, alone on the mountaintop with His Father, in order that He might be able to cast out even those demons of whom He said, “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21), surely His disciple must also spend hours in fasting and prayer, waiting upon God—learning to think and act in unison with God—before he can expect to cast out such demons. 

If the disciple could attain the same results which Jesus did without paying the same price which Jesus paid, then it would have to be confessed that the disciple had become greater than his master.  The “student” would have learned a better, more efficient method than that taught to him by his “teacher.”  But the student of Jesus Christ cannot become greater than his teacher.  He cannot learn anything which Jesus did not know.  He cannot find a short-cut to power with God.  [End of quotes]

The question is not where are all the miracles but where are all the Jesuses? 

This 3½-year journey will be marked with changes that will more perfectly mirror the ministry of Jesus Christ, which lasted about 3½ years; those 3½ years were the most powerful years of ministry the world could ever know.

Christ was quoted earlier telling us it was more blessed to give than to receive—and surely it is true—but in the giving, the most powerful blessings result. 

During this 3½-year journey, changes must be made; they could look like this:

1. Jesus would arise early, before the day began, to seek the face of God in prayer.  This is the perfect place for God to communicate with you and to order your steps.  I need to rise up early to seek God’s face.

2. Increased meditation on the precepts of God.  Psalm 1:1-3:

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

When scientists were asked how to unlock the inner savant that we all possess, they answered meditation. 

3.  Increase your daily study of the Word of God.  Psalm 119:130:

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Our Lord Jesus’s name in Revelation 19:13 is “The Word of God.” God’s Word is the bread from heaven.

4.  Go to a Bible-believing church at least twice a week and get involved with its efforts. Hebrews 10:24-25:

24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Medical science has discovered that those who attend church more than once a week live 11% longer, are sick less often, and when sick, recover quicker.  Surely Christ delivers life and life more abundantly. 

5. More fasting and prayer, seeking God for solutions, and seeking a more perfect understanding of the Kingdom of God.  Health benefits of fasting are well documented. 

6.  Employ the 90-10 principle.  Typically, a believer comes to the Father with 90% petition and 10% praise.  Switch it to 90% praise and 10% petition.  The Bible says God inhabits the praise of His people and God is the Creator of every good thing. 

7.  Witness of Christ to the lost and encourage the saints.  The Great Commission is Mark 16:15-16:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Keep in mind: A blood-bought soul is worth more than the aggregate wealth of the universe.  Daniel 12:3:

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

8. Jesus said in Mark 16:17-18:

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Seek to cast out more devils, pray more in the new tongue, and lay hands on more sick.

9. Feed more poor, visit more sick and imprisoned, and care for the widows.  James 1:27:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Your list may differ, but be assured that applying these Christ-like principles will produce Christ-like results. 

You may look back on your life and consider your efforts for the Kingdom of God to be “shabby” or “not so productive,” but that can change today.  In 3½ years, the ministry of Jesus Christ changed everything.  If we want to do like Jesus, we need to do like Jesus.  The servant cannot be greater than his master.  Write your ministry dates on a 3x5” index card and post it where you’ll see it and remember your commitment.   Jesus said the field is white and ready to harvest, but the laborers are few.  Three and a half years have begun.

GOD SAID, Matthew 25:21:

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

GOD SAID, Mark 16:15-16:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

MAN SAID: The preaching of the Cross is foolishness!  Only the uneducated and easily-led would waste their time embracing it!            

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Allen, A., The Price of God’s Miracle-Working Power

 

• Go Further With Christ
• Email To a Friend
• Comments or Questions?