Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

Ephesians 4:3-17 This is what a false prophet does

3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Make every effort. No doubt the name may offend some, finding a name for the meeting hall that keeps the peace is important. So you may say that even if calling yourself “the church in NY” is not a magic formula, how is it wrong? It isn’t, it is Biblical. However, you have to keep the bond of peace. I understand that in New York State that name is illegal, hence they call themselves by a different name. The issue is that they don’t make every effort to keep the oneness of the Spirit through the bond of peace. They teach that anyone meeting with a different name is meeting in spiritual fornication and if you take the table with them you will be eating and drinking a curse to yourself. You might say but what about that church in NY that uses a different name? These teachings do not apply to them, only to others. This is how a false prophet operates and we are now seeing it in the US government. The military is considering everyone who voted for Trump to be an extremist and is looking to weed them out. They had a 60 day stand down to get loyalty pledges from everyone, this is what a false prophet does.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

When Abraham was sacrificing Isaac that was a type of Jesus death on the cross and resurrection as the lamb of God. When David made a burnt offering to stop the plague that was a type of Jesus Christ, our burnt offering who takes away our sins. David bought that ground for His sacrifice, he was a type of Christ who paid the price for us. This is what makes us one. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paid the price for this ground of oneness that we stand on. The church is built on the ground that Jesus Christ bought with his death. Therefore this teaching denies the Lord’s redemption. There are not two bodies of Christ, there are not two comforters, there are not two different hopes of our calling, there are not two Lords, two faiths, two baptisms. No, there is one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. That is what makes us one. If you say I am meeting with Christians on a different ground you are denying all of these seven ones. So to conclude, what was so cunning about that teaching of the “doctrine of dirt”? Well, since only their church is called “the church in ______” they are the only one that is standing on the proper ground. All the other churches are in spiritual adultery. If you take the table in any of those churches you drink judgement to yourself. So not only was the doctrine heretical (all doctrines are heresies) but it was damnable because it condemned fellowship with anyone who didn’t accept your doctrine. It gave the “apostle” who had this “vision” a monopoly. Obviously all other Christians teachers were a waste of your time since they haven’t seen this critical vision. It is all about making merchandise of the saints just as Peter said. These churches were actually a franchise operation to sell books, tapes, and training. So then what is the key principle with Balaam, why is Balaam a false prophet? Behind the scenes Balaam taught Balak how to put a stumbling block of fornication before the Israelites. We learn about Balaam’s involvement in the New Testament though we can see them sin in Numbers. Balaam knows the truth, he knows God’s word, but in exchange for gold from Balak he is willing to coach Balak on how to defeat God’s people. In the same way by putting this stumbling block of the threat of “spiritual fornication” before the members of this group they cause them to cut themselves off from fellowship and to make themselves a damnable heresy. Why did Balaam do this? For money. Why did they do this, to get a monopoly for their book sales, it was to make merchandise of the saints. By teaching this to Balak secretly and not put it into any of his prophecies it proves that Balaam knew that what he was doing was sinful. In the same way this group also hid the most damnable parts of their teaching from publication. Therefore they prove that not only do they know the word, they also know which parts are being used to deceive God’s elect.

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

There is a narrow way that leads to life. Most don’t find it because they think that godliness is a means for financial gain. Speak the truth in love to one another and we all will grow together into the head, who is Christ. There will be great gain from that.

16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Some teachers speak with cunning craftiness just like Balaam. Judas and Balaam are the two examples of false prophets given in the New Testament. Both were real prophets. Judas was one of the twelve disciples of the Lord, and Balaam was a real prophet who spoke God’s word. What made them false was they were motivated by money. They were both “prophets for hire”. For 30 pieces of silver they would betray the Lord. Instead, take Peter, Paul and John as your example. Speak the truth in love. If you do that we will grow into the head. Every single one of us will be a functioning member of the body and will add something.

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

This reminds me of Sisyphus, he had to roll a stone up a hill and when it almost got to the top it would roll back down. In their thinking if they can only get this rock on top of that hill then everything will be great, but it is futile. A modern day example is a drug dealer who wants to get rich. The problem is he can’t put the money in the bank to invest it because he will be caught. So he has to put his money into gold chains around his neck. As a result he walks around with a target on his head screaming “rob me”, and he lives surrounded by thieves. The Lord summed this up succinctly

Matthew 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The only place to safely store treasure is in heaven. I like how Paul says that not only does he tell us this but he also “insists on it”. It is amazing how tenaciously people will claim that the church must be run the same way the Gentiles operate a business. The Gentiles will copyright their teachings, and then try to monetize them. The Lord said freely you have received, freely give.

Ephesians 4:18-25 -- This is non negotiable

18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

When someone is set to do evil they will harden their hearts.

Zechariah 7:8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ 11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.

They don’t want to listen because if they were to listen it destroys their entire business model. Think about the mortgage crisis. It did oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner and the poor. They were plotting evil against each other. Showing mercy and compassion would ruin the entire plan. Administering true justice would have ruined the entire plan. Has their name been made great or is it a byword and curse? The Lord also summed this up

Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“The light within them is darkness”. These people who engineered the mortgage crisis had a light within them which was darkness. At first I could not understand. These people who run these companies which set up these REITs are smarter than I am, how could they not have seen it would all come crashing down? Then I finally realized, they did know it would all come tumbling down, but they also knew that “they were too big to fail” and that the US government would bail them out, and therefore they would not pay for what they did. Instead it would be the chump taxpayers who would pay. Brilliant, we rob the poor, and when we get caught we rob the taxpayers. That was the light that was in them, how great was that darkness. They were fools because they had no fear of the Lord, no fear of having to appear before the Lord one day and be judged.

19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

Is he talking about the Gentiles or about Christians who live as the Gentiles?

Jeremiah 6:13 From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.

Imagine how hard it must be to find someone who will speak the truth in love without any deceit, without any cunning craftiness. Imagine it is the Great Tribulation, you are still here, how to get the word from someone you can trust? This is why I think He refers to the “synagogue of Satan” when talking about the church in Philadelphia. They come to realize that the Lord loved the church in Philadelphia, it suggests they claimed prior to that that the Lord loved them. They fall down at their feet, that does not suggest they worship Satan. Instead, the synagogue of Satan suggests that these were ones who insisted on loving the world and the ways of the world. John says if anyone loves the world the love of God is not in him and he is an enemy of God. Satan simply means the enemy of God. I think this is referring to worldly Christians, their holding to the futility of thinking like the Gentiles made them the “synagogue of Satan”. So I tell you this and insist on it, that you no longer live in the futility of your mind. Stop trying to weasel out of obeying the Lord’s word.

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

Wow, this chapter begins with Paul urging them to live a life worthy of the calling, and now he refers to some who are not doing that. Numbers begins with Moses taking a census of the children of Israel and then in chapter 26 they take a second census. This is after the rebellion of Korah, and those that died by being bitten by the serpents, and those that were seduced by Moab. God insists that we no longer live in the futility of our minds like the Gentiles do. This is non negotiable. The truth in Jesus was to do unto others as you would have them do to you. Pure religion is to care for widows and orphans in their affliction. If you show favoritism to people based on how rich they are it is a violation of the golden rule. Our covenant requires that we treat others the way we would have them treat us. That means we treat them with mercy and compassion. We administer true justice. We do not plot evil against one another. If you do that there is a promised blessing, God will make our name great.

22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Finally Ephesians 4 teaches that we would be renewed in the spirit of our mind, putting on the new man. This is the fourth blessing, making our name great. When we put on this new man we put on a great name in heaven and earth. Walking worthily, doing the work of the ministry, no longer being children deceived by craftiness, all these are required for putting on the new man. None of this is easy. We will see people slain for the word and for the testimony they have. We will see some imprisoned for the Lord. And we will have to deal with cunning craftiness and deceit. Imagine in how many ways this new man is great? You have saints throughout the Earth bringing everything under the headship of Christ. This blessing is part of our covenant! At the end of the age so many will be put to an open shame, yet we have the opportunity to put on a great name.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

Right now the world has made a covenant with falsehood. The world banks have put trillions of dollars into propping up the stock market, they simply print money and then exchange it for corporate debt. This is how they are keeping the economy from a total collapse.

Isaiah 28:15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”

This is a sham. This is how the world operates and when it gets revealed they are reviled and despised. The movie “The Big Short” goes into detail how everyone lied about the value of the REIT’s. The rating agencies which were supposed to be independent lied. The brokers who were supposed to represent the people buying these lied. The amazing thing was that the value of the REIT’s didn’t drop even though all the underlying securities in them did. They made a lie their refuge and falsehood their hiding place. Why? So that the investment banks could sell them to the unsuspecting public and not be stuck with them. Anyone who truly sees what they did would utterly despise them. Today the Fed is buying up stocks so that the value of the stock no longer has any discernible relationship to its price. The entire stock market is a lie. You could never be blessed with God making your name great unless you speak truthfully to your neighbor.

Ephesians 4:26-32 The ideal person to catch a thief

26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

I like the story of the man that “Catch me if you can” is based on. He lived a few miles from me in New Rochelle. He was a thief, but then used his skills to help the FBI, doing things that were useful to all of us. It is possible for a former thief to be blessed. It turns out that a former forger is the ideal person to spot a forger, catch a forger, and protect us from forgers.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

James talked about this. He said that with the same mouth we bless God and curse man, just like a spring of water that has both freshwater and saltwater. This is the way of the world, this is the way of Antichrist. Hitler gave great soaring speeches that talked about the German’s being the “people of God” and then in the next breadth cursed the Jews. It is a great deceit to use the Bible to curse man. This was done in the US when they used a verse in Genesis about Ham being cursed to justify the damnable practice of slavery in the South. Blessing God while cursing man.

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

You get rid of these things by forgiving others from the heart. Our salvation removes the stony heart and gives us a heart of flesh. Finally, the book of Numbers concludes with the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad. This is crucial to make our name great. Jesus has two lineages, one by Joseph and one by Mary. These two lineages fulfill prophecies to bless David. But the only way the inheritance should pass from Mary to Jesus is if she does not have brothers. If her case is like that of the daughters of Zelophehad then she needs to marry someone from the same tribe (Joseph) and then her father's inheritance can go to her and from her to Jesus. Therefore this is critical for God to fulfill His promise to bless us and make our name great. Jesus’ Father was God, man would not have received an inheritance if it was not for this law. In Jesus two lines of David’s genealogy are united, Solomon whose direct descendant was Joseph, and Nathan whose direct descendant was Mary. Ephesians ends by telling us to forgive even as God forgave us. Numbers ends with this law that shows how we can be forgiven and receive our inheritance. Certain members of David’s lineage had been cut off due to their sins. Yet through this law he was able to bring them back and join them to the lineage of Jesus. Ephesians 4 ends with the charge to “forgive each other just as in Christ God forgave you”.

The fifth blessing — be thou a blessing

In Deuteronomy Moses reviewed the experiences of the Israelites and urged them to keep the laws of God. The Law of God is a portrait of God, when we keep the law of God we are imitating God. In Ephesians 5 Paul reviews the Lord’s offering and sacrifice for us and asks us to be imitators of God. Then in Deuteronomy we get the principles and instructions for a Godly life. In Ephesians we see the same. In James he says that pure religion is to visit the widows and fatherless in their affliction. In other words, pure religion is to be thou a blessing.

In chapters 29-30 of Deuteronomy they commit themselves as a nation to stand apart unto God. In Ephesians the church is the Bride of Christ, we are to be in subjection to our husband who has loved us and given Himself for us. Finally in Deuteronomy we see the change in leadership from Moses, representing the Law, to Joshua representing Jesus. Likewise Ephesians 5 concludes with us being in subjection to Jesus and being in subjection one to another. Imitating God just as Jesus did is a blessing. Living a godly life, and being in subjection one to another is a blessing. These are ways in which we will be a blessing.

Ephesians 5:1-5 What does it mean to be a blessing?

5 :1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

This is a direct reference to the example the Lord gave us that is recorded in the gospels:

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

This is what it means to “be thou a blessing”. A man covered with Leprosy asks the Lord “if you are willing you can make me clean”. The Lord touched him saying “I am willing”. Immediately the man is cleansed, if he hadn’t been cleansed the Lord would have been unclean. Demonstrated the Lord’s willingness to give himself up for us as a sacrifice. There is another example which is very interesting. Some men carried a paralyzed man to Jesus so that He would heal him. They couldn’t get to Jesus because of the crowd so they dug through the roof and lowered the man down to Jesus. Interestingly it says that Jesus saw “their” faith. It doesn’t say He saw “his” faith. That seems quite distinctive to me, perhaps these men brought the paralyzed man to Jesus even though the paralyzed man didn’t have faith that he would be healed. Perhaps it was their faith, not his, that caused him to be healed. Put yourself into the shoes of the paralyzed man, you don’t want to be taken to Jesus, you don’t want Him to say “rise and walk” only for you to be unable to, and then for Him to say “O ye of little faith”. Perhaps you would vehemently complain to these men, who completely ignore you and instead of turning back when they couldn’t get to Jesus go and dig through the roof. Those men were obviously desperate. You might even have been cursing them out as they lowered you down. Dreading this, knowing “I can’t do it”, “I can’t do it”. Then you hear the Lord say “your sins are forgiven”. He didn’t tell you to rise and walk. A little dispute starts and the Lord asks “which is easier: to say, ‘your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘Get up and walk’? That is just weird, why would the Lord care about which is easier to say? But for you, the paralyzed man, that means a lot! I can’t “rise and walk” but I can say “your sins are forgiven”. In fact, I can start by saying it to those men who brought me here against my will. Treat people the way you want to be treated. It doesn’t mean they will treat you that way, but it does mean that the Lord will. You forgave their sins, the Lord also has the authority to forgive yours, and how do we know that? Because He also has the authority to say “rise and walk”.

For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. Ps. 56:13

This is what it means to be a blessing by imitating the example Jesus gave us. Jesus also ate a large banquet with sinners and tax collectors that Levi threw. He was asked why He ate with sinners and He said “it is not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”. This is also what it means to be thou a blessing and to walk in love. Jesus is the bridegroom, we are the bride. We are a new wineskin, a new garment.

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

I have heard from some who are very worried about the coming judgement and the day of the Lord.

“Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

If you are in a position to be a blessing but instead keep it for yourself. That is greedy. Very often that wealth will be gotten by immoral means and being immoral and greedy is often accompanied by being impure as well. This is idolatry. This person worships money, they worship the flesh, and pleasures of the flesh. The Lord is setting up a kingdom based on His command,

love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you do this your reward will be great! You will be beloved children of the Most high! You will be an imitator of God just as God the father is merciful. Right now we are seeing the ultimate test of this with the protests, looting and riots surrounding the abusive treatment of cops. You can’t judge that the cops are unrighteous and then go and riot and loot. You will be judged with the very judgement you judged. If the blind are leading these protests everyone will fall into the pit.

Ephesians 5:6-17 Wake up sleeper and rise from the dead!

6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

I have heard a lot of people justifying these actions. They say they have seen this abuse over and over again, nothing is getting better. But they are blind.

The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. Ps. 110:5

1967 was the first time we had a black mayor. Today we have many, many black mayors. When I was a baby I stayed with my grandmother who lived in Jackson, Ms. At that time it was illegal for a white man and a black woman to get married. Jackie Robinson is not that long ago, but what a change we have seen in professional sports. Separate but equal was not that long ago, but what a change we have seen in education. So don’t be deceived by empty words, we are heading in the right direction, we aren’t there yet, but peaceful protests do work.

“No good tree bears bad fruit, not does a bad tree bear good fruit”.

Riots and looting are fruit from a bad tree.

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. Pr. 4:19

They are the blind leading the blind, they both fall in the pit and don’t even know why. Standing strong for human rights by loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, and treating people in the way you want to be treated is fruit from a good tree.

7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

Right now we are seeing a flood, a torrent striking the house. If it is built on a solid foundation of righteousness it will stand. Those who do what the Lord told us to say will not be shaken, but those who do not put the Lord’s words into practice will see the house collapse suddenly and the destruction will be complete. That is where we are right now.

Whoever robs their father or mother and says, “It’s not wrong,” is partner to one who destroys. Pr 28:24.

These looters and rioters are robbing from their parents. They are robbing from everyone who lives in the community.

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord.

It is possible to repent of past sins and to be healed. What really pleases the Lord is having faith in Him. Think about the Roman centurion that the Lord said

“I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel”.

He was part of those who were oppressing Israel, yet he had faith in the Lord, was well aware of his sinfulness and had repented, and he became an example for us all.

11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

This is what we are seeing today with the viral videos. The deeds of darkness include vicious and inhumane attacks by the police as well as looting and rioting. Expose them through the internet, newspaper, or any other means is Biblical. These deeds have been going on since the beheading of John the Baptist.

12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

I think many of us have been shocked and disgusted by the things we have seen on these videos. People who just a few years ago could act in secret and do these shameful things now are being exposed by the light.

13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Many people realize they have been sleeping, unaware of what was going on. These videos have gone a long way towards waking people up. Not all are concerned about justice, but for those that are Christ will shine on you. To those that aren’t Jeremiah says

“I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet’! But you said, ‘We will not listen.’ Jeremiah 6:17

This is why the day of the Lord will be a day of wrath. How long are you going to sleep? It is now time to wake up.

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,

When people wake up they need to be careful.

Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. Pr. 29:11

And if you are a servant, perhaps a public servant, or even an employee. Be advised,

A king delights in a wise servant, but a shameful servant arouses his fury. Pr. 14:35

We have seen people who have been fired, suspended, and prosecuted for behaving shamefully.

16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Has anyone ever seen days this evil?

Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note? Job 11:11

Surely these days would make the top ten, and who knows what tomorrow will bring.

17 Therefore do not be foolish,

Many are stunned at how foolish this looting and rioting is.

The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down. Pr. 14:1

This is what they are doing, they are tearing down their own house.

but understand what the Lord’s will is.

I have seen some who are very concerned, they are confused, they don’t know what the will of the Lord is and they are afraid of this coming judgement but don’t know what they should do. There is a story of Jesus going to eat with a Pharisee and while eating a woman who lived a sinful life came and anointed his feet with a jar of perfume. The Pharisee did not give Him a kiss, did not give Him water to wash His feet, but she washed His feet and kissed them. To her He said “your sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you, go in peace”.

Ephesians 5:18-27 True beauty or an ugly word?

18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You need to sow to your spirit. Getting drunk is sowing to your flesh. Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and songs, singing and making music from your heart, giving thanks, these are all ways in which we sow to our spirit. We are a lamp on a stand. We have the word, we have songs, we have our spirit. Use it or lose it. Put this word into practice and you will not be foolish. Think about the story of Jesus healing a demon possessed man by having the demons go into a herd of swine which then rushed down into the sea. The Lord told him to “return home and tell how much God has done for you”. This is what it means to always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Share your experiences of being saved.

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Submission has become an ugly word. It is as though being submissive means you are giving way to evil. But everyone has to submit to one another. Even Governor Cuomo on his addresses points out that all he can do is give the facts and make recommendations and if don’t heed them, if we don’t submit to them there is little he can do. I am a teacher and it is the same thing with me, we submit to students and parents every bit as much as they submit to us. Submission is not ugly, in fact it is what separates the beautiful women from the ugly ones.

Song of Songs 4:1 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead. 2 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

This book describes the most beautiful woman to the Lord. Her hair is a head covering to her. He describes that hair as a “flock of goats that appear on the mount Gilead”. Obviously Solomon didn’t get the memo that silky hair is the most beautiful. It seems all the shampoos try to sell “silkiness”. I never heard of “goats hair” as being beautiful. So what is he saying? Mount Gilead is where Laban and Jacob met and Laban gave Jacob the authority over his daughters. Laban and Jacob were both goats. Many women say that they would submit if their husband were this person or that person. But to submit to a goat husband, that is really beautiful. A special beauty. These women had submitted to Laban and now they were going to submit to Jacob. But Solomon continues with an even less attractive feature, her teeth are like shorn sheep. If you have ever seen a sheep after they have been shorn they are not attractive, they appear naked and comical. If I were a sheep I think it would be pretty embarrassing to be shorn. But Solomon is very specific, the teeth look like shorn sheep that go up from the washing. Right after they shear the sheep they make them run through a stream to get washed off. Right at that point where these sheep have been completely humiliated, that is what her teeth look like. I have always felt that this would be the best test in a beauty contest. At the very end, the final test, sheer the contestants, shave off all their hair and let’s see their teeth. Do we see the fangs of a snake, barren and filled with curses? I suspect that would be the common reaction. But if you were to see a woman who after being humiliated like that was filled with the double blessing, no curse, that is true beauty.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

I used to teach English in Taiwan to adults, and after sharing that verse I was asked “what about the man, what does his hair look like?” The man is Jesus Christ, He gave his life for us, we only give our hair, it will grow back. This is what it means to be a blessing. The hair that the sheep give us is a blessing to us. We make blankets, sweaters and clothes from it. Isn’t it wonderful that they could bless us like this, and with their mouth bless us as well? That is how we show our love.

Ephesians 5:28-33 For her beholding and reflecting is an art form

28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

This is a reference to Genesis:

2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

In Genesis we see that Adam has two skills: observation and creativity. I took this one class on foraminifera, these are tiny little sea creatures that have shells. There are over 50,000 different ones, and they have all been catalogued, identified and named. To name this one creature which many people have never even heard of was an incredible feat of observation and creativity. We use these creatures to date and correlate rock units. Think about what a wonderful gift of observation and creativity it is to name every single creature on this earth. Once I was teaching a sunday school class about this chapter and after discussing Adam I asked what was Eve’s skill? One girl visibly bristled and said “cleaning and cooking” which I found quite funny since I couldn’t find anything in Genesis 2 about cleaning or cooking. No, what I did see was that Eve didn’t say a word and yet Adam exclaimed “This time is it! This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” How did she do that? It seems to me she is very skilled at beholding and reflecting. For her, beholding and reflecting is an art form.

33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The sixth blessing — I will bless those that bless thee

Joshua begins with the children of the Israelites entering the promised land. It is a miraculous crossing with incredible grace. Ephesians 6 begins with Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise), 3 that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

The crossing of the Jordan was honoring their parents' crossing of the Red Sea. The only parents they had at this point were Moses, Joshua and Caleb who were like the parents and great grandfather for the entire nation, everyone else had died. Their parents had faced similar issues and had found a way through, that way through becomes a road map for the next generation.

This is the sixth blessing, I will bless those that bless thee. Blessing your father and mother comes with a promise, that you also would be blessed. Our fathers and mothers received this blessing, if we honor them we also are blessed. To truly receive this blessing you must be a father and mother. This does not mean according to the flesh, the Lord made that clear in the gospels.

Matt 19:28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

For example, consider Herb Brooks, those kids on the US hockey team blessed him despite the intense trial he put them through, and in return they were blessed with the gold medal. Our blessing comes from our obedience to the Lord, but eventually others are blessed by obeying us.

Ephesians 6:1-3 "Obey your parents in the lord"

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

This expression “parents in the Lord” is quite nice. He isn’t saying that they have to be your biological parents. Nor does he say that you should obey them if that requires you to be outside of the Lord. I think this is the kind of word that lends itself to sharing our experiences. But I want to emphasize that you can be an orphan and still have “parents in the Lord”. Mike Tyson was an orphan, he treated his trainer like he was his father and as long as he did he was blessed. When Mike lost that he also lost the blessing. I am often reminded about my own dad. He had a small boat for fishing and I would go out with him before school and help him check the lobster pots. These traps were set among the rocks on the coastline of NY. One morning we were out and after checking the traps and dropping them back in the water we realized the fog had come in and we couldn’t see two feet in front of us. For the last couple of minutes while working with the traps we could have drifted anywhere. We had no idea which way was out of the rocks. My inclination was to throw down the anchor and wait, but my dad pulled out the map. He had me hang over the bow and watch for rocks and we putted as slowly as we could towards a bell buoy. When we got to the buoy he had me find the number on it, and then he found that number on the map. In this way we were able to find our way back to the docks without being able to see anything. He had always insisted that we keep the map on the boat and I never understood why till that morning. That map had been very hard to read with lots of little numbers on it, and now I understood that each of those little numbers was really important.

Joshua 18:8 As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua instructed them, “Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it”.

Joshua is a type of Jesus Christ. The good land is a type of the New Covenant. The apostles have gone out and made a map of this good land, this new covenant. There will be a few times in our life when we are desperate for this word to be a lamp to our feet. These apostles, they are our fathers, the patriarchs of the church, bless them and you will be blessed. My mother was quite different from my father. She was a health food nut, played a concert piano, and wrote poetry. If you honor your father you will be successful, honor your mother and you will live long not the earth. It is a double blessing.

Proverbs 4:20 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.

The Bible is also filled with mothers and godly women. My Mom’s brother was named as my “god father”. He had a little ministry in Jackson, MS. He ran a small charity called “operation shoestring”. It reminded me of the poor widow who cast two small copper coins into the treasury. I didn’t see the point of it when I was a kid. The charity was raising money for Black churches that had been attacked by the KKK. As a result the KKK also bombed his house with his wife and two small children in the house. As I grew up I was able to see the price he had to pay for standing for righteousness. I also came to understand the Lord’s word.

Mark 12:43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Some of these lessons take years to learn. These lessons are not like something you read in a book, they are things you learn by walking with someone else in obedience. This is what baptism is. When I was first told about baptism it seemed foolish to me. I was told that to be saved you had to believe and be baptized, and I found it offensive for them to say I wasn’t already saved. But, I saw it was written quite clearly in the Bible, so I said if the Lord commands it then fine, I’ll be baptized. When I did I felt like I had walked through a wall of water and a heavy case surrounding me had fallen off into that pool. It was a Friday night and when I returned to my dorm room at the campus we had about 12 kids in the living room. My roommate asked why my hair was wet and I said “I had gotten baptized”. The looks made it clear when they asked “why did you do that” they were not asking to hear the gospel. The next morning I was woken up very early by the campus security, there was a phone call from my mother, my grandmother had died that same night and I was to fly to the funeral. Her husband had died a year earlier and she had been very lonely, she had wanted the Lord to take her for months. When I was a baby I had lived with her and I felt that she had been praying that I would be saved before the Lord took her. One day ago I was arguing about whether or not I needed to be baptized to be saved, that ended the debate as far as I was concerned. I feel that walking in the faith of my grandmother, mother and uncle is a way to honor my father and mother.

Ephesians 6:4 The training and instruction of the Lord

4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

The phrase “do not exasperate” indicates you are challenging your kids. Training and instruction must be challenging, you need to develop a mindset to embrace challenges, however, if you make the challenges too hard the kids become exasperated. The idea is to maintain a delicate balance to push them to grow and expand. When I was a kid I was in the boy scouts and one year my dad agreed to be the scoutmaster. My best friend was going to be senior patrol leader, and my other friends had various administrative functions in the troop, but I felt the best way to help my dad would be to be a patrol leader. I felt that was the job that really made the biggest difference. Before our first troop meeting my dad called a meeting of all four patrol leaders and the senior patrol leader. He had a list of all 8 members of each patrol with the name of the patrol leader. He then turned to one kid and asked for two names that he didn’t want in his patrol, he did that with the second and third patrol leaders, but then he skipped me and told the first kid to choose two people from my patrol that he wanted and likewise with the second and third patrol leaders. When he was done he had 8 kids that no one had wanted and that was my patrol. No one had to explain to me what had just happened, I realized that this first patrol leader’s father had complained that the troop was rigged for my patrol to win the award for best patrol. I had won two years in a row before that year and we had simply put the awards in a drawer. Neither my dad nor I thought they were anything, so insulting my dad like this received a swift and absolute dealing, just like Abraham sacrificing Isaac. I also was insulted, but I kind of realized it was not all that unreasonable. It had never occurred to me till then, but both years I had won I had also had the “premier scout” in my patrol, those were the other two patrol leaders in this meeting. That didn’t bother me, I had chosen to be a patrol leader to help my dad and I couldn’t deny that by having this patrol I would be helping him. However, two things really did bother me. First, one of the kids in my patrol was the younger brother of one of the patrol leaders in that meeting. I knew he would go home and tell his brother what happened and then everyone in my patrol would know what happened. Second, my Mom was worn out from patrol meetings (between me and my older brother we had been doing this for many years) and asked that I not have any patrol meetings at our house. So after they learned that no one wanted them I would have to tell them and oh, by the way, my mom doesn’t want you guys to come to my house either. In the first troop meeting they allowed us to break into individual patrols to come up with a name for our patrol and arrange for the patrol meetings. Sure enough, the younger brother of that other patrol leader (the one who had been the premier scout in my patrol just the previous season) stood off by himself and said to me “looks like they gave you all the losers''. Everyone was looking at me and I said “I am not a loser and my patrol is not a loser, who told you that you were a loser?” Think of the irony, his older brother was the premier scout and the other two patrol leaders don’t pick him? That was it, as soon as I said that everyone was happy, they didn’t care what others thought, they just wanted to know what I thought. They immediately began fighting over who got to have the patrol meeting at their house. So, I said we would go by turns and graciously gave up my turn to give them more. About halfway through the year we were on a hike. My best friend had this new tent called a Northface. It was awesome. We could cook in the tent, so although it was pouring rain all night we were drinking hot cocoa and chicken soup. We were laughing that it was like being in a five star hotel. Meanwhile a member of my patrol who also had this Northface tent had camped in a dry river bed which flooded and washed out his tent. In the morning I discovered that they were miserable and the father who was leading the hike was also miserable. He demanded that we pack up and leave immediately, but I noticed that one of my patrol members had a sleeping bag hanging out of his pack, covered in mud. This would result in mocking ridicule from others during the hike and he had already reached his breaking point. I needed fifteen minutes to fix this but the father was demanding that we leave that instant. I told my friend to take point, I’d take up the read, then I handed that kid my pack and told him we’d trade back at the first rest stop, and I repacked his pack. That could have been a catastrophe, but it was narrowly averted. Then on the last camping trip, days before the end of the year, my patrol had sewn up the number one patrol a month ago, but one of my kids was 50 points away from first place. I was upset that these guys had insulted my kids so I decided I’d help him win the award. I went to the scribe who is responsible for points and asked how much he would give if he built a shelter. He said 25 points. I said that isn’t enough. He said “but, I’ll give him 75 points if he also spends the night in it”. So I shook hands and went to tell the kid. He complained that he didn’t care about the award. Since I had already agreed with the Scribe I forced him to keep his end of the bargain, I felt like a correction officer with a prisoner who complained the entire time. Inwardly I told myself “live and learn” I made a mistake, these guys got me off balance to care about these awards, I won’t make that mistake again. Then, later at the barbecue I was surprised at many of the parents that showed up. Every time I turned around there were other parents who never came to these things. Then around the campfire when my Dad called that kid in my patrol who had won the award the way he marched out like he was winning the medal of honor it hit me “he lied to me!” He cared a lot! That is why is parents were both here for the first time, that is why all the parents of my kids were here when they never came. I realized that is why my mom is here, I had thought she came because my dad was the scoutmaster.

Ps 22:24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

Growing up kids can feel like they are the afflicted one. Your job is to listen to their cry for help, don’t hide your face from them. I also had spiritual fathers. David Campbell is the brother that brought the gospel to me when I was on the campus. He wasn’t a student, he wasn’t too bright, just a very simple person who knew that the Lord had put him on this campus. I did everything in my power not to encourage him, but at the same time I was praying that if the Lord had sent him to not give up on me. I first met him in August and it wasn’t until April that I got baptized, so it was a very long period of persistent faithfulness. I asked him why? I hadn’t done anything to encourage him. He said “because you were honest”. If I told him I could make it to a meeting I would make it.

Pr 22:20 Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, 21 teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth, so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve?

We serve the Lord and our salvation will be directly related to that service. After I got saved I dropped out of college during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years. Mike Connally heard about this and came to me. He was a big policeman and brother in the church. He took me down to the center of campus and told me how he had been praying for this campus. It isn’t like UH, anyone can get in there, to get in this university is very difficult, so the Lord would have to send someone (a very rare hurricane in Wales, UK the previous year is what sent me to Rice University in Houston, Tx, but that is another story). He shared his vision and as a result I reapplied. I needed a vision of why I was where I was and he gave it to me. A brother prays in Houston Texas, and God uses a hurricane in Britain to answer it.

Ps 3:4 I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.

It is much easier to pray in faith that God can answer you when you have had experiences of Him answering prayers. That is really the vision I want to pass on to others. However, I had some very difficult times over the next few years. What I would do is go visit Mike Collins. He lived within walking distance of my apartment. He and his wife were quite poor in a very dignified way. I cannot think of one word that Mike ever told me, no word. But in his driveway he would fix the cars of the saints. I would hand him tools while he worked. The saints would pay him by giving food to his family. Many of the people he helped were poorer than he was, mainly widows. It never mattered how bad the situation was for me, after two hours at his house I always felt better.

1Cor 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

One year I had volunteered to help build a church conference center. I was on the planter crew, we were building concrete planters that would later be covered in sandstone for the parking lot. One of the people in my crew felt he was ready to go build his own planter, so I gave him the OK. It took two weeks because the rain was brutal and the ground was this thick clay mud. It was a horrible ordeal, but finally they poured his planter. Unfortunately it was off center. Ray Graver was the foreman of the operation and called us out to look at the planter. The whole time I was feeling at ease since I hadn’t made this mistake. All of a suddenly Ray is hitting his fist into his hand and saying “who is responsible for this? That is what I want to know!” It hit me, “I am”. Many years later with my two oldest kids we were in a very tough situation, they had both been raised in Taiwan, they didn’t speak english, but they were going into sixth and seventh grade. I knew that the school would not be able to help them, and I knew I could teach them english faster and better than anyone else (I had taught ESL in Taiwan for 8 years). So I decided to homeschool them even thought I had a full time job. I told them, this is your education, you are responsible for it, you will have to live with it, not me. Six months later my older brother comes to me, concerned, he had tried to talk to them and they hadn’t been able to talk. I told him I wasn’t focused on talking. After 3 years of homeschool they both entered high school in NY. No one knew that English was not their first language. When my daughter was a senior she was going to be the valedictorian, but since she hadn’t taken a foreign language she couldn’t get the advanced degree. This was going to be an embarrassment to the school. I asked if she could simply take a test and they said yes. I told them “let her take the Chinese test”. They had no idea she spoke chinese. A similar situation happened at my son’s high school. We were meeting with the principal because he was going to be valedictorian and she wound up speaking to him in Chinese. She was amazed at how good he was able to speak it and told me that most Americans have a heavy accent. I told her that he grew up in Taiwan and Chinese was his first language. She had no idea. 1Cor 7:24 Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. The mistake most ESL classes make is to emphasize speaking, that is like building the house without first making a solid foundation. Speaking and writing are production, listening and reading are comprehensible input that allows the brain to learn the language naturally. Nothing is more challenging than learning a foreign language and to do that you have to be willing to make mistakes. How do you bring someone up in the “training and instruction of the Lord”? I think that is a very valid question, so I am going to share a story that I have not shared with anyone before. Partly because I don’t know the best part of the story, but we’ll get to that in a second. When my oldest son was about five years old he announced that he had figured out the secret to life, it was to be polite. He said if you are polite people will do anything you ask. His mother was beaming. But I told them “that is not the secret to life, life is the secret to life”. His mother was outraged and said I was stupid. I figured this would be something I would definitely want to deal with because if he continues on this path it will lead to being a phony political person who manipulates others. But at the same time I realized a truth is like a sword made of steel. A falsehood is like a wooden sword. They both may seem to be about the same until you are in a life or death situation and then it will become very clear what is true and what isn’t. A month or two later my wife asked me to talk to my son before going to work. They were going to the doctor that day and he was scared. So I went into his room. He was running around putting blankets on chairs, when I opened the door he was startled, almost panicked till he saw it was only me and then continued with what he was doing. I waited for about sixty seconds and then said “it won’t work, she’ll sniff you out, and it will be worse”. He knew I was right and began to cry. I said “ok, ok, I’ll help you”. Instantly he was fine, he wanted to know what to do. So I told him the problem with doctors is the slightest little thing and they take it as an insult and wham, they stick a needle in you. I said “do you know how you treat your mom on her birthday?” He nodded. I said “do you know how you treat her on mother’s day”? He nodded. I said “well, doctors, you gotta treat them like it is their birthday and mother’s day all in one. Can you do that?” He nodded, he was happy, he had a game plan, and he knew he could do it. So I went to work and when I came back that night my wife was so happy. She told me how much face he had given her. Meanwhile he was tugging at my pants leg, so I told him to wait, your mother is talking. Anyway she handed me the paper and my daughter and told me to sit down and relax and she would get dinner. It was really great. As soon as I sat down he began to talk, it was about a five minute non stop in chinese, and my chinese was rudimentary at best. I gave him a quizzical look like I was puzzling it out and then as thought a light bulb had just gone off I said “something about the doctor!” He nodded. “Something you didn’t like!” Again, he nodded. I was feeling pretty good with myself at this point and said “he didn’t have his certificates on the wall!” He looked at me with no understanding. So I quickly said, “no, no, something else''. I looked real carefully at him, he could see the smoke coming from my ears, and all of a sudden with horror I said “he gave you a shot!” He nodded. I said “I told you to be polite to him!” He cried “I was''. I said “well, apparently he didn’t think so”. He was crying so I asked for him to help me visualize what happened. I asked how many people were there, how many doctors, how many nurses, how many kids and then I said “out of all those people he gave you a shot, just you! Obviously you did something wrong”. I was now reading the paper, discussion over, and Poiema was on my lap, but I kept talking “no one would dare give Poiema a shot. Even if there were a doctor that was that mean and that cruel the nurses would grab her away and say how could you! This girl is too cute, you can’t do this!” All of a sudden he knocks my paper down with two arms and says “everyone”. I look at him puzzles, “everyone”? And then it slowly dawns on me, I look at him, I look at Poiema, and I say with horror “everyone!” Poiema starts crying, her mother comes running in, picks her up and says “will you shut up”. I hold my head in my hands, crestfallen, my son is patting me on the back. I say “what kind of sicko would do this? Men in white coats running around jabbing babies with needles, mothers snatching up their crying babies and running out of there!” And then I looked at him and said “I’m gonna tell you the truth”. That startled him, what? He took a step back. I said “you know this morning when I talked to you?” He nodded. I said “I, I, I knew this would happen. I didn’t tell you because I figured you wouldn’t believe me.” That made sense to him. I continued, “do you want my help?” He nodded, yes! I said “trust me, the day will come, not tomorrow, not next week, but I guarantee the day will come when you return there! I won’t be there. You will be outnumbered, they will all be bigger than you, use your size to your advantage, get under the table.” At that moment my wife came running in with a frying pan yelling “are you an idiot!” while he was holding her back saying “he is trying to help me!” Anyway, a few months later something happened no one told me what, my son desperately wanted to tell me but the withering death stare of his mother terrified him. So I never learned that part of the story. However, my son never forgot the pain of disappointing his mother and bringing shame to her. As a result it was like an inoculation against rebellion. Drug abuse, fornication, there are all kinds of forms of rebellion that are far more serious and long lasting than one embarrassing afternoon at the doctor’s office. Also, my son realized that his “super power” of being polite ran into the kryptonite of anything that has to do with life. Jn 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. Building your life on a solid foundation of truth is far more important than some very short term experience of pain and shame. In my experience the Lord doesn’t debate with people. You can take your truth, like a sword, into the battle. Then you will discover if your truth is real steel or just wood. If you never test your truth in the battle then what difference does it make if it is a steel sword or a wooden one? The other thing I have learned is that people are ready when they are ready. Too often we think “he is too young”. The best time for an answer is when you are asking the questions. Nothing is more exasperating to kids than to be told they are too young to understand. Finally, the key lesson my son learned was to obey his parents in the Lord, regardless of whether or not he understood. Why would his mother, who loves him and his father who loves him send him to the doctor knowing he would get a shot if that was not what was best? Rebellion takes place when you don’t think those who are taking the lead have your best interests at heart.

Ephesians 6:5-8 "Slaves"?

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

Let’s address the elephant in the room, this word “slaves”. According to the Bible a slave must be an adult who enters into an agreement to do a certain amount of work for a certain amount of money. You could not sell people against their will, nor could you make a child a slave. You were not born into slavery. Being a slave was not based on your race. Today what we call “employees” are what Paul refers to as slaves. To own your own land, your own business is to be a “master”. The type of slavery practiced in the South was an ugly, twisted abusive practice that was clearly prohibited in the Old Testament. So if you have a trouble with the word “slaves” simply substitute “employees”. My dad worked for UPI and was sent to Munich in 1976 to cover the olympics. When the Palestinians kidnapped the Israelis he snuck into the compound pretending to be a Hungarian 400m runner, and reported from a building next to the Israelis. He served “wholeheartedly, as if he was serving the Lord”.

2Tim 2:5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.

He competed according to the rules that reporters operate under.

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

When I was in high school my Dad was called into George Bush’s office at the CIA. My dad had rejected a deal to buy a small news service out of Florida which was a front for the CIA. Bush wanted him to change his mind. My dad said “if we buy this what is to stop Russia from arresting my reporters and charging them with spying?” Bush didn’t deny it, instead he said “it would be good for your career if you look the other way”. To my dad, when you are in charge you are like the father or mother. So he rejected Bush and was soon forced to resign from the UPI. He went to the NY Times, they were doing a feature story on JFK’s assassination, which was nothing but a smoke screen for the CIA. At that time my dad also left the NY Times, the article said they had “professional differences”. When you are the boss you need to remind yourselves that one day you will have to answer in heaven for what you have done and there is no favoritism with God.

Pr 4:19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.

I don’t want to share the next story, only the basic principle. When I was first saved at college we had a prevailing gospel ministry on campus. Soon everyone on that campus knew who we were and feared to be seen with us. The person in charge of my college told my parents I had wasted my time there. That was an ugly and hurtful thing to say since they had paid for four years and he was telling them I had wasted their money. I went to the Lord and the Lord told me several things. First, there were things I could have done better, second, we had made a very big difference on that campus, everyone that saw us had to confront the Lord, and third vengeance is His. After praying and dealing with this for two weeks the man who had said this was shamed to the uttermost before the entire campus. When the Bible says “vengeance is mine, I will repay” you better believe that the Lord’s vengeance is far more severe than anything I could do or imagine.

Rom 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The sixth blessing, blessed are those that bless you. Obeying your parents in the Lord is right, it is the way of blessing. Today we see the protests for the Black Lives Matter campaign. They will be blessed if they obey their parents in the Lord. Martin Luther King Jr. was “in the Lord”, I would also argue that Ghandi was in the Lord. Both of those men mapped a path that led to civil rights and justice. AOC was asked what defunding the police department looks like and she said it looks like the suburbs. In the suburbs people pay for many different school programs and after school programs to keep their kids active. As a result they don’t have gangs and the police department is much friendlier, less militaristic, and smaller. That was my experience. I spent a year at a boarding school in England where the rich and the elite sent there kids. Every single kid in the school was involved in a team. If you weren’t on the first team, you were on the second, and if you weren’t on the second you were on the third. When we would play a match the first team played their first team, the second played their second, etc. You can do this with cricket, rugby, soccer, basketball and baseball because they don’t involve hundreds of dollars of equipment like football does. When I was in the suburbs I was in the Boyscouts and we would go hiking and camping each weekend. To do that you need parents who will drive all the kids to and from the place and you need parents who will hike and camp. Also, each kid needs about $500 worth of equipment (backpack, boots, sleeping bag, a tent and a knife). The blessing comes from honoring those who have gone before us and obeying them in the Lord. Not everyone can afford what they do in the suburbs, but we all can afford what they do in Taiwan. School starts at 8 am with about 45 minutes of exercises for the entire school out in the main courtyard. Everyone eats lunch at school. Then at around 4pm school ends and everyone is involved in cleaning up the school, sweeping, picking up garbage, etc. They then have a study hall and dinner until 8pm. Students have a 12 hour day, but there are activities, they take ownership in their school by keeping it clean, they get fed and when they return home the homework is already done. I suspect that if we hired a few administrators from Taiwan they could tell us how to run a school very economically. You could spend less on the police, a lot less, and perhaps just a little more on the school. Doing this you would eliminate the gangs which are the biggest issue in cities like NY, Chicago and LA. I am a teacher in Brooklyn, an inner city school. I believe if we adopted the Taiwan approach we could greatly improve our schools. It would cost more but the children would benefit greatly, not only getting a better education, a better training, but also avoiding many of the pitfalls of gangs, violence, drugs, and teenage pregnancy. The money you save on the police would more than compensate for the extra money you spend on your kids.

The seventh blessing — All nations will be blessed in thee

Joshua emphasizes following God’s orders. Ephesians 6 emphasizes being obedient. Children obeying parents, servants obeying masters, and that everything we do we do as unto the Lord. Finally, in Joshua the land is divided up and the tribes need to take possession of their inheritance. Everything has been done so that they could stand in that good land. Likewise in Ephesians: This leads to our being ambassadors of the gospel, speaking in boldness as we ought to speak. This is the seventh blessing, that “all the families on Earth would be blessed in us”. That is the gospel, the good news, all the families on Earth will be blessed in us.

I heard a message on Youtube where the preacher was saying that “I can’t fix racial injustice, I can’t fix people who feel like they are disenfranchised”. Instead he said our responsibility is to preach the gospel. Well, the gospel is that all the nations will be blessed in the church. The gospel is not simply that God is building a great nation from those who were former slaves, but that all the nations would be blessed in the church. We are one new man, a warrior that stands on Earth for righteousness.


Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.


Right now there is a battle going on. It is confusing, there are reports that there are planned armed protests in all 50 capitals on January 20th. Who is planning this? Why? We have tech giants censoring the official communication channel of the President of the US. Countries around the world are protesting, some senators and congressmen are protesting, but the majority of them are either silent, or agree with this behavior. What is going on? We saw three companies collude together to wipe out a competitor -- Apple, Google and Amazon.com all acted to destroy Parler. Where is the outrage from our elected officials? A couple of elected officials have been vocal but many are silent. There is a basic principle I have learned that is very important, you can learn a lot about a person based on who their enemies are. A month ago I never heard about Parler but now I know that their enemies are those who support censorship and are against free speech. That tells me a lot about this company. If you have the first six blessings, you have a vision, you have been made into a great nation, you have been blessed, your name has been made great, you are a blessing to others and even those that bless you get blessed. Then at that point people are willing to look to you for guidance. If it had been anyone else I would have assumed Amazon.com had good reason to do what they did, Apple had good reason and Google had good reason. But since this company had credibility with me I listened to their side of the story. It has become very clear to me, one side is for civil liberties like freedom of speech and freedom of worship, and the other side is not. Now these companies who want to abuse the power and position they have are not a blessing but a curse to the whole world. You will not be blessed in them, they will figure out a way to bring you into bondage. So then, what do we do?

Ephesians 6:10 Finally

10 Finally,

So now we come to “finally”, the key point. Ephesians presents the seven blessings of our covenant with God. So imagine you are faced with an issue, for example, these protests concerning police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement. You could ask “what does God’s covenant say concerning this?” That in turn would lead you to Ephesians. This is the angle I am taking. So, the question is “what should we do?” The previous five and half chapters are all a build up, we need a vision of the Lord as the fulfillment of Joseph who saved people alive in Egypt. Our covenant includes making a great nation out of us, out of former slaves. The covenant includes making our name great. It is not great to replace one tyrant with another, to replace one corrupt ruler with another. And, we need to be a blessing, not a curse to others. To do that we need to honor our fathers and mothers in the Lord, we need to know our history, and we need to know how our ancestors came out of slavery and follow their footsteps. These are all essential points before we can even discuss taking up the whole armor of God and battling with the forces of evil.

be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

All of their teaching to us was so that we would be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. When the Israelites entered the good land the first city they took was Jericho. The spies had visited the city and learned that everyone in the city knew that God was with the Israelites, they knew that their city was evil and corrupt, they were there in fear of the Lord. That foreshadows the Lord’s coming at the end of this age. Today many know the world is corrupt, they are in fear of the Lord, and they will know that God is with His people. Rahab revealed the situation in the city she gave the spies a window into Jericho. But the way in which they took Jericho was truly according to the riches of God’s glory. They were surrounded by a wall. Jericho felt they were strong within the wall. A wall is designed to be very strong against an attack, just like a dam holding back water, it is curved because the pressure against it will make it all the stronger. At the top of the wall there is a rampart where the soldiers can stand, look out over the wall, and defend the city from atop the wall. You have to visualize this situation. The entire city is prepared for an imminent attack, they stand at the ready beneath the wall as Israel marches around, quietly. They ask those atop the wall what is happening, what is Israel doing? They aren’t doing anything. Surely they are doing something, you aren’t looking carefully enough. The next day it is the same, and the next. They become exasperated, everyone thinks if I was up there I would see what they were doing. Everyone at the bottom of the wall asks “what are they doing” and those at the top are saying the same thing, “nothing”. This goes on for seven days, only on the seventh something is different, they walk around seven times, and when they start blowing the trumpets this time it is too much for the people to bear, they know something is going on and they will see for themselves. Everyone who was standing at the bottom clambers up the ladders, rushing to see what is going on. The wall is not designed to handle this sudden and overwhelming force outward from every direction and it falls down flat. God’s mighty power, He knows the hearts of man. This works because they are liars and the people in the city do not feel those who are reporting the news to them are telling them the truth. This is no different than today. Everyone has been in lockdown, they watch the news to see what is happening, every day they want to know what is happening, and the news is vague. Repeatedly, again, and again, and again those reporting to the people what is going on appear to be lying. Everyone has lost confidence that they are looking out for them. This attack on police is simply the testimony that people do not see the police as those that protect and serve them. The sixth blessing is not simply “I will bless those that bless you” it also includes “and I will curse those that curse you”. We have been speaking the truth, we have been sharing the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. There are many that reject that word and to reject it will ultimately result in them cursing those who bring the truth to them. You reap what you sow. Jericho’s walls collapsed quite literally because they could not withstand the truth any longer.

Ps 45:4 In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds.

The claim of “fake news” is simply a claim that the news agencies are false witnesses and deceitful. You cannot have justice without truth.

Isaiah 59:12 For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: 13 rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, inciting revolt and oppression, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. 14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. 15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The truth is our offenses are many in the sight of God. Deny that and there will be no justice. On one hand you have those who are inciting rebellion and revolt, on the other you have those in power through treachery and oppression. Both sides are uttering lies their hearts have conceived. That is why there is no justice, no righteousness, because truth has stumbled in the street and honesty cannot enter. If you shun evil, on either side of the divide, you will become prey. This is why Jeremiah said

“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. (Jeremiah 5:1)

We are coming to the day of the Lord, He is the only one who has been found worthy. No one else. This is why Amos said

There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. (Amos 5:10)

In the book of Ephesians we heard the message of truth in chapter 1 and we speak truth in love in chapter 4. We were taught in accordance with the truth that is in Christ Jesus and we have put off falsehood, speaking truth to one another. The fruit of the light consists of truth and we stand firm with the truth. There is a temptation, you see the wicked in power because of their falsehood and you are tempted to imitate them. Stand firm in the Lord and His mighty power, the power of the wicked will be broken.

The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. Jeremiah 23:10

The prophets today are the “talking heads” on the TV, the news broadcasts, the press secretaries, the PR firms. We know this.

I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 13:21

The Lord prophesied that the things spoken in secret would be shouted from the rooftop. Right now this is being fulfilled. Youtube is the rooftop, videos of police brutality is taking the veil off of what was happening.

Micah 7:15 “As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders.” 16 Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will put their hands over their mouths and their ears will become deaf.

They will be exposed in their lies, they will be ashamed, nothing to say, and simply become deaf. Remember, this is who we are struggling against, not flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the world. The truth is that in Christ we are strong, in Christ His mighty power is toward us who believe. The spiritual forces of evil will do everything they can to get you out of Christ.

Ephesians 6:11-14 Stand in the day of trouble

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

You cannot put on the full armor of God until you have put off the old self that is corrupted by its evil desires. Do you want to take your stand against the devil? I think it is clear by all these people attending these protests that many do want to take a stand. They will not be successful unless they can stand against the devil’s schemes. For example, almost immediately some fringe groups tried to usurp peaceful protests and turn them into an opportunity for riots and looting. This is an example of the devil’s scheme to discredit the protestors.

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Money is a key tool of these dark spiritual forces. When Joshua’s army entered the good land Achan, a soldier in the army, took treasure for himself. Everything was to be devoted to the Lord but he was unfaithful and took it. This also is a scheme of the devil.

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Three times we are told to stand.

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. Joshua 1:5

If we are in Christ we will be able to stand and no one will be able to stand against us. When Achan took the devoted thing they were no longer in Christ, and they could no longer stand. The wicked will not be able to stand in the day of judgement, we are preparing our entire life so that we could stand in the day of trouble. The arrogant cannot stand in the presence of the Lord. You can’t put on the full armor of God unless you have put off wickedness and arrogance. No one who speaks falsely will stand in His presence.

Isaiah 7:9 If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

The entire book of Ephesians gives us the blessings of the covenant, these blessings will enable us to stand.

Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.

The only one that can stand is Jesus Christ, if we are in Him we also will stand.

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,

You can’t have the belt of truth buckled around your waste until you have put off falsehood. We are all members of one body and this body all comes together at the waist. We can only stand firm if we are one, and we will only be one if we speak truth with one another and put off falsehood.

with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

What does it mean to have the breastplate in place?

I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly. Ps 40:10

Everyone can see your breastplate, the righteousness of God displayed for all to see. You put it in place when you share your testimony of God’s faithfulness, His saving Help, His love and his faithfulness in the great assembly -- the church. To speak of the Lord’s faithfulness and His saving help, that is how you put the breastplate of righteousness in its place. When I first studied geology in college the professor took us on a field trip to find fossils. During the bus ride I dreaded what was going to happen. I had tried to find fossils before and had never succeeded. I could see that we would arrive at this site, I would not be able to find fossils, and then he would say that I just was not cut out to be a geologist. As we walked down to the site I felt like I was marching to my judgement. He brought us to the banks of a river and instructed us to look. I was frozen with fear but slowly bent over and picked up a small rock. It was a fossil! I was stunned. The next rock and the next and every rock on that beach was a fossil. That is when I learned that geologists are not better than other people at spotting fossils, instead they simply know where to look. You want to find people of God, you need to know where to look.

Ephesians 6:15 --When there is no peace, the gospel of peace is good news

15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

When you are going to battle you cannot afford to have your feet slip.

The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip. Ps 37:31

Everyone knows that the Lord is our passover, His sacrifice made peace, and it is this sacrifice that is the gospel of peace. But this sacrifice was made at a time that the ruler of this age was going to war with God.

This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. Exodus 12:11

There was no peace, only a path that leads to peace, and we need to be ready to walk that path.

Luke 1:79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.

The gospel of peace is that we know the way of peace. It is quite clear that many involved in these protests do not know the way of peace.

and the way of peace they do not know. Romans 3:17

When you point this out to them the response is always the same, the cops don’t know the way of peace either. But this is a warrior, and if he is going to stand he cannot be shaken.

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10

This is the gospel of the kingdom. This is what it means for all the nations to be blessed in us.

Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, Judah, and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed. Nahum 1:15

We bring this message. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. Acts 10:36

We announce that Jesus reigns.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7

And we announce that Satan will soon be defeated.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Romans 16:20.

When I was in college there was a definite progression to the gospel. At first we would speak to people sitting at our table during lunch. There were four of us. One brother would always kick off the discussion, then I would jump in and share something from my geology class that morning. For example I might talk about how to find gold and how to distinguish it from fool’s gold. Then the third brother would jump in before I had finished, he would have his pocket New Testament out and read a verse to confirm what I had just shared. Finally, David would pray with the person from Romans 10, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. We cut through the campus like a sharp knife. Eventually no one would sit at our table, they were scared of us. Once I was sitting at a table that had ten seats in the center of the cafeteria. The place was packed, standing room only, many kids were taking their lunch up to their room. Yet the other nine seats at this table were empty. They were terrified of me. So we went to stage two, which involved passing out tracks. We became much more aggressive. In one cafeteria I divided the room in half, the other two brothers took one half and I took the other. I went immediately to this table at the center and up to the key football player (you could tell by the way everyone else seemed to defer to him). I walked up to him and said “hey big man, do you want to know why God made you so big?” and then put down the gospel tract “the purpose of man”. When we returned to our table the other brothers wanted to know what I had said to him (they couldn’t believe I had talked to him as he was “the big man on campus”). They then watched. He was the last person to leave the cafeteria other than us. He took his tray back. His tract remained on the table untouched. As he returned on his way out his hand casually touched the table and the tract was gone. Even he was afraid to have other people see him read the tract. So then we went to stage three, we began publishing a 500 word article in the school paper with every issue. Everyone in the school read that paper, it would be very easy for anyone to read our article without peer pressure. Then on April 1st they printed a special edition. They had an article that looked exactly like our article titled “For God, Gold and Glory”. One of our gospel contacts came to us and said he thought it was not a good article. I laughed, that was not ours, but clearly it was designed to appear like ours, like fool’s gold. The entire paper had articles mocking and deriding the gospel. During my freshman year the school was strongly atheistic without the slightest thought about the gospel, now four years later it is the focus of the entire school. I remember one case in particular. I had to walk clear across campus to talk to a professor. I looked in my bag and I only had one tract so I began to pray that the Lord would lead me to the right person for this tract. Yet as I passed each person there was no leading. By the time I got to the professor’s office I was disgusted, there was a girl waiting for him so I went up to her, shoved the tract in front of her and said “here, this is for you”. She was quiet and looked at it thoughtfully, then said “that is very appropriate, I just learned I have lung cancer”. The tract was titled “Life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf”.

Ephesians 6:16 -- Wickedness burns like fire

16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Wickedness burns like fire (Isaiah 9:18).

If you do not abide in the vine you are cast into the fire, stubble is burned in the fire, wood, hay and stubble are burned in the fire.

James 5:3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

James talks about people who cheated their employees out of their wages. That is an example of wickedness and he says it will burn your flesh like fire. Paul says

1Tim 6:10 Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
These arrows are like griefs. They pierce us. Another example of flaming arrows is

Pr 26:18 Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death 19 is one who deceives their neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”

If the grief is due to our wickedness it is like a flaming arrow, piercing us.

Heb 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

We are bombarded by these temptations and without faith it would be impossible to shield yourself from them.

1Pet 1:5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

God’s power shields us from all kinds of attacks of the enemy.

Deut 33:29 Blessed are you, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will tread on their heights.”

So then, what does it mean to “take up the shield of faith”, how exactly do you take it up?

Ps 18:30 As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The Lord’s word is flawless. The word of faith is also a shield of faith. Taking up the word is how you can strengthen your faith, it is how you can trust in the Lord as your shield more and more.

James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

Think of faith as a burning coal that needs to be fanned into flame. Your works are the wood on the fire. Without wood the fire will die. We use fire to keep warm and to cook food, but without the wood on the fire, it will be useless. It can’t save anyone. So what you want is a work that is a work of faith. George Muller is an example, he set up orphanages based on the Lord’s word “seek ye first the kingdom and all these things will be added unto you”. One time the orphanage had run out of food, they would have nothing to feed the kids for dinner. It was a Sunday so even if someone were to give them money they would be unable to buy food. So he called the staff together to pray. After a short time there was a knock at the door, someone had a cart full of food they were going to deliver but the place was closed, the food would spoil if he left it for a day, and so the people in the town told him to bring it to the orphanage. God was George Muller’s shield of faith. That faith was based on God’s word.

Ps 18:35 You make your saving help my shield,

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the flaming arrows of the enemy are trying to put doubt into your heart. They are trying to cause you to turn back, they are trying to plant a seed of unbelief. Many of the words in the Bible depend on our faith that what we see was made out of what is not visible. Cain was burned up by jealousy. Our faith in the faithfulness of God who promised will quench the unbelief. Some are burned up by the flaming arrows of the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Ephesians 6:17-20 An ambassador in a chain

17 Take the helmet of salvation

We need to protect two things, our mind and our heart. We need to guard our heart and we need to set our mind on the things which are above. There are thoughts that can be very damaging, but they will be kept out if we have the full assurance of our salvation.

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We put on the breastplate of righteousness after we first put off the old man. It is a testimony that we wear. We take up the shield of faith, this is the word of God that we have taken by faith and hold in our hands. We take the helmet of salvation, these are the solid promises of God we wear on our head. But the sword is a little different, it is not our sword, it is the sword of the Spirit. It is the word of God, but in the hands of the Spirit these words were a two edged sword that divides soul from spirit. Bobby Orr once said that you should never train with something lighter than a hockey puck. A lot of kids use a tennis ball, their slap shot can fire that tennis ball at 100 mph. But, when they hit the puck it just dribbles off their stick. The word of God is heavy, it is dense, it takes a lot of strength to pick it up and wield it. It is like a sword made of steel.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

The 1901 American Standard translation says that we take up the sword with all manner of prayer. When the word of God becomes a prayer it is the sword of the Spirit.

With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Do you want to take up the sword of the spirit with regards to the civil rights movement right now? Be alert, we need prayers for all the Lord’s people.

19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,

we need to pray that those who are at the forefront of the battle would be able to fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. It amazes me how little people know this mystery. The New Testament says that “there is no Jew nor Greek, no bond or free”. You had to be fearless 2,000 years ago to say that and even today this battle has not finished. Paul said that “there was no male or female”, these were words that caused all those in Asia to forsake him. These are words that only now are coming to pass.

20 for which I am an ambassador in chains.

We need this view. Paul was an ambassador for the Kingdom of the heavens. This age is all about who will be king and who will rule. Paul told us he was sent by Jesus with a message, he was an “apostle” of Jesus. He told us twice that he was a prisoner of the Lord, that is he was in chains. This is what an “ambassador in chains” means.

Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

No one likes correction. We need to declare the word fearlessly. We also need to declare it “as we should”. There is a lot of directions about how we should and should not declare it. Some Christian preachers are teaching that there is nothing that we can do to fix injustice. That is not fearless, nor is it how we should behave. Our covenant includes all the nations being blessed in us.

Isaiah 49:6 “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant

to restore the tribes of Jacob

and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”



7 This is what the Lord says—

the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—

to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,

to the servant of rulers:

“Kings will see you and stand up,

princes will see and bow down,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Isaiah 60:1-15 -- Gathered unto Thee

2Thessalonians 2:1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him

I looked at this verse and wondered where Paul got this that we were to be gathered to Him? I looked in the Old Testament and found that it was very rare to find any verses describing our being gathered to the Lord except in the book of Isaiah, in that book there are four distinct verses in four chapters. That was interesting because we have three raptures and then everyone else is also gathered to the Great White Throne judgement. The first instance in Isaiah is in chapter 10 but that certainly looks like a description of the Great White Throne judgement, so based on the verse “the first shall be last and the last first” I looked at the last instance in chapter 60.

1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. 2 For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah will arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 3 And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

What is happening today? We are seeing protests in Belarus, in Beirut, in Hong Kong, in Portland, in Australia. The protests are worldwide concerning corrupt government, abusive treatment from police, and shutdown of the economy due to the pandemic. We are seeing cancel culture run amok. These protests are turning into riots and looting sprees. Everything on the streets has become very scary. People shooting people because of their political affiliation, cars driving through crowds, spraying crowds randomly with pepper spray. What we are seeing is gross darkness. We are seeing kings who are powerless to make the situation better and confused about what to do. Yet, in the church we are not seeing any of this. We have large congregations in the very midst of these cities that are in upheaval without any of this gross darkness. It is time for the church to arise, shine, because our light is come. The glory of the Lord is His reconciliation ministry. We have been reconciled to Christ and we have been reconciled to one another. How? This is what the kings of the earth need to see.

But I am looking specifically at this chapter because it may be the one, best reference in the Old Testament concerning “our being gathered to the Lord” and more specifically, to the first rapture, and it describes it as a sun rising. Not only so but it compares that rising sun to the “hope of glory”.

4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be carried in the arms. 5 Then thou shalt see and be radiant, and thy heart shall thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee.

The world has embraced democracy, they have embraced education, they have embraced the right to speak the truth. That is the impact of the gospel. No one is going back, now they realize they can’t have these things without the ministry of reconciliation.

But concerning the rapture we are talking about them all being gathered to the Lord. It is a hallelujah service, at sunrise, after a long night of thick darkness. This sounds to me like the sunrise service we have to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.

6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah.

This is the Lord’s table meeting, we bring our top tenth, our experiences of the Lord and in this meeting we proclaim the praises of the Lord. The Passover feast became the Lord’s table, just as the fellowship of His sufferings leads to the experience of the outstanding resurrection.

7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar; and I will glorify the house of my glory. 8 Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? 9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.

This gospel, this ministry has gone throughout the world. What people are realizing is that their loyalty to the gospel is much greater than their patriotism to their country. People come from all over the earth, we immigrate, visit, travel, and do business with each other. The borders of countries are merely an inconvenience. We have different backgrounds, different languages, but we all have the same faith, the same God.

Now concerning the rapture they will be raptured from the four corners of the Earth. They will be those that “fly as a cloud”.

10 And foreigners shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee.

The church has walls. These walls have been attacked as being “divisive” or “biased”. However, the world’s attempt to be more equananamous has resulted in this chaos we see now.

11 Thy gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive. 12 For that nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

Learn from history. What we are seeing today is a major lesson to us on the way to go forward. Any kingdom that rejects the ministry of reconciliation is going to be utterly wasted.

13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

In the church there is a place for everyone and it is a glorious place. Doesn’t matter if you are the head or the feet.

14 And the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee The city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

The church has been accused of all sorts of terrible things. Those that refuse to repent will be utterly wasted, but those that repent will see the city of the Lord. In particular this reminds me of Revelation 3 where the “synagogue of Satan” will come to the church in Philadelphia and bow themselves down confessing that God is truly in your midst. This chapter looks like the rapture of the church in Philadelphia and everyone else that is also raptured in the first rapture.

15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

People hated those that were self righteous, those that were hypocrites. They hated a church with the name that they were living and yet were dead. They hated lukewarm Christians. We were forsaken when we forsook following the Lord. But when the church was despised, forsaken and hated, then only those who truly followed the Lord continued to cling to Him. They had a little strength they didn’t deny His name and they held onto His word.

Isaiah 60:16-22 A vision of the Coming Kingdom

16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the nations, and shalt suck the breast of kings; and thou shalt know that I, Jehovah, am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron.

Everything is made with cheap materials in the current age. Thousands of dams burst in China because they were made with cheap materials. Buildings in Haiti collapsed from relatively minor earthquakes because they were made with inferior materials. When phones were first made they seemed indestructible, designed to last forever. Business got smart, now smart phones are designed to be obsolete in a couple of years. Flip the script, instead of making things cheap that people have to buy again and again, make them to last, high quality.

I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. 18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, desolation nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.

A lot of people are confused, what do these protestors want? Well, they want police officers to truly be “peace officers”. When you see the police wouldn’t it be nice if you immediately felt peace? They want the IRS, the extractors, to be called righteousness. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all felt our government and all the government programs were righteous and not corrupt? Wouldn’t it be nice if violence was no more in our land? No more videos of people dying while being apprehended by police, no more videos of people being shot seven times in the back, no more videos of rioters, looters, and terrorists? No more desolation and destruction. Not in Detroit, not in Flint, not anywhere. They want to know that the walls we are building are called “salvation”. Salvation from sin, from destruction, from violence. They want our gates where people come in and out of the land to be called “praise” rather than ridicule, contempt and mockery.

19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but Jehovah will be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 20 Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah will be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. 21 Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 22 The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation; I, Jehovah, will hasten it in its time.

This is a vision of the kingdom we are heading to. This is the future. Instead of “natural” light where everyone does what is right in their own eyes, we’ll have the wisdom of God guiding us.

Septuagint

Jer 38:8 Behold, I bring them from the North, and will gather them from the end of the earth to the feast of the passover: and shall beget a great multitude, and they shall return hither.