OBEDIENCE

We had revival this past week at our church. It was such a blessing! It was supposed to be an old fashioned tent revival. The men met last Saturday up on top of Crown Mountain and set up a huge tent. Monday night it rained, so we met at the church. Tuesday night was in the tent, but I had a flat tire and Matt was at work. Wednesday was the huge tornado outbreak across the south, so we met at the church. Thursday morning revealed that the tent had not weathered the storm so well, so we finished out the week at the church. Don’t know why, but that is the way the Lord worked it out…and worked it out he did. We had excellent services with a very sweet spirit the entire week. Wednesday night we had 4 teenagers saved!! What a blessing!! Friday night Dr. Ballew preached on Elijah. He read 1 Kings 17:1-16.
1Ki 17:1 ¶ And Elijah the Tishbite, [who was] of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, [As] the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that [is] before Jordan. And it shall be, [that] thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that [is] before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which [belongeth] to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman [was] there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch [it], he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, [As] the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go [and] do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring [it] unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day [that] the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat [many] days. [And] the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

Dr. Ballew’s thought was this, that if he could tell you anything and not meet you again until we are in Heaven, he would tell you to OBEY the Lord in every MINUTE detail. If you look at the passage, God told Elijah to go to the brook to live during the famine. Now notice what he said, I HAVE commanded the ravens…When God tells us to do something, he has ALREADY made the provision for us to do it. The ravens were waiting on Elijah’s obedience. Had Elijah waited or gone to another brook – perhaps one with more water in it…he would not have had the bread and flesh to eat each day. Next, look at what happens. The brook dries up and God tells Elijah to go to Zarephath to the widow woman. He says…I have commanded a widow woman. God had already commanded the woman. When he gets there she is making the last meal she has for her and her son and then they will die because of the famine that is in the land. What would have happened if Elijah had questioned God, or maybe waited a day or two before going. The meal would have already been gone!! Because Elijah obeyed God, the widow woman was able to obey God. Because Elijah obeyed God, and the woman obeyed God, they had enough to eat until the famine was over. Not only for the two of them, but also for the woman’s son, and the Bible says for her house as well. WOW! My thought on that is, who does my obedience affect? Is there someone waiting on me to do what God has told me to do, so that they can do what God has told them to do? Who does my disobedience affect? Is there someone missing out on the provision of God, because I haven’t obeyed? It is easy to obey the Word of God. We might not want to do that, but it is written in black and white, and if we read our Bibles it is not hard for us to know what we are supposed to do to obey. However, when you start talking about obeying the Holy Spirit, that still small voice that “says” or impresses upon you that you should…call this person today and check on them, send that person a card, go to the alter and pray, witness to this person or that person, pray for someone, give that man/woman $20, and the list could go on and on…it is easy to dismiss that “voice” or leading of the Holy Spirit. I am afraid that more often than not, I have dismissed what the Holy Spirit has told me to do and thereby have disobeyed the Lord. Who else has that affected? That is a very troublesome thought for me. One example of this is that the Lord has really impressed upon me the need to put a post on our blog about His soon return. We have had several sermons and Sunday school lessons on that lately and it seems everywhere you look, that it just hits you in the face that it won’t be very long. He has been stirring me w/ that for several weeks, but I have yet to obey. Who has that affected? I have had to ask forgiveness for that and now have to make that right. Which incidentally is why I am writing this. I was awakened from a deep sleep by the Lord a couple of weeks ago w/ a thought that, just like this morning, I had to type out. I think of all that has happened since He gave me those thoughts and said WOW! The situation in Libya has continued to decline, there is fighting in Syria, there was a fight over the budget and spending in our country that nearly took the pay of all government workers (to include the military and those on the front lines in Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan), we have seen more earthquakes, and now the South ripped up by a huge tornado outbreak. The stage is set for the return of the Lord Jesus. There are wars and rumors of wars (only increasing), earthquakes in divers places (only increasing – read the USGS website), and other natural disasters abounding. This is only the beginning. Are you ready? As bad as the past week has been for those in the South, during the tribulation it will only be worse…are you going to be here? Below are the thoughts the Lord gave me on this a few weeks back. Please read and heed. If you are not 100% sure of where you will be spending eternity or if you will be here during the tribulation or not, please email me or call me.

Signs of The Times
I have been doing a lot of meditating and pondering lately about the signs of the times. I love the beginning of spring and watching the leaves come back on the trees and everything turn from brown to a beautiful green and seeing the flowers begin to bloom. Being here in the mountains of North Georgia, spring is very pretty and the last few weeks have definitely brought a huge change in the scenery. Things are a changing and summer is coming soon. Just like we can look outside and see the beginning of spring and know that soon a different time of the year is approaching, we can definitely look around at what has been going on lately and know that we are transitioning into a different “time/season” as well. We are fighting wars on three fronts now, gas is almost $4.00 a gallon and rising, trouble is always brewing, natural disasters are everywhere and increasing. The Bible talks about the Lord’s return and the end of the world. You can’t help but think how much worse will things get? Well, a lot worse to be honest with you. The stage is set and I believe that the Lord’s return is imminent. I don’t know when it will be; the Bible says in Matthew 24:36 that only God knows when that will be. However, the Bible does give us warning as to what we will be going on in this world when the time approaches. I do NOT claim to be a scholar on Bible prophecy, especially end time prophecy, but I can’t help but KNOW from reading my Bible that we are VERY CLOSE to the time for the Lord to come. I would encourage you to read Matthew 24:3-51 and Matthew 25. Here the disciples have asked Jesus for the signs of when He would return and when the end of the world would be. Jesus states pretty clearly in three of the gospels what the world scene will look like.
Matthew 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Matthew 24:36-39 But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mark 13:8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these [are] the beginnings of sorrows.
Luke 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
And even though we can look at what is going on in this world and see things shaping up, the Lord still says that people will be caught by surprise. Paul also does a good job of describing this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through chapter 5:11.
So you ask, why are you telling me all this? Good question. Because I love you and I don’t want you to go through what is about to happen!! The book of Revelation (chapters 5-22) tells us of the horrible tribulation that will take place on this earth before the end of the world and the judgment. Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21 also tell of what will be happen during the tribulation. One theme resounds and that is to WATCH and to TAKE HEED and to PRAY. This will be a terrible time on the earth. Will you be here for it? The apostle Paul talks in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 about the Lord descending w/ a shout and the dead in Christ rising first and “then we that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore COMFORT one another with these words.” Basically, those of us who are saved (who have put our FAITH and TRUST in the Lord Jesus and him ALONE) will not be on this earth during the great time of tribulation that is quickly approaching. See, Jesus is going to come and get us before things REALLY get bad. But for those of you who aren’t sure where you stand w/ the Lord, who don’t know for SURE that if you were to die today that you would go to Heaven or that if the Lord was to return today that you would be “caught up” to meet him in the air, I beg you to get sure. Read those chapters in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Revelation. I can promise you that the tribulation is NOT something ANYONE will want to go through. And if that is not bad enough, after the end of the tribulation comes the judgment. Like it or not, we will ALL face judgment. Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment. The question is what will happen to you at the judgment (Revelation 20:11-15)? Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Where will you spend eternity? You see, if your name is not in that book you will spend eternity in the lake of fire with the devil himself. I know a lot of people joke about hell and being there with their friends. I used to do the same thing, but trust me it is no joke. It is a place of eternal, unquenchable torment. The tribulation will be horrible, but spending eternity in hell will be even worse. If you don’t know for CERTAIN that your name is in that book, please call me or email me and I can tell you how to know for SURE that it is.