Crossing Jordan

It is written in 1 Corinthians 10:11 that, "these things happened unto them as examples and are written down for our admonition upon whom the ends of the age have come". The writer, apostle Paul was referring to the Israelite's who had arrived at the border of the Promised Land and waited while Moses sent in 12 spies to scout out the land and determine what challenges they would face, how strong the cities were fortified, the number and strength of the people and to check out the fruitfulness of the land. When the spies returned they brought a huge cluster of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it on a pole between them. However when Moses asked about the cities, their people and troops, ten of the spies gave very negative reports and sought to frighten the Israelite's telling them that there were giants in the land who made them look like grasshoppers. Two of the twelve disagreed saying that size and numbers didn't matter when God was on their side but no one would listen. The people panicked and rebelled and began to complain against God and Moses for bringing them out of Egypt in the first place saying it would have been better had they died on the way or in Egypt at the hands of their slave-masters. You may read all about this in Numbers chapter 13. God was not pleased with them and many died that day and God pronounced that everyone from 20 years of age and up would get exactly what they wanted, "death in the wilderness" and would not ever see the promised land.

Now I would remind the reader that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. What displeased God then, still displeases Him now, He changes not. So some would say, "but this is the age of grace" and I agree, we are not under the law. We cannot save ourselves by keeping the law. We are saved by the grace of Jesus shed blood. He makes His abode in our hearts and gives us a new life that is empowered by His Spirit therefore we have no excuse not to obey His every command.
This is where the rub comes in for many Christians. They feel that they have a choice and if they choose to ignore His commands that they are still covered by grace as though it were a get out of jail free pass they drew from a monopoly game.

The exodus from Egypt represents our deliverance from the power of sin when we come to Jesus in repentance and the red sea crossing represents our burial and resurrection in water baptism. This usually brings rejoicing from the new Christian as he realizes what the Lord has done for him. Then the Lord leads him by His Spirit just as He led the Israelite's by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He is given a preview of God's supernatural power to build his faith just as the Israelites received supernatural provision of water from a rock as well as manna from heaven and then they were able to defeat two different kings and their armies who challenged them. Mind you, these were slaves not trained warriors but God gave them victory to show that He would fight their battles for them as long as they were obedient. There are parallels in the life of every born again Christian because God is not a respecter of persons and what He did for them He does for us. However we must also note that according to the scripture quoted above He holds us just as responsible as He did them way back then.

So let's get to the point of this article; I chose Crossing Jordan as the title because that is the place where the remaining Israelite's crossed into the promised land after everyone from 20 up had dropped dead in the wilderness and that took 40 more years. I assume that if they had been obedient and gone in the first time they came to the border that they would also have had to cross the Jordan to get there. The Jordan represents a critical time and place of decision whether we will go on with God or will we turn away and just play the pew warmer game. Jordan represents the promise of abundant fruit in your life, opportunities to see life from a much higher spiritual plain, opportunities to see God destroy the power of the Devil who is always coming against you and best of all to be uniquely identified with the peculiar people of God and the peace of knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that your name is written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Failure to accept the challenge to cross over the Jordan will result in a life devoid of any fruit at all and God warns us of what happens to trees that fail to bear good fruit, they are eventually chopped down and cast into the fire. Every Christian will have his Jordan experience and it may come in different form to nearly everyone but come indeed it will. It may be that He is telling you it is time to give up those things you have been hanging onto, or it may be you must turn away from friends who are causing you to stumble. But it's more than any of these simple things because it involves finally taking that leap of faith that determines that you will give Him everything and total control over your life believing that from that time on your steps will be ordered of the Lord. How much more could anyone possibly want than to know that every step he made was in God's perfect will. This takes faith and faith is the substance of things not seen and the evidence of things hoped for.
If you choose not to cross over and many do not then God will take care of your basic needs like food , clothing and shelter until your body just plain wears out and you drop dead in the wilderness;

The choice is ours, what will you choose, the abundant life in Christ where you never know where He will lead you next or what battle you may have to fight but will thoroughly enjoy walking hand in hand with the Creator and Victor over all that Satan can throw against you, where the fruit is so large that it will have to be stored in heaven and you will be the head rather than the tail , You will lend rather than borrow, and sickness flees at the name of Jesus. or will you draw back and fight the Devil all alone and constantly suffer defeat having to borrow against what you have not made and do not even know if you will live long enough to earn, where you fall ill from every little germ you encounter and temptation, defeat and guilt are your constant companions. The Devil will laugh in your face when you try to use the name of Jesus for you have already rejected Him. Take note of the story in Numbers 13. once the Israelite's refused to enter the promised land then the plague struck so they changed their minds and said Ok we made a mistake, now we will go and they went out with the intent of fighting but were promptly defeated because God had already withdrawn His hand of power in their behalf.
Hebrews 3:7-13
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

⁸Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

⁹When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

¹⁰Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

¹¹So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

¹²Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

¹³But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

May the Spirit of God give you understanding.

Complacency has infected the Church

The following are some definitions of complacency; Smug, self-satisfied, pleased with yourself, resting on your laurels, contented, satisfied, unconcerned, self-righteous, self-assured,
A feeling of contentment or self-

satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, ...

I talk to people everyday and many of them are Christians and to my disappointment I must say they are both blind and complacent. They have become so conditioned by the soft peddling of God's Word by their pastors and teachers in their churches that if I attempt to share with them any knowledge of what is really happening in our country behind the political rhetoric and propaganda being disseminated by our sold out media their eyes simply glaze over and end of conversation.

I remember well the cold war years and all the talk of the evil going on behind the iron curtain and especially the stories of how people were kept in the dark about the evil their government was up to. The word "propaganda" conjured up frightening images of bald faced lies to keep people from seeing what was happening and revolting against it. It sent chills down my spine and I thanked God that I wasn't born in such a place as that. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that in the United States of America that I was so proud of would one day be doing the same thing, nothing but lying to their citizens with every word that comes out of their mouth.

Even worse, I never imagined that the American people would stand for it and not even care.
Worse still Christians who should be hearing from the Holy Spirit about these things either have their ears stopped up or don't even understand Who the Holy Spirit is or don't care.

Many Pastors who do know what is happening will not speak out for fear of ? You fill in the blanks, I can't figure it out. They claim to care about their flocks and their well-being but I suspect they really care more about what the people provide them than they care about the people themselves. Perhaps they are just hirelings like the scripture says.

Never the less this will not serve as an excuse when we stand before the King of kings and Lord of lords on that final day. The information is there for anyone who is willing to get off their duff and away from the television long enough to read their bible and spend a little time praying for God to reveal His truth to them. It's all there in the bible what is being fulfilled before our eyes and the Spirit will direct us to articles and books that will bring us right up to date. Go online and read the London Times for starters, they report what American news will not. There are a number of reliable Christian websites that keep up to date on almost everything world wide.
If you want some suggestions email me.

Back to complacency, as far as I'm concerned the world can believe what they want but I am very disturbed that people who claim the name of Jesus take His word and commandments so lightly. I suppose that one of the major causes of complacency among Christians is the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture which teaches them that they will be whisked away to heaven before anything bad can happen to them. Or perhaps they have been taught that there won't even be a great tribulation. I stopped going to a bible study recently where this was being taught and even though I offered many scriptures to dispute the teachers stance on the issue he simply said that he didn't believe they meant what they seemed to say. I hung on for a while hoping that some of the people might wake up but they liked his version a lot better because it made them feel safer.
I left because I could not be part of the deception. I shared with the pastor what this person was teaching and his response was "I don't get into end time stuff".

Let me tell you a story about complacency and how dangerous it can be.

Jesus said there were 10 Virgins and that they were all waiting for the bridegroom. They all had an invitation to a wedding. Now 5 of those virgins were wise and active (not complacent) and had brought extra oil for their lamps but the other 5 were called foolish and careless (complacent) and did not bring any extra oil for their lamps, probably because it took too much effort or their expectations were too limited, after all everyone knows just how the bridegroom was supposed to come.

Now as it happened the bridegroom was delayed and every one of them became weary so they decided to take a nap. However at the midnight hour the call came that the bridegroom was finally coming. They all jerked wide awake and began to trim the wicks in their lamps so they would shine brightly for the procession which was a very big affair and no one with a poorly lit lamp could join in. The five foolish virgins discovered that their lamps were going out so they begged the others to give them some of their extra oil. Of course they were refused because after the wise had trimmed their lamps and added their oil there was none left so they told those foolish ladies to go to the market place and buy their own. Well by the time they got back it was too late and they couldn't get in to the banquet. Folks this is known as the ultimate "left behind".

Now to explain this in today's terms. The story is relevant to today because the Word of God is forever and unchanging.
The virgins can be likened to the Christians of today though I am not so sure the percentage is the same. A virgin represents purity and innocence and anyone who has come under the blood of Jesus is pure and innocent. The test comes in what they have done with the life that was given them up until the arrival of the bridegroom or the return of Jesus. The lamps represent the light that Jesus talked about , saying that no one lights a candle and puts it under a basket but puts it high on a hill where it can give light to the world. The oil in the lamps clearly represents the Holy Spirit Who is the fuel for the flame. The wick in the lamp is the new life that was given us that needs to be trimmed often to get rid of the contamination of the world we live in.

Most importantly is the oil of the Holy Spirit for it is not a one time thing but is being consumed steadily and therefore must be replenished but extra needs to be attained in preparation for difficult times .
In the story the foolish virgins wanted to buy or borrow some of the extra oil the wise virgins had but in reality that is impossible. How can you give to someone else the relationship you have with the Holy Spirit? I'm talking about the long term fruits of a life that is spent seeking first the kingdom of God and allowing God to add those things we need according to His Word. I'm talking about laying up treasures in heaven through self sacrifice and obedience to Him at all cost and about a relationship with Him that is vibrant enough that we quickly become aware if we have grieved or quenched the Holy Spirit and then waste no time in getting right with Him. How long do we nurture anger or unforgiveness before we make it right?

The simple fact is that in the end of the age we cannot expect that someone Else's efforts are going to do us one bit of good. It is going to be between me and Him alone and you and Him alone.

What are we doing with this amazing gift that God has given us in His Son. Someone has said, "A new life is God's gift to me, What I make of that life through submission to His will is my gift to Him".
The time we have left to prepare ourselves both physically and spiritually is running out and I fear that most will not do anything until it's too late.