The Soul That Longeth After God
Only the souls who long after God will have any assurance of Salvation. Multitudes claim religion but the Lord Jesus is only a small part of their life. They know He is real and that He died for their sins but they have never experienced Him. If Jesus Christ ever steps into your life with resurrection power you will long and even “pant” for Him. “As the hart panted after the water brooks, so panted my soul after thee, O God.” (Psalms 42:1)To pant for Him is an extreme passion that consumes your life. He created us in His Image with a God shaped vacuum within the human spirit. When He is allowed to move into that sacred domain of your life you will never be the same.
Once He is Lord of all, and He will not be Lord of less, your passions are toward Him in every facet of life. You will literally fall in love with the Bible. The Book that was obscure in the past suddenly reads like a love story from the Divine. You could not understand it when you did not know Him. The moment He became real your Bible became real. You will no longer want some common language Bible, you will want a Bible that sounds like another world, because it really is from another world. Sermons that are tough and striking will be a joy and quickly become thrilling and sanctifying. These modern entertainers will be a joke to you.
Modern pastors have been trained to mesmerize you. They have created a mystic around themselves and the flock, especially the ladies, swoon to hear them and watch them perform. The whole mega-church world its last hour. It is blasphemy for men who claim to be from God to allow such worship of themselves and they will be consumed in the process of their folly. We have already viewed the shipwreck of many. Nothing has done greater damage to the church than these corporation style churches that offer thousands a religious hiding place and playground.
Sunday night church is almost gone because there is no passion to feed on the Word of God. A movie, television, or swapping tales with a friend is more enjoyable than fellowship from the Spirit world. A Sunday morning laugh-in has given them religion for the week. This level of Christianity is actually not even equal to the “lukewarm that He will spue out of His mouth.” At least that was called a church and this generation has rejected the very word “church.” Most churches have been remade into an entertainment center where they drink coffee and eat donuts while the laugh-in progresses.
The sanctified soul is repulsed by such cheapening of the lofty matters of our Great God. Where are the Saints that can quote the Twenty-third Psalm and experience wonderful Rapture just thrilling to such language. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” (Psalms 23:1-6)
Such truth as this great revelation fills the Holy Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Our Lord was not any more real to the Old Testament Saints than He wants to be to you. Look at Isaiah’s great call for the saints to feast on the Holy Bible and the life of his Spirit. ” Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” (Isaiah 55:1-2)
These Old Testament Saints lived in only the shadow of what we are privileged to enjoy. Apostle Paul made the Spiritual life that we can experience a beautiful life beyond measure. Millions of His Saints have walked with Him in His glory during church history. This generation has been the first generation since Pentecost to show the world so few real saints full of the Spirit. Listen to this mighty man of God: “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.” (11 Corinthians 3:6-10)
We are invited to sit together in Heavenly Places with our Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Four times in the one book of Ephesians Paul spoke of sitting together in Heavenly Places. The Holy Ghost did not come to be an unknown presence in the midst of the church. The Tabernacle and the Temple of Soloman was filled with His Shekinah presence. Many times during church history His Saints have seen and experienced an even greater manifestation of His glory. It is going to happen again, but it cannot occur in dead churches where His glory is unwelcome. I am believing that we will see His Shekinah in our coming camp meeting. My soul longs for Him and for the fullness of His wonderful presence.
CAMP MEETING 2011 will begin on June 27th and conclude on July 3rd. Please go to the front page for details. The flier will give you a look at the list of Men Of God in the pulpit. Our night Evangelist is Reverend Eddie Sullivan. Motels are listed for your choices. Prices are extremely low in This area. No services on Saturday will Reverend Greg Roberts preaching on Sunday, July 3rd.
Carol
Joseph,
I do agree with you about longing after God and have seen the shallowness evident in some “church” gatherings. However, it seems our younger generation has a different schedule than the older one and aren’t legally confined to a Sunday am/pm service that is “tradition”. The Lord actually calls some people to minister to the poor on Sunday mornings and bless the congregations that meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays in coffee shops. I don’t believe we should confine our Lord’s presence to a particular building at a set in stone time. He wants to minister through us everywhere we go, whether we have a coffee cup in our hand or not. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” That will always be true no matter what our society “looks” like.
God bless,
Ed Wood
This is really excellent, Pastor Joseph.
I think one of the consequences of being a “casual Christian” (if there even is such a thing) or a Christian in name only is that such a person lacks the presence, assistance and discernment of the Holy Spirit without which I doubt that it is even possible for someone to recognize the real Jesus.
In Acts, chapter 2, recall that only the “devout Jews” understood the miraculous words being preached by the disciples (Acts 2:5) while those who were not devout only heard gibberish, which they ascribed to be drunken rantings (Acts 2:13). Sad to say, but the latter sounds like most of “organized religion” today to me.
Only Jesus’ own sheep can recognize his voice (John 10:14), both now, and when he comes calling very soon.
I’d say it’s time for all Christians to get serious about their faith if they are not already, because the days are very short and the opportunities are running out.
RJ
Hi! You wrote: Modern pastors have been trained to mesmerize you. They have created a mystic around themselves and the flock, especially the ladies, swoon to hear them and watch them perform. The whole mega-church world its last hour. It is blasphemy for men who claim to be from God to allow such worship of themselves and they will be consumed in the process of their folly. /end
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Yes, sadly, we attended a local service where the women in the praise team wore low-cut dresses, you’d see more at church than you would at the local mall!! No regard for godly dressing any more.
And as far as those “pretending” to be Christians, ~ isn’t this the same as TAKING THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN?? Something that He will NOT forgive.
GREAT, incredibly annointed article!! Amen & Amen!
Jonathan, UK
Please be assured Pastor, I will be praying for the fire of God to re-ignite your camp meetings June 27 through July .
Let the fire fall Lord here there everywhere, deal with our stubborn hard proud hearts, give us hearts of flesh, move us Lord to follow your decrees and laws. Bring us to that place of hungering and thirsting, whatever it takes, break us, mould us, admonish us, in the valley of decision choose life, Lord let us come to the place of dying at your altar, let the appetites for the world and its desires lose their beguiling and deceiving influence. Let us have eyes for you Lord Jesus, only you. Open our spiritual eyes, let us be able to discern the spirit realm, and be led by the spirit of God as the true sons of God. Let us become sensitive to your precious voice speaking to us, give us boldness to confront wickedness and idlatry in our own lives, bless us with the gifts of repentance and conviction of sin Let the fire fall, because of your Blood and because you promise to pour out your spirit on all flesh, let us waken up and see spiritually, see how corrupted and powerless we became, deliver us from forms of godliness that deny the power thereof, from empty ways of life (“lifestyle choices”) handed down to us by our forefathers, deliver us from the couterfeit and the carnal, let the charlatans lose their grip, Jesus be glorified, exalt His Name, Name above all names, smash the idols, Lord let us really see how useless and dangerous false religion is, change us for your Glory Lord, Hallelujah Christ in us THE HOPE OF GLORY
Pastor my pryaer is that in your camp meetings the assembly comes to a place of intimate fellowship with Him, so powerful that just as with Soloman in 2Chron 7:1-3, when the fire of God fell, The priests were unable to perform their service because the shekina Glory presence was so intense and powerful, the people fell on their faces on the pavement and worshipped Him His mercy endures for ever…
Shalom, Jonathan
Jean Hyne
Your message so accurately describes the churches of today. Put out the donuts and the “feedbag” and set up the games and of course, you will draw a big crowd! Crowd of what? Just like in the days of Jesus. There’s as much world in the church as there is in the world. It really grieves me.
John Arnold
You are so right with these ‘mega-church’ facilities. These guys are nothing more than ‘Motivational Speakers’ and rarely say anything about ‘Jesus being the Only Way’. The Osteen’s and the Warren’s will have their day. I wouldn’t want to be there.
Bill Andrews
Dear Pastor Chambers,
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Some of the things you said, like the first sentence in paragraph 5 (The sanctified soul is repulsed by such cheapening of the lofty matters of our great God) and all of paragraph 2 perfectly match my thoughts, feelings and what has happened in my life.
You are absolutely correct about these things. I’m thrilled that someone in the Church proclaims these things so boldly. THANK YOU !
RJ
this reply is to albert s & others like him who may be searching for the truth…. while it is not popular, Scripture is abundantly clear that one CAN lose salvation, stray away, turn away, shipwreck faith, etc. etc.
We are told that in the last days some would purposely turn away and fall away from the doctrine of TRUTH ~ so that they can go hear the “feel good” sermons (i.e. having their ears tickled!!)
And this has ALWAYS been so ~ even in the OT!! Check out Psalm 51 ~ where David, after grieviously sinning, prayed for the Holy Spirit to NOT BE TAKEN FROM HIM!! David himself knew that was a possibility.
I believe it’s in 1 John that tells us that we are not to “purposely” sin ~ that he who practices righteousness is righteous; yet those who purposely sin are of the devil.
As true Christians, we will continue to (accidentally) sin ~ by this, I mean like a bad thought that pops into our minds from time to time (gratis of the enemy, our adversary, the devil) ~ but we will not ACT ON such thoughts ~ whether they be fornication, adultery, murder, etc. And we cast down such thoughts in the name of Jesus, resist the devil & he will flee from us. That means we do not dialogue with him; we simply turn away and keep on serving Jesus, then the devil has no choice but to flee.
The devil is an egomaniac and will refuse to be in the same room while you are praising the Lord!! Because satan wants that praise *for himself*!!
Back to subject at hand, I would invite anyone to do a search at BibleGateway.com for phrases such as “turn away” “stray away” “fall away” “shipwreck faith”.
Truly there is no turning back once one has taken the mark of the beast during the Trib, but there are other ways to fall away even before then — and these are listed & if people continue purposely sinning, I honestly think their hearts will become hardened and there will be no more repentance. Think of Esau who sought repentance diligently and with tears, but found none.
Only the Father knows the alloted time that prodigals are allowed to return Home; but once time is up, no more repentance. Just look at Romans 1 and how God GIVES people over to reprobate minds and allows them to think that their sinful lifestyles are okay…. and why does He do this? Because they CONTINUE their self-seeking sin that is SUCH an abomination to Him!
For anyone interested, the Bible also tells us how to never stumble. Best of all, our desire while living on earth should be to want to live a life pleasing unto Him! An honorable life, one where we stay in His Word, and abide in Him. The flowers & grass wither but His Word stands forever!!! The Bible says IF we love Him we WILL keep His commandments ~ no if’s, and’s or but’s there!! Do you love Him?? Then keep His commandments!! It’s EASY!! Do what He says to do ~ do not do what He says not to do!! Even a 2 year old child can understand.
If salvation were simply “believe and receive” and that was it — then the New Testament writers wouldn’t have bothered writing (under the Holy Spirit’s direction) in each & every book HOW WE ARE TO LIVE!!! And yes, these ARE the commandments of the Lord Himself. Remember the B.I.B.L.E. = “basic instructions before leaving earth”!!
Jude says that Jesus can keep us from stumbling ~ but this has to be for the ones who are firmly planted in Him & who stubbornly refuse to stop walking on the narrow path, no matter what comes against us.
Christian friends: can you make up your minds to love Jesus so much & want to follow Him so badly that no matter what, no matter where, you are willing to daily die to self and take up that cross & follow Him? “though none go with me, still I will follow ~ no turning back, no turning back” were the lyrics to the song.
Amen!