Faithful Messengers of the Bride's Revival
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6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
Introduction
Introduction
Naomi has been in Moab for 10 years. Her husband and led his family there, perhaps thinking they would go briefly and come home, but coming home to Bethlehem is much more difficult than most folks realize. This is why it is so much better to stay.
The reason they left was famine.
There were 9 famines in Israel during the Old Testament, the Jews say the tenth would be this:
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, That I will send a famine in the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord:
When Moses brought the people out of Israel, he promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, a productive land. the problem is that production was dependent on rain.
Egypt was different, Egypt had famines, but it was only when the Nile did not flood in the spring because of snow melt in the mountains, which was very rare.
10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
12 A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
A land of providence, not the ingenuity of man. (Denomination)
13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
17 And then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.
He tells them to stay close to the Word so they will not stray into idolatry and be unable to possess the land.
18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
23 Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
From the time they came into the land, there was a cycle of revival and death, constantly.
This was not because God didn’t keep His promise, but because He did. He promised if they served other gods, He would withhold the rain.
Somehow, after a decade in Moab, Naomi found out that that the Lord had visited His people.
He is a merciful God. There is a concept that David introduces in the Psalms of a “forever mercy”. an “enduring mercy”.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, And thy right hand shall save me.
8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: Forsake not the works of thine own hands.
There is always a promise of revival.
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
You might say “It’s been too long since I’ve been in church” It’s been 2000 years since the Jews rejected Christ, but they will have their day of atonement.
10 Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord.
When they come to the Lord this time, there will be no more backsliding. They will be home, because His mercy endureth for ever.
For the entire church age, the cycle of revival and death continued.
Disobedience, followed by famine, followed by desperation, followed by visitation, followed by disobedience, and the cycle continued for seven ages.
There had to come a time when the cycle would be broken. We are living in that time.
What does it mean to be a faithful messenger of the Bride’s revival?
The Messenger must be:
1. Trustworthy
1. Trustworthy
The one who came and told Naomi about the visitation must live a life worthy of the story he is telling.
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
What did the Angel say? “If you get the people to believe you, and then be sincere when you pray, nothing shall stand before the prayer.” 58-0109 - "The Called-Out"
Abraham and Eliezer
2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
Abraham needed a trustworthy servant.
And we learn in here a beautiful lesson of Abraham, a type of God the Father hunting for a servant to go find a Bride for His Son. That’s what the Father is doing today, is looking over His group to see someone that He can put trust in, that’ll take the Message that He sends to the Bride.
And He decided that Eliezer was the selected one, because he had found Eliezer a trustworthy servant. He had been loyal, and true, and upright, and just, and honest.
That’s the kind of a servant that God can pick to take a Message from Him to the Church: as one that’s been proven to be just. Do you remember my sermon the last time here on the selecting, or the placing of a son, how that he was proven first, and then adopted into the family or placed positionally?
And Eliezer met the requirement that Abraham was requiring. And Abraham represents the model servant. You’ve read the story in Genesis 24, that how he did not go until he was sent.
There’s many goes just for what money they can get out of it. These others goes to make a great name for themselves. There’s others goes to be popular. There’s others goes because of some man-made regime sends them. But there’s some that’ll wait until God sends them.
The model servant will do that. And notice. When he went, he only went where he was sent to, not just come over here because there’s more money, or down here because there’s bigger crowds. He went exactly where he was sent to.
God’s looking for men today that will move when the Spirit moves, anywhere that He may send. That’s a model servant.
Not only that, but when he got to his place where his messages was to be given, he never boasted on himself. He never spoke about how great he was, or how great his meetings was, or how great anything about himself.
He wasn’t a boaster or proud. But he only spoke of his master, and of his master’s wealth, and that his master had a son that was going to fall heir to everything the master had.
What a beautiful picture of a real servant of God: His whole attention is on the Master, telling the people, not about himself, but about the Master, and about the Son. And He’s going to fall heir to all things.
He has so much time talking about the Master and the Son, until he has no time to boast on himself or his great regime, or his denomination, or some affiliation that he has. It’s all on the Master. 59-0611 - "The Time Of Decision"
Are we faithful messengers? You say “I’m not a preacher”
Now, everybody can’t be a preacher, but you got a voice. And if you can’t preach the people a sermon…If you’re a preacher, you’re called to the pulpit to preach. If you’re not, you’re still a preacher, but live the people a sermon.
Let your sermon be lived, and it’s the Voice of God that’ll bring reproach to them who reject It. They say, “No one can put a finger on his or her life. They’re sweet, living…They…If there ever was a man of God, it’s that man or that woman.”
See, live your sermons. Don’t try to preach them if you’re not called to be a preacher; you get all mixed up, anyhow, and messed up, and you’ll get people tangled up, and you won’t know…Well, you’ll ruin them and yourself, too. Just live your sermon!
The preacher’s called to preach his, and to live it too. If you can’t live it, then you stop preaching it. But you’re supposed to live your sermons.
All right, here was “voices.” Oh, how we need in Jeffersonville thousands of lived voices, the thunder of God thundering out in sweetness and holiness, purity, undefiled lives, walking around in the earth today, without a blemish.
Yes, sir, real Christians, that’s thunder against the enemy. The devil don’t care how loud you can holler; the devil don’t care how much you can jump or how much you can do this or shout.
But what hurts the devil is to see that sanctified, holy life consecrated to God; say anything to him, call him anything, just as sweet as it can be and move right on. Oh, my! That throws him away, that’s the thunder that shakes the devil. 61-0108 - "Revelation, Chapter Four Part III"
Bro. Branham had to be sincere when he prayed.
(White lie to a lawyer)
(Disciples and epilepsy)
29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
You can’t be in it for the money.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
Paul is telling Timothy, “be a trustworthy servant” someone the elect will believe.
2. The messenger must have personal experience.
2. The messenger must have personal experience.
Any messenger coming to Naomi must be someone who had been in Bethlehem, He drank the water, he ate the bread.
He must be sure the Lord was with Him.
7 The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
Eliezer when he had the assurance that the Angel was going before him, then he could decide to go, because he had something to back him up.
I think that ought to be the assurance of every man of God that preaches the Gospel, that he’s got something positive from God that’ll back up what he preaches. If you haven’t got it, brethren, it’s for you. God still sends His men with an Angel before him when he goes to take the message to the church. 59-0611 - "The Time Of Decision"
Mary knew the Baby she carried was of the Holy Ghost. He had overshadowed her, she knew who it was.
And so is every believer that accepts God’s Word into their heart! I don’t care what the systems say. You know what It is. It’s a promise of God. It was revealed to you by the Holy Ghost, when you were overshadowed with His Power.
You know where It’s at. No man has a right to preach the Gospel until he’s met God back on the backside of the desert in that burning bush, to where there’s no ecclesiastical system in the world can explain It away from you. You were there. It happened to you. I don’t care what the systems say. You are a witness of it. Hallelujah! 65-0124 - "Birth Pains"
49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Don’t preach until you know the Angel is with you.
3. The messenger must be faithful to tell the story.
3. The messenger must be faithful to tell the story.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
He must be certain that the revival is on, and be willing to preach the promise of it.
Not only that, but when Eliezer left, the father of Isaac which represented the Father of Christ. He loaded the whole train of camels with good gifts for the bride.
Oh, I feel religious right now. Oh, how I love Jesus. He loaded the camels full of good gifts to give to the bride, and he never told her that they were for another generation or another day, but they were for the bride.
And every true servant of God that’s sent out has got a whole Book full of Divine promises that he can offer to the Bride. I’m so glad of that. He’s got gifts in there for her, and he will not hold any of them back.
He will give every one of them freely. A true servant, a model servant, a servant that God can put trust in. He won’t try to hide it back from her, because he knows that she is the oncoming Queen.
Oh, there is no good thing withheld from them that’ll walk upright before Him. “Whatsoever things you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. If ye abide in Me and My Word’s in you, ask what you will, and it shall be given unto you.”
The Book’s full of it. And every promise in the Book is yours, you the Bride. 59-0611 - "The Time Of Decision"
To preach the Bride’s revival, the faithful messenger must have recognized the awakening of the Bride by the Seven Thunders of Revelation 10.
The Bride hasn’t had a revival yet. See? There’s been no revival there, no manifestation of God to stir the Bride yet. See? We’re looking for it now. It’ll take those seven unknown Thunders back there, to wake Her up again, see. Yeah. He’ll send it. He promised it. Now watch.
Now, she was dead. And now if the churches would forget their creeds, and forget their dogmas, and just take the Bible, plead the promise, then it would come effective to them. But, see, Jesus said, “You, with your traditions, make the Word of God not effective to you.”
Well, that’s the same thing today with spiritual Eve, see, the spiritual bride of today, so-called, the church. She takes the Word of God, and she won’t accept It. And she accepts dogmas, instead. Therefore, the Word is not effective to her, see, because she tries to inject her creed with the Word, and it won’t work.
I just keep reading this here, Herald of His Coming, across the headlines, “We need a prophet to return! We need a prophet to return!” And I guess, when he does return, they’ll know nothing about it. 63-0320 - "The Third Seal"
A year later:
Everywhere now, there’s no revival. Everybody is complaining, ministers crying. I was reading one of the outstanding papers that comes here to the church, a very fine paper. And I know the editor, and I know the people. And they are godly people, very fine, Brother and Sister Moore, of the Herald of His Coming.
One of the finest papers on the field, Herald of His Coming. But they hardly will print anything unless it’s about, “Fast, pray! Fast, pray! Sound a trumpet! Get…” How many reads it? You know.
You see it all the time, “Fast, pray! Fast, pray!” It’s all you hear. “Fast, pray! We’re going to have a great breaking of the day! There is a great thing going to happen! All of you, pray, pray, pray! We’re not too late yet!”
Why do they do that? Why do they do that? They want a great awakening. They’re crying, believing that there will be awakening. They’re good people. Why is it? What have they done? They have not recognized the awakening of the Bride.
See? By being a Christian, they feel the pull of the hour, but they haven’t recognized what’s been done.
That’s what’s making them feel that way. They know something is supposed to happen, but, see, they’re looking for it way off in the future, to come, when it’s already happened right by you. 64-0726M - "Recognizing Your Day And Its Message"
A faithful Messenger must stand and say “I am the Bride’s revival”.
(Welch Revival)
Conclusion
Conclusion
The messenger who came to Naomi must have been a living example of God’s visitation in Bethlehem.
(Calves in the springtime)
Rebekah became a faithful messenger of the Bride’s revival, when her brother saw she was wearing the gifts given to her by Eleazar, he invited the him into the house.
Lord, let me feed on the Bread of Bethlehem and drink from the well of Bethlehem, until I become a faithful messenger of the Bride’s revival. Let me wear the promises of God in my life that others might see you manifested in my life.