Eclipse of the Heart

Do not interfere with God’s purpose, plan, or people

Purpose is salvation.

Plan is the church

People are the Jews

Theme: Grace to repent- stop blocking the truth

Interference

Warning to America – do not become Israel’s tactical enemy- CBN news

Increasing interference will be dealt with increasing severity

Katrina will look small.

The eclipse is the answer to the churches question:

“What does it take for America to stop and look up to God?” a cosmic phenomenon

Eclipse is a reflection of the condition of the nation’s heart - darkened, cold, hard

Eclipse - Man darkens God’s plan, so God darkens man’s plan!

Sun given for signs and seasons

Genesis 1:14 NLT

14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years.

Grace: 1- we were warned, 2- given opportunity to repent

This eclipse could be a Continuation of the blood moons seen during the last decade.

Worldwide phenomenon

Effect- dark and cold

dark during the day, cool during the heat

Timing- Passover, prophetic warning of American turmoil

Symbolism- sun, moon, earth

Natural position (signs) to show spiritual condition

Solar eclipse- warning to the world- America

Lunar eclipse- warning to Israel

1 - Sun = God’s Face - Appearance

The sun represents the light of God’s Word

Psalm 119:130 NLT

130 The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand.

The entrance of God’s Word brings light to the subject and speaks truth to power.

God’s naked truth - seem hard to bear

A- Hard to see the truth - God lives in unapproachable light

1 Timothy 6:16 NLT

16 He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.

B- Hard to hear the truth - Eat My flesh - hard saying - John 6:60

C- Hard to preach the truth? - Jesus is the only way

The danger of an eclipse - radiation

God’s face is brighter than the sun - Man’s face cannot look directly at God’s face in the world’s current sinful condition.

If he does, he ironically would be “blinded by the light”

Man needs God’s help to see God’s truth.

2- Moon = Man’s Interference to God’s plan

Fake news, cancel culture,

religion from to legalism to hyper grace

Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day, calling them “blind guides” because they stared into the letter of the law, apart from the spirit of God’s intention.

Matthew 23:13 NLT

13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

The only thing worse than their personal blindness to God‘s truth, was that their professional blindness spread to the public and prevented others from seeing God as he really is.

The only thing worse than darkness is an eclipse that would block the light once it comes.

Jesus greatest rebuke with reprimanding the religious leaders of his day from preventing people from coming to God.

The religion of man eclipsed the relationship of God in various ways by blocking God’s FACE and God’s GRACE.

Warning - do not touch the apple of Gods’ EYE or His CHURCH

A - God’s FACE blocked by man’s “looks”

God’s truth which was to light their way was blocked by man’s shadow.

Since the religious leaders represented God, when people “looked up” to them, they saw only a darkened image of God who looked as cold and distant as an eclipsed sun.

Today, God’s character and nature is continually maligned by not only religion but also the world.

Media depicts the God of the Bible as weak, old, out of touch, uncaring, distant, and narrow minded.

Society also portrays Gods people as intolerant, haters, phobic, unintelligent, and misinformed who need to be reprogrammed, instead of giving them credit for the exploration on new lands, ideas for modern medicine and technology, and the construction of churches, orphanages, schools, housing, and hospitals around the world.

Modern educators cast a shadow on God’s Word by dismissing it as:

inaccurate, irrelevant to modern needs, antiquated and blame it as the cause of all world wars.

Ironically, the darkened minds of modern intellectuals disrespect the founding of the very institutions of higher learning that they occupy built by people who believed God’s Word.

As a result, many Christian students have lost their faith in God and in absolute truth and morality, thus contributing to the decline of national education.

B - God‘s GRACE blocked by man’s Works

God’s grace was to light their way was blocked by man’s shadow.

In Jesus’ day, legalism cast a shadow of performing religious works instead of receiving God’s grace.

In modern times, the opposite approach has led to the same negative effect.

The steppingstone of Christ’s Grace became a stumbling block by man’s abuse of hyper grace teachings, leading many into a false sense of spiritual security

3 - Earth = Human Race

A loving God will not tolerate the abuse of His holy Word forever. His grace will step in for the:

1- honor of his Name

2- integrity of His Word

3- salvation of His people

How does God rectify man’s error?

How does God once again show man who God really is?

By giving man “corrective lenses”

4 - Glasses = of the Gospel of Jesus

Man can only look directly at the sun with the proper glasses.

Of course, Jesus does not darken counsel or understanding, but His grace makes God’s infinite power more palatable for fallen man and the immature church- as the “Son” of “Man”.

Jesus taught the light of God’s Word before He did God’s work.

Jesus is the light of the world.

Seen Me seen the Father

When I see the Blood - I will pass over

Through Jesus, We Look through the lens of God’s mercy - just as the glasses protect our eyes normally blinded by SUN light, Christ’s blood protects our souls from the repercussions of our sinful actions

The naked eye - man’s attempts to see truth without God’s help.

Laodicean church - was naked and did not know it- man’s programs

Effects of Eclipse - Interruption, Isolation, Disruption

1- interruption of schedule

Grace - Divine intervention to stop man’s destruction - highway to hell

2- isolation of citizens

Communication breakdown- no cell service - mass confusion or hysteria

Alarmist - sky is falling - cry wolf - people grow deaf -

3 - Disruption of service

streets full, stores empty, schools closed

System overload - responders could not handle many true emergencies.

Is the church ready to met the need of revival?

The PLACE of eclipse - demands ATTENTION

Nineveh, Jerusalem, America!

Nineveh - Heard the Prophets

How did Jonah, one Jewish man, get the attention of a major city of hundreds of thousands of people?

God helped him in the skies

Nineveh purportedly experienced an eclipse when Jonah preached repentance.

Matthew 12:38–45 NLT

38 One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.” 39 But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 41 “The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent. 42 The queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. 43 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. 45 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”

Jerusalem - Saw the Lord

during the Passover, while Jesus, the one greater than Jonah, gave His life for the sins of mankind as He hung on the cross for a total of six hours, the last three of which were completely dark.

Jesus died in our darkness so we could walk in His light!

America - Heard the Gospel

Blood Moons in our generation

We experienced more Word than all previous generations combined, yet hardened our hearts. God is giving us time to turn before the world burns.

The TIME of Eclipse - demands ACTION

Strategic

Eclipse - Easter too

Nineveh Repented at Jonah

Israel did not repent at Jesus - one greater- was judged

Like Nineveh, America once repented by turning to God, but since has turned away again. God is warning us by his grace and mercy to turn back to him again, so we will not have to face the destruction that none of us ultimately had. God has great plans for America. We must plan to work with God.

We do this by eliminating every blockage of God‘s word into the eyes of our children, our churches, our courts, our schools, including our government.

May we once again be known as One Nation Under God. God‘s grace or God‘s judgment. The choice is ours. Like the Ninevites, will we heed the warning of the prophets and the signs of the times and repent in our own sackcloth and ashes? Or, like Israel, will we continue to look directly in the face of Jesus and refuse to believe by continuing destructive patterns to our own demise? As a result of Israel’s failure to repent at the preaching of Jesus, everything they knew and held dear about their culture, religion and nationality was destroyed within a generation by another nation. God’s people did not reunite as a nation for another 1900 years. America does not have that amount of time to recover, so may we all repent today from the highest in the land to the lowest of citizens, bearing true fruits of repentance, such as humility, godliness, and charity.

Protect Israel!

Time to fill up to move out!

God is giving us time to prepare by stocking up and ready to move out!

A- Back up - Cash to give

in case credit business as usual doesn’t work

B- Stock up- food to live

C- Fill up - fuel to go

- like the parable of the 5 wise virgins ready to meet the Lord