worship Call 0701

Worship call 0701

Wednesday 03, 2021

The preservative

oh death where is your sting? 1 Corinthians 15:55-58 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Over the weekend, the ministry lost a dear brother who suddenly died of a heart attack. In times of mourning, the realization dawned (once again) that this life is utterly fleeting ... a vapor in the wind ... and these frail human bodies in which we dwell are mortal dust. We are living in the land of the dead and dying, and only those of us who truly know and are known by the Messiah, upon our death, will enter the land of the truly living! Mourning is the only honest and human response to the death of loved ones, and it quickens the profound realization just how precious life is. Death, and the funerals which attend it, also inspire the opportunity for serious introspection and for taking account of how we are living our lives in this world. Values, priorities, and building upon the foundation of Christ ought to occupy our minds when we encounter the stark reality that someone else has just gone to his or her reward. When I think of funerals, I'm reminded of D.L. Moody and his attempt to write his first funeral message as a young pastor. He searched and searched the Gospels and came to the realization that every funeral service Yeshua (Jesus) attended... He resurrected the dead body. Yeshua (Jesus) was the ultimate funeral party crasher! Praise God... He said, "I am the resurrection and the life ..." [John 11:25] death is the ultimate wake-up call to remind us of the great message we carry ... Messiah has come, He raises the dead, and we will give explicit account for our deeds, either when we pass to the next world or when He returns. If He dwells within us, and we allow His resurrection life to inspire our words and guide our actions, everyone we encounter will have the opportunity to know and experience that He truly is "the Resurrection and the Life"! Your family in the Lord with much agape love, George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah Nashville, Tennessee

And this is another fine day in the Lord

Let’s talk about the audience that Jesus is addressing

these were not just nice people these were the remnant the righteous

Salt is Adds flavor to food.

Matthew 5:13 (NASB95) — 13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

As Salt influences the food that we eat giving it flavor, the learner, disciple, the follower of Yeshua, influences the culture and the nation where God places him and her.

It is that flavor which is God’s blessing channeled through the Lord’s faithful which is what is called “Blessing by association.” The Channel may or may not be known.

It may be an obscure worker within a business that brings blessings to the business as a result of faithful walk with the Lord.

Who but the believer would God channel his blessings through?

Joseph, the Son of Jacob, became a Slave in Egypt being sold by his brothers. And even as a slave everything that Joseph touched was blessed by God. Joseph became a conduit of blessings that was channeled into the house of his master Potiphar. And even when Joseph went to prison, even there, Joseph channeled blessings.

there was Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon who was blessed mightily by not only Daniel but Daniels friends who were faithful to the Lord, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Nebuchadnezzar because of his contact with Daniel, may himself had become a believer in Daniel’s God.

Daniel also apparently channeled blessings to King Darius.

It was those who were Godly men, who outside the bible wrote the most influencing document both the declaration of independence and the constitution which has held this country together much longer than that of any other nation in history.

It is due to the church that we have Orphanages and hospitals. The care for the elderly and so forth.

The Blessing by association of Salt not only is for flavoring, but also for preserving.

Salt was rubbed on meat in order that that meat might retain freshness. The Salt would aid in drying the meat. Taking the moisture out of it that causes Bacteria.

It is the faithful, the righteous in a nation becomes the restraint of evil and postponing judgment against the nation.

The number of the righteous ones in the days of Noah dwindled down to but nine, with Noah and his family and grandfather Methuselah. Methuselah’s name means “It will come.” His death leaving now but eight marked the time of the flood within that year. And when the remnant was removed coming into the ark, it left only the unrighteous with no restraints to its evil leaving it completely ripe for God’s judgement.

Same with the historical account of Lot.

On the basis of those righteous within Sodom the Lord would restrain his Judgement against the city

Genesis 18:26-33 Abraham bartered with the Lord on the basis of the righteous that could be found in Sodom.

Genesis 18:26–33 (NASB95) — 26 So the Lordsaid, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” 27 And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. 28 “Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” 30 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” 33 As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the Lorddeparted, and Abraham returned to his place.

In the end, there was not even 10 and when the Angel led Lot and his wife and daughter not even one was left, and the judgment of God was poured our upon the cities.

This I believe teaches us about the coming rapture of the Church. In deed the righteous will be removed prior to God’s wrath being poured out upon this world.

I wonder how many righteous we have in our country. Oh, I am not talking about good people, or conservatives or nice people. I’m talking about those who are the righteous ones the remnant. There are plenty nice people with a lost and dying world. But none no matter how nice and noble meets the standard of God’s righteousness.

If the rapture happened today would it make such a cataclysmic disturbance in the world? apart from the few disappearances would anyone recognize it for what it is?

Note that each time that God’s wrath was brought down with God removing the remnant, that there was only a few.

That blessing by association extends to the nations.

And to the world.

Salt as a preservative is rubbed on meat. It dehydrates the meet protecting it from harmful bacteria. Thus, it is salt that is used as a preservative.

The world is dying under the curse of sin. But as salt was used to preserve meat which is a dead animal it is the believer who is the preservative of a dead world dead under the curse and under universal condemnation.

It was the small remnant of Noah and His family that held back God’s judgement.

The Angel could not destroy the city of Sodom while Sodom remained in it.

And it is the Restraining ministry of the Christian that holds back evil and along with it the judgment of God.

God blesses on the basis of a believing remnant that he places within the world and nation. Through that conduit of blessing by association a member of a family can steers the whole family into salvation.

Because Noah obeyed God, he was a conduit of blessing to his family preserving them from destruction.

Acts 16:14–15 (NASB95) — 14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

The remnant of God is that which preserves a people and culture a nation and even the world from evil. It is the remnant that holds back evil setting up a barrier. As salt and light within a society it retrains evil from reaching its full take over.

Where there is a growing faith in a national entity there is that which restrains evil. The influence strengthens encourages causes others to seek the same God.

The greatest thing for our marriages, for our families our communities and our nation is in connection with our own spiritual lives.

James 5:16 The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

There is not a single person that has as a greater influence than a man and woman of faith.

But what happens where there is a dwindling of the faith?

Matthew 5:13 (NASB95) — 13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

What happens when the Christian culture loses its contact with God and with it, it’s influencing nature?

Are we seeing it now?

While we as Christians now are being trampled over do we see any fault in ourselves. Maybe we should ask ourselves where we are in our walk with the Lord.

Who spends much time if any in their bibles. Are we hearing Christ taught and preached from the bible along with he Gospel message?

Is there discipleship?

Is there a hunger for God?

Are we walking righteously?

How many righteous before God might there left in this nation.

For it is obvious that when the Church grew lukewarm and lost its flavor and its restraining power on evil that it is then that the barriers that held back the evil weakened and evil broke through.

And once being salty and losing its flavor Salt cannot in itself regain the flavor.

Hebrews 6:1–8 (NASB95) — 1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits. 4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.