"But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. Ezra 9:8
The vast majority of people have no clue how close they are to eternity. It is literally just a breath away. Just recently, after ministering at a senior assisted home with our full ministry worship team, we spoke to an 80 year old well-dressed woman about her position in Christ. The question was (to paraphrase): “do you have the blessed assurance that Jesus is yours and if you were to be called home today, you would be in heaven?” Her answer, this past Sunday, was and is typical of most lost souls out there, including, sadly, those who call themselves “Christians”. She said “I am not ready to do this now, and well…maybe later….but I did go to church most of my life!!” Tomorrow may never come. God’s grace is for today. Nothing else is guaranteed in this life.
America and western civilization have been blessed because we built our societies, in the beginning, on the Book – the Word of God and sacrificial atonement and love of Jesus Christ. Because we have become as evil as those of the past, and allowed evil people to turn everything – from the schoolhouse to the courthouse to the houses of business and power – away from God, we are now under worse judgment than ancient Israel was in Old Testament days. To quote Jesus“it will go better for Sodom and Gomorrah” on Judgment Day than for our western countries who say they know God and once followed Him.
Still, with all of that, as the verse above tell us, God wishes that none should perish and we call come to repentance and salvation. We have this brief one last window. We have TODAY. We have NOW. Tomorrow or six months from now is that the time, NOW is the hour of redemption. God always has His remnant. We are few, less than 10% of the American population. There are over 300 million Christians (real Christians) in the underground church in China. This 300 million is out of a population of almost 3 Billion. But the remnant can increase, if we only repent today, put the brakes on with some adult Christian leadership and return to the Lord. It starts this week. So today, let us cry out like the prophet Hosea did in Chapter 6: 1-3:
“Come and let us return to the LORD: for He hath torn us but He will heal us; He has smitten and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, we shall like in His sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD (YAHWEH or JESUS): His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain; as the latter AND former rain unto the earth”.
The entire gospel is tied up in the message of this wonderful obedient prophet Hosea who sacrifices his honor, reputation and his all to serve the LORD and be obedient to Him. This should be our prayer and our example today as we seek restoration, as unto the Lord, for our nation, communities and most of all, our families. Amen
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