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A Prophecy for 2014 #prayforrevival

03 Jan

ClockI have found that the Psalms have lined up with current affairs since the year 1900.  Over the past 10 years or so I have preached from a Psalm each year and it’s been amazingly accurate.  The Psalm for this year is Psalm 114.

When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue…
Psalm 114:1

This psalm uses both Israel and Jacob.  They refer to the same person, yet they’re different.  He started out as Jacob, but his name was changed after an encounter with God.  His new name, Israel, literally means conquered by God.

The Lord knows where you’re at.  It’s time to go deeper.  There’s a call going forth this year for the church to leave Egypt.  We’re too much a part of our society.  It’s time for us to break from the world.

Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
Psalms 114:2

But the Lord starts where you’re at.  Israel is the whole nation.  If you’re part of the crowd, then become God’s dominion.  We’re not living for ourselves like the world does.  We must come under the dominion of the King.

Judah refers to the tribe from whom the kings were chosen.  They consistently served the king.  There are those who have set apart Christ as Lord.  For these believers there’s a further step.

You must become God’s sanctuary.  Literally – God’s clean, holy place.  It’s one thing to see yourself as owned by God, another to see yourself as His sanctuary.

The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
Psalms 114:3-4

This is the miraculous intervention of God.  But it’s not just for survival.  This is God’s intervention for a people who are moving forward.  God wants to do the miraculous for those who are obedient.

The sea refers to the Red Sea.  This was for those who chose to leave Egypt.  If you choose to make a break with the world, then God will give you supernatural assistance to do it.

Becoming His sanctuary is crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land.  If you want to take that step, then God will supernaturally open up the way.

The key is that you have to take the first step.  Israel didn’t wait for the sea to open up before they left Egypt.  Then, when they got to the Jordan River, they had to step in before it parted.  We need to make the first move by faith.

Then you’ll get to the mountains and hills skipping.  That’s the new things that God wants to do once you’ve surrendered to His will.

Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back, you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills, like lambs?
Psalms 114:5-6

Now a question is asked.  Why is God making it as easy as possible for us to obey His call?

It’s getting late; His coming is drawing close.  We need to prepare for the final harvest.  We’re partying in the house, while the grain is starting to rot in the field.

20 years ago this was largely an anti-spiritual society.  The concept of God or miracles was distasteful to the world.  Now the entertainment industry is all about magic, vampires, werewolves, zombies, and superheroes.

That’s actually a cry for the supernatural.  But the church must wake up to show what’s true.  There’s a reason God wants to perform miracles.  It’s to bring people to the cross.

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.
Psalms 114:7-8

God wants to get the world’s attention.  He does this by bringing the refreshing waters of revival to the church.

It seems like I preach this every year.  But that’s because this has been God’s call for many years.  Every year revival depends on our response.

It’s time to see the hand of God at work.  If we will become God’s dominion, God’s sanctuary, then we will see a miraculous revival in our land.

Question: What does it take to see a revival?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on January 3, 2014 in Revival, The Church

 

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Are You Ready for Christ’s Return – Really?

14 Jun

ClockJesus made some surprising statements about His return.  Don’t be one of those who are unprepared for what will happen before His return.

“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.  You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Luke 12:38-40

The Lord says that His return will come when you don’t expect it.  Notice that it will not be a surprise because He comes before you expect Him.  What is going to throw people off is that He will arrive later than they thought it would be.

The second watch of the night is from 9 o’clock to midnight.  The third watch is from midnight to 3 in the morning.

What if I said to you, “Can I come over your house tonight?”

“Sure,” you reply and you wait for me to show up.  7 o’clock, 8 o’clock and 9 o’clock go by.  At that point you’ll probably shut the porch light off.  At 11 o’clock you will probably be in bed.  If I then bang on your door at 3 o’clock in the morning, I’m sure you wouldn’t even get out of bed to answer the door, even though I told you I was coming.

That’s what Jesus is saying.  He’s telling us that He’s coming later than we think.  Most people would think that if you’re going to come for dinner you should arrive early.

Naturally, we think “suppertime.”  But Jesus is asking how long after the suppertime is past are we prepared to wait?  There will be a time when people start thinking that Jesus should be here by now, but He’s not.  It’s midnight.  A lot of people have these religious clocks that are set at five minutes to midnight.  They think that the Lord is coming soon – at midnight.

I’ve got news for you.  The Bible says He might come as late as 3 in the morning, spiritually speaking.  There are many Bible teachers who have taken certain future prophetic events and defined them as occurring “after midnight.”

Someday the “prophecy clock” will strike midnight.  If you’re one of the people who believe that He’s going to be here at this prophetic midnight, you might be disappointed.  We’ve got to be careful.  Most of Christianity is expecting Him to come at this midnight hour.

Jesus said, “I’m going to come later than you think.”  As a matter of fact, what you’re going to find as we go through these Scriptures, is that whenever Christ warns us about being ready, He always qualifies it by saying that He will come later than we’re expecting.

Question: How far are you prepared to go if Christ delays His second coming?

© Nick Zaccardi 2013

 
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Posted by on June 14, 2013 in Faith, Return of Christ

 

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How We Water Down the Gospel

30 Jan

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERADo we proclaim the same Gospel as the early church did?   Is there something missing from our experience that would make a big difference?  I believe that we’re lacking one of the greatest aspects of the Gospel.  We need to return to this truth if we’re going to impact our generation for Christ.

In my last post I talked about the need to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  In today’s post I want to explain exactly what that means.  Here’s one of the verses I looked at last time.

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.  You know how we lived among you for your sake.
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5

I have heard people explain this verse by saying, “The hearers were convicted by the Holy Spirit.  That’s the power Paul’s talking about.”  I simply can’t agree with that kind of thinking.  Paul said that the Gospel came to them with power AND the Holy Spirit, AND deep conviction.

Even the very word conviction that Paul used was a Greek word that means many assurances.  It was something that could be seen and experienced by the unbelievers receiving the Good News.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5

As you can see, I’m not using some isolated verse without context.  This teaching runs throughout the New Testament.  The Good News must be demonstrated.  That demonstration can only be energized by the power of God.  It is beyond our human ability to walk on that level if we rely upon our own strength, wisdom, and knowledge.

I fear that too many Christians allow their faith to rest on man’s wisdom, because they have never seen a demonstration of the power of God.  There are so many believers that have never seen a healing or a miracle.  They have never heard an anointed prophecy or someone speaking in the heavenly language.  There are Christians that have never witnessed someone delivered from demonic possession or oppression.

As a result the Good News, in most cases, has merely become an intellectual debate.  On many occasions, what we call the Gospel today, is void of any power to change the direction of a life impacted by it.

The church needs to do what it takes to once again walk in this life-changing power.  In short – we need revival.  We must admit that we’ve lost something along the way and allow the Lord to make the necessary adjustments.

Questions: Do you think the modern “American Gospel” has the same impact as the early church?  If not, what must we do to change?

© Nick Zaccardi 2013

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2013 in Power of God, Revival, The Church, The Gospel

 

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