Here we are a day past Yum Kippur – the culmination of the High and Holy Feasts, which is definitely a beacon, a sign, a pulsating biblical gateway to the return of the Lord Jesus! Since covid encouraged many Pastors to close down during Easter, April or May, or even parking lot Church, or to simply meet with an elder or listen through a PA system to the inside taped Internet (Synthetic) Church service, I have felt like a baby eagle bird thrown out of the nest, so we opened up the gates to our ranch and started “Ranch Church” for 60 days. My friend Rodney Howard Brown of the River Church in Tampa was arrested and put into jail, forcing the Tampa County Commission and Governor via an Orlando Christian Lawyer initiated lawsuit to reverse their decision and proclaim in Florida that Churches were essential per the USA Constitution. Yet locally in Jacksonville so many other Churches remained shut down. I have been searching for clues to try to justify why so many Pastors, Church leaders and friends were so easily manipulated by the system and the ploys of the devil. Was it fear of a lawsuit? Why were they playing it safe? Yet alone with my wife I opened up multiple prayer meetings from a mandate in Proverbs 12:20 “Counselors of Peace will have Joy” and began to decree and speak Peace and Joy to our city. Why so many others did not have courage nor vision, like Joshua and Caleb, to be proactive and use this season to our advantage with sheer determination and persistence even when we did not have any or all the answers. Most businessmen that I know are pivoting and scrambling to retain their market share to survive in this season. Beginning in Prov 12:20 “Deceit is in the hearts of those who do evil”. So we began go more on the offense, praying against deceit, treachery, law manipulation from PAC’s etc.
This morning, I watched a prophet and watchman again, who has been assigned to Washington D.C. Jon & Jolene Hamill wrote a book “20 Prophecies for the 2020’s. It wasn’t until the 2nd time early in morning that what I’ve been searching for concerning the Bride, the Wheel within the Wheel, the Remnant, came alive in the form of understanding. I have more boldness now and peace about my tenacity than ever before. He also illuminated on “Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural” TV program, the following:
Mark 13:35-37 Amplified Bible “Therefore, be continually on the alert—for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 [stay alert,] in case he should come suddenly and unexpectedly and find you asleep and unprepared. 37 What I say to you I say to everyone, ‘Be on the alert [stay awake and be continually cautious]!’”
Matthew 25:6-13 AMP “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! The bridegroom [is coming]! Go out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins got up and put their own lamps in order [trimmed the wicks and added oil and lit them]. But the foolish virgins said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No, otherwise there will not be enough for us and for you, too; go instead to the dealers and buy oil for yourselves.’ But while they were going away to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut and locked. Later the others also came, and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open [the door] for us.’ But He replied, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, I do not know you [we have no relationship].’ Therefore, be on the alert [be prepared and ready], for you do not know the day nor the hour [when the Son of Man will come].”
Another window into explaining how we should capitalize, advance and not shirk our Christian responsibilities during the Covid season we are in, may be seen in Isaiah, Lets read:
Isaiah 26:20 Amplified Bible “Come, my people, enter your chambers And shut your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until the [Lord’s] [a]wrath is past.”
A wonderful song that captures what I’m trying to express: Ivan Parker – Midnight Cry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsXdz-52UWo
Midnight Cry
I hear the sound of a mighty rushing wind
and it’s closer now than it’s ever been
I can almost hear the trumpet as Gabriel sounds the call
At the Midnight Cry we’ll be going home
When Jesus steps out on a cloud to call His children
The dead in Christ shall rise to meet Him in the air
And then those that remain will be quickly changed
At the Midnight Cry when Jesus comes again
I look around me I see prophesies fulfilling
And the signs of the times they’re appearing everywhere
I can almost hear the Father as he says ‘Son, go get Your children’
At the Midnight Cry when Jesus comes again
When Jesus steps out on a cloud to call His children
The dead in Christ shall rise to meet Him in the air
And then those that remain will be quickly changed
At the Midnight Cry when Jesus comes again
At the Midnight Cry when Jesus comes again
When Jesus comes again!
John Starnes version singing “Midnight Cry” in 1988 goes like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rpQ3HFFMUk
Or try this foreign negro version:
With the country’s soul in peril, and in the midst of such an important election, we fight. We pray more! We book meetings with conservative, moral politicians in Churches that will listen and will hear the Midnight Cry. We teach about “Voting your values! We juggle a hectic schedule, and work hard and with determination! We lean on and ask for Spirit of Might, so we can fight some more. Let’s determine to engrain and engraft Luke 11:5-8 Amplified Bible
Parable of Persistence
“5 Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves [of bread]; 6 for a friend of mine who is on a journey has just come to visit me, and I have nothing to serve him’; 7 and from inside he answers, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence and boldness he will get up and give him whatever he needs.”
Jesus Prays in Gethsemane and wakes his disciples 3 times Matthew 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42 36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called [a]Gethsemane (olive-press), and He told His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John], He began to be grieved and greatly distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, so that I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and stay awake and keep watch with Me.”
39 And after going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible [that is, consistent with Your will], let this cup [b]pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” 40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not stay awake and keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 Keep actively watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the [c]body is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” 43 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words once more. 45 Then He returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Listen, [d]the hour [of My sacrifice] is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners [whose way and nature is to oppose God]. 46 Get up, let us go. Look, My betrayer is near!”
There is coming a time, when it will be too late to warn the people John 9:4 Amplified Bible “We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”
Now the point of this blog is to spell out, that this is That! This is the beginning of the Great Awakening and Outpouring expressed in Joel. The precursor was Covid. The opportunity of a life time is here for the Church to Awaken and share the Gospel, to run to the sick and not hide and be fortified in our homes. Pivot, think out of the box. In Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep provokes leaders to leave the 99 and go after the 1. This new Church model of visiting, calling, staying personally in touch with people, is not always convenient. Some Churches have visitation teams that go out once a week, others just wait for people to show up. If we do not leave the 99, then the devil will pick off our members under our noses. Rejection is how the devil tells a Church member that they are not important or essential. In business, if an employee don’t show up, the employer will try to call to see if he/she is ok. Finally, being left alone, not sought after they ask themselves “why should I pay my tithes on internet or via credit card because no one cares?” Furthermore, people respond to Vision. Fresh Vision. We need to have a Rich Man wake up call like this parable:
Luke 16:19-31 Amplified Bible The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “Now there was a certain rich man who was habitually dressed in expensive purple and fine linen, and celebrated and lived joyously in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus, was laid at his gate, covered with sores. 21 He [eagerly] longed to eat the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 Now it happened that the poor man died and his spirit was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s [a]bosom (paradise); and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom (paradise). 24 And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in severe agony in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things [all the comforts and delights], and Lazarus likewise bad things [all the discomforts and distresses]; but now he is comforted here [in paradise], while you are in severe agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you [people] a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to come over from here to you will not be able, and none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 So the rich man said, ‘Then, father [Abraham], I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may solemnly warn them and witness to them, so that they too will not come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have [the Scriptures given by] Moses and the [writings of the] Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 He replied, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent [they will change their old way of thinking and seek God and His righteousness].’ 31 And he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to [the messages of] Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Verses About Midnight
Exodus 11:4 “And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:”
Exodus 12:29 “And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that [was] in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.”
Judges 16:3 “And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put [them] upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that [is] before Hebron.”
Ruth 3:8 “And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.”
Kings-1 3:20 “And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.”
Job 34:20 “In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.”
Psalms 119:62 “At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.”
Matthew 25:6 “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.”
Mark 13:35 “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:”
Luke 11:5 “And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;”
Acts 16:25 “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”
Acts 20:7 “And upon the first [day] of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”
Acts 27:27 “But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;”