Prepared for Greatness

I would like to apologize for not putting anything on our blog site for a while. Our computer has been in the shop and we just got it back. This week I'd like to take a break from our study and share something new that God put in my heart just a couple of weeks ago. He had me preach this in our church service, and I'd like to share at least the highlights of this sermon with you.

I Corinthians 2:9 says, "But as it is written, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'" For years I thought this verse was talking about the hereafter, about heaven and eternity; and I believe this is the way most of us have heard it preached. But if you put it in context with the Scriptures before it and the Scriptures after it, then we see that this is not what Paul was talking about. He was talking about a present glory, a present state of experiencing the greatness of God. Paul is quoting here from Isaiah 64:4 which reads, "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what He hath prepared for him who waits for Him." Paul is making it very clear that he is speaking of a present time of God's glory. A present time of God's greatness being expressed to His people and through His people.

I Corinthians 2:10 says, "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." Paul had just been talking about the mysteries of God and how God had revealed them to the apostles and unto those who were declaring His word. Paul had declared to them what these mysteries were. For instance he speaks of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ, through the shed blood of Jesus, this was a mystery. How can a person be saved from sin by someone else shedding their blood or by someone else's death? It was a mystery to those people of Paul's time and he was explaining these mysteries of the cross to them. When he was speaking of the power of the Holy Ghost it was a mystery. How can God's Spirit come and dwell within you? How can one be baptized in the Holy Ghost and have the power to be a living witness for God's glory? I believe there's even more to this verse that God has been revealing to me for the times in which we live, the end times, the last of the last days.

God is about to do a new thing in the world and especially among His people, the church of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 43:18 and 19 says, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?" God is in the process right now of preparing His people, the church of Jesus Christ, the Saints of the Lord, for greatness. He's preparing us to do things that have never been imagined. Things that have never been done before. It's going to be awesome what we're about to witness. In John 14:12, Jesus says,"Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father." Jesus healed the cripple. The body of Christ has been healing the cripples ever since Jesus started it 2000 years ago. Jesus raised the dead. We hear the stories of many being brought back to life down through the history of the church. Jesus says greater works than these shall you do.

I believe there's more to these scriptures from I Cor.2. I believe we're going to do greater works than even He did, such as the healings, raising the dead, walking on water. God has shown me that He is preparing a people for greater works than the things that Jesus did. He's preparing us by bringing judgment to His church. He must get those things that hinder us from being used of him in a great way out of our lives. We know according to Peter that judgment starts in the house of God first, and I believe that that judgment has begun. We're hearing continuously about ministers being caught up in fraud and adulterous affairs and going through divorces. God is exposing our sins. God's judgment is coming to His house in the form of sickness and disease, through financial set backs and other calmities. As these things happen in our lives, I believe it's because God is bringing judgment to His house in order to prepare us for what he wants to do through us, His church. I've never seen so much sickness as I'm seeing today in the body of Christ. I've never seen so many prophets of God and apostles of God and ministers of the Lord and the righteous in the hospital suffering gravely as there are today. Cancer seems to be running rampant in the body of Christ. Heart problems are hitting the body of Christ like never before. Financial disasters, divorce, dysfunctional families, all in the body of Christ among those who profess to be Christians. I follow southern gospel music and I get the Singing News magazine monthly and generally there's a little paragraph or so of things that have happened or gone wrong and there's maybe another little paragraph of prayer requests for illnesses, deaths and this type of thing; but here lately it seems as though it's a page full of things that are happening among Christian groups that are going around spreading the gospel through music. You're constantly hearing of some group being involved in a bus wreck with severe injuries or deaths. We hear of buses that are catching on fire with the groups losing all their equipment. With sickness among the singers and even death I wonder if His judgment has started among all of us in the body of Christ?

We have to understand something about God, He is getting ready to do this new thing and He cannot and will not do it through unclean vessels. We must understand that as Christians God has his banner around us. We are covered by the blood of Christ. He is Jehovah Nissi, our banner. What happens is,as it was with Job, Satan went before God and asked permission to come against Job. He said,"You let me try him," and God said, "You can do whatever you wish but don't kill him," and God lifted his banner of protection off Job. Satan accused God of protecting Job and if He would lift the banner from around Job he would succomb to Satan's attacks. So God lifted his banner of protection off Job allowing Satan to come in and do everything but kill Job to test his faith. It was Jesus who told Peter that Satan had asked permission to sift him. As God had to lift his banner of protection off Peter in order for Satan to attack and to sift him, so it is with the saints. When we're going through this world and we have sin in our lives, or we have unrighteousness in our lives,or we have things that defile us in our lives, God lifts his banner off us and allows the enemy to come in to attack us. He's trying to get our attention. He doesn't want us to have cancer, or any other sickness, but if that's what it takes for us to cry out to God for forgiveness of our sins then He will allow it. God is wanting to get all of the defilement out of the body of Christ. He is wanting to get all of the sin out of the camp, the church, that he may raise us up in these last days to do great things, this "new thing" of God.

God is getting ready to do this new thing. He's preparing to do it and in order to do it he must clean up his vessels. He needs vessels of honor. He's not going to do it through the unclean, the impure, the sinful, the complacent, those who are playing games with Him. He's looking for the righteous seed that He can use for His glory. He is preparing us for greatness, we must understand this; but first he must cleanse us. God will reach out to us by His Spirit, through His Word, through a sermon, or whatever means necessary to get us to change. If we do not yield to His correction then He will withdraw His protection from us, allowing Satan to attack us. Either we will submit to his cleansing or face the consequences which is His banner being lifted. With His protection gone the enemy is allowed free access to us and to our families. To our finances. To our jobs. We must understand this, that in these last days God is wanting to do great things and He is going to do it through great people who have prayed the price. Who have died to themselves and allowing God to rise up in them to accomplish His plan for the end-times church. This is not a time to play religious games with God--He doesn't have time for games. If we always insist on doing things our way, if we keep on thinking that God is going to overlook all of our imperfections and our sins and use us anyway, we're only kidding ourselves. God is about to do a new thing and He's preparing each of us that we may be vessels of honor to be used in these last days to do the supernatural,the great things of God. But first we must be clean.

I suggest, get alone until you are no longer alone. Seeking God's face until He reveals to you the areas of your life that are unclean. The areas that need judgment. The areas that need to come under the blood so that we can be clean vessels ready for his use, well prepared for greatness.