Set Apart
I gotta admit… I have to confess a fault to y’all, my church family.
I have some jealousy that I am processing because you were honored to experience some of my favorite ministers while Kay and I were away: Pastor Bob and Doc Ryan. Kay and I were some of the first viewers of the Rumble Channel video, though, because we had great anticipation to hear what they would share in their tag-team time.
We were not disappointed! What a great experience that you, the Beloved family shared together.
In other news and transparency, the message that I shared with The Shepherds House in Lewisville, TX was a bit more bold than a typical traveling message. I did honor my pastor, though, by getting permission to release that type of feistiness in his house. Pastor Rich and Ms. Dorothy were very gracious and encouraging in what was shared to their flock, and even exhorted me to continue in my boldness as I minister wherever the grace of God leads me across this great nation and world.
Allow me to share a tad of that message, and if it seems to be received well, I will consider ministering the fullness of it among our precious environment.
Since we are now past the tormenting election cycle, I sense an even deeper emboldened roar that is reverberating in a guttural release due to the amount of perpetual exposure of wickedness, vileness, and ungodliness that is being embraced by the masses… including even some in the “church.”
* Strong men create good times
* Good times create weak men
* Weak men create bad times
* Bad times create strong men
The top line is dedicated to people like the apostles, prophets, and teachers in the first church and every remnant believer since. It could also be spoken about our American founding fathers and the soldiers who defended their holy cause of liberty. It obviously could be directed toward The Greatest Generation who suffered together as an entire nation fighting communism in WWII. Please note, “good,” does NOT mean comfortable.
The second line indicates the gravitational pull of the carnal man to live in comfort and pleasure. If their is no Divine Destiny or noble cause for which to painfully endure, a person WILL slip into a self-gratifying cycle of meaningless existence and justifying it by naming it after a, “righteous,” idol: climate change, gender wars, sexual revolution, racism, woke-ism, and a slue of other false gods. Sadly, these folks are even, “too busy,” in their self-quest for even the most innocuous of partially proper preaching and/or those old antiquated church services.
When this generation takes the reins of culture, they produce the third line. An entire culture of brokenness, despair, and anti-Christ belief systems producing a philosophy of faux wisdom that rips the very foundations of our civilization apart at the foundational seams. A collective groan radiates across all spectrums of humanity.
When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.
Proverbs 29:2 NLT
The fourth line is the era we are entering as we go deeper into the storm that is ushering in THE Great Awakening.
Where does this weakness come from that can destroy entire nations and generations?
Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.
Romans 6:20 NLT
It is time for us to embrace the mandate of Heaven’s holy cause to become, “slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.”
Holiness is not a mainstream word today among the secular world of course, but even among the people of God. It is a term that connotates thoughts of legalism, restricting rigidity, and religious control. Yet, the actual word and connecting concept carries with it great liberty and exceptional access to divine authority. This was common knowledge among the remnant believers in nearly every generation since Christ. They had a revelation of verse 22 combined with verse 20 that stirred up a passionate zealousness for authentic holiness. The real definition of holiness is to be separated from the world for a divine purpose. It is being taken out of something and put into something for God.
But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. (Verse 22)
Look at one example of a slave to holiness (Apostle Paul) and how he dealt with the weakness and wickedness of a slave to the world’s ways.
Acts 13:8-11 NLT
But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Barnabas and Saul said. He was trying to keep the governor from believing. Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye. Then he said, “You son of the devil, full of every sort of deceit and fraud, and enemy of all that is good! Will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord? Watch now, for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind. You will not see the sunlight for some time.” Instantly mist and darkness came over the man’s eyes, and he began groping around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him.
Paul is an example of someone who came out of the world’s system, the religious system, and the self-centered performance system and was translated into the Kingdom of the Beloved Son… holiness: out of the world and into a Divine purpose. Paul was a strong man. He created historically, “good,” times for the church. Notice that I did not say, “comfortable,” times for the church. Their goal was much different than ours today. In this modern, progressive, consumerism world, we find value in purchasing, using, seeing, feeling, and eating the most dainty of the delicacies of our soft times. Mankind is weak, fragile, and incessantly offended at every jot and tittle of challenging speech or a message of repentance that dare to affect our lifestyle. Paul brought a blinding haze from the very hand of God upon that attitude and behavior. Prepare to see instances like this again in coming times… because we are creating strong and HEROIC people again!
You, Beloved, are one of those people… Embrace the holiness of The Hero Within!
It is time for us to embody a pure holiness of thought, life, and deed again. We were created and called for exactly that.
I love you greatly!
Steve
