From the godless sea of humanity, my God elected me. By grace so free, endless glory, the Lord He set me free!

In deaths decay & sorrow’s chain my savior bled and died. Three nails through flesh with skin & bone, his blood, my need, I rise.

Three days went down & He rose from ground & He broke deaths hellish sound. My sin was paid for, His glory made name for, and His courts my homeward bound.

The flames of sin, forever dimmed, my desires changed within. How bliss the glory, my life His story, made holy I begin.

So in sunlit skies or blackened nights, my song, His praise, will rise. Eternity will surely come & His victory be won.

And in death or pain, never in vain, I’ll surely rise again. Time will tell, this story well, by lives redeemed who fell.

So in closing statement, my joy to make it & certain He’ll show it well. My God He reigns & I’ll see His face, O Glorious Eternal Gain!

Here’s the quote, mind the old english:

“In heaven there shall be no remaining enmity, or distaste, or coldness, or deadness of heart towards God and Christ. Not the least remainder of any principle of envy shall exist to be exercised toward angels or other beings who are superior in glory; nor shall there be aught like contempt or slighting of those who are inferiors. Those that have a lower station in glory than others, suffer no diminution of their own happiness by seeing others above them in glory. On the contrary, all the members of that blessed society rejoice in each other’s happiness, for the love of benevolence is perfect in them all. Every one has not only a sincere, but a perfect goodwill to every other. Sincere and strong love is greatly gratified and delighted in the prosperity of the beloved object; and if the love be perfect, the greater the prosperity of the beloved is, the more is the lover pleased and delighted; for the prosperity of the beloved is, as it were, the food of love, and therefore the greater that prosperity, the more richly is love feasted. The love of benevolence is delighted in beholding the prosperity of another, as the love of complacence is, in beholding the beauty or perfection of another. So that the superior prosperity of those that are higher in glory, is so far from being a hindrance to the degree of love felt toward them, that it is an addition to it, or a part of it.

“The saints shall have no fear that the love of God will ever abate towards them… And they shall have no jealousy one of another, but shall know that by divine grace the mutual love that exists between them shall never decay nor change.”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven… 1 Peter 1:3-4

Verse 45-51 of chapter 24 explain His exhortation. If you’re a leader, teacher, preacher, evangelist, prophet, apostle, youth leader, missionary, pastor…etc, anyone with a place of influence & oversight in the body of Christ, then this call is focused to you. The call is clear, the encouragement stunning & the warning sober. May we respond well.

After reviewing the text, there’s 3 key things we need to know & respond to in Jesus heart.

Matthew 24:45 “Who then is the faithful & wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the due time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Call

In looking at this parable, we need to understand He’s talking to the 12. He’s not speaking to unregenerate people who don’t know Him. He’s speaking to those closest to Him. Those He knows & who know Him. Think James, Peter, John, Matthew, Nathaniel…etc these were the ones receiving this exhortation. Therefore we must take it to heart & not brush over it as if we are exempt & have some more superior place before God than these men; yea these men whose names will be on the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:14). God is no respecter of persons, & so we ALL must respond wholeheartedly & personally to this call regardless of position or idea’s about how well we think we’re doing or how well we think we know the Lord & His heart.

The key factor Jesus calls those in His house to is to is to “give food at the proper time” to the people of God. In verse 45 He’s in essence saying: “who will give my people the necessary & appropriate revelation of God to sustain them in the midst of the things I’ve just described in Matthew 24:1-44?” Who will feed the people of God with clarity concerning the hour they’re in & what they must do to be appropriately equipped to stand in agreement & partnership with Jesus through the blessing & pressure’s of what He’s just described?

What constitutes “food at the right time”? This is both the biblical historic truths of the word of God & yet it’s ALSO the subjective prophetic realities the Lord highlights to His people through the Holy Spirit in context to the season of redemptive history they’re in – i.e. specific biblical realities they need to go after in context to what He’s saying & doing. For example, when His people are suffering in sickness they’re need to know about His sovereignty & His power & desire to heal; When they’re in lack, they lead to know about His abundance & power to provide; When dreams & visions are abounding, they lead to know about the clarity & authority of the scriptures to interpret, define & test prophetic revelation; and when they’re living in a transitional time of history when the nations are beginning to shake, they need to know what God is saying & how His people need to respond. This “food in due season” is both the biblical (constant unchanging written) & prophetic (subjective changing spoken which highlights the scriptural) revelation of God’s heart toward them for the season they’re in.

The Encouragement

The reward He offers is stunning! It’s almost unthinkable. His goodness & generosity to faithful shepherds who feed His people with “the right stuff at the right time” is amazing. To the leader (servant over the house) who does, when He comes, He promises “to set them over ALL his possessions”. This is speaking of the unfathomably glorious reward of ruling & reigning with Christ over the nations in the age to come (1 Cor 3:21-22; Ps 24:1; Rev 2:26-27; 3:21). Jesus gives the prospect of being in charge of everything with Him in the age to come. A position of untold prominence, wealth, dignity & joy among the great of heaven. Jesus used this very promise of eternal reward to motivate His shepherds to faithfulness. Therefore, there’s good incentive to go after His heart & feed the people with food in due season.

The Warning

In the last part of His address to leaders, Jesus changes gears after mentioning the reward and focuses on the consequence for shepherds who leave His people in His house without “food in due season.” In the same way young children would become malnourished, sickly & weak if they didn’t have the right diet of regular & whole meals, so His people would get sick & weary if His servants in charge of his house leave His people without the right revelation of God & the gospel & what He’s doing in the earth & how they must respond to it. This is not a light thing to Him. He labels it as wickedness, being drunk, beating their fellow servants, and causing the people to be underfed.

He show’s how the progression of how a servant in charge of house becomes “wicked”. They begin to mock and say “my master is delayed” (24:48; 2 Peter 3:3-7). The wicked servant, He says, begins to declare “its been 2000 years, he’s not coming any time soon…  I’m going to eat & drink & be merry & build according to what I think needs to be our focus.” Yet Jesus makes clear that the one who does this will be unprepared & left taking counsel from “drunkards” (those intoxicated with other things & disconnected from what’s really going on) when what he needs is clarity & understanding more than any other time in history. Thus in doing so, that servant actually leads the people of God with him into the same delusion, unpreparedness & drunkenness.

Here is where Jesus severity comes into play – an attribute of His person which Paul explicitly tells us to consider (Rom 11:22). When He returns the Lord shows that He’ll “cut (that wicked servant) in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.” And “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Once He’s returned, Jesus Himself makes clear that He’ll “cut in pieces” those overseeing His house who themselves remain disconnected from His heart & thus also leave His people unprepared & unready for the hour of His return (Mt 24:48-51). Then, He’ll appoint them a portion in hell with the hypocrite’s where there will be weeping & gnashing of teeth. This is breath taking in it’s sobriety & gives substance to James’ weighty call to those who want to teach God’s word (James 3:1).

Understanding the Severity of Jesus

Yet His heart in this is what we need to understand. His severity in this matter is not about Him being a cruel & twisted judge against unwitting servants. It’s about how much zeal & love He has in His heart for His people to be connected to His heart & what He’s doing in the earth. It’s about His people, His very bride, being taken care of appropriately (Eph 5:27-30; Rev 19:7). Jesus did not die to leave His people straying under “drunk” leadership. He died to have a people with Him where He is (Jn 17:24). This is the zeal & desire He has in His heart against those who lead His beloved into deception & disconnection from Him & what He’s doing. What genuine husband is there on the planet who doesn’t want His wife knowing his heart, what he’s doing & to have her with him where he is? It’s the same with Jesus and His people. He longs for His people to be healthy, vibrant & alive in the revelation of what He’s like & what He’s doing in the earth through having received substance from servants who’d give sustenance “in due season”.

What to do?

In light of the above: the key call in all this, is to get connected to God’s heart, get food in due season, & to feed the household of God humbly & joyfully with “other servants” of the house – those of different ministries & positions. Included in this we contend for the blessing & “prosperity” of the entire region we’re in (Jer 29:7). Jesus is zealous for this, and we must be too.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25:1 “Then (at the end of the age) the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps [1] and went to meet the bridegroom (Jesus himself – John 3:29). [2] 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

He likens the global context just prior to His return as people waiting for a bridegroom  to arrive: After giving the events of Matthew 24 explaining the events at the end – wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes…etc – He tells a story of 10 virgins who needed oil in their lamps to burn through the midnight hour of the global pressures that will characterize the last generation before His return. “Oil” in this scripture refers to the presence, power, truth & reality of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer (1 Sam 16:13; Ex 30:22-38). “Lamps” speak of the church who display the light of God’s salvation to the world (Rev 1:20; 4:5).

Jesus gives us one key message from this short story – we need “oil” to “burn” in the lamp of our heart throughout the dark night of the end of the age. The ten virgins speak of those professing faith & salvation in Jesus. He made clear: 5 were wise, 5 were foolish. 5 had oil, 5 didn’t. 5made it, 5 didn’t. In blunt honesty we might say – half of the professing body of Christ will be ready & half won’t. Half will be wise, respond & have what they need. Conversely, He makes clear, half will be foolish now and lack what they need then. He’s saying half will & half won’t have the inward fortification & life in God to endure the pressures of the close of this age. The stage of history is being set for the most glorious & yet terrible hour we’ve ever seen & the Lord is asking us through this parable, like He has through out the ages, “who will have oil?”; “Who is able to stand?” (Joel 2:11; Mal 3:2; Rev 6:17).

The Call – Go buy oil without Money & without Price

Jesus exhorted the church in Revelation 3 to “buy” the true riches of a life in God. They thought everything was good & fine because of their abundant blessing & natural resources. The fact is that from God’s perspective it was completely different story: In terms of their life in God, or “oil” you might say, they were actually “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind & naked” (Rev 3:17). Therefore in His loving kindness Jesus rebuked them and let them feel the sting of their true condition (3:19), that they might respond & actually have something of substance to sustain them during pressures of the end of the age and ultimately eternal rewards for having responded well (Rev 3:20-21).

This is the same exhortation the Lord is giving us. We need to go “buy oil” to have substance for the years of intense pressure approaching the planet just before the return of the Lord to set the wrongs things right. The wonder of God’s promise is that it’s free (Is 55:1). “Oil”, life, pleasure & delight in God,  is freely given to all who’ll set themselves time to go get it (Ps 37:4). The pursuit of oil, is the pursuit of delight. It’s free in terms of it being a gift from God to all who are willing to position themselves to receive it. The cost involved is merely time, energy & focus spent before the Lord in communing with his heart through the word of God, prayer, worship, fasting, fellowship & generosity. It’s no sacrifice at all in light of the lasting pleasure & greatness of the reward – life in God.

Isaiah 55:1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come…without money and without price. Why do you spend your money…and your labor for what does not satisfy?

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD…”

In recent months, weeks & days we’ve seen cataclysmic earthquakes strike both Christchurch New Zealand, Haiti, Chile, & the north of Japan. In context to the last 1000 years of recorded history, since the turn of 1900 we’ve seen an unprecedented explosion of natural disasters hit the planet. Before the 1900’s disaster & war was surely strewn through out the pages of history, yet since the turn of 1900, we’ve seen a steady increase of natural disasters & wars, one after the other, decade after decade, year after year, & now month after month. (see these links for time a line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters & http://www.armageddononline.org/disasters_list.php) If you look briefly at the timelines of disaster’s you’ll see an exponential increase over the last 100 years – with even more in the last 10 years at the turn of the 21^st century.

Where’s it all headed?

Jesus spoke of a season where earthquakes, wars, famines, & disease’s would increase across the globe in an unprecedented way just before the 2^nd coming (Mt 24:7). He called this the beginning of creations birth pains (Mt 24:8). He likened creation in this season as a woman in labor longing to give birth. Creation’s longing however is to be freed from the weight of sin pressing upon it (Rom 8:22-23; Isaiah 24:5-6) – longing to be free from bondage to our corruption. As we look across the nations it’s not unclear that this groan is intensifying. And as is clear, once labor pains & contractions begin, they don’t get less & less. They intensify until full labor sets in.

Jesus said these natural disasters & wars are just “the beginning” (Mt 24:8). When the Son of God was giving clarity & instruction concerning the end-time events surrounding His return, He made clear that these would be the indicators of a still yet greater storm for the nations. Not only would natural disasters increase, but He spoke of global persecution & martyrdom of the church (24:9), a great falling away from the faith (24:10), multitudes of false prophet’s & leaders rising up to exalt man, remove God from the equation & lead people after themselves (24:11), and lawlessness & unrest would abound in every place (24:12).

He then spoke of a season of global tribulation coming upon the planet unlike any other time in human history (24:21). Wether this is decades away or more – or less – I don’t know. My point is simply to say what’s been clearly said & what’s evidently on the way. The biblical prophet’s called this season many things (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Is 28:15…etc) but Jesus summed it up as “the great tribulation”. He spoke of it as being so devastating & tumultuous, that unless it was “cut short” by His literal appearing from heaven to end it, “no flesh would be saved.” “But”, He said, “those days will be cut short” (Mt 24:22) and He will return “immediately” at the end of that time in all His Father’s glory & power to end it, judge the nations & bring restoration (Mt24:29-32; 19:28).

It’s not my intention to be the harbinger of doom, but Jesus made it clear & to be faithful to His word, I must be clear also. Here’s the take away point: It’s going to get worse, way worse, before it get’s better. From Jesus assessment concerning the season we’re in (Mt 24:3-14), tremors & social pressures are going to increase globally & continually unto a final season of unrivaled tribulation covers the earth, that will be ended suddenly by His powerful appearing “in flaming fire” at His second coming (2 Thess 1:7-8). So how do we respond to this?

Part two to come: The Need for Response – Get Oil Matthew 25:1-11

5 key values:

1)   Biblical Prayer – The Bible is central to everything we do, in the prayer room, class room & out. Eph 1:17-20; 3:16-19. The prayers of the New Testament put up a target to gather a room in unified focus, give confidence that we’re praying God’s will for His people, and they allow for “easy access” into focused prayer for all involved in the prayer meeting. Jesus said if His word was the substance of our prayer, then we’d have confidence that we’d have our requests (John 15:7). This leads to the next key value.

2)   Enjoying God – We have two options in prayer: miserable & enemy focused or enjoyable & God focused. Though warfare prayer is an important & necessary expression of prayer, it’s not to be the main focus. God is. Thus the LORD promised in Isaiah that He would raise up unceasing prayer for the nations that would be characterized by enjoyable prayer in His house (Is 56:7-8). God literally promises to make those who give themselves to Him “joyful in (His) house of prayer”. In psalm 149 the psalmist calls us to make heaven impacting prayer from a place of being joyful in God’s presence. Enjoying the Lord is foundational to the success of everything, especially prayer. “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him” John Piper.

3)   Music with Intercession – We love good worship & we love good prayer: biblically the two are inseparable. In 1000 B.C. David released the equivalent of $100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion) to release singers & musicians to pray & sing the word of God night & day to release God’s kingdom & blessing on the earth (1 Chr 6:31; 9:33; 15-16; 22:14; 23:1-6; 25; Ps 22:3; Mt 6:10). As described in the book of Revelation, around the throne of God we find that “day & night” saints & angels continually adore God’s unsearchable glory to the sound of music & singing (Rev 4, 5; 7:9-10; 15:2-4). Worship music helps unlock the heart to sustain enjoyable God focused prayer like few other things. Thus the LORD gives us a model in scripture to work with as go after His desire for a house of day & night prayer “for all nations”.

4)   Night & Day – God is infinitely worthy, therefore “day & night” prayer is merely a fitting response to who He is. In Isaiah 62:6-7 The Lord declares that He’s “set watchmen” on the walls of prayer, who’ll “make mention of His name” & “give him no rest” “day or night” until He makes literal Jerusalem a place of praise for His name in the earth. Malachi prophesied that prayer would rise from the rising of the sun to it’s going down in every nation just because God’s name is great & worth of it (Mal 1:11). In Revelation 4:8 God is worshiped with singing & music “day & night”. And so, day & night prayer, is one biblical answer to Jesus prayer that it would be “on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10).

5)   Global Missions & Awakening – A significant part in our prayer meeting’s is to pray for the full breakthrough of God’s power on the church & missions initiatives in the nations. We value the biblical promise of historic revival among the church & widespread salvation to the lost (Acts 2:17-21). We have passion for world missions and to see the body of Christ walking in the fullness of God (Eph 3:16; 4:13; Mt 16:18).  We’re deeply partnered with the local church & global missions through YWAM International. These relationships give us tenacity to “keep going” as we serve one another in the call of God on our nation, city, lives & ministries.

More to come.

1) God displaying Jesus glory globally – Isaiah 4:2; 11:9-10; 40:5; Ezek 43:2; Rev 1:1; 2 Thess 1:10

2) God saving multitudes – Mt 13:30,39; 28:18-20; Acts 2:17-21; Rev 14:14-16

3) God preparing & maturing His church in power & love – Eph 4:13;  Mt 16:18-19; 22:37-40; Rev 12:10-11

4) God allowing wickedness to come forth in fullness in the nations – 2 Thess 2:3-8; Rev 14: 17-20; Mt 13:13

5) Jesus judging, crushing & removing wickedness – Is 11:4; Ps 2:9; Rev 19:11, 15; 2 Thess 1:7-9

6) Jesus returning in glory & power to establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven – Dan 2:44; Mt 6:10; 19:2, 8; Rev 21-22

7) Jesus & His people reigning in righteousness & peace on a new earth with the Father forever – Rev 2:26-27; 3:12; 3:21; 5:9-10; 20:4;  22:4-5

1)   Jesus Worth & the Glory of God – Jesus is worthy & eternally deserving of praise and adoration day & night simply because He’s worth it, He’s glorious enough to sustain it & it’s right that we give it. Around the throne of God in heaven we find a song of worship declaring the everlasting worth & greatness of God & His Son that never ceases both “day (or) night.” (Rev 4:8,11; 5:9-10, 12, 13). And In light of Jesus prayer that it would be “on earth as in heaven’ (Mt 6:10), a place is being established here in Tauranga, “at the ends of the earth” where songs would rise day & night declaring “glory to the righteous one” (Is 24:15-16).

2)   Revival & Awakening – Jesus has a desire to corporately & individually awaken His church & the cities of the earth to the revelation of His grace & glory (Acts 2:17-21; Is 4:2). Thus, after the Biblical mandate of Joel 2 (see also Acts 1 & 2), THOP is a context where the corporate church in our region can come together to contend in prayer, fasting & worship for a historic out pouring of the Holy Spirit that would awaken the church & bless our region. Jude 3 exhorts us to contend for the faith earnestly. We are a “house of prayer for all nations” that contends for this fullness (Is 56:7; Eph 3:16-21).

3)   Messengers & Leaders – An environment where people can come to be trained in the word of God in a context of prayer, fasting & worship that equips them to be effective leaders & communicators of the gospel & what God is doing in this hour. As pressure & troubles begin to mount on the global stage, the LORD is giving the south pacific a “green house” where effective leaders & messengers can be trained, equipped & released. Daniel spoke of those “who would know their God & who do great exploits.” (Dan 11:32) In this vein, just before the first coming of Jesus, the LORD raised up John the Baptist to prepare his generation for the Lord’s arrival in his small local context of Israel (Luke 1:16-17). In like kind, just before the 2^nd coming the Lord will raise up multitudes of young & old like John, who will prepare the way of the LORD’s return across the entire globe (Is 40:1-5; 62:6-12; Mt 17:11-13). THOP is a beach head for this to happen & it’s our passion & vision to train, equip & send people into all that God has for them.

Next: The Biblical Vision & Values of our Prayer Meetings