30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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Luke 23 06-17 THE LORD WATCHES 09 Luke 23 11-12 Responsibility of the church
📖 Luke 23:6-17
Tue23Nov2021 – Responsibility of the church - Luke 23:06-17 - THE LORD WATCHES (09) - Bible reading: I Corinthians 15:22-25
The Lord is sending us out into this world to be His ambassadors. We are here to plead with the world to be reconciled with God. The Lord does not want anyone to perish but He desires all to have a life of fullness in Him.
The world does not want to receive the message of Jesus but does everything possible to clamp it down.
Luke 23:11-12 Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate. (12) That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.
We have seen that those who are against the church, though they have their own differences, confederate together to cut off the church and her message.
We have also seen that the Lord has given us victory over the principalities and powers of darkness. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. The Lord has sent us out into the battlefield, to engage the enemy and pull down his strongholds.
The gates, the authority, of hades shall not prevail against the church. It is the church that has authority over Hades. This is what the church must know and not be terrified by their tumult. Knowing the bigger scenario, we must thrust out the enemy from the stranglehold that he has placed on people, societies, cultures, institutions and nations.
There will be a severe judgment on those who come against the church of Jesus Christ. We, as the church, do not want this judgment to fall on those who persecute us. We are not threatening anyone but the fact remains that those, who continue to take a hard stand and continue to go against Christ, will face the wrath of God.
We want people to pass from death to life. We long for people to experience abundant life in Jesus but if they continue to reject and go against the message of Jesus, then the consequences will be frightening.
Psalms 21:8-12 Your hand will find all Your enemies; Your right hand will find those who hate You. (9) You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; The LORD shall swallow them up in His wrath, And the fire shall devour them. (10) Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth, And their descendants from among the sons of men. (11) For they intended evil against You; They devised a plot which they are not able to perform. (12) Therefore You will make them turn their back; You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.
This is what the world must reckon with. They may do much harm to the church but they must know that they cannot get away. God is watching. His wrath will fall on those who are His enemies.
We are sharing to let the facts be made known. The world should not say that they were not warned of the consequences of hurting the body of Christ.
It is terrible to encounter the wrath of God. We desire this for no one.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Revelation 6:15-17 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, (16) and said to the mountains and rocks, " Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! (17) For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
When the wrath of God falls on man, what will the big people of the world do? They will hide and they will cry, saying, “Hide us…from the wrath of God…we are not able to stand”
Whatever the world may do to us, we will share the message of God’s love to the world, which is God reconciling man to Himself.
I Corinthians 15:22-25 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. (23) But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. (24) Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. (25) For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
At the close, what is it that will take place?
We will witness the reign of Jesus. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, which shall not pass away. As Jesus begins His reign, all His enemies will be placed under His feet.
We share this message with those who are intending harm to the church. We share this message out of great love, not wanting anyone to encounter the wrath of God.
Thought to ponder
Are you, correctly, executing your responsibility as part of the church?