SPARKS

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

                            SPARKS
        
        Isaiah 50:11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass
[yourselves] about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the
sparks [that] ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie
down in sorrow. 
        
        Isaiah was a Prophet mightily used of the Lord to instruct and chide
with Israel of the Old Testament time.  It is often difficult to separate the
places where he writes of coming judgment, and where he is writing of the
future glory of God's provision for His People.
        
        Chapter 50 seems to be one of the times when the Lord, through Isaiah,
is chiding the nation for not following His precepts, and asserting His
autority and power to punish them for their neglect.
        
        You will recall that in chapter six, Isaiah had seen the Lord High and
lifted up, and His Train filled the Temple.  The Prophet immediately saw his
own unworthiness, and cried out in dismay.  The Lord then cleansed his lips,
and gave him a commission to go to the nation.  Isaiah asked what he should
tell them when he went to them.  The Lord did not tell him to do a lot of
preaching.  Rather, He sent the Prophet to Isaiah 6:9  And he said, Go, and
tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but
perceive not.   Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 
        
        It was a message of blinding and deafness.  The nation had not wanted
to hear the word of the Lord, nor had they wanted to do what His Word
instructed them to do.  God would be very obliging.  If they didn't want to
hear, He would make them deaf to His Word.  If they didn't want to see, He
would make them blind to His dealings.  It was that simple.  It is very
dangerous to know, and not do.  It is disasterous to hear and not hearken.
        
        The result of having refused to walk in God's ways was to be led
astray by a delusion, and fall into wrong practices and beliefs.
        
        We are no better today than they were in the "year that King Uzziah
died."  Judgmnet had been decreed, but God would not initiate it until His
chosen King was dead.  God wanted to spare Uzziah the pain of seeing what He
was going to do to a rebellious nation.
        
        The Church of the Living God has squandered their resources by
bickering back and forth among themselves over minor differences of
interpretation of God's Word.  Strong-willed men have drawn unsuspecting
saints after themselves, for their own benefit, and condemned others who did
not follow them in their pernicious ways.
        
        As the Prophet was anointed to write, they kindled a fire and sparks
around themselves (God's way of describing a self-induced "anointing" to
preach a private interpretation of the Word.
        
        Some of the strongest "anointings" we have seen are those which men
get when they are preaching their private set of teachings and practices,
which may or may not be a correct interpretation of the Word.
        
        The Lord has a message for these people, "This shall ye have of my
hand, Ye shall lie down in sorrow."
        
        It is extremely dangerous to indulge in the propagation of an idea
which stems from a private or faulty interpretation of God's Word.  
        
        Let's be very sure that the scriptures DO SAY what we make them say by
the manner in which we put them together.  If we put them together improperly,
we MAKE THEM INTO A LIE.  In doing so, we condemn both ourselves and those who
follow us.  
        
        Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing
that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie:
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. 
        
        Revelation 22:15 For without [are] dogs, and sorcerers, and
whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a
lie. 
        
 <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/fretwell/private/index.html">
http://members.aol.com/fretwell/private/index.html</A>