Friday, February 13, 2015

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!


DO YOU SEE IT?  Do you sense it?  Have you been feeling it is so obvious that you cannot help but sit up and take notice?  I used to wonder how my elderly grandparents felt about all the huge changes in their lifetime, especially my one grandpa who lived to be 95½ years old.  I could only imagine what it was like to have lived in the days when there were only horses and buggies – and then to have witnessed the invention of the very first cars and trucks with many, many new models and designs through the decades – and all the way up to “seeing” the first man walk on the moon in 1969, getting there via the space shuttle.  Just think … transportation had changed from horses to space shuttles.  I often wondered what it felt like to encompass such change and experience it first-hand in the span of one life-time.  Suddenly it is happening to me, but in a much different way.  And I am definitely years and years away from celebrating my 95th birthday!  The kinds of changes I am seeing are in a totally different realm.  Of course, I could say I have witnessed life pre-television and through the years have seen the metamorphoses to currently being able to watch TV shows on computers and phones.  Every arena of life has changed from what it “used to be” into what it is now.  And even that does not remain the same.  Things are continually changing.  What you purchase today as the latest in technology – is outdated within months, not even years.  Some changes are incredibly amazing and wonderful and are truly for the better!  Yet even some things intended for good in the beginning have been slanted and twisted and tweaked into something that borders on unethical – and even boasts of being full-blown sin!  We have a right to choose how we want to live our lives, people say.  Yes, we do, and it is God who gives us that freedom.    But when our choices have eroded away all semblance of what is good and right and pure, we have taken on the role of playing God with no concern for godliness, justice, or morality.  From old-time revivals that used to shake people to the core of their beliefs and awaken a passion within to bow down and serve the One and Only True God – we now have millions of people worldwide who bow to any god with any name or even boldly state that “they” are their own god.  From being free to proclaim the name of Christ in most places around the world – we are now witnessing the beheading and burning alive of those who will not bow to the god of the terrorists who have lost all value for life.  From centering life around God, family, and church – now we are seeing individuals with skewed and sinful lifestyles overtaking the pulpits, politics, classrooms, and all forms of media – flaunting their rejection of God before all who will give them audience.  I realize not all of this has taken place overnight; some of it has been a gradual slip and slide into the dangerous acceptance of sin.  So gradual in fact – that many people are totally deceived into thinking that sin is not sin at all.  That’s why evil is being unleashed in ways that take our breath away.  What I am seeing in these past few months has escalated way beyond what we have witnessed in the past few years, and that was bad enough! There is a seemingly pent-up fury of evil being unleashed all around us that causes something within us to revolt in shock and horror.  Or at least it should – and that something is the presence and power of the living God within us!  There is no way that good and evil can mix.  They are opposites to the umpteenth degree of definition and reality!  Good is beautiful!  And evil is horrifically ugly.  Good is healthy and wondrous!  Evil is destruction, darkness, and death.  Good brings peace!  And evil breeds fear.  Humanly speaking, what we see approaching on a daily basis now should send us running into hiding.  Confusion and fear abounds.  Good is being snuffed out everywhere we turn.  BUT . . . when we see these things happening, rather than trading our lives as we’ve known them for a fearful future, God’s Word has a different instruction for us.  Please open your Bible to Luke chapter 21 and read verses 5 – 36, carefully taking in the message.  Yes, we are told that there will be “fearful events and great signs from heaven.”  There will be “persecution and anguish and perplexity.”  Humanity will “faint and be apprehensive” at the magnitude of what is coming.  BUT . . . look what God’s Word says next:  “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”  (vs. 27-28)  Do you feel the excitement and anticipation of Christ’s coming?!!  Did you notice the action words that Jesus spoke of when He was sharing this with His disciples?  What are we to do when this old world and its former best is disintegrating into the very worst that it will have to offer?  Catch this:  we are to STAND UP!  We are to LIFT UP our heads!  WHY?  Because, dear ones . . . OUR REDEMPTION IS DRAWING NEAR!!!  And let me tell you, when we stand up in Christ, when we lift up our heads in Christ, and because our redemption is drawing near – WE WILL HAVE NO FEAR!  Hallelujah!  THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!  Do you see?!

REMEMBER . . .
“Keep awake then and watch at all times (be discreet, attentive, and ready),
praying that you may have the full strength and ability and be accounted worthy
to escape all these things (taken together) that will take place,
and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man.”
~ Luke 21:36  

Serving Christ Joyfully . . .

Pastor Doug and Debbie

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