It is excellent as it is written, but after you listen to the background (inspiration for the writing of the song), it’s even more meaningful.

This video is the testimony and the song…

Sometimes God calms the storms in our lives and sometimes he just rides them out with us.

Casting Crowns lead singer Mark Hall tells of a little girl who passed away from Cancer and the strong faith of her mom as a lead-in to a live performance of “Praise You In This Storm”.

In this video, we’ve added the lyrics for those of our viewers who wish to sing along.

I love to read a verse of scripture, take out a key word, look it up, and trace its use throughout the rest of the bible.  This morning, I was having a look at Romans 5.  The first 5 verses completely captivated as though I had never read them even though I memorized them years ago.  I focused in on two words in verse 3 and 4… “tribulation” and perseverance.  As I studied, two songs came to mind.

One of God’s primary purposes in bring the difficulties that we face (as Christians) is the fact that tribulation produces perseverance, character, and hope… and God desires that we become people of endurance that, under pressure, look, act, and react like Him… and He desires that we be filled with hope.  One of His primary methods for producing those qualities in us happens to be… tribulation.

The word “tribulation” can be translated as follows: pressure, affliction, difficulties, trials, troubles, burdens.  One commentary I read says: “Tribulation is a word used for pressure, like that of a press squeezing the fluid from olives or grapes.”

Well, instead of trying to sound spiritual and give some deep insights, I’d rather quote Romans 5:1-5 from the amplified bible and leave you with the lyrics of two songs that came to mind while I was studying.  Be encouraged and press on!!

Romans 5:1-5 (Amplified Bible)

THEREFORE, SINCE we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God.

Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.

And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.

Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.

The following song was written by, who I consider, a modern hero of the faith.  If there were amendments to Hebrews 11, I suspect that Keith Green would show up there.

Grace by Which I Stand

Lord, the feelings are not the same, I guess I’m older, I guess I’ve changed. And how I wish it had been explained, that as you’re growing you must remember, that nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus. I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I’m saved.

Lord, I remember that special way, I vowed to serve you, when it was brand new.  But like Peter, I can’t even watch and pray, one hour with you, and I bet, I could deny you too.

But nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus.  I’m sure that my whole life would waste away, except for grace, by which I’m saved

And finally, a song which you have probably never heard but is worth noting.  It’s entitled: Press On, by the Wilds Choir and Orchestra… form the CD with the same name.  You can find it by clicking here…

Press On

There’s a course that must be finished, there’s a race that must be run,
There’s a mission to accomplish, and a battle to be won!
We’ve been called to take the challenge by God’s might and through His Son;
He will give us grace to complete the race, moving forward, pressing on!

Chorus:
Toward the hope of our high calling, toward the promise we’ve received,
With the strength that we’ve been given, pressing on to victory!
And toward the One who’s run before us, as we lay each weight aside.
‘Til the race is run, ’til the prize is won, ’til we reach the finish line, press on!

There’s a faithful cloud of witnesses who inspire us in our task.
They have fought the fight, they have run the race,
They have won the crown at last!
And the lives they’ve lived remind us that though the race at times seems long.
God will give the grace to complete the race, and the courage to press on.

Exhaustion.  The lives that we admire tend to be people that have given everything they have for their mission.  They fight, they strive, they struggle… they’re tired and weary, hungry and hurt, but they don’t give up.  They go to the very end.  They persevere.

This is the story of one of those saints named Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley’s family loved Jesus.  His dad Samuel was a preacher.  And Charles, the third son of 18 kids, along with the other sons, was encouraged to be a pastor.  Charles was educated at Westminster school in Oxford and graduated in 1730.  While there he, his brother John Wesley, and their friend George Whitfield became known pejoratively, by others on campus, as methodists; referring to their methodical approach to bible study and Christian living.

Methodical these men were.  Though they were vigilant, passionate, and busy with their ministries it wouldn’t be until much later that Charles and John would fully surrender to Jesus.  After a failed missionary trip to Georgia, Charles found himself at a low point of his life.  His experiences in Georgia had challenged his faith and he didn’t know what to believe anymore.  He tried to talk to old friends and even delved into mysticism, but nothing helped.  To make matters worse, he contracted pleurisy, a disease which constricts the lungs.  He was very ill and found himself at the care of his friend John Bray who began reading the scriptures to him, listening to Charles’ deep doubts, and taking care of him at his bedside.

On Sunday May 21, 1738, Charles wrote in his journal:

I rose and looked into the scripture.  The words that first presented were: "And now Lord, what is my hope?  Truly my hope is even in Thee."  I now found myself at peace with God and rejoiced in the hope of loving Christ.  I saw that by faith I stood.  I went to bed confident of Christ’s protection.

Things changed immediately.  His strength returned and he became passionate to share the love of Christ with everyone he met.  Two days after his conversion, he penned his first hymn entitled: “Where Shall My Wandering Soul Begin.”  Around this time he also wrote: “And Can It Be,” expressing his awe and amazement at the saving grace of Jesus in his life.

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I have read Shakespeare and John Locke and can discuss their writings with keen insight, but have not read the greatest of all books–The Bible–and have no knowledge of its personal importance…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I have memorized addition facts, multiplication tables, and chemical formulas, but have never been disciplined to keep God’s Word in my heart…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can explain the law of gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity, but have never been instructed in the unchangeable laws of the One Who orders our universe…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can classify animals by their family, genus, and species, and can write a lengthy scientific paper that wins an award, but have not been introduced to the Maker’s purpose for all creation…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can recite the Gettysburg Address and the Preamble to the Constitution, but have not been informed of the Hand of God in the history of our country…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can play the piano, the violin, six other instruments, and can write music that moves men to tears, but have not been taught to listen to the Director of the Universe and worship Him…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I run cross-country races, star in basketball and do 100 push-ups without stopping, but have never been shown how to bend my spirit to do God’s will…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can identify a Picasso, describe the style of da Vinci, and even paint a portrait that earns an A+, but have not learned that all harmony and beauty comes from a relationship with God…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I graduate with a perfect 4.0 and am accepted at the best university with a full scholarship, but have not been guided into a career of God’s choosing for me…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I become a good citizen, voting at each election and fighting for what is moral and right, but have not been told of the sinfulness of man and his hopelessness without Christ…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

However, if one day I see the world as God sees it, and come to know Him, Whom to know is Life Eternal;  And glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for me…

THEN, I HAVE BEEN EDUCATED

What I am here to tell you that the call of Christ is not just to be informed but do something about it.  You are bombarded with information.  You get enough spiritual information in one week that all of China and India, people don’t get in five years.  How blessed we are.  But lets not fool ourselves because you got people coming here, large numbers, you’ve got nice building, lets not fool ourselves.  That don’t mean we are impacting the world!

Nearly three billion people live on planet earth that never heard the Name Jesus.  I tell you what, many years ago I went through a crisis in my life.  The crisis was this – I wish I could believe there is no hell.  Because I was so getting desperate if hell is real I must do something more than what I was doing with my life.  But I tell you what – I went to the Bible, just like you read, and came to the conclusion hell is real.  There is a place, and hell is not for a vacation for two years, ten years, like they put prisoners for murdering for ten years, twenty years.

No sir.  Hell is forever!  And after ten billion trillion years those in hell will scream saying “I want to die!  I want to die!”  That’s all.  Not even for a drop of water.   They just want to die.  And the answer comes again and again and again – “You shall never die, you will never die.”  That is the fate of multiplied billions on planet earth.

But how we need to realize we are headed toward eternity and that is not a thousand miles away from now, it is next minute.  And Jesus lived like that.

1 Peter 2:21 – “To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His footsteps.”

He left His example – He suffered for you, leaving you an example that we should follow in His footsteps.  The reason why we in America with all the teaching, all the music, all the stuff going on, our lives are shallow – still struggling with sin, and struggle in our private thought life, with things you know not pleasing God, and a lack of victory in your life, lack of authority of God in your life, seeking to please men rather than God, ever so busy we can’t be quiet – in the car, in the shower, in the room, everywhere we go, we have to be kept busy because we are a restless people.

Why is it?  Why is it?  It is simply because we do not want to accept the cross of Christ into our lives.  Cross means self-denial, giving up our own wishes and dreams for the sake of the cross.  For the sake of Calvary.  And that is what we are missing here.  That is the reason with all the stuff we miss so much of reality.

When will we learn – what does it take for us to learn – call of Christ for us is as the Father have sent Me, so send I you.  You are my hand, you are my leg, you are my eyes, you are my ears, you are my tears, you are Mine – go into the world and touch the poor, the needy, the lepers, the dying and the hurting and the ones going to hell and grab them and rescue them.  That is the call of Christ.  The call of Christ is to die not to live.  You must by the grace of God make a decision – that Lord I want approval from You and no one else.  So much of Christian work originates in the flesh and carnality.  “Lord I only want your approval.”

I know those are strong words – unless you are sensitive to the Lord, you can easily misunderstand.  We have a problem in America, in our church – we misunderstand obedience for legalism and bondage.

I’m telling you, I’m telling you – the day is soon coming you will regret and repent – too late will it be over the debased life we spent for ourselves here.  The world out there that do not know Jesus and our priority number one, number one must be – “Lord I love you and out of that I give all to touch the lost world.”

And I look at the whole religious scene today and all I see are the inventions and ministries of man and flesh.  It’s mostly powerless.  It has no impact on the world.  And I see more of the world coming into the church and impacting the church, rather than the church impacting the world.  I see the music taking over the house of God.  I see entertainment taking over the house of God.  An obsession with entertainment in God’s house.  A hatred of correction and a hatred of reproof.  Nobody wants to hear it any more.  Whatever happened to anguish in the house of God?

Whatever happened to anguish in the ministry?   It’s a word you don’t hear in this pampered age.  You don’t hear it.  Anguish means extreme pain and distress.  The emotions so stirred that it becomes painful.  Acute deeply felt inner pain because of conditions about you, in you, or around you.  Anguish.  Deep pain.  Deep sorrow.  The agony of God’s heart.

We’ve held on to our religious rhetoric and our revival talk but we’ve become so passive.  All true passion is born out of anguish.  All true passion for Christ comes out of a baptism of anguish.  You search the scripture and you’ll find that when God determined to recover a ruined situation… He would share His own anguish for what God saw happening to His church and to His people.  And He would find a praying man and take that man and literally baptize him in anguish.  You find it in the book of Nehemiah.  Jerusalem is in ruins.  How is God going to deal with this?  How is God going to restore the ruin?  Now folks, look at me… Nehemiah was not a preacher, he was a career man.  But this was a praying man.

And God found a man who would not just have a flash of emotion.  Not just some great sudden burst of concern and then let it die.  He said: “No.  I broke down and I wept and I mourned and I fasted.  And then I began to pray night and day.  Why didn’t these other men… why didn’t they have an answer?  Why didn’t God use them in restoration?  Why didn’t they have a word?  Because there was no sign of anguish.  No weeping.  Not a word of prayer.  It’s all ruin.

Does it matter to you today?  Does it matter to you at all that God’s spiritual Jerusalem, the church, is now married to the world?  That there is such a coldness sweeping the land?  Closer than that… does it matter about the Jerusalem that is in our own hearts?  The sign of ruin that’s slowly draining spiritual power and passion.  Blind to lukewarmness, blind to the mixture that’s creeping in.  That’s all the devil wants to do is to get the fight out of you and kill it.  So you won’t labor in prayers anymore, you won’t weep before God anymore.  You can sit and watch television and your family go to hell.

Let me ask  you… is what I just said convicting to you at all?  There is a great difference between anguish and concern.  Concern is something that begins to interest you.  You take an interest in a project or a cause or a concern or a need.  And I want to tell you something.  I’ve learned over all my years… of 50 years of preaching.  If it is not born in anguish, if it had not been born of the Holy Spirit.  Where what you saw and heard of the ruin that drove you to your knees, took you down into a baptism of anguish where you began to pray and seek God.  I know now.  Oh my God do I know it.  Until I am in agony.  Until I have been anguished over it…  And all our projects, all our ministries, everything we do… Where are the Sunday school teachers that weep over kids they know are not hearing and are going to hell?

You see, a true prayer life begins at the place of anguish.  You see, if you set your heart to pray, God’s going to come and start sharing His heart with you.  Your heart begins to cry out:  “Oh God, Your name is being blasphemed.  The Holy Spirit is being mocked.  The enemy is out trying to destroy the testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness and something has to be done.” 

There is going to be no renewal, no revival, no awakening, until we are willing to let Him once again break us.  Folks, it’s getting late, and it’s getting serious.  Please don’t tell me… don’t tell me you’re  concerned when you’re spending  ours in front of internet or television.  Come on.  Lord, there are some that need to get to this alter and confess: “I am not what I was, I am not where I am supposed to be.  God I don’t have Your heart or Your burden.  I wanted it easy.  I just wanted to be happy.  But Lord, true joy comes out of anguish.”  There’s nothing of the flesh that will give you joy.  I don’t care how much money, I don’t care what kind of new house, there is absolutely nothing physical that can give you joy.  It’s only what is accomplished by the Holy Spirit when you obey and take on His heart.

Build the walls around your family.  Build the walls around your own heart.  It will make you strong and impregnable against the enemy.  God, that’s what we desire.

Every true soldier is a hero! A SOLDIER WITHOUT HEROISM IS A CHOCOLATE SOLDIER! Who has not been stirred to scorn and mirth at the very thought of a Chocolate Soldier!  In peace true soldiers are captive lions, fretting in their cages.  War gives them their liberty and sends them, like boys bounding out of school, to obtain their heart’s desire or perish in the attempt.  Battle is the soldier’s vital breath!  Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic.  War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigor of a hero.

EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A SOLDIER–of Christ–a hero “par excellence!”  Braver than the bravest – scorning the soft seductions of peace and her oft-repeated warnings against hardship, disease, danger, and death, whom he counts among his bosom friends.

THE OTHERWISE CHRISTIAN IS A CHOCOLATE CHRISTIAN! Dissolving in water and melting at the smell of fire. “Sweeties” they are! Bonbons, lollipops!  Living their lives on a glass dish or in a cardboard box, each clad in his soft clothing, a little frilled white paper to preserve his dear little delicate constitution.

Here are some PORTRAITS OF CHOCOLATE SOLDIERS taken by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

“He said, ‘I go, sir,’ and went not”; he said he would go to the heathen, but stuck fast to Christendom instead.

“They say and do not”– they tell others to go, and yet do not go themselves. “Never,” said General Gordon to a corporal, as he himself jumped upon the parapet of a trench before Sebastopol to fix a gabion which the corporal had ordered a private to fix, and wouldn’t fix himself, “Never tell another man to do what you are afraid to do yourself.”

To the Chocolate Christian the very thought of war brings a violent attack of ague, while the call to battle always finds him with the palsy. “I really cannot move,” he says. “I only wish I could, but I can sing, and here are some of my favorite lines:

I must be carried to the skies
  On a flowery bed of ease,
Let others fight to win the prize,
  Or sail thro’ bloody seas.

Mark time, Christian heroes,
  Never go to war;
Stop and mind the babies
  Playing on the floor.

Wash and dress and feed them
  Forty times a week.
Till they’re roly poly–
  Puddings so to speak.

Chorus:
Round and round the nursery
  Let us ambulate
Sugar and spice and all that’s nice
  Must be on our slate.

“Thank the good Lord,” said a very fragile, white-haired lady, “God never meant me to be a jelly-fish!” She wasn’t!

GOD NEVER WAS A CHOCOLATE MANUFACTURER, AND NEVER WILL BE. God’s men are always heroes.  In Scripture you can trace their giant foot-tracks down the sands of time.

NOAH walked with God, he didn’t only preach righteousness, he acted it. He went through water and didn’t melt. He breasted the current of the popular opinion of his day, scorning alike the hatred and ridicule of the scoffers who mocked at the thought of there being but one way of salvation. He warned the unbelieving and, entering the ark himself, didn’t open the door an inch when once God had shut it. A real hero untained by the fear of man.

Learn to scorn the praise of men.
  Learn to lose with God;
Jesus won the world thro’ shame!
  And beckons us His road.

ABRAHAM, a simple farmer, at a word from the Invisible God, marched, with family and stock, through the terrible desert to a distant land to live among a people whose language he could neither speak nor understand! Not bad that! But later he did even better, marching hot foot against the combined armies of five kings, flushed with recent victory, to rescue one man! His army? Just 318 odd fellows, armed like a circus crowd. And he won too. “He always wins who sides with God.” What pluck! Only a farmer! No war training! Yet what hero has eclipsed his feat? His open secret? He was THE FRIEND OF GOD.

MOSES–the man of God–was a species of human chameleon–scholar, general, law-giver, leader, etc. Brought up as the Emperor’s grandson with more than a good chance of coming to the throne, one thing only between him and it–Truth–what a choice! What a temptation! A throne for a lie! Ignominy, banishment, or likely enough death for the truth! He played the man! “Refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin and success for a season, accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.”

Again I see him. Now an old man and alone, marching stolidly back to Egypt, after forty years of exile, to beard the lion in his den, to liberate Pharaoh’s slaves right under his very nose, and to lead them across that great and terrible wilderness. A WILD-CAT AFFAIR, if ever there was one! When were God’s schemes otherwise? Look at Jordan, Jericho, Gideon, Goliath, and scores of others. Tame tabby-cat schemes are stamped with another hall mark–that of the Chocolate Brigade! How dearly they love their tabbies yet think themselves wise men! REAL CHRISTIANS REVEL IN DESPERATE VENTURES FOR CHRIST, expecting from God great things and attempting the same with exhilaration. History cannot match these feats of Moses. How was it done? He consulted not with flesh and blood, he obeyed not men but God.

Once again I see the old grey-beard, this time descending the Mount with giant strides and rushing into the camp, his eyes blazing like burning coals. One man against three million dancing dervishes drunk with debauchery. Bravo! Well done, old man! First class! His cheek pales not, but his mouth moves, and I think I catch his words, “If God be for me who can be against me? I will not be afraid of 10,000 of the people that have set themselves against me. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.” And he didn’t. He wins again. Whence this desperate courage? Listen! “Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.” “My servant, Moses,” said his Master, “is faithful in all Mine house, with him will I speak mouth to mouth.” Such is the explanation of Moses the chameleon, the man and friend of God and consequently a first-class hero.

DAVID–the man after God’s own heart–was a man of war and a mighty man of valour. When all Israel were on the run, David faced Goliath–alone … with God–and he but a stripling, and well scolded too by his brother for having come to see the battle. What a splendid fool Eliab must have been! as though David would go to see a battle and not stay to fight. THEY ARE CHOCOLATE SOLDIERS WHO MERELY GO TO SEE BATTLES, AND COOLLY URGE OTHERS TO FIGHT THEM. They had better save their journey money and use it to send out real fighters instead. Soldiers don’t need dry nurses, and if they did the Holy Ghost is always on the spot and ready to undertake any case on simple application. No! David went to the battle and stayed to fight, and won! Wise beyond his years, he had no use for Saul’s armor. It cramped his freedom of action. He tried it on and took it off, quick sharp. And, besides, it made such a ghastly rattle, even when he walked, that he could not hear the still small voice of God, and would never have heard Him saying afterwards, “This is the way to the brook, David! and there are the five smooth stones! Trust only in Me and them. Your own home-made sling will do first class, and there! that’s the shortest cut to Goliath.” THE CHOCOLATES RAN AWAY–they were all Chocolates–but David ran upon Goliath. One smooth stone was enough.

David’s secret was that he had but one Director, and He, the Infallible One. He directed the stone, as He directed the youth. Too many directors spoil the sport, and two are too many by just one. Thus Christ said to His soldiers: “HE shall teach you all things, HE shall guide you into all the truth.”

THIS is My Beloved Son: HEAR HIM.

ONE MEDIATOR ONLY, between God and Man, the man Christ Jesus.

ONE DIRECTOR OF CHRISTIAN MEN–GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT. Whose directions require indeed instant obedience, but not the endorsement of any man.

THE DEVIL NEEDS RED-HOT SHOT, FRESH FROM THE FOUNDRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. He laughs at cold shot or tepid, and as for that made of half-iron and half-clay, half-divine and half-human, why you might just as well pelt him with snowballs.

Whence did this raw youth derive his pluck and skill? Not from military camps, nor theological schools, nor religious retreats. “To know The Only True God and Jesus Christ,” is enough. Paul determined to know only Jesus Christ, and look at the grand result! Whilst others were learning pretty theories, David, like John, had been alone with God in the wilds, practicing on bears and lions. The result?  HE KNEW GOD AND DID EXPLOITS. He knew God only. He trusted God only. He obeyed God only. That’s the secret.  God alone gives strength.  God adulterated with men entails the weakness of iron and clay–Chocolate–brittleness!

Yet hero as he was, even David alas! once played the role of Chocolate Soldier. HE STAYED AT HOME WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE GONE TO WAR. His army, far off, in danger, fighting the enemy, won. David, at home, secure, within sight of God’s house and often going there, suffered the one great defeat of his life, entailing such a bitter, life-long reaping as might well deter others from the folly of sowing wild oats. David’s sin is a terrific sermon (like Lot’s preaching in Sodom must have been), its theme – “DON’T BE A CHOCOLATE SOLDIER!”

In his simple, quick, and full confession, David proved himself a man again. It takes a real man to make a true confession–a Chocolate Soldier will excuse or cloak his sin. He tumbles in the mud, flounders on, wipes his mouth to try to get the bad taste of his acted lie out of it, and then goes on his way saying, “I have done no wickedness.” A self-murdering fool! Killing his conscience to save his face, like Balaam beating the ass who sought to save his master’s life. Being a Chocolate Soldier nearly did for David. Beware!

NATHAN was another real Christian Soldier. He went to his king and rebuked him to his face, like Peter’s dealing with Ananias (only David embraced his opportunity and confessed), and unlike the Chocolate Soldiers of today who go whispering about and refusing either to judge, rebuke, or put away evil because of the entailed scandal forsooth. Veritable Soapy Sams. They say “It is nothing! nothing at all! A mere misunderstanding!” As though God’s cause would suffer more through a bold declaration and defense of the truth and the use of the knife, than by the hiding up of sin, and the certain development of mortification in the member, involving death to the whole body. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous,” and “he that doeth sin is of the devil,” and ought to be told so. He that is a second time led captive by the devil needs neither plaster nor treacle, but the brace rebuke and summons to repentance of a righteous man to effect his salvation. WE ARE BADLY IN NEED OF NATHANS TODAY, who fear God and nothing else, no, not even a scandal.

DANIEL was another hero. Of course he was! Was he not the man greatly beloved of God who sent an angel to tell him so?

I love to watch him as he walks, with firm step and radiant face, to the lions’ den, stopping but once–like his Master en route to Calvary–to comfort his weeping and agonized emperor. God shut the mouths of the lions against Daniel, but opened them wide against those who had opened their mouths against His servant.

A man is known by his works, and the works of Daniel were his three friends, who, rather than bow down to men or gold, braved the fiery furnace.

Again we see him going to the banquet hall, and hear his conductor whisper in his ear, “Draw it mild, Daniel, be statesmanlike. Place and power again for you if you are tactful and wise–especially tactful!” And Daniel’s simple reply, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” There he stands before the king, braving torture or instant death–but it’s the king who quails, not Daniel–who tells him to his face the whole hot truth of God, diminishing not a jot.

JOHN THE BAPTIST–a man taught and made and sent of God–good old John! Who doesn’t love and admire him? Why, even Herod did. A genuine deficiency of oil and treacle in his composition. He always told the bang flat truth, with emphasis. As he loved, so he warned. He knew not how to fawn. HE WOOED WITH THE SWORD, AND “MEN” LOVED HIM THE BETTER FOR IT. They always do.

The leaders of religion sent to John to ask him the dearly loved question of every Pharisee, “By what authority doest thou these (good) things?” They asked that of Christ Himself, and crucified Him for the doing of them. John’s answer was plain and pungent, “I will tell you what you ask, and more. (John was always liberal!) I? I am nobody, but ye and your masters are a generation of vipers.” A good hot curry, that! John never served his curries with butter sauce, but he was always very liberal with chutney–a man of God–NO SUGAR PLUM NOR CHOCOLATE SOLDIER HE!

Thus also he faced Herod after six months in an underground dungeon, and he a man of “God’s Open-air Mission”. Brought straight in before the king; surrounded with all the might and majesty of camp and court; blinking at the unaccustomed sight of light, but by no means putting blinkers on the truth, he blurted out his hot and thunderous rebuke, “Thou shalt not have that woman to be thy wife.” A whole sermon in one sentence, as easy to remember as impossible to forget. John had preached like that before; like Hugh Latimer, he was not above repeating a good sermon to a king, word for word, when the king had not given sufficient heed to it.

John received the unique distinction of a first-class character from both God and the agent of the devil. Hark to the Savior indulging in an outburst of exquisite sarcasm, “What think ye of John? A reed shaken by the wind? A man clothed in soft raiment?” A Chocolate Christian? (How delicious! The Chocolates were right in front of Jesus at the time–Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, scribes, lawyers, and other hypocrites. How the crowd must have enjoyed it!) “A prophet? Nay, much more than a prophet! Of men born of women there is none greater than John.” And what did the devil’s agent say when, after John’s death, he heard of Jesus? “This,” I tell you, “is John risen from the dead.” What a character! Fancy Jesus being mistaken for anyone! He could have been mistaken only for John. Nobody envies him the well-deserved honor, great though it was, for John was a man–pure granite right through, with not a grain of chocolate in him.

Had John but heard Jesus say, “Ye shall be My witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth,” I very much doubt if Herod’s dungeon, or his soldiers, could have detained him. He surely would have found some means of escape, and run off to preach Christ’s Gospel, if not in the very heart of Africa, then in some more difficult and dangerous place. Yet Christ said, referring to His subsequent gift of the Holy Ghost to every believer, “He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he,” intimating that even greater powers than those of John are at the disposal of every Christian, and that what John was, each one of us can be–good, straight, bold, unconquerable, heroic.

But here are other foot-tracks–outrageous ones: they can belong only to one man–THAT GRANDEST OF CHRISTIAN PARADOXES–THE LITTLE GIANT PAUL–whose head was as big as his body, and his heart greater than both. Once he thought and treated every Christian as a combination of knave and fool. Then he became one himself. He was called “fool” because his acts were so far beyond the dictates of human reason, and “mad” because of his irresponsible fiery zeal for Christ and men. A first-class scholar, but one who knew how to use scholarship properly; for he put it on the shelf, declaring the wisdom of men to be but folly, and determined to know nothing else save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The result–he made the world turn somersault. His life was a perpetual gamble for God. Daily he faced death for Christ. Again and again he stood fearless before crowds thirsting for his blood. He stood before kings and governors and “turned not a hair”. He didn’t so much as flinch before Nero, that vice-president of hell. His sufferings were appalling; read them. He trod in his Master’s footsteps, and so received–God is always just in His favors–the same splendid compliment that Jesus did. “All forsook him.” So there were some Chocolate Christians in those days too. Anyone who forsook Paul must have been made of Chocolate. Doubtless the “CHOCOLATES” excused themselves as they do today. “Who could abide such a fanatical, fiery fool? such an uncompromising character? Nobody could work with him, or he with them!” (What a lie! Jesus did, and they got on well together.) A tactless enthusiast, who considered it his business to tell every man the unvarnished truth regardless of consequences. He won his degree hands down, and without a touch of the spur. A first-class one, too–that of the headman’s axe–next best to that of the cross.

And so the tale goes on. Go where you will through the Scriptures or history, you find that men who really knew God, and didn’t merely say they did, were invariably Paragons of Pluck; Dare-Devil Desperadoes for Jesus; Gamblers for God. “Fools and Madmen,” shout the world and the Chocolates. “Yes, for Christ’s sake,” add the Angels!

Nobly they fought to win the prize,
  Climbing the steep ascents of heaven,
    Thro’ peril, toil, and pain.
  O God, to us let grace be given,
    To follow in their train.

The Chocolate Christians of today can at least boast of having ancient pedigrees. There are CHOCOLATES A LA REUBEN, who have great searchings of heart, and make great resolves of heart too. But somehow they still sit among the sheepfolds, listening to the pipings of their much-loved organs and church choirs. It’s good to have a great heart-searching. It’s better to make a great heart-resolve. But, if instead of obeying, we squat among the sheep, leaving our few hard-pressed brethren to tackle the wolves by themselves, verily we are but Chocolate Christians. You made a great resolve to go to Africa for Christ a year or two ago. Where are you now? In England? Yes! Yes! Lollipop! (Judges 5:16.)

There are CHOCOLATES MEROZ, who earned the curse of the angel of the Lord. War was declared; the battle about to begin; the odds were outrageous, and Meroz remained in England attending conventions until the battle was over, then he went, in comfort and security, as a Cook’s tourist! Doubtless they said, “They couldn’t fight till they had been properly ordained, and, besides, there was so very much to be done in fat, overfed Meroz, and surely to feed a flock of fat sheep in a safe place has always been considered the ideal training of war”; as though the best training for the soldier was to become a nurse-maid!!! (Judges 5:23.)

CHOCOLATES DU BALAAM begin first-class, and earn the name of prophets. Then they develop a squint, melt, and finally run out of the frying-pan into the fire, thus Balaam.

One day he couldn’t get his left eye to look at God. It would look at earth and mammon and that chit of a girl, Miss Popularity. He ought to have done as God told him, and plucked it out. But he said that was too much to ask of any man, and besides he wanted the best of both worlds. He had a hearty desire to die the death of the righteous, but he wasn’t willing to pay the price of a righteous life. He hadn’t the pluck to curse God’s people, so he made plans for others to make them sin. But one day, while his dupes were putting his chestnuts into the fire, they fell in themselves, and Balaam with them (Numbers 22-24).

“I counsel you to buy of me eyesalve, that you may once again have a single eye, and be enabled to see the folly of flirting with the world.”

CHOCOLATE DEMAS, who left old fiery hard-hitting Paul for an easier path. He said he thought Paul should wink at, or slobber over sin, instead of rebuking it. “He was so very fond of the knife, you know; and he never would use sticking-plaster, because he said it never healed the sore but made it burrow underneath and become bigger, worse, and dangerous” (2 Timothy 4:10).

MARK joined the Chocolate Brigade once. He left Paul and Barnabas in the lurch, and went back to Jerusalem for a rest cure–a religious retreat. Thank God he got sick of it ere long, resigned his commission, and re-enlisting in God’s army became a useful soldier (Acts 13:13).

MANY FINE YOUNGSTERS ARE TURNED INTO CHOCOLATES BY OLD PROPHETS. Old prophets who have lost their fire, or fire off words instead of deeds, usually become Great Chocolate Manufacturers. That poor young prophet. He did so well when he obeyed God only, but it was all over with him when he listened to another voice, even though that of an old prophet. Didn’t the old prophet say he was a prophet? and say he’d got the message straight from God? What a damnable lie! The floor of Christendom and elsewhere is littered with wrecks made by old prophets. God won’t stand nonsense from any man. Every man has to choose between Christ and Barabbas, and every Christian between God and some old prophet. Better be a silly donkey in the estimation of an old prophet than listen to his soft talk and flattery, and afterwards become a wreck. “This is My beloved Son, hear HIM.” No! not even Moses, nor Elijah, nor both. “HEAR HIM.” “You have an anointing from God, and you have no need that any man teach you.” You say you believe the Bible! do your deeds give the lie to your words? (1 Kings 13).

THE TEN SPIES WERE CHOCOLATES. They melted and ran over the whole congregation of Israel, turning them into CHOCOLATE CREAMS–”softies”, afraid to face the fire and water before them. God put them all into the saucepan again and boiled them for forty years in the desert, and left them there. He has no use for Chocolates. It’s not small things He despises, but “Chocolates”; for He said, “Your little ones shall inherit the promised land which you have forfeited through listening to men and despising Me” (Numbers 13).

JONAH became a Chocolate Soldier once. Told to go to Africa, he went to Liverpool and took ship for America. Luckily he met a storm and a whale which, after three days’ instruction, taught him how to pray and obey, and set him once again on the right track (Jonah 1).

There’s nothing that shows up CHOCOLATES so much as a bit of a breeze among God’s people. Paul and Barnabas had one once. Judging from experience, I guess there were some Chocolates about then who got into a fog right away! Before that, they had vowed they would go to the heathen; but this breeze between P. and B. put them off. If they hadn’t been MADE OF CHOCOLATE they would have said, “This affair between Paul and Barnabas only makes it more necessary for me to keep close to God, and do what He told me to do more exactly and punctually; so I shall go a bit sooner to Africa–that’s all!”

Difficulties, dangers, disease, death, or divisions don’t deter any but Chocolates from executing God’s Will. When someone says there’s a lion in the way, the real Christian promptly replies, “That’s hardly enough inducement for me; I want a bear or two besides to make it worth my while to go.

CHOCOLATES are very fond of talking loud and long against some whom they call fanatics, as though there were any danger of Christians being fanatics nowadays! Why, fanatics among Christians are as rare as the “dodo”. Now, if they declaimed against “tepidity”, they would talk sense. God’s real people have always been called fanatics. Jesus was called mad; so was Paul; so was Whitfield, Wesley, Moody, Spurgeon. No one has graduated far in God’s School who has not been paid the compliment of being called a fanatic. We Christians of today are indeed a tepid crew. Had we but half the fire and enthusiasm of the Suffragettes in the past, we would have the world evangelized and Christ back among us in no time. Had we the pluck and heroism of the Flyers, or the men who volunteered for the North or South Polar Expeditions, or for the Great War, or for any ordinary dare-devil enterprise, we could have every soul on earth knowing the name and salvation of Jesus Christ in less than ten years.

Alas! What stirs ordinary men’s blood and turns them into heroes, makes most Christians run like a flock of frightened sheep. The Militants daily risked their lives in furtherance of their cause, and subscribed of their means in a way that cried “Shame” on us Christians, who generally brand the braving of risks and fighting against odds as a “tempting of God”.

CHOCOLATE CARAMELS–”stick-jaw”, boys call them–jawing, “I go, sir,” and sticking fast in Christendom. No conquest is made in assured safety, and conquest for Christ certainly cannot so be made.

We Christians too often SUBSTITUTE PRAYER FOR PLAYING THE GAME. Prayer is good: but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is naught but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism. We need as many meetings for action as for prayer–perhaps more. Every orthodox prayer-meeting is opened by God saying to His people, “Go work today; pray that laborers be sent into My vineyard.” It is continued by the Christian’s response, “I go, Lord, wherever You send me, that Your Name may be hallowed everywhere, that Your Kingdom may come speedily, that Your Will may be done on earth as in heaven.”  But if it ends in nobody going anywhere, it had better never have been held at all. Like faith, prayer without works is dead.  That is why many PRAYER-MEETINGS might well be styled “much cry, yet little wool”. Zerubbabel didn’t only hold prayer-meetings; he went and cut down trees, and started to build.  Hence God said, “From this day will I bless you.”

Report says that someone has re-discovered the secret of the old masters. Cannot we Christians re-discover, and put into practice, that of our Great Master and His former pupils, Heroism? He and they saved not themselves; they loved not their lives to the death, and so kept on saving them by losing them for Christ’s sake.

WE ARE FRITTERING AWAY TIME AND MONEY IN A MULTIPLICITY OF CONVENTIONS, conferences, and retreats, when the real need is to go straight and full steam into battle, with the signal for “close action” flying.

The “Vox Humana” plays too important a part in our Christian organs and organizations today. The music, whoever plays, is bound to be thin when the tops of “Instant Obedience” and “Fiery Valor” are missing or unused, and without them to play the “Lost Chord” of Heroism is an impossibility.

“Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it,” said the Blessed Virgin. Do what? Not put treacle and spice into the soft holy vessels inside the house, but pour the Water of Life into those empty stone ones outside. Cana’s marriage feast would have ended in shame had the wine run short. Christ’s marriage feast begins only when the wine is sufficient–a blend from every tongue and kindred and tribe and nation. The supply is assured, as soon as the water is poured out as Christ directed, into “the uttermost parts of the earth”. The mischief today is the reluctance of the servants to do the outside work. They all want to serve indoors, wear smart clothes, listen to the conversation, and make a terrible lot of themselves in the butler’s pantry.

DO LET US MAKE A REAL START NOW–AT ONCE. For years, like Mr. Winkle, we’ve declared we were just about to begin, and then never began at all.

We must divorce Chocolate and Disobedience, and marry Faith and Heroism.

“Who shall begin the battle?” asked the king. “Thou,” replied the prophet, and when the king and the young princes led the way, though the odds against them were terrific, they won with ridiculous ease. So, too, THE APOSTLES LED IN THE WAR OF GOD to the uttermost parts of the earth. Likewise in the Crusades, the kings and princes of State and Church led; then why not today in THE CRUSADE OF CHRIST TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD?

GOD’S SUMMONS TODAY IS TO THE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN OF GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA AND CHRISTENDOM, WHO CALL THEMSELVES BY THE NAME OF CHRIST. “New wine,” said Christ, “must be placed in New bottles.” Those superfluously labeled and patched-up old-fashioned ones are as hopeless as the New Theology. They can’t be moved lest they burst with pride and spill the wine in the wrong place.

Listen: “And it shall be in the last days, I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions (of faith), your old men shall dream dreams (of valorous obedience); yea, and on My bondmen and on my bondmaidens in those days will I pour forth of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy; and I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; and it shall be that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  But how can they call on Him of whom they have not even heard? Must you stay, young man? Can’t you go, young woman, and tell them? Verily we are in the last–the Laodicean stage–that of the Lukewarm Church.

Wilt thou be to Christ the partner of His throne or an emetic (Revelation 3:21); a Militant or a Chocolate Christian? Wilt thou fear or wilt thou fight? Shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here? When He comes, shall He find faith on the earth?

A thousand times you have admitted Christ’s

Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands your life, your soul, your all.

Will you be a miser and withhold what honor demands of you? Will you give like Ananias and Sapphira, who, pretending to give all, gave only part?

Possessing and enjoying the vineyard, will you, like the husbandman, refuse the agreed rent? Will you fear death, or devil, or men?  AND WILL YOU NOT FEAR SHAME?

Some shall rise to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting judgment.

Shall we refuse to emulate the heroes of old, or shall we accomplish the double fulfillment of those glorious words?

All these being men of war came with a perfect heart to make Jesus King over all the world. They were all mighty men of valor for the war! He that was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand! They were not of double heart! Their faces were like the faces of lions! They were as swift as the roes upon the mountains (to do their Lord’s commands)! Ye sought in time past, for Jesus to be King over you. NOW, THEN, DO IT. (Compare 1 Chron. 12:8, 33 and 38, and 2 Samuel 3:17 and 18.)

Shall we not reply: We are Yours, Jesus, and on Your side.  God do so to me, and more also, if as God has sworn unto Him, I do not even so to Jesus–to translate the kingdom from the house of Satan, and set up the throne of Jesus Christ over all the world. (Compare 1 Chron. 12:18 and 2 Sam. 3:10.)

Come, then, let us restore the “Lost Chord” of Christianity–HEROISM–to the world, and the crown of the world to Christ. Christ Himself asks thee, “Wilt thou be a Malingerer or a Militant?”

To your knees, man! and to your Bible! Decide at once! Don’t hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly excuses.

Enlist! Here are your papers and oath of allegiance. Scratch out one side and sign the other in the presence of God and the recording angel. Mark God’s endorsements underneath:

HENCEFORTH:

 God’s promises are sure in either case:

“Lo, I am with you always.”   OR  “I will spew thee out of My mouth.”

Good Lord!

Baptize us with the Holy Ghost, and with fire;

Cure us of all this dread plague of Sleeping Sickness, this crazy talking in our sleep, that even as we unceasingly pray, Thy Name may be hallowed everywhere; Thy Kingdom come speedily; Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen and Amen!

Are we not stinking sponges? Absorbing and sponging in everything spiritual while giving very little back to the people around us.  It seems to me that we are guilty of perfecting our systematic theology while our neighbors are dying in their sin.  I know a man whose wife has just been released from the hospital after an attempted suicide.  For the past year, as she has sunk deeper and deeper into depression, he has been taking theology classes online.

Recently a friend of mine committed suicide.  I had a sobering experience speaking with his mother who said to me: “He didn’t think that he had one true friend that really loved him.”  I had spent time with him and knew for over a year that he was manically depressed and contemplating suicide.  Yet as I survey the past year, shamefully I realize that I spent very little time truly trying to reach out to him.  Now it is too late.

I’m not opposed to theology classes, and we obviously should study to show ourselves approved (2 Tim 2:15), but as often as God tells us to study Him and delight in His law, He commands us to go, tell, preach, snatch the lost from the fire, and make disciples.

Our excuses are as equally deceptive as they are pervasive.  Perhaps we can examine some here and see what God has to say about them:

“Evangelism just isn’t my gift”

And He [Jesus] said to them [His disciples], “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. — Mark 16:15

“I’m too busy, I just don’t have time right now”

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [physical provisions] will be added to you. — Matthew 6:33

“I’ll just live my Christian life in front of them and they will see…”

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. — 2 Tim 4:2

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations… — Luke 24:46-47

“I am a genuinely shy person so…”

If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me — Mark 8:34

“I’m afraid to witness…”

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it — Luke 17:33

God has called us to action. He has not called us to be spiritually fat and lazy stinking sponges.  Who are you discipling?  Who are you actively and verbally witnessing to about their need for Jesus Christ?  Are you benefiting the Kingdom of God or are you simply taking up space?  CH Spurgeon once said: “Every Christians is either a missionary or an imposter.”  Which are you?

“Not called!’ did you say? ‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face – whose mercy you have professed to obey – and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”

— William Booth, Founder of The Salvation Army (1829-1912)

Are you a stinking sponge? Our neighbors are dead in sin and self destructing “beneath God’s righteous frown.”  He has commissioned us as His ambassadors.  He commands us to go, preach, and make disciples of the nations.

Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down,
Don’t you care, don’t you care, are you gonna let them drown,
How can you be so numb, not to care if they come,
You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done.

Oh Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, you know it’s all I ever hear,
No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear,
But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds, and He cares for your needs,
And you just lay back and keep soaking it in, oh, can’t you see it’s such sin?

— Keith Green: “Asleep in the Light”

Go.

We should not confuse His delay with lack of concern or, a “no.”

The salvation of a friend is the best personal example that I have for this.  More than I have ever prayed for anyone, I prayed for his salvation.  I prayed and pleaded with God to save him… to give sight to his blinded eyes… to give freedom to his sin dominated and hell bound heart… to grant that he could become a worshiper of the Lamb of God.  Yet day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year… nothing happened.

I did not understand.  The Lord put this friend in my life.  I had prayed for him.  Many others were praying consistently for him.  Yet nothing.  God would tell me “not to grow weary in doing good…”  Yet I was growing weary.  More than one time during these years I would lift my agonized heart to God and declare my friend reprobate… utterly hopeless.  The Lord would never agree with me… He said again: “do not grow weary in doing good for in due season you will reap, if you do not faint.”  Again, repentant, I would pray and remind the Lord that His blood could make my friend new, but even if He chose not to, I would continue to worship Him.

Nearly 7 years after the first prayer, God moved.  Long story short… our friend was born again.  Wow, I had not offered any different prayers.  I had not changed my petition.  Others had continued to pray just as they had begun 7 years prior… and finally, the Lord shows up.

Time is the measure of change.  God does not change.  The Lord is not bound by time.  What is 7 years compared with eternity?  Nothing.  One of the fruits of God’s Spirit is patience.  I am so unlike Him in this regard.  I am thankful that He is patiently at work in me, making me more like Himself.

Are you praying about something or someone specific?

Don’t be discouraged by His delay.  He is not subject to time and He does not operate on your schedule.  He has commanded us to pray and instructed us to be patient.  He knew Lazarus was going to die, yet He delayed his coming for purposes that are beyond us.

The Lord always has purpose in His delays.  He seldom works on our schedule, and if He does, it’s only because our schedule happend to be in sync with His schedule.

When He finally and suddenly shows up though, hold on.  He is glorious and He does exceedingly above all that we ask or think!!  I’m reminded of a song…

The King of Glory Standeth by Charitie Bancroft

The King of Glory standeth beside the heart of sin;
His mighty voice commandeth the raging waves within;
The floods of deepest anguish roll backward at His will,
As o’er the storm ariseth His mandate, “Peace, be still.”

At times, with sudden glory, He speaks, and all is done;
Without one stroke of battle the victory is won,
While we, with joy beholding, can scarce believe it true
That e’en our kingly Jesus can form such hearts anew.

O Christ, Thy love is mighty; long suffering is Thy grace;
And glorious is the splendor that beameth from Thy face.
Our hearts upleap in gladness when we behold that love,
As we go singing onward, to dwell with Thee above.

One thing is for sure… “as for God, His way is perfect.”  He is never late.

He died.  The Father gave His Son.  When you say things like, Jesus died.  Shouldn’t you stop for a moment, or something.  I mean, He died.  He really died.  And it was His blood shed on that tree that’s the only reason the black filth of your sin can be washed away.

That blood on that tree… the slaughter of the Son of God.  And that man, that God, that man Christ Jesus rose again from the dead.  And on the 40th day He ascended up to the right hand of His father and for the first time in all the history of history a man walked up to the doors of heaven and cried out what we find here in verse 7: "Lift up your heads O gates and be lifted up O ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in.  And all of heaven behind those doors are in utter shock in silence and wonder.

Finally a brave one lifts his head and begins to speak: "Who is this King of Gory?  Who dares speak to these doors.  No man has ever dared come this far or lay his hand to the latch of this wall.  Who is this King of Glory?  And then all of a sudden the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, the Man for us cries out: "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.  Lift up your heads O gates, lift up your heads, lift them up O ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in."  And in the first time of all time, those doors opened for a man, and He walked through those doors and everything that has ever been made fell on its face.  "All hail the power of Jesus name let angels prostrate fall.  Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all.  Crown Him with many crowns, this Lamb upon the throne."  And I can just see Him now, walking up to His Father… bold, it was His right.  Climbing the steps of this throne that would make Solomon’s throne look like paper machet… and sits down without even asking permission.  And looks at His Father, not as a question, but as an affirmation, and says: "Father, it is finished."  And the Father says: "Son, it is finished indeed."  This Jesus Whom you crucified, God has made Him both Lord and Christ of all.

Don’t think I will even ask you to make Jesus Lord of your life, that’s the most preposterous thing I could ever tell you to do.  Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. Whether your serve Him or not, whether you bless Him, curse Him, hate Him or love Him… He is the Lord of your life because God has given Him a name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow and tongue shall confess that He is Lord.

Some of you will bow out of the grace that has been given to you and others will bow because your knee caps will be broken by the One who rules the nations with a rod of iron.