This past Sunday I had the privilege of meeting with a group of women who have been gathering together on Sunday afternoons to talk about the Bible, Prophecy and The End Times. To me this was a scene straight out of the Book of Acts and a foreshadowing of what church is reemerging as. One of the co-leaders of the group is an accomplished business woman who has a heart for Israel and is in the unique position to meet and speak with influential leaders in the medical field. She has found a way to weave the Bible into marketplace discussions and is having an impact. The group that gathered represented all highly educated and accomplished women who have a deep desire to know more about the Word and are all avid followers of multiple prophecy teachers. I was asked to spend 2 hours sharing with them and I came away more inspired than anyone in attendance. There, seated before me, were hungry Gentile women who wanted to know more. More about what Jesus and Paul had to say. More about what God had to say. More about connecting the dots of scripture with what is happening around the country and around the world.
What moved me the most was the depth of the questions related to Revelation and how to make sense from a biblical worldview why the election turned out the way it did. In sharing about my views of the connections to Ezekiel 38 that I had posted on Facebook they clearly connected with the imagery and took comfort that there was at least one if not more biblical connections to important events.
In many of our discussions on “Revealing the Truth” we have talked with Dr. Michael Lake, Pastor Carl Gallups, Derek Gilbert, Dr. David Chadwick, and other biblical and end times prophecy experts about what the church will look like after the pandemic. This gathering answered that question for me. This was 2 hours of church in the mid-post pandemic world. There was no music, there was a time of prayer, but the bulk of the time was spent discussing 7 keys areas of emphasis as it related to what Jesus and Paul had to say about the times we are living in. One was quoted as saying, “although I hope in the rapture, I am prepared to take a bullet for my faith if that time comes.”
This is the balanced view we all must take as we navigate each day. It is true that these are the most prophetic times since the days of Messiah, but the work of the cross can only be finished when we have shared the gospel and not allow ourselves to be sidetracked from the great commission. These empowered women took the information that was shared and continued to dialogue via text messages to each other through that day and the next and the next. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, He replied quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5, but the full thought he was presenting was the rest of the verses through verse 7. He began with verse 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And the Hebrew mind completed the thought by continuing to recount as I do when I hear the passage, 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
This is exactly what this group of 20+ women are doing. They are talking about the Lord and through these discussions they are reaching out to their other friends who are in their other circles of influence and sharing with them planting seeds all along the way. I came away with a renewed sense of hope for the Body of Messiah that there are pockets of these types of gatherings breaking out all over the country unbridled by church politics and doctrine and studying the bible together, iron sharpening iron. They are taking the message of Hope to their families and friends and embracing the challenges of the day with a renewed sense of faith in the promises of God.
The more they bond themselves one to another and to the study of the Word they are fulfilling their calling as Ministers of Reconciliation and Ambassadors of God as Paul describes all Believers in 2 Corinthians 5:17-6:10 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 6 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
Rather than watch the news and social media with all the negativity and falling into the trap of distraction these women are mounting up for the battle that is to come. Their zeal provoked me to jealousy and gave me a glimpse of what I hope is the incubator of the great awakening that we are hoping for.
My hope and prayer for this season is that we heed the Hebrew words Chazak, Chazak vnit Chazek. Be strong, Be strong, Be Strengthened. The battle is coming to our front doors and these women are spiritually preparing for any eventuality.
Let this be an example to us all to not forsake the assembly of the brethren, but create our own assemblies and gather together as in the Upper Room and pray for the same outcome. That as they prayed together, broke bread together, shared with one another, so that none were lacking, that God would add to their numbers daily those being saved.
This was a Red Bull jolt of encouragement for me and I pray that you too will find encouragement to step out and gather together in this same fashion so that you are prepared as they are for anything that comes your way.
Shalom,
Rabbi Eric