Know Him, And Do Exploits

Daniel 11:30-32

“30 For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

I am pretty sure that most of you who read my blog entries how come to understand that if you are looking for someone to tickle your ears or pet your flesh and make excuses for living a life that is contrary to God’s Word, my blog is not the place and I am not that person. God did not rescue me from sin and disgrace and fill me with his Holy Ghost so that I could pat people on the back and wave at them on their way to hell. The truth I try to proclaim made be a medicine that’s hard to swallow at times, but if you take it in and digest it, if you can keep it down, then I believe it may just deliver you from the destruction.

My spirit is stirred within me tonight, agitated even, by all the non-sense I see being passed off as the “gospel.” It is becoming increasingly popular to be like the world when God has called us out from among the world and commanded us to be separate. Dress any way you want, watch anything you want, play any video game you want, gamble all night Saturday then drag in on Sunday morning and wonder why the service is dry, why they don't experience the presence of God!

Some are going to come to me and ask, “Why are you saying these things? This is a matter between individuals and God, and it's none of your business.”

But the Word says it's the responsibility of the preachers, the prophets, to put a difference between the clean and unclean, the holy and the profane. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I have studied the young people in my church closely as they worship God, and I can tell you: there is an entire generation whose hearts are crying out for someone to draw a line, to establish the boundaries of truth, and not move them back and forth to accommodate the social climate.

In a lot of so called “Christian” denominations today, it’s like grace gone wild. Grace was never meant to destroy the requirements of the law for living holy and separate from the world. Grace came to deliver us from the consequences of sin and to empower us to conquer sin and live holy by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Many preachers today want you to believe that Grace and the law war against each other. It's almost as though they put Moses and Jesus in the ring and say now may the best man win. The Bible says: the law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Why is it that there is such a war against the law in the church today? I'll tell you why: Because the law deals with absolutes and the law defines right and wrong. Romans 3:20 says that by the law came the knowledge of sin. The law establishes boundaries.

The condition of our country today: the riots, the lawlessness, the violence, the rebellion, and the contempt that many have toward the law today is just a direct reflection of a lukewarm, self-ruled, self- centered “Laodicean” church that says: we don’t need any laws, we don't have any restrictions, there are no absolutes - it's all about Grace and we do what we want to do.

There are no absolutes therefore there are no consequences for wrong actions because grace has destroyed the law so there is nothing to tell us what is wrong or hold us accountable.

In Daniel 11:30-32 the prophet is talking about an adversary not only to the children of God, but also to God himself. This adversary hates the people of God and hates God's sanctuary. The enemy is set to defile the sanctuary of God. To bring in the abominable: The Bible even calls it “The Abomination of desolation.” Daniel prophesied that they will bring in sin and set it up in the place where God is supposed to be honored and truth is supposed to flow.

This adversary, this demonic spirit, will carry away many weak, carnal, fleshly, and material minded Christians. This Spirit will capture them not with great overwhelming irresistible strength and power but with flattery. Satan will appeal to their flesh and their fleshly appetites and desires.

And those who at one time were lovers of truth and strong preachers of holiness, and sanctification, and separation from sin, are going to do wickedly against the very law, the very truth, and the covenant that they once defended. And they shall join forces to pollute and defile and profane the house of God. Bringing all kinds of wickedness and uncleanness and perversion into the sanctuary. And they shall take away the daily sacrifice. In other words, they shall despise the crucified life, the very life that Jesus lived and commands His disciples to live.

Some may say that I am painting a pretty bleak picture, let me tell you something: the picture is bleak, these are dark times and it's going to get worse before it’s over. John 9:4 Jesus said: “work while it is day because the night cometh when no man can work.”

Isaiah 60:2 – “For behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people.”

That's happening right now, the Bible tells it full strength, it will be dark, and gross darkness will come upon the people. Everyone is looking for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, but what if the temple that the beast invades and the throne that he sits upon is the very heart of people who once called themselves Christians.  Paul says, “know ye no that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit?”

And what if the daily sacrifice is that ceases isn’t that of bulls and goats, but the sacrificing of our flesh daily to follow him. What if the things being allowed in the church today, homosexual preachers, half-naked men and women, and many more violations of God’s holiness, are the abomination of desolation?

But I love the word of God. Our God is awesome! After all the evil that is proclaimed, it’s like God stands to the side and says, “Take your best-shot devil, but the last shot’s mine.”

The announcer gives you blow-by-blow coverage of all the damage that the devil does, then Jesus leans back and with one-shot and knocks the devil out cold and shows you that he is still the champ!

Now if the Holy Ghost will help me, I want to bring you to the heart of this message. This is really what the Holy Spirit burned in my heart, everything else was just to bring us to this point. “But!” That one little word changes the whole picture. Now that you've heard everything else, understand that what is coming next will eclipse the rest. It is a word that tells me, what is coming next is greater, more powerful, and more significant than everything that preceded it. So here after all the bad report is that one little game changer, the word “but.”

Regardless of the darkness, regardless of the evil the wickedness, the violence, the lawlessness, the corruption. God still has a people! The devil is trying to manipulate us and intimidate and back the Church into a comer. He's trying to emasculate the church and strip us of our spiritual power, to make spiritual wimps, and make us spiritually impotent and powerless.”

“But!”

But there is a people! There is a people who do know their God! There is a people that aren't selling out! There is a people who aren’t compromising and snuggling up to the spirit of worldliness, who are not sleeping with this harlot spirit, and they are not laying their head in the lap of Delilah! There is a people that do know their God and the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits!

I Believe I'm writing to some of those people right now, I believe I’m talking to some people who know God. We know how to get a hold of God. We have a relationship with him He knows our voice and we know His.

This world is a dark place and getting worse all the time: The only safe place there is, is in Jesus! He is our deliverer, and He is our captain.

Do you know him? I mean know him, do you walk together, talk together, fellowship, commune with each other. My advice to you today is: Get to know Him, because if you know him, you won't be deceived, if you know him you won't get carried away with flatteries, and fleshly desires.

And if you know him: instead of backing up, hiding out, and quieting down you'll be standing up and shouting out, and you'll be walking in the power and the anointing of the Holy Ghost and you will be strong and do exploits.