|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

Matthew 24:42-44 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. It is my experience that the nature of the warnings Jesus gave are usually glossed over as I read them. Sometimes, it seems as though the parables Jesus used were just a little abstract...Here, he is talking about returning, and all of the sudden He is using the example of a robber breaking into a house...and something about not allowing the house to be broken into...and then He says "be ready"...i have wondered more than once "why did you pick THAT analogy, Jesus!!??" It wasn't until I learned the specific details of Jesus' plan to return that this analogy actually became plain and simple. Jesus was privately warning His disciples ho...

Religion always attempts to replace relationship. Religion is worthless for the heart action Jesus wants to allow into our lives in order to make us new. Jesus wants obedience, not because He is looking for a bunch of workers, but because He wants to prepare our hearts for a life of glory in His presence forever. The Pharisees claimed to know God, but they refused to lead the people into greatness, instead, lacking a vision of something greater than they already had, they focused on the rules themselves rather than the "why" behind the "what." Matthew 23:23-24 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Focusing on the what without insight into the "why" never produces the desired result, just like trying...

I am fascinated with Leviticus 26. Leviticus 26 is the "why" behind the events described in the Book of Revelation. Many have the mistaken impression that the Book of Revelation is scary...like God is a sloppy painter, and when He pours out His wrath it will spill out everywhere. God is not sloppy...about anything. The Bible is full of account after account of his patience, His mercy, His quick forgiveness...His very kind memory (David, Lot, Abram....I could go on and on). Every time God has judged a geographic location, there is an account of Him choosing who gets touched by the judgment, and who doesn't. This is not a coincidence. Noah builds an ark, Lot gets removed before Sodom is lit up, Egypt is beat down by the plagues while those living within Egypt, in Goshen, are made wealthy...every time judgment has been dealt in the Bible, people living in agreement with God have been present and preserved. God never changes: James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift ...

There is a veil between the supernatural spiritual realm and the physical realm. When God made Adam there was no veil. God made mankind to live face to face with God in bodies that would never die, on a perfect supernatural earth, living in the bright bright glory of God, the Three in One. God gave Adam and Eve, and all who would come froThere is a veil between the supernatural spiritual realm and the physical realm. When God made Adam there was no veil. God made mankind to live face to face with God in bodies that would never die, on a perfect supernatural earth, living in the bright bright glory of God, the Three in One. God gave Adam and Eve, and all who would come from them, dominion...governmental responsibility...over the earth, and free will to partner with their creator in forever expanding and developing His perfect garden. Free will is necessary for love, but it is risky. Adam and Eve exercised free will to rebel against God at the enticement of satan, who said "there is...

So, I imagined "what if someone asked me about the "MUCH to do" thing, and I made a quick list of how I would answer...if you had no idea by what I meant about "MUCH to do," here it is. Not an exhaustive list, but what I could scratch out in a few minutes. Plenty to get started on for me. I am convicted to contend for a new reach: 1. Build a 24/7 House of Prayer – This IS Jesus primary end time plan for local geographic areas to come together in one accord tear their hearts in repentance, and see the land blessed and protected, the Spirit poured out on all flesh, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord being saved. (Joel 2, Amos 9, Leviticus 26, Acts 2, Revelation 6 and 7). Places that build night and day worship will be lands of Goshen..where the end-time judgments will not touch and the enemy armies will not prevail… in the judgment coming to every nation of the earth. 2. Contend earnestly to live the Sermon on the Mount. a. Contend for holiness – reco...

This is an end-time passage: Isaiah 54:16-17 “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord , And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord . Believers often quote this passage to each other in times of trouble, "no weapon formed against you will prosper." Forgetting that in the very same passage God takes credit for the spoiler as well as the victor! Many people find great comfort in the words, and many more find great increases of faith come through a trial and seeing the truth of these words up close and personal. When you learn the lesson of these words the hard way, you rarely forget them. These words will find their fullest expression in the years leading up to the time the Lord returns. God ...

The rapture is one of the most clear doctrines in the Bible. You won't see the word "rapture" in the Bible, but the event itself is clearly defined and explained. The timing of it is actually crystal clear. This is one of the most widely debated topics in Jesus' Body, and as the world heats up, the discussion will become more intense, but the truth is you can know with clarity when it will occur if you dig into the word. God does not want anyone confused about it. In fact, he gave us a precise number of days to count down to it! God is very much interested in you knowing EXACTLY when the rapture will happen. This will sustain His Bride through an intense season. God has limited the number of days of intensity and told us how many there will be until He takes catches His family up. The intense time has been "set." God will not allow it to go on one day longer than has been determined: Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not ...

Could you give all of your money away today, if you had to? I mean ALL of it: empty your checking account, savings, 401k, pension, the college fund you Have been saving for the kids...everything you have come to rely on, over time, to trust in...could you give it away...could you just walk away from it? This is the question every believer will have to face. I believe soon...years not decades. This is one of the first of many HARD choices believers will have to make going into the time that Jesus will return in: Revelation 13:16-17 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast, or the number of his name. This is the primary plan of the antichrist...the man with the plan to remake the world more equitably...to force people to fall in line. He believes God's word, people's hearts are with their treasure, and he will...

Could you give all of your money away today, if you had to? I mean ALL of it: empty your checking account, savings, 401k, pension, the college fund you Have been saving for the kids...everything you have come to rely on, over time, to trust in...could you give it away...could you just walk away from it? This is the question every believer will have to face. I believe soon...years not decades. This is one of the first of many HARD choices believers will have to make going into the time that Jesus will return in: Revelation 13:16-17 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast, or the number of his name. This is the primary plan of the antichrist...the man with the plan to remake the world more equitably...to force people to fall in line. He believes God's word, people's hearts are with their treasure, and he will...

The seven churches in the Book of Revelation reveal the state of Jesus' body going into the real and true events described in the Book of Revelation. This is Jesus' fiance. She is not the pure and spotless Bride yet. No! She's a bit messy. The churches that "look" weak...they are currently in poverty, small, and under tribulation...are in agreement with Jesus (Smyrna and Philadelphia), but the ones that "look" like they have it together, the ones with earthly reputation of being anointed and successful, and powerful...they are barely in the kingdom...for REAL!, one is about to be spit out of Jesus' mouth, another is about to have their lampstand removed, to one He promises to come and fight them (this is a fight you don't want to have!), one is about to be thrown on a sickbed (he's not talking about catching a cold...he is talking about disease and pestilence touching a body of believers), and one will have no idea he is coming and miss the w...