World War II remains the most devastating and costly conflict in human history. Including the war in China there were as many as one hundred million people who died in it. The physical damage is far beyond our ability to calculate. It was motivated by the some of the cruelest evil to ever manifest itself in mankind. Even so, as both the Lord Jesus and Paul explained, the things that will come upon the world at the end will be like birth pangs when a woman in labor. It is the nature of birth pangs or “contractions” to become both stronger and more frequent the closer to birth.

Our text for this week is Ephesians 5:4:

Presidents from both parties, congressmen, government workers, and the media seem oblivious to the fact that small business is the economic engine of America and where true prosperity and economic growth is in the world. In Marc Nuttle’s remarkable book, Moment of Truth, he writes about one of the most important insights possibly ever stated by a leader of China.

As covered in a previous bulletin, there is a different mandate given to the government than to the church.

          The Apostle Paul warned that many would be deceived in the last days because they would only want to have their ears tickled, meaning they could not endure hearing anything difficult or challenging. If you make it through the next few weeks with the Word for the Week, we will know you are not in that category because we are addressing the most difficult issues about discipleship first, such as the Lord’s statement in Luke 14:33:       

     The ministry of a pastor is only mentioned one time in the New Testament—in Ephesians 4:11 where it is listed with the other equipping ministries given to the church. There is no definition or description given to this ministry in the New Testament, yet this one ministry has virtually dominated church leadership since the third century. True New Covenant ministry is a team ministry as we see in this verse, and we need to receive all of the ministries to be a fully equipped church.

     As we continue the theme of why we must have our own personal relationship with the Lord and not just follow others, we see an exhortation for this in The Song of Solomon. This Book was especially written for those whose life’s pursuit is to become the bride that our King so deserves. A key verse that all of these must learn is 1:7:

      We have been discussing Christian maturity in relation to the prophetic—especially how it can impact the way we interpret impressions. On the impression level of prophetic revelation, the immature can be prone to mix in their own feelings, even when they are temporary such as caffeine withdrawal, prejudices for good or bad, and opinions.

        The Book of Revelation was the history of the church and the world through the church age, written in advance. We can now understand it with greater clarity as we stand at the end looking back on what transpired. We see what opened “the gates of hell” into the church, and we now see what will close them. We can see how what was prophesied happened as well as what must yet be fulfilled.