Let's turn to 2 Timothy, and as you're turning just a couple of quick updates. Things are going very well in Africa as the preparation for the missions team, there's a lot of excitement. They're praying for you as you're praying for them, and we just encourage you to continue to prepare diligently. Those of you who are doing the vital job of intercession, we're believing for some great things. The last time we went over there we left churches where there were none. Praise God! Amen? Who knows what's going to happen this time? We're looking forward to personally visiting all of the churches. We'll be with all of the churches and meet with all of the congregations, so pray for us that we'll be able to bring the direction needed as we meet with all of the pastors. A lot of exciting things! We're continually getting reports of growth, numerically and in maturation; a lot of good things that are going on. Warfare, of course, taking place just like it is in every one of our lives, so hold each one of these overseers up and lift their hands up in this hour.
It's an interesting hour. We're going to talk about that a little bit tonight, this hour that we're living in. The warfare; it's surely not subtle anymore. The hour that we're living in is very plain, and yet at the same time, we've talked in the past, the vexation that comes upon every one of us. Every time we go out into the world we're being polluted. You can't step outside your prayer closet and not get polluted. We need to realize that, and we need to continually be washing ourselves with the water of God's Word and preparing ourselves for the hour that we're in. So, don't let this day overtake you. Don't be unaware of the time that we're in. We're going to talk about that a little bit: The need for watchfulness and not to be lulled to sleep in this generation...
Watch, Part 2
May 2, 2004 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Hallelujah, amen! Let's turn to the epistle of Timothy where we were Wednesday night. We're talking about the day we're living in, the need to be sober, to be on guard that the day doesn't come upon us unawares. "In the last days iniquity is going to abound; the love of many ['Not me, Lord'] shall wax cold" (1 Timothy 3:1). "The love of many ['It will never happen to me, Lord'] shall wax cold." "Though all forsake You, Lord, you can count on Peter." "Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice" (Matthew 26:34). In the garden Jesus went to the disciples and He said, "Watch and pray, there's an hour coming that you're not prepared for." I believe that the Spirit of God is speaking to us today and saying, "Watch and pray, there's an hour coming. You think you're ready for it but you're not, really. It's going to go beyond anything you can imagine." The powers of the spirit of antichrist, as the utterance said, cannot be resisted in the flesh. It's not going to be resisted by resolve. You're not going to be able to say, "I've made a decision and I'm just going to stand upon my declaration, my purpose." If you're not living in the spirit, you will fulfill the lust of the flesh. What are you trusting in this morning, your past successes? "...Sufficient to the day," the Scripture says, "is the evil thereof." "Take no thought..." (Matthew 6:34). "...[today] is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). Where are you in your walk today in the spirit? You can't trust in your past accomplishments; that doesn't affect you today. Do you have sufficient? Is the oil in your lamp sufficient? You see, the five foolish had oil at one time, they just didn't have it when they needed it. Do you have sufficient in your lamp today?
"I cast out devils in Your name. I went out and preached the gospel in Africa." What are you doing today? Because if we think we can trust in anything but the momentary presence of God, the momentary faith of relying and trusting in His ability in us right now, then we're candidates for this failure. Watch! There's a spirit of seduction going on around us; false prophets arising, as we saw in Timothy, and what they're teaching is that this narrow, strict standard of the Word of God isn't all there is to Christianity; but there's now a new "Christian consensus" of what is acceptable and what's not. So many people are going around saying, "We're Christians; we believe in Jesus." Where's the fruit; where is the evidence?...
Watch, Part 3
May 2, 2004 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Let's turn to Thessalonians. We'll pick up where we left off this morning, as we were talking about that need to be watchful, sober, because of the hour that we're living in. The watchfulness is, we saw, a multifaceted watchfulness. We're watching for the coming of the Lord (we're watching the signs of the times that we're living in, the circumstances that are around us), and then we're being very watchful of our own hearts (the fruit in our lives, a watchfulness of our attitude, our awareness of our own personal state). Paul spoke in Thessalonians, as we were looking [at those passages] this morning, and he said the thing we need to realize is that we're a people that have been called into the light, where it's easy to watch, it's easy to determine what's going on. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 4, "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."
Now, the whole purpose of this teaching, beloved, is to be ready when the trumpet sounds. Jesus is coming back, and some day very soon that trumpet is going to sound. Can you imagine? I mean, we've talked about it for years. We've tried to imagine what it could be like, but eye has not seen and ear has not heard, it hasn't entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those that love Him. Amen? "I've gone to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I shall doubtless come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). Praise God! Think about it. He's coming back! And He's coming back, the Scripture says, for a bride--not a floozy, but a bride without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. He's coming back for a chaste virgin, one that's not polluted with the cares of this world, one that has no association whatsoever with the world's system, but a pure virgin separated only unto Him for His glory, who lives to honor Him. And as His bride, there's a preparation that's taking place right now, as we're waiting, as by faith and expectation we're hastening the Lord's return. The bride is making herself ready, the Scripture says. So you need some light to do that...
Watch, Part 4
May 9, 2004 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Let's turn to 2 Timothy, Chapter 3. "This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God" (verses 1-4). [Now, that's a pretty ugly sounding environment, isn't it? But look at the next phrase] "having a form of godliness." These are the religious people. These are the professed Christians, and this is what's inside of them. This is who they are, but they're trying to portray godliness. It's a spirit of hypocrisy. It's a spirit of the age that we're in today of feigned Christianity without true lordship, without the headship of Jesus directing His church. Every man doing what's right in his own eyes establishing again a subjective truth instead of the absolute infallible truth of God's Word dictating every area of our lives, to where we're willing to walk in that revealed truth and not concern ourselves with the natural consequences. A life that can cast the care over upon the Lord knowing that He cares for us, lives that truly believe that the steps of the good man are ordered by God. Yet, we're living in an environment today where every man has to be vying for position and possession and everything else to fulfill the lust of hedonism in our generation, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Not just pleasurable activities but the pleasure of ease and comfort. We just don't want anything to be hard today. "That's hard; that's work; that's effort." We're continually being inundated by that mentality, and we need to come to grips with this, beloved: being a Christian is hard. Amen?
You see, he goes into the rest of this chapter, and he says, verse 10, "But thou hast have fully known my doctrine, [my] manner of life, [my] purpose, [my] faith, [my] longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions . . . [you understand] what persecutions I endured: but out them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus [say it with me] shall suffer persecution." We don't like that message, do we?...
Watch, Part 5
May 9, 2004 • Pastor Star R. Scott
Let's turn to Peter's epistle. We want to see if we can wind up this portion of study that we've been dealing with on "watchfulness." We're watching for the coming of the Lord; as we look up, our redemption is drawing near. We're watching because He is going to appear to those that are looking for Him. Are you looking, are you watching? Is the confusion and the seduction of this hour affecting you or are you able to spend that time musing, as we were talking about, instead of amusing, and get quiet, and look for, and hasten the coming of the Lord Jesus? This world isn't our home; we're just pilgrims; we're just sojourning. Are you spending time looking into the heavenlies, where our treasures have been laid up? Because where your treasure is that's where your heart is. We're watching, and looking for the Lord's coming. The Scripture says that if we have that hope, we will continue to purify ourselves, even as He is pure, the first epistle of John says. Every man that has that hope in him will purify himself, even as He is pure. Even as He is pure. What standard? How much is good enough? "Ah, that's good enough." We're not working for the government; we're working for the kingdom. We realize, then, that perfection is the only standard. Are you watching your work? We're living in a world now where quality control is almost a thing of the past. The pride of workmanship, doing a job right, is something that is foreign to many people. We, as believers, can't settle for anything less than the standard of perfection. What we do, we're doing as unto the Lord. Whatever you do, you're doing it for Jesus. See whatever it is that you're doing on a daily basis as something you're going to put in the hands of Jesus...
