Stirred And Shaken
Stirred And Shaken
1) I preached in Matamata on Sunday, March 14. In the morning meeting my concluding text (which I preached with considerable vigour) was Hebrews 12.26-27, "And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. And this expression, Yet once more, denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain."
I note with interest that according to GeoNet two earthquakes shook Matamata on Sunday, March 14...the first was at 3.28 am (2.2 on richter) and was within 5 ks of the town and 5 ks deep. The second hit at 6.45 pm (2.5 on richter) and was again within 5 ks of the town and 5 ks deep. I have always understood the number five to represent grace in the Bible.
I hear all over New Zealand at the moment a fascination with finding out when the next Move will begin. If I was a local church leader I would not be overly concerned with that date right now. It's already been set and will come not a day too soon nor too late. The great question for today is will our foundations be strong enough to carry what God sends? Hence the great shaking many are experiencing is His grace. The greater the shaking the stronger the foundations. The stronger the foundations the greater the work God will set upon them.
2) Early on Saturday, March 20 I dreamt as follows:
I was at a local beach looking out to sea...to my right in the water was a large pool of mud and blood...directly in front of me was another large pool of mud and blood...then to my left I saw two little fair-haired boys luring a large dolphin-like fish towards the shore and the shallow water...as I went down to speak to them I was aware of an "older brother" who was very intimidating standing on the land...nevertheless I spoke kindly to the children and told them not to lead the fish like that because it needed to swim away and out into the deep water.
When I woke up I was agitated and immediately went to prayer.
The mud and the blood is what really happens when large fish are stranded...the water is muddied and life is lost.
At all costs it's time for the Church (a "fish" was a very early symbol of Christianity) to stop paddling around in the warm, shallows of life being fun and games (Matthew 11.16-17, "This generation...like children!) It's time to "put out into the deep water AND LET DOWN YOUR NETS FOR A CATCH" (Luke 5.4)
If we as a Church and a Nation continue to allow ourselves to be lured by the world and the devil into the shallow waters of preoccupation with ourselves and our church and our rights and our ministries and our blessings etc etc then we will suffer shipwreck in regard to our faith (1 Timothy 1.19)...we must pray and swim and paddle with all our might away from the foreshore and get out into the mighty oceans of the immense presence and power of Almighty God.
3) Having read this you might say, "Old Pete's sounding a bit raw and rough around the edges today!"...and you'd be dead right...and that would be because early this morning I was hurled about by the following dream.-
I was walking through Howick strongly aware that we were counting down to THE END...I could feel the overpowering rumble of God's Glory and wrath approaching just beneath the horizon...as I walked the streets determined to get on with God's Will, I saw houses around me just suddenly explode into tremendous gusts of smoke and flame and realised that whole families were so overwhelmed by what was coming upon them that they'd decided to shut themselves away and burn their homes down over their own heads.
"And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the Throne and from the wrath off the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?" (Revelation 6.15-17)
