THIS is a story about a journey on which we are all a part.
We may have different starting points, but our ultimate destination is the same. Some of us have been on the journey for a longer time than others, but we shall all arrive together.
 

Just before dawn one day, the Lord started speaking to me at precisely the same time I began asking Him some questions about where we stand personally. I shall touch on that later.
It took me a little by surprise, but it should not, as I know He is like that, relating to scriptures like Isaiah 42:8-9 that states:

I am יהוה, that is My Name, and My esteem I do not give to another, nor My praise to idols. See, the former predictions have come, and new ones I am declaring; before they spring forth I let you hear them.

Immediately we see that God will never allow anyone or anything to usurp His absolute dominion and authority.

We also see that He does not want us uninformed. He talks to us! We must never forget that. In these closing days of our present dispensation, Christians must be tuned in to God’s voice. He still talks to us today, despite what some people say. He talks to His servants the prophets as He did in Amos 3:7 and Acts 11:28 and Acts 21:10—and He has never stopped speaking. If He stopped talking to us, He has changed and we know that God does not change. Hebrews 1 reveals that God spoke in different ways and means by the prophets and has spoken to us by His Son—but has not stopped speaking to us. The difference now is that we can all hear God’s voice for ourselves—if we listen. Do not let anyone dictate to you how to listen to God, to read a bible, or even how to pray. Let your spirit man within you do that and follow what He tells you.

The problem we all face is learning how to tell the difference between His voice and the many other voices that abound today.

If you are unsure how to do that, the simple remedy is—learn. Once more, I say that our best teacher (I should say only teacher) is the Holy Ghost. Ask Him! It does require some discipline and effort on our part, but it can be done and is really much simpler than we think. We can make things difficult for ourselves unnecessarily.

Let me give two examples. I was a brand new baby Christian having met the Lord a week earlier and attending my newfound church for my first Sunday service there. The presence of God was evident, without any conjuring up or forcing issues. A man to my right spoke forcibly in a foreign language. Another man then suddenly spoke in English in a similar powerful manner and it had such an affect on me that I said to myself, “That’s God! I don’t know what it is, but I want it.” It was of course, a manifestation of the gift of Tongues and the interpretation of tongues as seen in 1 Corinthians 12 but I knew nothing of them at the time.

They are still as valid today as in Paul’s day and we need them more than ever nowadays. I had not yet had time to learn “doctrinal, political correctness” or “theological jargon”. Something in my spirit identified with the Holy Spirit in the manner Paul said in Romans 8:14-16, especially verse 16.

In my secular career at the time, I was asked to visit the office of the district headquarters of a particular denomination that vehemently opposes the moving of the Holy Spirit. Wet behind the ears and knowing nothing, all I wanted to do was blab. Sometimes we need to say nothing! If we really want to be effective witnesses and counselors, the best thing to do at times is to shut up and listen! Far too many Christians talk over others. They do not know when to stop...

I shot my mouth off, bursting at the seams to tell everyone what happened, little realizing that the people there were pastors attending their annual ministers meeting. When I mentioned the “Tongues” part all hell broke loose. They told me it was of the devil, I was deceived, they were no longer needed and more. It was an artillery barrage directed right at me.

I reeled out of that place in utter shock and bewilderment and cried out to the Lord for help. Several moments later, I arrived back at my office where my wife was waiting for me in our car and I went straight to the passenger door and sat down. That in itself was a total break of our routine. As she drove off, I opened my new bible that “fell open” at 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul said:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

I did not see that word brethren. I saw my name Robert. One week later, my personal Day of Pentecost came and I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. I didn’t know a thing about this. I spoke for hours and hours nonstop in one language after another flowing fluently between them, in the tongues of men and of angels. I knew so little I had to ask the Lord if I could stop, because I was getting tired! I did not know then that the spirit of the prophet (or our own spirit) is always subject to us. We are in charge and God does not “take over” as opponents often claim. I later found out that Greek, Italian, Chinese, Russian, a Hebrew dialect and others are in my spiritual vocabulary. A woman who was a first generation Australian born Greek and had been sitting behind me approached me a little shaken after church one Sunday, saying that she overheard me speaking in perfect classical Greek, telling God how wonderful He is. My first mentor was a first generation Chinese/Australian and he told me I often spoke in a Chinese dialect that he recognized, but did not personally speak. This is what Acts 2:6-12 talks about. People can debate all kinds of things, but cannot argue against a valid experience.

The second illustration concerns the bible. An associate at work was a Mormon and as we talked about “religion” he gave me a book of Mormon. My opinion of Mormons was poor at the time and I was very cautious. That evening, I asked he Lord how genuine their book is and I picked up that book only to sense in my spirit that something was wrong. I felt terrible. I put it down and picked up my bible, asking the Lord which is true and my spirit soared. I then conducted an exercise, holding my bible in one hand and the book of Mormon in another, lifting one up at a time. My spirit fell when holding up that other book, but soared when holding up my bible. We do not rely of course on our fickle feelings and emotions, but at that time I knew less than nothing about God and that was the only way I knew then to find things out.

At such an early spiritual age, I started to learn that there are definite ways whereby we are able to tune in to the Holy Spirit. We can learn to hear His voice. Jesus said:

My own sheep will hear my voice and I know each one, and they will follow me. John 10:27

Be assured that, if you are indeed one of Jesus’ sheep, He will talk to you. He knows each and every one of them personally. That’s us!
He also said that His sheep will follow Him and no one else—not a pastor, not a priest, not a prophet and not even me. We are His sheep and can and should hear His voice! Please remember that what you hear has to line up with what God has revealed in scripture. If it does not; if it sounds strange; if it does not meet certain criteria or tests, forget it. If we follow other voices (there are many voices out there) we will be tossed around like ships in a storm with winds of any doctrine.

If you are unsure, ask Him! If you are unsure, learn to recognize Him. Someone’s pet dog can be laying down peacefully and suddenly jump up, wag its tail and run to meet the owner’s car as it drives up. They heard the by now famililiar sound of its engine. Someone can make a telephone call to their spouse and without seeing the calling number displayed, immediately know who is calling by hearing one word, “Hello”. The reason is simple. The couple have spent so much time together that they know each other and recognize their shape from a distance, or their voice without seeing each other. If we are in a love relationship with the Lord, surely we can do likewise.

This is scriptural. John gave us a key:

Delightfully loved friends, don’t trust every spirit, but carefully examine what they say to determine if they are of God, because many false prophets have mingled into the world. Here’s the test for those with the genuine Spirit of God: they will confess Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh. Everyone who does not acknowledge that Jesus is from God has the spirit of antichrist, which you heard was coming and is already active in the world. Little children, you can be certain that you belong to God and have conquered them, for the One who is living in you is far greater than the one who is in the world. They belong to this world and they articulate the spirit of this world, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and whoever truly knows God listens to us. Those who refuse to listen to us do not belong to God. That is how we can know the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit. 1 John 4:1-6

If you are hearing things, ask the other person about Jesus. Ask about His blood. Ask if He has returned from the dead in physical form and if He has risen and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Ask if they acknowledge Him as their personal Lord and master. Don’t waste your time asking about prophecy and other doctrines because you will get all kinds of replies that may or may not be correct. Do not forget that the devil and his cronies are liars and cannot say one truthful word. Above all, always remember that the greater one, who is the Spirit of Truth abides inside you.

Elijah had seen a great move of God, but basically ran away from possible danger. An angel of the Lord  provided food and told him to go on a journey that took him to Mount Horeb. He hid in a cave and God asked him what was he doing there. The mountains shook, the wind and the fire came and we want to see such things happen—but God was not in them. It was His still, small voice—a whisper, that caused Elijah to hide his face in his mantle and stand in the entrance of the cave. God again asked him what he was doing there. What is not often spoken about is that at that point, God replaced him! Elisha was appointed to succeed him. The story is seen in 1 Kings 19.

Elisha served his term and it was time for his successor to arrive. He had by now received his double portion anointing that is very misunderstood. It was not twice as much as ofen said, but Elijah’s anointing added to his own! This is seen in 2 Kings 2.

In 2 kings 13, Elisha was pining away on his death bed because he had no successor (see verse 14). He called for Joash, who at that point, could have received Elijah’s anointing and Elisha’s anointing to add to his own, but Joash blew his opportunity big time and that transferral did not occur. I recommend you study it out.

The point I want to make is that God “transfers anointings” and that there is such a thing as the “changing of the guard”.

The church is at a crossroads right now, because there is a potential changing of the guard. I believe it. I feel it. I smell it. I have heard the Lord say it is on our doorstep. I am not sure enough yet to say precisely what is going to happen or when, but scriptures give us clues.

This is one reason why I ask the questions I do, because I do not want to be caught napping. Many will.

Matthew says that the Lord drove out those who were making money out of the temple worship. In other words, they were prostituting the gospel and we are witnessing this today in many places and in various ways. He spoke about the man who planted a vineyard and let it out to tenant farmers, expecting a return on his investment, but when he tried to receive what was rightfully his, his own servants were treated badly. His response was to take everything away from the tenants and said that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to more righteous people.

He then spoke of the wedding where a man had arrived, but he was not wearing the wedding garment. For this reason he was ejected.
That man was there because he had received the wedding invation—and accepted it, so he had a valid reason to be there. When guests arrived at a wedding, they were given a special garment to wear, but this guest neglected to don it. Everyone is invited in, but few respond in excellence. It is that excellence the Lord is looking for and it is not excellence in service or ministry, but in the honor, respect and the dignity they extend to the bridegroom. I always advocate intimacy of relationship with HaShem, but we must always recall that there are prescribed protocols involved when approaching God. This is ofen expressed as fear in the New Testament. There is a Godly fear and reverence involved and I believe that we have deviated away from it, but it is returning.

Matthew then describes what Jesus said about a party spirit. I need not elaborate much on that other than to say it is rife throughout the church today.

We now arrive at Matthew 24 and the things Jesus spoke about here covered so much territory people get confused. The simple remedy is to consider to whom He is speaking and when. God speaks to or about the Jews, the church and the gentiles. The problems arise when we think He is speaking about the church but He is in fact talking about the Jews and vice-versa.

Many prophecies like the destruction of the Temple for example have already been fulfilled. Getting end time prophecies mixed up are like that.

I’d like to turn your attention to Matthew 24:27-28. The Lord said:

The appearing of the Son of Man will burst forth with the brightness of a lightning strike that shines from one end of the sky to the other, illuminating the earth. How do birds of prey know where the dead body is? They just know instinctively, and so you will know when I appear.

How fast is a bolt of lightning? How fast will it take for the Lord to suddenly appear? Often times, we know a storm is coming, because of the signs. The barometer falls, temperatures change and dark clouds start to gather. The storm is coming! The signs are here. All we have to do is look for them—not by getting second hand information but by personal observation. It would be easy for me to tell you a natural storm is coming, but you have to be there, see it for yourself and experience it for yourself for that statement to be true. In like manner, you must observe the things of God for yourself and be ready for what may happen in a flash; in a fleeting instant in time, just like a lightning bolt.

How do birds of pray know that a feast is available? They can see it. They know instinctively that lunch is ready. “Eagle Saints” know! I believe that there are “eagle saints” and “dead carcasses” in the church. Which one are you?

Jesus said that we will know... We may not be able to give a precise day, date and time and I don’t try guessing—but we will know the season.

The worn out argument that we do not know when He is returning does not add up to all the other pieces of information we have been given. God’s word, the illumination given by the Holy Spirit and the signs of the times are available to us all. We can also look at the seasonal Feasts of the Lord as indicators. Sure they are Jewish festivals, but they also relate to the church. Passover and Easter relate to each other.
Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Shavu’ot, Sukkot and Yom Kippur would be worth while studying as they do have a bearing on us.

As for the voice of the Spirit, this too is made available to everyone, but we need to train ourselves to listen to His voice and tune out of the others. Prophets can be a dime a dozen, but hearing from God is a personal thing and this brings me right back to my opening comments and to staying on target.

We do not ask the Lord if we are on target or straying off slightly because we are immature or unstable in any way. We choose to do so, to deliberately open ourselves up to God to allow Him to download the right information (His) in the right way—and at the right time. I stressed those factors, because we can start digging for what may be right information but at the wrong time or for the wrong reasons. Let the holy Ghost lead you. I have often embarked on a study for example when He tells me to stop it and I find myself going in a different direction to discover something I had not dreamed of initially. At a future date, I can return to the former topic. I have scores of completed studies that have not been shared with anyone yet. He keeps prioritizing them on me! Ha! It’s exciting.

I will close with a real life example.

When I am engaged in a search and rescue operation at sea as a member of the sea rescue squadron, the maritime operations authorities have requested our assistance. We provide as many boats as they ask for, assemble at a given location, have a briefing and launch our boats at the designated place and time. We log in according to procedures and every person is assigned a designated position and duty to perform. We form lines just like naval exercises do and travel at a set speed together, at a prescribed distance apart in the designated direction. Each boat turns direction simultaneously on a new heading when so directed and so a search pattern evolves. Sometimes we are searching for a disabled vessel. Sometimes it is for a man overboard , or even a dead body and as a person at sea is difficult to see, we must be very diligent and observant—following prescribed protocols.
The maritime rescue authorities are not at sea with us—they are in a central office watching computer screens. They have programs that show known factors like wind and tide speeds and directions and plot a projected location that could be nowhere near what we observe in the natural. A boat may have engine failure, or someone may have fallen overboard and an emergency message sent out, hopefully providing  the location at the time it happened. Because of the changing conditions that person or boat may have drifted miles away by the time we reach the reported location.

HQ does not send us there—we are sent to the place where they want us!

If we have a HQ in heaven, they send us where they want us! They know things we do not know.

Discipline and training is involved. I said—discipline and training is involved.

There are definite prescribed protocols to follow that makes the world of difference. When someone launches their boat, we expect them to log in by radio to whoever is on duty, giving their registration number, how many people are on board, a rough idea of where they will be operating and an estimated time of return. When they arrive back at the ramp, they are supposed to log off and that’s that.
If they do not log off, they either forgot to do so, or are in trouble, so we contact them to determine their status.

We often receive calls for assistance when someone runs out of fuel. Duh!

It is usually not urgent, but we respond and tow that boat back and send a bill, thank you.

On the other hand, we respond to life threatening situations. It usually happens when the boat in distress makes an urgent radio call, “Mayday. Mayday. Mayday”. It is a universally recognized message world wide. If this person merely says that, we have no idea who it is, where they are and what problems they face. We must know the answers to such questions as, “What is the problem? Where are you? Are any lives at risk?” It is foolish to think that someone in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia, can respond to someone in the Great Southern Ocean in Australia near where I now live (at present). It may surprise you, but it often happens that when we ask for more information to render assistance, like. “Where are  you and what do you see?” They often reply, “I dunno! I launched at such and such a place. I can see a hill to my right.” We are supposed to rescue them? It happens and we put our lives at risk in the process.

They should have said, “Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is (and give their identity three times).” They then state “Mayday” again and give as much information as possible afterwards, like how many people are involved, the nature of their problem and their approximate location either by GPS location or by latitude and longitude.

There are prescribed channels to be used on maritime frequencies. The distress channel is used only for distress calls and nothing else and personal conversations are forbidden. Other channels are used for differing purposes. One of the protocols to follow is that when someone answers that distress call, this person is in control. He and he alone should be talking to the person in distress. Every man and his dog could be listening, but if every man and his dog wants to talk at the same time, they have their personal opinions and different experiences, clutter up the channel and confusion arises. In the church, Mary and her dog, pastor Fred, prophet Peter, apostle Andrew, denomination Danny and everyone else is often pushing their own agenda, but what is the real situation?

We have been trained to follow set procedures that work. Whoever answers that Mayday  replies “Mayday. This is (and identifies himself)” then says, “Received Mayday” then follows up. By following such set procedures, there is no confusion and the person needing assistance knows that real help is on the way. To avoid confusion, whoever replies to the distress call assumes control over the situation, unless such control is passed on to another, again with prescribed protocols. We do not want mixed messages, or too many people trying to “help out” but can sometimes be more of a hindrance than helping. It happens! To make sure only the right people are talking the same things and not talking over the top of each other, we can use another message “Seelonce Mayday”. That tells everyone else to shut up and get off the line.

There is a little more to it than that, but I have painted the picture. The objective is to rescue those who need rescuing.

There is a lost and dying world out there and those people do not need mixed up and confused messages—they need a life preserver.

To make sure we do it right, we have a very high amount of training that includes theoretical training and hands on training like firefighting and first aid procedures, which when we successfully complete them, we are given an appropriate licence. We do much on water training too.
Our equipment is regularly tested. My jacket shown here costs around $400 and it has recently been tested. There is a gas cylinder under my left hand pocket that inflates the jacket almost instantaneously and the gas bottle is replaced periodically. The little strobe light above my left pocket is also tested. Everything we use is regularly tested and replaced if doubtful.

We do not have meetings—we do the work and we make sure we know what we are doing! Everyone has a place. There is one skipper per boat. One navigator and radio operator and two crew, all qualified. All have boat driver’s licences, but only the person appointed to be the skipper actually drives. He can of course at his discretion allow someone else to get behind the wheel occasionally (usually when training), but in a real life situation, it is not normal. He drives. We also provide regular reports to various authorities and, in the case of finding a dead body, our paperwork has to be very accurate because a coroner’s report is inevitable.
As a pastor, I like to see people in churches trained to get the job done right and trained in such a way that anyone can do any job at any time. I call it making disciples just like Jesus did. Is your pastor doing that? He should.

The original church of the frigidaire, the first church of the frigidaire, the reformed church of the frigidaire and all the other groups can all be getting involved, thinking that they are doing great—but the person who needs real help is still out there.

The Church should be rescuing people, but we have so many different voices trying to say all kinds of different voices at the same time and can be pulling in different directions, I doubt if we really are achieving the things we say we are.

I received an email from a Christian lobby group asking me to send a petition to the government asking them to lift the social distancing restrictions from church meetings. They say that the worst is over now and we can return to normal, but is it? Many experts are saying that a second, perhaps worse spike may come. What then? What is normal? Our world has changed, whether we like it or not or believe it or not. We might never come back to that old normal.
All that they are interested in is getting back to having church again and I refused, saying that it is too soon to know for sure what will happen.
As in my sea rescue illustration, we are not all saying the same things; we are all talking over the top of each other and doing our own collective things going every which way—whilst good people are out there, hopelessly lost and may perish.

OK. I’m blunt, but present this to you to weigh up the facts involved for what I hope will assist you.

We may have reached a point when the new norm is taking us into totally uncharted territory and it excites me.
A changing of the guard may well be happening in which you could be a potential Elisha or a Joash.
This is why my wife and I keep asking the way we do.

If you are acting only on definite instructions from the Lord—keep doing what He last told you to do until you receive fresh instructions.

Turn when He tells you to turn.

Stop when He tells you to stop.

Start when He tells you to launch out. He told Peter that...

Don’t deviate off course.

If He tells you to make adjustments, please make them.

I hope that I have shared some good information to help you

and so until next time, be blessed.

Robert