July 11
1 Chron 11:1-12:18 | PS 9:1-12 | Prov 19:1-3 | Acts 28:1-31
When I viewed the movie, "Sound of Freedom", which even if you know about the sex slave trade, has to leave you shocked at the sheer numbers, pervasiveness in "polite society", and the evil which surrounds it. You leave the movie with a number of emotions. Anger towards the situation. Appreciation for those, such as Tim Ballard, and others like him, who are willing to do heroic things to make a difference. But some will be left with an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. Tim was partially responsible for helping around 120 lives out of a 150 billion dollar year industry. But this is where we get it wrong, and he gets it right. Just like Oskar Schindler could not save every concentration camp victim, he could save some. So, are we called. We are God's servants in the midst of extremely evil and demonic times. Tim Ballard saw this as a mission, because "God's children can not be for sale". We need to see all the movement in this world in light of its spiritual context, and align ourselves with God, and do something, anything. Pay this movie forward. If you are not going to be the missionary, support the missionary. Preach the Word. Go to school board meetings. Be the vessel that you were called to be. We are His ambassadors, His ministers of light. We can't do this in hiding.
We read of the second king of Israel in 1 Chronicles 11:2, 9, "Also, in time past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord your God said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over My people Israel.’ ”...So David went on and became great, and the Lord of hosts was with him." Shepherds lead sheep, they don't drive cattle. David had the heart of a shepherd, he was a "man after God's own heart", and this is why he so effectively ruled. Also, the closer he aligned himself with God, the greater he became. His flaws and failures came when he chose to distance himself and move away from God. He saw himself rightly as nothing more than a vessel, as we read in 12:17, "And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, “If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment.”" David realized what Isaiah later wrote in Isaiah 54:17, "No weapon formed against you will prosper...this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord."
Pray today, where God is to use you. If you feel the Holy Spirit lead you, don't doubt it soon after when you hear the enemy tell you every reason why you lack the time, the words, the ingenuity, etc. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." We were called to boldness, not hiding. God has called an army. Each of us have been endowed with specific gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, to be used by Him and for Him. In these overwhelmingly dark times, it is time for those who are called according to His name to "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see you or good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16).
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: