September 19
Isaiah 31:12-33:9 | PS 63:1-11 | Prov 23:22 | Gal 5:1-12
In October 2021, Mayor Eric Adams said, we will remain a sanctuary city, we should protect our immigrants. Period. In September 2023, this same mayor states that this is now a crisis which will destroy NYC. What changed? The border situation was fine as long as the areas being impacted was not NYC, but Texas, Arizona, etc. He casts his blame not on the President, or our porous borders, or even his earlier statements, but on those governors down south who are sending the immigrants north to cities like NYC. The Maui fires devastated so many who had so little, yet surprisingly many of the celebrity’s houses were unaffected. They set up a fund to help the Maui citizens. If these celebrities, many billionaires, directed their own money, the people would have no problem rebuilding. Isaiah said of a future time, when hypocrisy was no longer prominent, when Jesus is ruling on earth, in Isaiah 32:5, “The foolish person will no longer be called generous, Nor the miser said to be bountiful”.
In World War 1, General Allenby of Britain was tasked with getting the Turks out of Jerusalem. This bothered the general greatly, him being a Christian, the thought of shooting up Jerusalem and damaging the city, so he decided to send reconnaissance planes to fly over Jerusalem to spot the Turk’s strongholds thereby minimizing the damage. When the Turks saw the planes, thinking they would be bombed, they fled the city of Jerusalem without so much as a shot being fired. We read in Isaiah 31:5, “Like birds flying about, So will the Lord of Hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; Passing over, He will preserve it.”
Please spend good concentrated time in the prophets. Their words are as applicable now as they were then. There is always both near and far application, often with near and far fulfillment. Realize the prophets simply spoke forth what was given them by the Lord, often not comprehending how their words would play out, but trusting God that they would (1 Peter 1:10-12).
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: