Previously, we began to discuss the levels or different kinds of prophetic revelation from impressions to being caught up into heaven such as Paul and John were in the New Testament. We will now continue with these. As you have probably picked up by now, it is my style to intersperse practical understanding of the gifts with the character issues that can help us avoid the stumbling blocks and traps that many have needlessly fallen into. The church and the world are in desperate need of true prophetic ministry in these times, and this need is going to increase.

Thanks to those of you who brought up that some of the seals were skipped over. The WFTW covering those was somehow lost, or copied over, and somehow missed in proofreading. I will go back, redo it, and interject it later.
        

         After the great signs of the earthquake, the darkness, and the falling stars, we come to truly remarkable events described in Revelation 6:14-17:   

After Phase I of a work or move of God, it is hard to transition into Phase II, which is the solidifying, establishing, and securing phase. This will be difficult but necessary work, if the gains are going to become fruit that remains. It can also be a very fulfilling and exciting part of the work, but cannot and should not try to sustain the excitement level of the work in Phase I.

From a basic knowledge of church history, we can begin to recognize, understand, and avoid the traps that continue to cause many Christian movements to stumble. This is good and necessary, but we also need to understand the foundations for the coming kingdom which have been laid by our spiritual fathers and mothers so we can see more clearly what we are called to do in our own generation, and to carry this forward in preparing the way for the Lord. This is the building of the highway for our God.

Before we began our study of the works of the flesh and growing in the fruit of the Spirit, we were studying what it means to possess our Promised Land. I want to return to this with a brief reminder of what we covered there so we can begin again where we left off.

From Death to Life

Last week we discussed how persecution and trials are not only to be expected, but are to be embraced as opportunities to enter more fully into the kingdom of God. These are allowed as tests of our faith, and to purify our faith. The fear of God and the fear of man cannot coexist. One or the other will rule our lives. Persecutions, slander, and other attacks help to deliver us from and sift out of our lives the things that would cause us to compromise our most valuable treasure—our devotion to God. Consider again what Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10:

We continue our study this week with Ephesians 6:2-3:

This week we continue the study of our calling with Ephesians 2:8-9:

The Spiritual Lessons of Katrina:
The most common question I have been asked about this tragedy is, “Is this storm judgment from God?” Without question the answer to this is “yes,” but it is very important that we understand why it is.

        A few weeks ago, President Putin of Russia wrote a controversial op-ed to America that was stimulated by the crisis in Syria. In his article, he took exception to the phrase “American exceptionalism.” That is understandable, especially with the problem of how this is translated into other languages.