As I travel, I continually hear about a basic conflict between "seeker-friendly" churches and those who feel they are leading Christians to a deeper or more substantial discipleship. I am personally thankful for both types. I believe both certainly have merit and are even necessary. However, I do not think that it is best for them to be separate, and certainly they should not be in conflict with each other. In fact, they need each other.

As we studied last week, love is the essential foundation for all true discernment. This is why we teach our prophetically gifted people not to trust a negative revelation about anyone they have been hurt or rejected by, but rather resolve to pray for them, grow in love for them, and only accept positive revelation about them until they are healed of any rejection or resentment. Of course, this is a principle and not a law. Principles have exceptions, but we have found this to be one that rarely has an exception.

It is interesting that the last aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is “self-control” (Galatians 5:23). Many Christians, in seeking to become submitted to the Holy Spirit or to eschew glory for anything that is accomplished through them spiritually, often say such things as: “That was not me—that was the Lord.” This may be a noble attempt to not take glory for things accomplished by the Lord, but it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Spirit actually does His work.

Using the Lord’s discourse in Matthew 24 concerning the signs of the end of the age, we have examined a few of the conditions that we may expect to unfold. Again, we are not just studying the signs to know them, we want to also be prepared for them. If we understand them, we will understand all that the Lord is allowing in our lives.

For the last few weeks we have been examining what has been the basic purpose of God for nearly six thousand years, which is restoration. God is going to restore man and the earth from all of the consequences of the fall. Understanding this is basic to understanding the purpose of God in anything. Understanding God's purpose for this will give us hope for anything - any relationship, any church, and any problem. Then, as we see Him restore, we will grow in faith for bigger needs and bigger problems. By the end, His people will believe Him for the nations.

          As we have covered, the church is called to be a family first and then an organization. The cement that holds the living stones together is the love we have for God and for one another. Because “God is love,” everything that God builds is built upon the foundation of love.

     As we have discussed and as we are told in Acts 2:17-21, in “the last days” prophetic gifts will be poured out. This is because we will need this kind of increasingly clear guidance in the times that are unfolding. I was told that the anointing on the prophetic will double this year, and we have already seen a great increase.

         After the three great signs of the earthquake, the darkness, and the falling stars, the heavens split apart, with nearly half of mankind turning to the new religion called secular humanism. We now come to truly remarkable events as described in Revelation 6:15-17:

   Then 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;