Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1415483
When we place racial or ethnic identity above our identity in Christ, we forget God's amazing grace. We forget the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us that we might be reconciled to God and reconciled to others. We must die to any identity we have that is independent of Christ. "I often hear people justify their belief or behavior with things like, 'Well, I'm just an ol' biker!' or 'I'm an American and that's just what I believe!' when our truest and most prominent identification must be with Christ. Things like race, politics and lifestyle have nothing to do with WHO we are in Christ!" ~Marty Edwards Pastor Tony contues, "The idol of politics has also trumped the true God. We have allowed politics to divide the church, as though God rides the backs of donkeys or elephants. In the Book of Joshua, Joshua was about to tackle the walls of Jericho when he looked up and saw a Man with a sword. "Are you for us or for our enemies?" Joshua asked. The Man said, "I am neither on your side, nor am I on their side. I am Captain of the Lord's army" (Cf. Joshua 5:13-15). This Man—the pre-incarnate Son of God—is saying, "I didn't come to take sides. I came to take over." Our problems are not going to be solved by Air Force One—not if God has caused the distress. The second reason for the distress is that Israel was "without a teaching priest" (2 Chronicles 15:3). There were plenty of priests, but they were not communicating divine truth. The Word of God was not the standard by which communication took place. If you come to me and say, "My life is falling apart," I will listen to you. I will then take the Bible and show you what God says about your problem. Then I will join you in asking the Holy Spirit to apply through your obedience the supernatural enablement to deal with whatever issues you are facing. If you bring your family to me and say your family is falling apart, I will use the same Bible and take the same approach. If a pastor brings his deacons to me and says the church is falling apart, I will use the same Bible. If you bring the White House and the Congress to me, I'm not changing books. See, we've got Christians and preachers who are changing books. The Bible says in Romans 13 that God created government, and every ordinance of God is to be applied to government. You don't switch books. The Scripture says, Israel was "without a teaching priest." The Word of God was not the standard. "Truth is an absolute standard by which reality is measured. When you do not have a divine standard, there is no governance to superintend human opinion." The third reason God caused distress is that Israel was "without the law." People made up their own rules. Everybody was doing what was right "in their own eyes." The same thing is happening today. We've got no rules, new rules, your rules, my rules. It's my truth; it isn't the truth. Truth is an absolute standard by which reality is measured. When you do not have a divine standard, there is no governance to superintend human opinion. Throughout the Scripture, whenever God wanted to reorient and reset things, He would disrupt them first. I call this divine disruption. So, either we're on the verge of the Second Coming of Christ, or God is doing a major reset. We have nothing to say about the former because that's in God's hands, but we have everything to say about the latter, and the solution is given to us in 2 Chronicles 15:4: "But in their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him." In other words, He wanted them looking for Him. As we continue in 2021, we need to be looking for God. We need to prepare for Him to intervene in our lives, in our circumstances and in our world, through fasting and prayer, so He can resolve the distress. In Exodus 33, God offered Moses a great blessing. He said, "Moses, there's the Promised Land. It's flowing with milk and honey." Moses said, "If you don't go, I'm not going." That was a test. Do you want the blessing or the Blesser? In our days of fasting and prayer, when we feel the pains of hunger, they are to remind us to be hungry for Him. Because when we pursue Him, He is more than enough to meet us at our deepest need. 9/11 was a day that will live in infamy in our country. That's because 19 men from halfway around the world invaded our nation and brought us to our knees. Nineteen men in the name of their god changed our nation forever. If 19 men in the name of the wrong god can change a nation forever, what do you think thousands of men and women who are fully committed to Jesus Christ can do when they are on fire for Him? Ò "A bove and beyond anything else, we are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. His Word and His lordship comes before our race, our nationality, our politics or whatever your mama ever told you. These lesser identities have nothing to do with our mission to s erve Christ and His kingdom and certainly do not dictate what we believe or how we live. Remember the pledge: "I am a Black Sheep: different and set apart.." ...set apart from this world, raised up to represent and proclaim the kingdom of Heaven. " ~Marty E dwards.