Year Of Extremes

I was recently talking to my friend Josh Baker, who is the youth pastor at Christian Worship Center in Alexandria, LA (Pastors Mark and Trina Hankins), and he told me that Pastor Mac Hammond had recently given an "Ontime, Important" Word to their church...of course I asked him to email it to me, and here it is!! be blessed!

Mynista

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Pastor Mac Hammond delivered the following word to our church congregation this past weekend:

In preparing yesterday afternoon for the weekend, the Lord spoke to my heart about some things about 2008. You know, it's not often He does this through me, but here's what He said.

He said 2008 will be a year of extremes. In years past, centuries past, there's been a large middle-of-the-road where spiritual lethargy and complacency produced a lifestyle with nothing really too bad or nothing really too good, just a sea of mediocrity that the masses seemed to dwell in.

"But this is changing," saith the Lord. "Beginning with 2008, we're going to be seeing more extremes than we've ever seen and less middle-of-the-road: people who are extremely blessed or extremely cursed; people who are extremely glad and joyous, or extremely sad and despairing. A year of extremes."

"And those that have been marginally committed, spiritually complacent will become extremely complacent, extremely cynical about the Word, and extremely hard to that Word. And on the other hand, there will be those who become extremely committed, extremely generous, extremely loving, extremely sold out to seeing the Word of God proliferate in this earth. And it's those that will be extremely blessed, that will be extremely prosperous, extremely healthy, extremely joyful."

"As the world begins to experience the polarity between light and darkness, as we approach the end of this age, it won't just be the light and darkness, it will be the extremes of life and 2008 will be a year where these extremes begin to be seen to a degree that hasn't been true in the past," saith the Lord.

The following is an excerpt by E. M. Bounds:

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

(2 Tim. 4:7 KJV)

--Warfare Prayer--

It cannot be said too often that the life of a Christian is warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a battle fought against invisible foes who are ever alert and seeking to entrap, deceive, ruin and whatever they can do. The Bible calls men to life, not a picnic or a holiday.

It is no pastime or pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling and struggling. It demands putting out the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and come off at last more than a conqueror.

It is not a primrose path. From start to finish, it's a war. The Christian warrior is compelled from the hour he first draws his sword to endure hardness like a good soldier. What a misconception many people have of the Christian life. How little the average church member appears to know of the character of the conflict and its demands on him. How ignorant he seems to be of the enemies that he must encounter if he is to serve God faithfully, succeed in getting to heaven and receive the crown of life. He scarcely seems to realize that the flesh, the world, and the devil will oppose his outward march. He hardly realizes that they will defeat him utterly unless he gives himself to constant unceasingly prayer.