Hi everyone!

Just a few things to pass onto you:

If you missed my interview with Pastor Mark Biltz last Wednesday, in which he talked about the biblical significance of eclipses and signs in the sky, you can watch it on Maranatha Chapel’s website HERE . Also, kind of interesting that Chile was hit with an earthquake just hours after the solar eclipse seen in that part of the world…

I also want to encourage you to read a new booklet: Inside the Revival by Joel Rosenberg. It’s now available at our Maranatha Chapel bookstore for 99 cents if you are in the San Diego area, or at your local bookstore, or online at Amazon or Christianbook.com and others. It’s full of inspiring true stories about how God is drawing Muslims around the world to Jesus Christ and how believers can be involved. “Learn, pray, give, and go,” Joel writes. Praise the Lord for the work He is doing in the Muslim and Christian communities!

Exciting times!

Maranatha!
Pastor Ray

Your comments: media@maranathachapel.org

Twice in the past year the Lord has given me message: Do Not Be Afraid. Here’s the first one:

Eighty years ago the stock market crashed and out of the financial misery the Great Depression emerged. What had been years in the making struck hard one bleak day, leaving the world anxious and afraid.

Analysts are comparing some of what is happening to day to that era, wondering if we too have set something into motion that can’t be stopped. Perhaps we have, financially. But the picture is bigger than that. It’s about more than money, our material comfort, and our puffy little lives.

Through His prophets and circumstances, God repeatedly warned the children of Israel that it was time to turn back to Him, to repent, to restore their relationship with Him.

But finally, they had set in motion something that could not be stopped, and soon they faced more than economic disaster. Their entire way of life was destroyed as Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army conquered Jerusalem and the people were taken in captivity.

The people cried out to the prophet Jeremiah, asking him to tell them what to do, even promising to obey what he said. The message God gave His people was this: Do not run away to Egypt! Don’t try to escape the war and hunger. Remain in the land. Stand fast.

“If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you,” the Lord promised (Jeremiah 42).

Likewise, today, I believe God is calling us to stand fast, not to run away to the world or go hide in some survivalist camp and protect only our own interests. This is not the time for another American revolution. It’s time for a revival! We can’t cling to the comforts we have at the expense of our relationship with the Lord. Our lives have grown so puffed up and complicated. God is calling His church to simplify our hearts and lives to an attitude of prayer, worship, serving one another, and demonstrating His love.

Judgment is coming, and I don’t believe we can stop what has been set into motion. But as God calls us to repent and return to Him, He also assures us just as He spoke to the children of Israel long ago:

“‘Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land’” (Jeremiah 42: 11-12).

As we launch into a new decade, I believe the Lord is telling us, “Do not be afraid.”

Don’t run away from the Lord, from fellowship, from accountability, and the issues at hand. Don’t despair. Don’t fear the future. Turn to Him and allow Him to carry you through whatever is ahead. Whatever you now fear, as the children of Israel feared the king of Babylon, put it in the hands of the Lord, for He says most clearly:

“Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

Throughout history, Jews have had great friends and mortal enemies. I recently learned that they had a great friend in one of our presidents. Perhaps no American president has been a greater friend of the Jewish people than Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday we celebrated this week. His last words, according to his wife were, “How I should like to visit Jerusalem.” Here’s an article I thought you might enjoy:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/herb/geduld_lincoln.php3?printer_friendly

Rarely has any world leader given a major address on an international stage declaring End Times prophecies from the Bible have come true. But that is exactly what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did this week in Poland, commemorating the 65th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz.  Netanyahu declared to the people of Europe and the world that the prophecies of Ezekiel 37 have been fulfilled!

You can read a more detailed reports of this amazing event on Joel Rosenberg’s blog HERE, where he also asks the question:  If the prophecies of Ezekiel 37 have come to pass in our lifetime, isn’t it remotely possible that the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39 will come true in our lifetime as well?

I want to pass this on to you – and ask that you continue to pray for Israel and the work God is doing in their midst!

Maranatha!

Pastor Ray

Joel’s blog Here

Do you ever feel as if you are moving through the wilderness?  Be encouraged.

Ever since the Jews were re-gathered and the nation of Israel “born again,” students of prophecy have watched for one particular significant sign:  the rebuilding of the Temple.

“…And then the end will come,” Jesus said.  “…When you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand)…” (Matthew 24:15).

The abomination of desolation will herald the appearance of the Anti-Christ, and great tribulation. But it will also precede the second coming of Jesus!  What does that mean?  What is so significant that Daniel prophesied of it centuries before Jesus warned us?

The abomination is something evil that will desecrate the Temple of God.  Which means that before the Lord comes back, there will be a Third Temple built in Jerusalem.

The Temple Solomon built, covered in plates of gold, reflected the first rising of the sun with fiery splendor, as well as Solomon’s passion and love for God.  He personally fulfilled the mission his father, King David, handed him, building a Temple of astounding beauty and filled with the glory of God.

In 586 BC the Babylonians sacked the city of Jerusalem, and destroyed the Temple.  During the era of Ezra and Cyrus the Great, the Temple was rebuilt, and five centuries later, renovated by Herod.  But then one day as Jesus was leaving the Temple and His disciples came up to Him, He said, “Do you see all these things?  I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2).

In 70 AD, after the birth of the Christian church, the Temple was destroyed by the Romans, and in spite of a few failed attempts over the centuries to re-build, the mountaintop fell under Islamic possession and is now the occupied Dome of the Rock.

The history is elaborate and colorful, but the one thing most students of prophecy agree upon, Jew and Christian alike, is that a third Temple will be built to usher in the age of the Messiah.

A Temple in the Wilderness
But something else equally significant will take place.  The prophet Amos told us, “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old…” (Amos 9:11).

The Tabernacle in Sinai

Centuries later, in a meeting of the early church, James stood up before the Jerusalem counsel and quoted Amos, adding, “”Men and brethren, listen to me  …Just as it is written:  ‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name…Known to God from eternity are all His works” (Acts 15: 13-18).

So, besides the Temple being rebuilt, James prophesied, quoting Amos, David’s Tabernacle will be rebuilt!

The Temple was a permanent place where God’s glory was revealed in the Holy of Holies, visible only to the priests.  But before the Temple was built, the children of Israel under Moses carried the Tabernacle through the wilderness. Then in 1050 B.C., King David brought the Ark to Jerusalem and placed it in a tent, known as the Tabernacle of David (2 Samuel 6, 1 Chronicles 13-16). The Ark stayed in David’s Tabernacle for 40 years until it was moved into the Temple built and dedicated by David’s son Solomon in 1010 B.C. (2 Chronicles 5-7).

Solomon’s Temple

In the wilderness, the Tabernacle served as a mobile Temple, and in this Temple, the glory of God was revealed to all the people.  A pillar of fire by night, a cloud by day, His power and glory were manifested again and again.  They saw miracles, signs and wonders; they experienced the glory of God first hand.

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” the apostle Paul said to the early believers centuries later.  Do you not realize that now it is you who harbors the glory?  It is through you that God desires to glorify Himself.  It is the Holy Spirit,  “who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own…For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Do you realize the significance of that?  The Temple, the Tabernacle – subjects of centuries of longings and searching (like the Indiana Jones movies!) have been fulfilled in the Body Of Christ.  Believers, all around the world, from all walks of life, are now the Temple of the Holy Spirit, living and translucent Tabernacles through which the glory of God is revealed.

A Decade of Destiny

The number TEN carries great significance in the Bible, often representing fullness or completeness.  After the tenth plague in the book of Exodus God manifested Himself and gave His children freedom. He carved the Ten Commandments into stone, stating all that was needed, and then His glory shone through Moses and was carried in Ark in the Tabernacle.

And now we begin a new decade, 2010.  A Decade of Destiny awaits us.

Jesus appeared to His chosen apostles after His resurrection and gave them the promise of Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Then 120 believers gathered to pray in the Upper Room, soon followed by the day of Pentecost, when a multitude of believers were gathered in one place and “suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house…then there appeared divided tongues, as of fire… and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2).  What a graphic picture of the fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy about the restoration of David’s Tabernacle. God’s glory shining through His new sons and daughters!

As the Lord spoke to me about the restoration of the Tabernacle, I thought about how the Temple was a geographically fixed building.  The Tabernacle, however, was God’s temple in the wilderness.

Do you ever feel as if you are moving through the wilderness?  Be encouraged.  The tabernacle was mobile, covered in animal skins, not as polished or finished as the Temple.  But God’s glory was there nevertheless, more accessible, freely visible, guiding His people.

Now, we are His Tabernacle – stumbling often through the wilderness, clothed in flesh, but still, a place for God’s glory to be manifested and experienced as we walk by faith.  As we watch the rebuilding of a physical Temple, may He manifest His glory through us, His living Temples.

We are in for a wild decade but we are not to fear!  God will be glorified and take care of us as we allow Him to shine in and through us!

Your comments and insights are always welcome.  Write to: media@maranathachapel.org

“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name…”

With these words, Jesus taught us pray.  After calling upon His heavenly Father, His first priority, His first petition, His first declaration was, “Hallowed be Your name.”

The New Living Bible translates the verse, “May Your name be honored.”

Hallow is to sanctify, consecrate, make holy, honor, revere.  Jesus is not only teaching us to respect and honor the name of His Father, but to pray that it will happen.  So, I asked myself, how will it happen?  Certainly in our hearts and attitudes.  But what else needs to happen?

God answered my questions as I studied the prophecies concerning Israel in Scripture.  I realize now how honoring God’s name is part of the prophetic picture!

Look at these verses found in Ezekiel’s great prophecy of Israel being renewed:

Ezekiel 36:23:

And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.”

Ezekiel 38:16

You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”

Ezekiel 39:27

When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.

Three times God declares that through the events surrounding the nation of Israel, and through His deliverance of His people, His name will be hallowed.

These are not merely ceremonial or religious words.  They are promises spoken by the Lord.  Over 15 times, in Ezekiel 36 alone, He says, I will:

“I will multiply…”

“I will make you inhabited…”

“I will cause men to walk on you…”

“I will sanctify my great name…”

“I will take you from among the nations…”

“I will sprinkle clean water on you…”

“I will give you a new heart…”

The promises continue throughout Ezekiel’s prophecy as God vows to restore His people, their hearts, their land, and their faith, all so that “they shall know that I am the Lord… I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 36:38; 39:29).

Now we find ourselves wondering what 2010 will it bring. I look to the place where everything will ultimately be decided: the Middle East.  Israel. Israel is where the kingdom of God on earth began, and where it will begin to be established once again.

I often recommend the writings of my friend Joel Rosenberg and encourage you to follow his blog (http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/.)

He recently posted a piece titled STATE OF THE EPICENTER: Where does the Israel-Iran conflict stand at the end of 2009, which I encourage you to read in its entirety, but here are a few highlights:

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the Israeli elections in February …because Israelis believed Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert had given away — or offered to give away — too much land …Israelis wanted a tough, decisive leader strong enough to go to war with Iran, if need be.

• The Iranian nuclear crisis is worsening by the week.

• Netanyahu is quickly running out of options. If the international community does not stop Iran, he will have to order the military to strike.

• Netanyahu has taken the following steps: declared a 10 month freeze of building Jewish settlements in the West Bank, dismantled dozens of roadblocks and check points in the West Bank, offered to begin peace talks…

• President Obama told Netanyahu that he would give diplomacy with Iran until the end of 2009. Netanyahu probably gave his word to President Obama that he would not launch an overt war during this period. But time is now up.

• The White House is talking about more economic sanctions against Iran early in 2010. But this requires full support at the U.N. from Russia and China.

• Netanyahu and his team are not confident that the U.N. Security Council will back decisive sanctions against Iran…

As details and events continue to unfold,  we are literally watching Ezekiel 36-39 being played out in our time.

In this new year, I believe we will continue to witness the answer to our prayers, as we cry out to the Lord together, “Our Father!  Hallowed be Your name!”  In the midst of the strife and violence that constantly threatens Israel, God’s Spirit will draw people to Him.  Jews, Muslims, Gentiles…multitudes will call upon the name of the Lord.

May God bless you in this coming year!

Pastor Ray

Your comments:  media@maranathachapel.org