From Woe to Wine! 2010/16 07/18/10

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1 From Woe to Wine! 2010/16 07/18/10 We have spent some time recently speaking of God s love for us as His people in this present age, and I am always blessed to talk about it and experience it as well, but today we are going to look at something that the Lord impressed me with, and it is also about His love, in a different level of time, but it applies to our time as well. We ll be in Hosea for this sharing time together. Hosea was written about 750BC, at a time when Israel again was rejecting God, deciding that they could do their own thing without Him, and failing daily in all that they attempted, but God is so loving and so longsuffering that He decided to approach them from a different angle, so turn to Hosea 2:14-15 and we ll go from there, and it is for such a time as this. Therefore, behold, I will entice her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the days when she came up from the land of Egypt. Before we start to unravel this, I need to tell you that I wondered why God sent me to this area of scripture, and of course He responded to me in my spirit, and asked me a question; I believe that the question was, when did all this begin and what was Israel to Me? I answered that they were His people, and He indicated I was on the right track, but what did He call Israel, and I thought for a minute and said, You called her Your wife. I looked for the beginning and when I found it, she had been called that for just over 2000 years. I was then reminded that we, the church are called the bride of Christ, and we have been called that for just over 2000 years as well, so lets let that rest there and see what this is all about. Take this one step at a time; 1

2 I will entice (allure) her When the enticement is His calling, it is hard to resist. You will sense a new hunger developing and a total dissatisfaction with your present depth of relationship with the Lord. There will begin to be a new knowing, that there is more to be experienced if you press in, and there will be a definite knowing that it is He that is drawing you into the more. There will be an awareness of Eccl 3:11 as never before, and this is going to be, I feel, a quick work, because time is short and we will come with a fresh awakening. Listen now, as to how He will cause this to be, and the fruit of His move; I will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her This wilderness will be quite different from the one we enter every time we go out of our front door, being the wilderness of the world s system, with all the clutter of man s lust for power, greed and the deception caused by them all. The wilderness that God is about to bring us into, will be placed right in the midst of the world s wilderness, but we will not even be aware of it, while He speaks to us and shares His heart with us. This is a love story, with all the trimmings that come with God s love and His ways of sharing it with us. It is a place where even His still small voice will be very discernable, and His love will be so strong and evident in this place that we will be overwhelmed, as we have to stand with the depth of our love felt in comparison to His, and not to shame us, but to make us know that if we only really knew His love and its depth, there would never be anything that would give us a problem or a cause for fear, for we would have that special knowing that the love that He has for us cannot fail or fade in any situation, or circumstance and there is no need that can come up that is not supplied. It will be a change in our life from the natural to the supernatural; A KINGDOM LIFE STYLE! [Dan. 11:32b] The important things of life will be suddenly more discernable and the unimportant will fade from our needs shelf. No need for haste or hurry, but it will not be a passive place of inactivity. It is a place of His rest that is always there as you serve Him and His call on your life with ease. But now comes the test that is in place for our lasting benefit in this world. Recognize that we are now on the edge of the wilderness, but going to the other side of that edge. [to 2

3 give the words of comfort spoken of here, turn to Isaiah 40:1-5] Comfort, yes, comfort My people, Says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem (and us) and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord s hand Double for all her sins. The voice of one crying in the wilderness; Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken I will give her vineyards from there. The first thing that we think of is that the vineyard is the place of fruitfulness and new wine, and that is right, but remember the edge. The entrance edge of the vineyard has two very significant things that we cannot be passed by. The first being the watchtower, where the watchmen are on the lookout for the possibility of little foxes, those that subtly destroy the vines, and they have to be dealt with, and that is where the other thing comes into necessity, because these little foxes most often are products of our flesh. Before we go on, let me read from Song of Solomon 2:15; Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil (destroy) the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. The tender grapes are our thin skin, and our little insecurities that plague us and cause our emotions to be a hindrance to the love that God calls us to live in and understand. Take a note from John 13:34 - Jesus speaking; A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 3

4 At the time that He spoke this, there could have been no thin skin about Him, because He had just washed the feet of Judas and knew that he was about to betray Him, and that little fox never even got close to Jesus, and He told them and us, this is how I want My children to live and show the world what My love is all about. So what is the other thing at the leading edge of the vineyard? It is the winepress, the place where the flesh is crushed to release God s life and love that is already within us [Romans 5:5]. Remember, this is God speaking to His children, and not those of the world. Our life that is before the world that we are in, but not of, is to be that life that is a witness unto Him [Acts 1:8]. (This is the best till last wine ) What is God telling us? He is assuring us that the fruitfulness is truly what we have longed to present to the lost and dying world, and we are going to display it, but it will not be of our own doing. If we truly follow Him and the assignment that the Holy Spirit gave us when we were chosen, He will be the only explanation for all that takes place in our life, and is the place that we will begin to know, that He for sure started in the wilderness, designed for us to experience in these last of days. [repentance will be our response] And the valley of Achor as a door of hope Remember Achan, Achor and Ai? The things of Jericho were apparently some little foxes that Achan just could not pass up. They were accursed things, things of only material value, but the cost was high, and Achan and all his family, and all his goods, even his animals were executed in the valley of Achor, to rid the camp of sin, and achieve the victory that God intended for them to have. Most little foxes are of the fleshly, emotional sort, but no less important to be free of. But wait, there is a door of hope mentioned, and that is the freedom that is brought about as the slate is cleaned, and the word declares that the children would sing there, as in the days of their youth, as in the days of Egypt; [remember this one from the past?] Note: God s unconditional love does not remember any of our past and He erases it from His own memory. When born of His Spirit, old things truly passed away. I will sing unto the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, 4

5 And He has become by salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father s God, and I will exalt Him This is a love and thanksgiving song to the Lord for His longsuffering, loving kindness to them and they are overwhelmed by His bringing them out to liberty. Let me share with you that what is happening in these verses is that God is pressing in on us to press in on His love. His desire is that we truly know the depth of His love for us and in us. As we come to know His love in greater depth, we will then begin to release His love that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit [Rom:5-5]. This all about the glory of God being seen and known by the whole world. Listen to John 15:7-9; If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you, abide in My love. The much fruit that is spoken of here is found in Gal. 5:22-25, so let us go there and get this all in perfect order; But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. [this is the lasting fruit that Jesus was speaking of in the verses above, and it is His character that the Holy Spirit empowers us to produce, and it will not be hindered by the enemy] And those who are Christ s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [the little foxes have met the winepress and are no longer in charge] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Now keep on reading and finish our conformation process, and that is what the alluring, the wilderness, the vineyard and the valley of Achor are all about. Romans 8:30, 33, 35, 37; 5

6 Moreover whom He predestined (chose), these He also called, whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, those He also glorified. Who shall bring a charge against God s elect? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all these things we are more that conquerors through Him who loved us. And His love is powerful and strong and intense enough to save us to the uttermost. It is unfailing and unfading, and it is ever in place for our salvation with all its provision and healing. The word glorified is to be noted several times in the verses above, and it is to be revealed through our lives here in the earth. Listen to what one commentator declared about this portion of Romans. The message of Romans should cause our hearts to worship the Lord. This message of grace and God s unfailing love invites us to devote ourselves wholly to the Lord. Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners, demonstrating for all time the love that God has for us. Ask the Holy Spirit, who intercedes for you, to open your heart and minds to understand the depth of God s love for you. Then ask Him to enable you to express your devotion through worship to God. I do not want to drag this out, but we must come to know the love of God in Christ Jesus. There will be, even after the vineyard experience, little foxes that will always try us, but we are to look on them as Paul wrote in Romans 8:16-18; The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 6

7 I was not at first going to do this but I was out voted and so here we go with Ephesians 3:17-20; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we dare ask or think according to the power that works in us. This last portion of this lesson is about what God is going to do in the wilderness with us as we go forward to approach the vineyard. Because we are going to know more deeply that His love is always patient and kind, and will never remember a suffered wrong. Will never pay attention to an evil done to it. It cannot be judgmental or critical because it always believes the best in every person. It bears up under anything and everything that comes, and its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. It never fails or fades and will never become obsolete nor come to an end. It is merciful, compassionate, and always tender-hearted, but brave enough to always be tough enough to speak the truth in love to bring situations into the fullness of God s word where necessary. I am going to stop here for this time and say, look up for your redemption is closer that any can imagine and God is at work putting His Son s bride in perfect order to be taken up in the twinkling of an eye, but to be the witness unto Him and His love before we leave. Class, you are the closest to this definition of any I personally know, and I sense your love every time I am in your presence and I am blessed to be part of this fellowship with you. So--- Class!! Be Abundantly Blessed!! 7