So encourage each other with these words.

Who is holy? God alone is holy-God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. The people of God are made holy by God. What will happen to the holy people?

I have done a word search and taken 22 verses with the word ‘holy’ from the Book of Revelation. The verses describe two scenarios: the holy God and His faithful people made holy by Jesus, and the unholy people under the rule of the enemy of God. There will be persecution for the holy people of God. But Jesus will come and judge and to reward. In the meantime the holy people of God must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.

Revelation 3:7 [ The Message to the Church in Philadelphia ] “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open:

Revelation 4:8 Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty— the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”

Revelation 6:10 They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?”

Revelation 8:4 The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out.

Revelation 11:2 But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months.

Revelation 11:18 The nations were filled with wrath, but now the time of your wrath has come. It is time to judge the dead and reward your servants the prophets, as well as your holy people, and all who fear your name, from the least to the greatest. It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth.”

Revelation 13:7 And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.

Revelation 13:10 Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.

Revelation 14:9-10 Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.

Revelation 14:12 This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.

Revelation 15:4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed.”

Revelation 16:5 And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying, “You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments.

Revelation 16:6 Since they shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is their just reward.”

Revelation 17:6 I could see that she (Babylon) was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement.

Revelation 18:24 In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and ofGod’s holy people and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”

Revelation 19:8 She (the Lamb’s bride) has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.

Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years. (See below 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 about the first resurrection)

Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Revelation 21:10 So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

Revelation 22:11 Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”

Revelation 22:19 And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.

Revelation 22:21 May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NLT)
The Hope of the Resurrection
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died[a] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.[b] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[c] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.

Footnotes:
(a) 4:13 Greek those who have fallen asleep; also in 4:14.
(b) 4:15 Greek those who have fallen asleep.
(c) 4:16 Greek the dead in Christ.

mission morning call: Come out into the fields

This morning this watchman recaps what has happened during the last three days. On June 4 he was led to read Matthew 24, all about end day: Earthquakes, famines, wars, people hating each other, cold love, falsehood and deceptions, and persecutions from haters of God against those who love Jesus. Jesus also speaks of how to be a good servant of God and what He describes as an evil servant. On June 5 the Sabah earthquake at the Mt Kinabalu happened. Up to this point 8 visiting pupils, and 2 teachers are still reported as missing.
On June 5 I was led to read the book on Martyrs and posted excerpts about a preacher who was persecuted and killed by the church because he believed in the full Gospel of the Bible and preached the words of God free of charge to the congregation every Sunday! In those days believers of the words of God were burned to death because of they were bold to share the Good News of the whole Bible.
Today is the third day. As I listened to Pastor Sandra Kennedy’s Whole Life Ministries’ worship service and her subsequent prayer, I realized that it matters how far each of us have walked on the spectrum of our relationship with God in Jesus. I have increasingly met more elderly and seasoned (senior but fit) ‘foot-soldiers’ of God in the mission fields. They stand out in one aspect: their age. Most are of 50s and above, 60s and 70s. I was told some are in their 80s and still standing and walking.
Recently I met a man and wife in their 50s preparing to come out into one of the poorest people groups to serve. The love of Christ has compelled them. When introduced I was not surprised that he is one of the top established educators in his country and even internationally. He holds the highest position in the corporate entity he has decided to relinquish. He is paying a great monetary and other price to follow Jesus to the field. The cost of following Jesus is high. I was not surprised of the increasingly high caliber of the individuals whom the Lord has called and who have responded to Him.
Why are the senior ‘elites’ being called? Why are they responding? I can only use one word to describe our God, ‘AWESOME’. We have found various professionals, former bankers, financiers, educators, lawyers, medical doctors, accountants, engineers, international award-winning artists, corporate executives, businessmen and business women, pastors and evangelists conglomerating with the poorest and uneducated in the Kingdom of God. Matthew 22 described the wedding (great feast) invitation and the crowd that gathered when the intended guests did not turn up. The King’s instructed:
“Now, go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.” (22:9) “So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.” (22:10)
From experience we know that it is difficult for a poor and uneducated younger man to invite an older person from a higher social, economic, and political power strata to Jesus. It appears that the last frontier now is to gather chosen from ‘exclusive’ social people groups which hitherto has been left out from the Kingdom of God. The Lord said, “invite everyone.” Yes, everyone. That is why the old guards are emerging out of their churches’ closets now and marching into the streets.
What about the young in the streets? Who will invite them? That is for the younger generation of Christians to ask the Lord. My personal  observation is that the more you bring the world into your churches the less you will be able to march out there and bring the lost youth in. By the way they are not in your part of the cities. Unless you leave your comfort zones and venture into the poorest deep waters and live among them you will not reach them.
 Good News: The retired Christians are no longer retired. There is no retirement age in the fields. Come out to the fields.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bible promises:

Psalm 92:14

They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,

Psalm 1:3

He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Psalm 107:37

And sow fields and plant vineyards, That they may yield a fruitful harvest.

Psalm 128:3

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.

The Jesus Generation

Some years back, we read of people born in different periods being classified as generation X or generation Y etc. The social classifiers (mostly commercially linked) tried to put people into periods with distinct market related characteristics (for the sake of selling the right consumption products to each niche people market) by the chronological years in which they were born. This watchman did a bit of market-related study on such classifications then. Of course nothing of original note or unique worthiness came out of the study. Any serious researcher will admit that there are no fixed factors. One famous management saying at one time was, “The only constant is change.” Having been in the management scene practically all of my corporate years, I have learned this important fact and principle: “Do not attempt to presume and classify an individual.”
Because this is not a management blog, I will proceed to share of some recent testimonies of Christian individuals I have met who have lived a fruitful life in the Kingdom of God and have never fit into any ‘sociology-commercial’ or ‘pseudo-psychology’ categories.
I have been honored and blessed to meet with a godly couple. A medical (dentistry) doctor and his wife who used to be a professional nurse until she became a full-time housewife cum intercessor. When I listened to their sharing I was humbled and touched. The man (now in his mid-fifties) came from a Christian family and went through the whole journey of being in Sunday school, junior and senior youth in the church. When he attended university, he was exposed to and discipled by many Christian theological and Bible-focused scholars and practitioners. He was also given many opportunities to serve the Lord in various Great-Commission-oriented evangelical ministries. After graduation he heard from the Lord, “Give Me your best 25 years.”
He went back to his hometown, started his dentistry practice (as a ‘tent-maker’) and resumed serving as an elder in his home church. He continued this ministry for thirty years to date. When I interviewed him I perceived his unwavering and ever-burning zeal and passion for the Lord and the Great Commission given by Jesus to the disciples. His wife and his children (two medical doctors and one dentist) too serve the Lord actively. This is a family of disciples of Jesus. Their affluence and professional successes have not diverted them from their first love.
The head of the house shared how he was overwhelmed by the great love of God in the form of brilliant light twice in his life, comforting him at his depressed moments when he felt such burdens on his shoulder from the external environment in spiritual valley (family and church lives not being what he wanted them to be). He shared how the love of God changed his perspectives.
What generations are they? They are members of only one generation -the Jesus generation. The Child of God generation. They are timeless. They live the characteristics of the Kingdom of God people.

end times church mission: the proof of your love

2 Corinthians 8 New King James Version (NKJV)

Excel in Giving

8 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: ² that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. ³ For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, ⁴ imploring us with much urgency that we would receive^[a] the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. ⁵ And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. ⁶ So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. ⁷ But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.

Christ Our Pattern

⁸ I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
¹⁰ And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; ¹¹ but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. ¹² For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.
¹³ For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; ¹⁴ but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. ¹⁵ As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”^[b]

Collection for the Judean Saints

¹⁶ But thanks be to God who puts^[c] the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. ¹⁷ For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. ¹⁸ And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, ¹⁹ and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind, ²⁰ avoiding this: that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us— ²¹ providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
²² And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, because of the great confidence which we have in you. ²³ If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. ²⁴ Therefore show to them, and^[d] before the churches, the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.

Footnotes:

1. 2 Corinthians 8:4 NU-Text and M-Text omit that we would receive, thus changing text to urgency for the favor and fellowship . . . .
2. 2 Corinthians 8:15 Exodus 16:18
3. 2 Corinthians 8:16 NU-Text reads has put.
4. 2 Corinthians 8:24 NU-Text and M-Text omit and.