Vessels

I.


Who reading has never heard or read the words
    In the beginning was the Word
    and the Word was with God,
    and the Word was God?

          This is the testimony of John.

Who here is saved?

    “Who sitting here tonight has never heard the Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”

        He was in the beginning with God.

Who here wants to be saved?

    “After the sermon tonight we’re going to make an altar call, and you can come up here and give your heart to Jesus Christ. But I want to let you know that you can come up to this altar anytime.”

    Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.


Everyone who is saved was already on the road to salvation.

    As he journeyed to Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

If you are saved, this is only the natural progression of your life up to that moment.

    The Lord said to him, “Go for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.
    And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive you sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

When you read the Word of God you will recognize this.
You will find yourself in the Words, which contain infinite meanings.
You will find the meaning of your life in the Word,
Which God spoke knowing that you would read it one day.
         
         Your word is the lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

II.


“There are many reasons why you should give your heart to Jesus.”

    A room is full of preteens, teenagers.
    Over two-thirds of them are girls.

          And to the woman He said, “ . . . Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”

“Now, first and most importantly, Jesus died for you. He died for you. You didn’t deserve it but He did.”

    Most of the boys in the room are spoken for,
    sitting next to their girlfriends,
    who wear promise rings and modest things
    to keep their boyfriends from giving in to the flesh.
    For the rest of the girls, there’s Jesus, a good catch:
    a man who’ll never try to get under your dress.

                   For God so loved the world . . .

“Second, aren’t you tired of living in sin? Living in sin may seem fun at first, but eventually it destroys you.  Think of the prostitutes, the drug addicts, the just plain wicked people of this world . . . Now, I don’t mean to imply that any of you are on the road to prostitution or drug addiction. But, without Jesus, it may be easier for you to get there. It will be easier for you to get there.”

      The youth pastor is a man, young and good-looking.
    His wife stands in the back, looking tired and still fat
    from carrying their second baby, who was born a year ago.
    Most of the girls do not respect her.
    The youth pastor’s wife seems to know this.
    She tries to charm the girls.
    She wears almost trendy clothes
    and lets them watch PG-13 movies at church sleepovers.
    They hate her anyway: she doesn’t deserve the youth pastor.
    Sin and the source of sin is frequently a woman.
      Why should anyone trust her heart, her intentions?
    Why should anyone emulate her?
                   
          And on her forehead a name was written:
          MYSTERY,
          BABYLON THE GREAT
          THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
          AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS
          OF THE EARTH.

“Third, if you are a Christian, you can have a positive impact on other people’s lives. As a Christian, it is your job to serve others the way that Jesus served others, and tell other people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
         
    Many of those in the audience
    Are not here because their parents brought them,
    But because their friends did.
    If you’re a good Christian,
    You want your friends to know Jesus.
    You want your friends to be like you.

          And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
        And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

“Fourth, because, and this is the important thing, now: we will all stand before Christ one day and receive judgment. And we don’t know when that day is. It could be tomorrow. It could be years from now. We don’t know. Jesus could come for you at any time. He could come for all of us at any time—the Bible says once the whole world is preached to, he will return for the true Christians and take them to heaven, where they will feast on lamb for seven years, and the unsaved will stay on an earth that is overrun by the Antichrist.”

    The youth pastor is shooting long,
    serious looks into the audience
    The girls’ eyes are opening wide
    To catch them. After the sermon
    They sing for a while, abandon
    Themselves to fear and cry out to be saved.
    They sing and cry out for Him to save them.

          And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
         


III.


Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.


          “If you would have told me then that I would still be alive
when I was twenty-one, twenty-two, I wouldn’t have believed you
I would have thought that The Rapture would have already happened.”
                   
    “How old were you when you became a Christian? How did you become a Christian if your parents didn’t go to church?”

To the angel of the church of Ephesus write
                   
                   
          A whisper:
          What are the reasons for why she became a Christian?

          Another whisper:
          Answers vary.
          Vary as many as there are girls.


And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write


      Loss of a parent or parents.

          Abuse.
                   
                                Rape.

        Incest.

                          Harassment.

  Being ignored.

               Depression.

                             Self-harm.
    Trauma.

         A history of violence,
                   A history of hurting.
         A history of blaming herself for what happened.


And to the angel of the church in Perganos write


          “I guess I was looking for a father figure to replace the one I lost.”

          “I needed a sense of community to make up for the lack of connection I felt at home.”

          “I was afraid of going to Hell.”


And to the angel of the church in Thyatire write


          “It’s only logical to become a Christian, if you don’t know anything else.
          It’s only logical—it’s only sane—to want to be saved.”

          “If someone tells you that the world is going to end, and you trust them,
          why wouldn’t  you believe what they are telling you?”


And to the angel of the church in Sardis write


          Jesus is the ultimate prince charming

          God is the only father you need

          It is your duty to love Him more than everyone and everything

          If your biological family doesn’t understand, then the church will become your new family


And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write


    “Why did you become a Christian?”


And to the angel of the church of Laodiceans write


          Somewhere a support stopped supporting or was never there
          Something was missing and she didn’t know what it was



          There are no words to describe what she is feeling
          But in the beginning was the Word


          Replace what you are feeling with the Word.
          Explain your life with interpretation, application of the Word.





To the angel of the Lord write:

                   
                                  “dangerous cultural rape”



IV.


Something is in the way of understanding.



He was clothed in a robe of blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

    “You didn’t deserve to be saved but Jesus saved you.”

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.



What are the symptoms of major depressive disorder?
         Do you constantly feel sad, irritable, or tense?
         
Have you experienced
                   Decreased interest or pleasure in your normal activities and hobbies?
                   Loss of energy, exhaustion despite being less active?
                   A change in appetite? Have you noticed weight loss or gain?
                   A change in sleeping patterns, difficulty sleep or sleeping more than usual?
                   Decreased ability to concentrate or even to make basic decisions?

         Do you have feelings of          

              worthlessness
                                                 
              hopelessness,
                                                           
              or guilt?


Have you had suicidal thoughts? Are you thinking of killing yourself right now?


         To the angel of the Lord write:
                   
                             The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you,
                        and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you,
                        and you shall find them no more at all.


V.


Something is in the way of understanding.


          “In all three passages dealing with the role of women in the church, a distinction is made between what they could do and what the men could do.  And in every case, creation order, never culture, is appealed to as the grounds for this distinction.”


      “ . . . I have suffered many things in a dream because of him.”


        “I dream every night, but I only dream two dreams.
          In one, it is the end of the world and I am trying to save my family as the earth is
          flooding.
          In the other, I am giving pleasure to myself.”


Something is in the way of understanding.


          This is a dream about desire
          This a dream about the desire
          To be happy, the desire
          To be worth something more
          Than another soul saved, more
          Than just another tally mark in the Book of Life.


Something is in the way of understanding.


         This is dream about desire.



Something is in the way of understanding.


This is the story of a dream about desire.

         Your word I have hidden in my heart,
         That I might not sin against You.

A dream about desire.

         I will not forget Your word.


Confronted with a world ordered by words
How can I respond, except with words disordered?
Dis-order the words that were ordered and paid for,
Ordered and arranged by professionals
On behalf of those who use words to order
And for preserving order.
What can be in my power,
Except dis-order?
To diss the order
To discover
The disorders.


For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to her the plagues that are written in this book;
and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take way her part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.


Something is in the way of understanding.

        What can be in my power?


                   Dream about desire.