Here are the notes I took from Dr. Jack Graham’s 13 August 2006 Sunday morning message at Prestonwood Baptist Church. As you can tell I was most interested his his Scripture selection. He made points about the nations turning against Israel – which I agree with. I think the most important thing he said in beginning this message was, “Be very careful not to ram current headlines into Scripture.” He focal text was: Zechariah 11:1-6; 12:2,3,10; 13:1
1Open your doors, O Lebanon, That a fire may feed on your cedars. 2Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, Because the glorious trees have been destroyed; Wail, O oaks of Bashan, For the impenetrable forest has come down. 3There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail, For their glory is ruined; There is a sound of the young lions’ roar, For the pride of the Jordan is ruined. 4Thus says the LORD my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter. 5″Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6″For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD; “but behold, I will cause the men to fall, each into another’s power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver them from their power.” (Zechariah 11:1-6)
2″Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.
3″It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.
10″I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:2,3,10)1″In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity. (Zechariah 13:1)
Be very careful not to ram current headlines into Scripture.
Romans 13:11
Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.
The Scripture tells us that Lebanon will be part of the last days.
Genesis 12:3
And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
(personal note: Paul’s discussion of True Israel)
Ezekiel 36:10-12
10′I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt. 11′I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly and will treat you better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am the LORD. 12′Yes, I will cause men–My people Israel–to walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their inheritance and never again bereave them of children.’
When you see these signs in the Middle East, look up.
1 Thes 4:13-18
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
The question that remains is, “are you ready?”
