AWAKE THOU THAT SLEEPEST!

It is hard to deliver God’s mail, when you know it will cut to the heart of some. But, I guess I’ll have to go with what Paul said when he explained to the Corinthians that he, at first, regretted his initial letter to them(because he felt it was too harsh). But, when he saw it produced godly sorrow, which brought about repentance, he was glad he sent it. Beloved, I hope you see that my only initiative is repentant hearts ripe for redemption and restoration. Quite frankly, I do not know that this message is for all of you, but I have to be faithful to God and share His mail with as many as I can.

And another thing I must add is that this letter is only what God has been putting in me. I hope you know that I would not share this with you if it was my wisdom that produced it.

I would also like to invite any responses from any of you. Let me know how these messages make you feel.

AWAKE THOU THAT SLEEPEST…

Ephesians 5:1-21 says:

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”

The Church of Jesus Christ is asleep. O what a slumber we have fallen into. O, but how God will awaken us. I pray that we will awaken before His chastening. But, it’s coming beloved. If we do not repent His chastening is definitely coming. Revelation 3:19 says “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

How long will we stand and look the other way as thousands of babies are slaughtered everyday? How long will we continue in our lukewarmness? How long will we continue in our sin? How long will we trample the blood of the Christ with our meaningless confessions and commitments? We must remove our masks of righteousness and let our confessions become reality. We must crucify ourselves with Christ, and turn our commitments into total surrender.

We are not what we say, and our words are full of deceit. Our churches are full hypocrites who love to play patty cake with the world. Women come to church, dressed in a way that would have had them locked up a hundred years ago. Men come to church, having spent all night looking at pornography. Woe unto us! We are prostituting ourselves with the world and God hates it!! Enough! We must repent!

Stop doing that which God hates. Why do we listen to music that God hates. We listen to music that lifts up drugs and alcohol, murder and rape. God will not hold you guiltless if you do not heed his call to repentance. Put it away. You might say “It’s not that bad”. Well, then it’s just an outward expression of the wickedness in your heart.

Stop stealing music from the internet. And if you’ve quit, you had better destroy your stolen property. Why can’t we give it up? Because we love the world! And our hearts are full of so much pride that we would never admit we are wrong. We only give God that which we decide is bad. We have become our own gods.

Stop burning DVD’s from Netflix or Blockbuster Online. God hates that! It’s stealing! And your children are seeing your pitiful example. And, trust me, they will do, not only what you do, but worse. Remember this, sin always intensifies and extensifies. It grows and spreads. So, your children will start stealing. Their friends will do as they see, an so on. Next thing you know, your child will be calling you from jail.

We are to be the salt of the earth! The light of the world! So put away lying, stealing and hatred! Put away strife, envy and gossip! O beloved, we have all, like sheep gone astray! We have turned, everyone, to his own way! And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all! We are guilty of nailing Jesus to the cross. He died to set us free from our sins, yet we continue in them. Do we not realize that our Saviour is grieved over our sins. And, beloved, the horrible part that I must tell you is that it’s not your past sins He is so grieved over. If you’ve repented, He’s forgotten about those. It is your blatant continual sin. And it is going to send you straight to Hell if you don’t repent. Please repent beloved!

Wake up church! Wake up from your slumber! Thousands die everyday and walk off into eternity. We walk right by so many, everyday, that are so desperately searching for the answer. And we have the Answer beloved! But we just walk right by. Wake up Christians. To be a Christian is to be like Jesus Christ. We must serve the Lamb that laid down His life for us! Serve Him! He’s is calling us to be witnesses beloved! Put away your selfishness! Put away your greed and lust!

How are we any different from the world beloved? We aren’t. In fact we love the world. Therefore, we have made God are enemy. O that we could have eyes to see. O that we would wake up from our slumber! We stink with pride and slothfulness. We stink with lust and blasphemous tongues! We must repent. It’s the only way.

We lift our hands to God in worship and it’s an abomination. Why? Because our hands are full of blood. We can say we had a “peaceful” night or a “pleasant” vacation while babies are ripped from the womb. We say “Peace, peace when there is no peace”. How can our consciences be so seared? Have we no remorse? Have we no backbones? We simply don’t see it. You might say “Well, I pray for the end of abortion in America”. Really? Who are you praying to? Because, if you are physically able to intervene, and praying to the God of the Bible, He is bidding you to get out of the church and take this fight to the gates of Hell. And the gates of Hell cannot prevail when the Church of Jesus Christ confronts them. If you are truly praying for the end of abortion, you are tuning out the answer to your prayers. God is calling His people to do something. The problem is that it might cost us something. No, beloved, it will cost us more than something. It will cost us everything. Everything beloved. All we have strived so hard to build. But, we must tear it all down, beloved. We must tear down all of our selfish ambitions. O God, open our eyes!

It’s simple beloved. We must die. We must give Him everything. Absolutely everything. And nothing less.

In Christian love,
Adam Tennant

RAISE UP AN ARMY!

Hello beloved,

There is a Jason Upton song, called ‘Lion of Judah’, that my church recently started doing. I’ve always liked this song a lot. In fact, I’ve always been fascinated with any biblical reference to lions. The lion, in biblical times, stood for power and victory. When I think of Jesus, as the Lion of Judah, I think of His great power and judgment. Then, when I think of Jesus as the Lamb of God, I think of His great mercy; how He willingly became the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is both of these. Don’t forget that. A lot of Christians have forgotten about the Judgment of God and focus primarily on his grace and mercy.

Anyway, I am writing to you today about a section of this song that really got me thinking. Near the end, it says “raise up an army like Joel saw”. That helped me put together some thoughts I have been having about this younger generation. I am speaking mainly of boys, since that is whom I spend time with. In fact, my eyes have been opened to something that I see as a gift from God. The gift is this: they have an inner desire to fight. This is because it is man’s responsibility to go to battle. Joel 3:9 says “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:”

Two weekends ago, I went on a Purity Retreat with the boys of my church. They came up with this ridiculous game called ‘Manhunt’. The gist is that they divide up into two teams, one team will hide and the other team will look for the ones hiding. When they find someone hiding they beat each other with sticks. I’m not kidding. I thought it was odd. Yet, the more I watched them, the more sense it made.

You should have seen the preparation that they went through in getting ready for battle. Each one would find the choicest piece of wood and shave it into a weapon. To me, they didn’t look like much more than sticks, but I could see they were much more in the eyes of these young soldiers. I could see that, in their eyes, they were wielding a mighty sword. I saw their desire to be a soldier. Joel 3:10 says “Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.”

I believe this to be in the heart of every young man. They want to fight.

Another place I saw this, recently, is in video games. Several of these boys made commitments to give up their video games to strengthen their walk with God. However, when they got home, their parents would not let them get rid of them. (How ridiculous!) Well, I thought that they should still be able to give up the games and just not play them, but most were unable to do it. Why not? I couldn’t understand why they were so drawn to these video games. Then it hit me. The main game they were playing is called Halo 3. I used to play Halo, and I know what it’s about…war. This game is just another way for these kids to be warriors. There is a major problem with this though.

An Xbox will not teach our sons to be men of God. Playing ‘Manhunt’ will not teach our sons to become men of God. Fathers must teach our sons to become men of God. Ephesians 6:4 says “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the fathers of these children are not good fathers. I’m not saying that, if your son plays Xbox, you’re a bad father. What I am saying(and with no regret) is that your responsibility, as a father, is to teach him to become that man of God he is called to be. Take that Xbox controller out of his hand and teach him to wield the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Tell him that it is time for him to become a man. Tell him that, in becoming a man, he must put away childish things. We must teach them to put on the full armor of God. And that, as soldiers, they can’t meddle with the affairs of the world. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 says “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.” We’ve got to raise up soldiers that won’t get caught up in the things of this world. We must raise up soldiers that have one desire – to please their heavenly Father.

This might sound hasty, but I have to call it like it is. Men need to be men. Fathers need to be fathers. Unfortunately, this generation of boys is being raised by their mothers, for the most part. Now, you cannot deny that what I am saying is true. There are many problems with this. One problem is that when boys want to go to battle, mothers try to protect them, in fear that they might get hurt. Fathers take them out to battle, showing them how to fight. That is why it is so important that fathers bring their sons to the front lines. I think of a man that comes to the abortion clinic almost every Saturday with his son. He is teaching that boy how to be a man.

So, when our boys want to fight, we buy them an Xbox. Now, I’m not saying that video games are evil. But, if your child is playing that video game until 3:00 am, there is a problem. You need to teach him the Word of God. If he doesn’t feel like reading his bible, make him.

Now, I know I am being harsh on video games. But, that is just what got me thinking all of this. You can apply it to almost anything. I think sports are far better than video games, for children to be involved in. They definitely help with physical exercise, which is severely lacking in our youths. But, sports too, can become a bad thing.

Their are many boys that have more pressure to practice there batting stance than they do to read their bibles. Any young person that knows me, knows that I am constantly asking them if they have been reading their bibles. I just can’t understand why they say no, when I know that they have spent hours that week practicing sports. The problem is that their fathers will praise them more for getting a base hit then they will for reading their bibles. And they will get onto them more for striking out then they will for not reading their bibles. That’s backwards! I see grown athletes, everyday, act like children. Why? Because their fathers were more concerned in teaching them how to hold a bat, as opposed to wielding the Sword of the Spirit.

So, fathers, you can take this for what it is. It’s a call to repentance. Malachi 4:6 says “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” So, beloved, it’s time to become that father that God has called you to be.

I hope that this letter will be taken as an encouragement. Sometimes we have to be reminded of the priorities in our lives. If you are a husband and father, you’re number one priority is serving God. Number two is your wife. Then, your children. And, men, it is your responsibility to teach your wives and your children the Word of God.

So, be encouraged beloved.

In Christian love,
Adam Tennant

IF MY PEOPLE…

10/11/07

Hello beloved,

We are in a drought. A bad drought. So, what can we do? Is there anything we can do? We all know that God sends the rain. In fact, He sends it on the just and the unjust. So, why is He not sending us rain? I would find it hard to say that all droughts are sent by God as judgments. I am not saying that now either. The fact is, I don’t know if this particular drought is a judgment of Almighty God. But, my guess is that it is. You might say “Well, they’ve been getting plenty of rain in the midwest”. Yes, they have. It’s called flooding. Another possible, medial judgment of Almighty God. You could say that about Hurricanes, fires, etc., but, the fact is, we don’t know if they are judgments or not. At least, we won’t know until we, first, examine ourselves.

That’s right, beloved. You want an answer for a drought. Instead of praying for rain, pray that God will reveal your sin to you. David did it in Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” David set a great example for us. Another great example for us is how our Pilgrim forefathers responded to adversity.

I’ll try to break this story down for you. This happened in the summer of 1623. The Pilgrims had, for the first time, planted corn, individually, on their private lots. Basically, whatever you plant is yours. Up to this point, they had always planted as a colony and everyone shared. Well, much more was planted that year, but a serious drought came upon them. In fact, it didn’t rain for twelve weeks in a row. Even the Indians couldn’t remember a drought this bad. The crops were wilting, as were there spirits. Their joy from the abundant planting had turned to mourning, as they watched their crops dying. They were helpless. Or were they? Was there anything they could do?

Listen to the words of Edward Winslow:

“Now were our hopes overthrown, and we discouraged, our joy turned to mourning…because God, which hitherto had been our only shield and supporter, now seemed in His anger to arm Himself against us. And who can withstand the fierceness of His wrath?”

This is key, beloved. They not only realized that God controlled the weather. They immediately assumed that He was angry with them. And, realizing that, they decided to find out what it was they did. Winslow continues:

“These and the like considerations moved not only every good man privately to enter into examination with his own estate between God and his conscience, and so to humiliation before Him, but also to humble ourselves together before the Lord by fasting and prayer. To that end, a day was appointed by public authority, and set apart from all other employments.”

Did you hear that, beloved? They, first, examined themselves, and then prayed and fasted. And are any of us so holy that, if we do truly examine ourselves, we won’t find something that we need to repent from. I doubt it. And neither were the Pilgrams, who, if we measured ourselves against, we would fall far short of. This godly people walked in the scriptures. That is how they knew to, first, examine themselves before praying that God would send the rain. Then, after true repentance, they would fast and pray. Then, God would hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. Sound familiar? 2 Chronicles 7:14 says “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” I know that I repeat that verse a lot in my writings. But, if you ever truly dig into the scriptures, you will find that it is repeated throughout the entire Bible. Read 2 Chronicles 6 and you will see the foundation for this verse being thoroughly laid out, preparing us for 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Now, what was it they had done? Well, they merely relied on themselves more than God. By planting so much corn; more than they could eat, they lost site of God. They became greedy with the amount they planted. Now, to us, this seems like nothing. How often do we ask God to do something for us and then we go and incrementally do it ourselves. We rarely endure the hardships that, often times, are part of God bringing us victory in whatever situation we are in. But anyway, they found that this was the sin they committed that likely angered God to send a drought upon them. It was, basically, God saying “You can plant all the crops you want, but I control the harvest.” When they discovered this, the Pilgrims repented. Then they humbled themselves, through fasting and prayer.

So, they examined themselves, repented, humbled themselves and prayed. What do you think God did? Is not God always faithful to His Word? Amen, beloved. He sent the rain. That’s right. The sincere and deep repentance of each and every Pilgrim had a phenomenal effect. Listen to Winslow as he explains what God did:

“But, O the mercy of our God, who was as ready to hear, as we were to ask! For though in the morning, when we assembled together, the heavens were as clear and the drought as like to continue as it ever was, yet (our exercise continuing some eight or nine hours) before our departure, the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered on all sides. On the next morning distilled such soft, sweet and moderate showers of rain, continuing some fourteen days[!] and mixed with such seasonable weather, as it was hard to say whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived, such was the bounty and goodness of our God!”

So, beloved, let this drought we are in bring you to examine yourselves. We, not only, should examine our own lives, but, as a nation we should examine ourselves and repent. As a community and church, we should repent. What of? How about the shedding of innocent blood in the womb. Over 1 million babies slaughtered through abortion every year, yet we want to pray for rain. Do we not know that Isaiah 1:15 says “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.” That’s right, beloved. Our hands are full of blood. The only way to have them cleansed is if we, as individuals and as a church, repent. We must repent of our sluggardness and realize that all of our sacrifices are in vain if our hands are full of blood. Please don’t shrug this off. Are our minds so desensitized, that we shrug off the murder of innocent children?

Abortion is a sin that the church is responsible for. But, it is not all that angers God. We are giving in to the homosexual agenda. This vile and detestable community has, slowly but surely, taken a foothold in our government, schools, media and, now beloved, our churches. Our churches are giving in and ordaining homosexuals. They are saying that you can be a homosexual and still be a Christian. What an abomination! 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” When are we, as the church of Jesus Christ, going to say “Enough is enough!” When are the men of God going to stand up? When are we going to repent?

Another thing that God holds against his church is our worshipping many Gods. Most noteworthy, we have allowed Islam to infiltrate our government, schools, media and churches. Even Christian congregations are being told, from the pulpit, that all religions pray to the same god. Blasphemy! Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth , and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” We’ve got to root out all of the wolves in sheep’s clothing! The men of God need to stand up. The prophets need to rise and say “Enough is enough!” We need to repent. As individuals, as a church, and as a nation. We need to repent!

So, beloved. You’ve heard it. It’s the truth. Now, what will you do?

In Christian love,
Adam Tennant

COMPROMISE

Hello beloved,

I come to you tonight in somewhat of a troubled spirit. You see, I’ve been battling all day whether or not I sometimes take things too far. One word has been haunting me today. I can’t seem to shake it. COMPROMISE. How far is too far? Beloved, we have to make up our minds where to draw the line, beforehand. And we should draw the line with the Word of God. Don’t budge an inch.

I hope you all know that these letters I write to you are always for the purpose of encouragement, correction and, ultimately, redemption. I only hope that you can apply these truths to your life. But don’t take my word for it. Be as the Bereans were. Go, and see if what I say lines up with God’s Word. I hope that you will correct me if you find me in error.

So, now that all of that is out of the way, I need to get something off of my chest. I am tired of seeing so much compromise in the modern day church. We look nothing like the church of the book of Acts. There were two people that came to my mind when I was meditating on this today: Esau and Micah. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, while Micah for ten shekels and a shirt. And we have done the exact same thing. We allow the devil to do as he pleases in fear that we might be disliked if we stand up to him. Satan is on an offensive attack. So must we be. We must not be sold.

I need to share with you something that has transpired in my life recently. It is actually the very thing that has prompted me to write this. To give you a little background, I need to tell you that I am a screen print artist. My primary objective at work is to oversee all of the screen print separations that leave the Art Department and that all of the shirts print correctly. So, if artwork comes in from a third party, it is my responsibility to output the films and oversee the production of the shirt.

Well, in this profession, I have had to stand several times. The first was against alcoholic t-shirts(costing me my job), the second against a bar promoting alcohol, and the most recent was kind of tricky. While the first two were blatantly sinful, I looked at the third as not that big of a deal, at first. How wrong I was.

“JESUS WAS BLACK.” I was supposed to print a shirt that said “JESUS WAS BLACK” on it. Unfortunately, I did not, at first, see the blatant stab against Jesus Christ that this is. Not only is this a lie. Not only is this an attempt to see if I will compromise. Not only is this breaking the Third Commandment. This, beloved, is attempting to prostitute our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Let me tell you Who Jesus is: He is Almighty! He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End! He is Faithful and True! He is the Good Shepherd! He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Lamb of God. He is Life. He is the Lord of Glory. He is not your scheme to make a dollar. He is not mocked. His Name is not to be blasphemed. He is not your whore! He is God! So, are we going to stand when the enemy comes in like a flood to see how far he can push us?! Are we going to stand, that His Name is not blasphemed?! I can’t say it any better than to quote Psalm 24:7-10.

” Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.”

So, are we going to stand? Or will we be like Esau and sell our birthright for a mess of pottage? I know that I have made up my mind. I’m gonna stand, no matter the consequence. Are there consequences? You better believe their are, but Jesus Christ is worthy. He was nailed to a cross so that we might be saved. In fact, we nailed Him to the cross. So, all He did for us…The least we can do is die for Him if necessary. It’s surrender, beloved. It’s denying yourselves, taking up your cross and following Him. And, trust me beloved, it gets no easier along the way. As soon as you stand up, and think that you have done something(which you have), you’ll come to another fork in the road. Will you take the easy way and just print the alcoholic t-shirt, avoiding any conflict? Or will you stand and say that “Light has no fellowship with darkness! Jesus Christ has done way too much for me that I should go and promote the kingdom of darkness. No, I’ve come to tear down the high places, not build them up!”

Well, I’ve gotta go beloved. I pray that you are put in paths such as these. Where you are given the opportunity to stand or compromise. Just remember, James 1:2-3 says “My brethren, count it all joy whenever you fall into diverse temptations. For the trying of your faith worketh patience.” It sure is tempting to go on the easy road. But, remember this too beloved, that road is wide and easy, yes, but it leadeth to destruction…

Be encouraged beloved. Stand.

In Christian love,
Adam Tennant

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Hello beloved,

I have attached a photo that my Pastor spoke about Sunday night. It is a complete mockery to Jesus Christ. It is a blasphemous depiction of the last supper. The bread and wine, depicting Christ’s broken body and blood have been replaced with the vilest of sex toys.

You see, often times, the homosexual community is looked upon as victims; as a kind and loving community who just want to be accepted. Let me tell you something, beloved, they are not any of those things. They are a vile community. They are a stench in the nostrils of God. While they might view themselves as victims, they are on the offensive. They are enemies of Christ. And, unless they repent, they will all go straight to hell. That is where we come in.

But, yet again, who is to blame for this? I’ll tell you. The church of Jesus Christ is to blame. We should always examine ourselves first. You might say to me “No way”, but I would say to you that judgment always begins in the House of God. We have allowed this “movement” to take over the media, government, our schools and, now, even our churches. When we have stood, we have been called hate-filled bigots, and our response has largely been silence. When we tell a homosexual that he/she is in sin, it is not hate speech, beloved. It is love. Leviticus 19:17 says “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.” If you do not rebuke the homosexual, you will bear sin because of him. And, quite frankly, if you do not warn him that his sin will commit him to the fires of hell, you truly do hate him in your heart.

Hopefully, the photo I have attached will anger you enough to take a stand. We are on the verge of the hate crimes bill being passed. As soon as we have a new president, it will be passed. Then, those that do stand will be thrown in jail for quoting Leviticus 18:22. We live in a world that is completely hostile to the gospel. But, remember what the Lord said in John 7:7, that “the world cannot hate you, but me it hateth because I testify of it. That the works thereof are evil.” It is not you that the world hates. It’s the Jesus in you. And the Jesus in you hates sin and must testify of what sin is.

So, beloved, look at this picture and meditate on it. This is an offensive attack to the cross of Christ.

But what will you do, beloved? What will you do?

In Christian love,
Adam Tennant