Before we study the fruit of the Spirit and into much more about our inheritance in the Promised Land, we must first prepare the ground for the seed so that it can bear fruit, which is what we have been doing for the last few weeks. The good soil for that seed is the church. Church life, with all of its blessings and problems, is required to not only bear fruit, but fruit that will remain.

Last week we began to study the one which Scripture refers to as the “man of sin,” or the “antichrist,” who is prophesied to come and dominate the world for a time. The “man of sin” is the personification of the sin of man. This is why the book of Revelation, which was given as “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1), contains so much about the antichrist.

This week we will continue our consideration of Ephesians 6:18:

Last week we looked at the critical truth that is revealed in Ephesians 4:4-6 about unity. In those verses we were not just called to unity, but told that we do have unity in Christ. If we are abiding in Him we will have unity with one another. How can a body be divided against itself? As we look at verses 7 and 8 in this chapter, we are given another crucial element of true church life:

In the first days of this new millennium, we stand at the threshold of some of the greatest challenges and possibilities that mankind has yet faced. Never has there been such darkness and delusion, or such light and truth. We are living in the fulfillment of Isaiah 60:1-2:

"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

"For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you.

We now begin an important part of our journey through the book of Ephesians. In the first two chapters the apostle Paul sowed the seeds of a glorious and expansive vision of what Christians are called to be. For the rest of the epistle he lays out a practical plan for how this is achieved. We continue our study now with Ephesians 3:1-6:

The signs are abundant that another “Great Awakening” is now being ignited in America. I have been prophesying this for twenty-two years, and I have to admit it is an amazing thing to watch it happen. We actually may be entering the greatest move of God in American history. I have also been given dreams in which I was shown possibly the greatest revival yet in church history coming to Cuba. Others will ignite in Europe, including what used to be communist Europe, and particularly Russia.

There are many ways that the church’s nature is going to change, and one of the most basic is that we will be taking on a military demeanor. We are called to be an army, and we will see the church become one of the most powerful, disciplined, and effective forces the world has ever known before the end of this age. As we have also covered, there are basic ways that we will be different from any human army because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We were sent to save lives, not take them—to set people free, not conquer them.  

         Three major thrusts are now taking place in the body of Christ. The first is unity, and this is making unprecedented possibilities unfold for the church. Those with faith seize possibilities. Those who live by fear instead of faith get left behind. On His last night on earth, Jesus prayed earnestly for the unity of His people. We can be sure that the prayer of the Son of God will be answered. The body of Christ will come into unity.

     Last week there was an article on AOL News about how an increasing number of Americans doubted that President Obama is a Christian, but rather believe that he is a Muslim. This has also been picked up by television news. Much of the media seems intent on establishing Obama as a Christian, but in the words of Shakespeare, I think he “doth protest too much.” The way the media and the White House are covering this, it is likely far more people are being persuaded that Obama is indeed a Muslim.