(Clip) Marks of a Remnant

Cyrus, king of Persia, invited all the Jews that had been assimilated in Babylon for 70 years to go on up to the land. But the majority of the Jews adapted to the way of the Babylonians. They went to their idolatry and they sought after the easy life in Babylon. Cyrus declared, who is there among you? Let him go up. Every generation has had the spirit of God stirring up a remnant. God has always had a remnant from cover to cover in this book. When I talk about a remnant, I talk about a people wholly devoted to Jesus Christ, who are walking in his righteousness, who have been detached from this world, wholly given to the heart of Christ. And the Lord has always had a remnant. At the end of the land, Judah is in ruin, there's famine. The temple, the once glorious temple is leveled to the ground. The walls are gone, the wells are dry. Total ruin. And can you just hear some of them say, we have been delivered from Babylon for this? There comes a time you have to get your eyes off the ruin and get your eyes on what God's eternal purpose is. But there comes a time you can't just preach about the ruins. You have to get out of that, quit talking about it, quit thinking about it, and get into the heart of Jesus about what he wants to do in building a new body. A true church of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. You know, they looked around and they began to dig and start to come back to the house of God and think of God's purpose for them. First thing they do is to build an altar in the midst of all the rubbish and the ruin. Now remember, the land is full of violence, robbers and thieves hiding everywhere. There are ominous threats on all sides. There's a 3, verse 3. And they set up the altar upon his bases, or the foundation, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries. And they offered burnt offerings thereunto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and night. There was something happened. These people had been busy doing their own thing. And God says, no, I want to do something corporately. I want to do something with the body. And he put it in their heart, all of them, to return to the city of Jerusalem. And they came from all of their settlements and they gathered here in Jerusalem now. And they set up the altar for fear was upon them because of the people. Drop everything and get to the altar with the power of the Holy Ghost. Drop everything and get to the altar. Now, the altar, you know, represents the place where the Lord's presence is manifested. It's the assembly of true believers who corporately say, I give my body to you as a living sacrifice. Beloved, God cannot reach his eternal purpose if everybody's going out doing his own thing and not seeing the connection one with another. Those who have the same mind of Christ. He's trying to bring a people together who think the same way in Christ, who speak the same language, and it's all Christ. He's building a people on that. And he couldn't do anything. It continued to lie in ruins until they all came and there was a cry in their heart. Drop everything, get to the altar. God's not looking at buildings, per se, physical buildings. He's looking at these bodies of ours. But when we get together with a true people who have a heart set on the Lord, they're tired of hype and entertainment and foolishness, and they want God to cleanse them and sanctify them. And they believe God's word that it's possible to live an overcoming life in these last days amidst all the ruin. But you see, it'll never happen until there's an attachment to this altar, until there's a willingness to build this altar. The surest evidence of being a part of the Holy Remnant in this last day, the surest evidence is this urgency to drop everything and go with God's people to the altar. This is the whole body. This is the altar. This is where the Lord's presence is manifesting. He manifests through holy people, separated people. He manifests His presence. What is the body of Jesus? It's you, it's me. We are the body of Christ and He's the head. We are the visible body of Christ on this. The only Christ anybody's going to see is what there is in you and me. It's the reflection of Jesus in us. We reflect His glory. Another distinguishing mark of the Holy Remnant is a growing desire to worship, to truly worship. And it's that growing desire of people just to sit in His presence and worship. That's the distinguishing mark of a Remnant people. They have this desire to worship. They don't want to come and just be spoon-fed. They don't want to be entertained. They want to worship. They love the Word. And they tremble at it, but they want to lift their hands and their heart. And they truly are worshipers. The Remnant are worshipers. True worshipers.