ASHAMED TO DIE!

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity" Horace Mann

Educational reformer, Horace Mann, was so well known for the above statement that it was chiseled into his headstone upon his death—and the student body of Antioch College (where he served as the President) still recite it at each commencement ceremony.

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Mann's desire was that at the end of his life and his student's lives that they would feel confident in that they made some impact upon the world in which they lived. While Horace Mann was anything but a devout follower of the Lord Jesus—he certainly touched on something that we would all be well served to consider in this New Year.

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It is no secret what we are now up against today as followers of Christ. The condition of this world in every facet is in a steep moral decline—and sad to say—the Body of Christ has been satisfied with serving in a spectators role as it has happened.

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Go stand on any inner-city street corner and the chances of finding a battle-tested, heart-broken street preaching crying out for the lost souls of a generation is pretty slim.

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What you will find though are the drug dealers and gang-bangers devotedly selling their demonically fueled fix of drugs, and violence on the sin infested turf that has been long abandoned by churches looking for greener pastures and more desirable real estate.

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Go visit most any Christian secondary school or College and rather than finding a student body yearning for the deep truths of God's Word and weeping for revival to sweep their generation; You'll probably find the same self-indulgent, self-centered, sensuality infested environment offered by the world.

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Go sit in some of the most "successful" churches in America and you'll be hard pressed to find people craving the uncompromising, hard-hitting, Word of God as they soak the altars with their tears.

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What you'll find are coffee bars, flat screen televisions, wi-fi connections, and messages devoid of a call to repent that are neatly packaged and sold later for $29.95 in the lobby book store.

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Go listen to most conversations between professing believers, and rather than hearing the wailing of the intercessors or the encouragement of a word brought in season—–you'll hear an endless flow of critiques and criticisms as they shred other people's character and vomit out their self-willed and self-righteous opinions….all the while trying to dress it up as genuine concern!

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You may not personally be…
Standing on that street corner as it is being ravaged by the adversary.
Visiting that campus as Satan infiltrates and defiles our young people.
Sitting in that church as people draw near with their mouths while their hearts are far from Him. Or
Listening to that conversation that is sowing seeds of discord among the brethren.

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But you had better know this...Jesus is standing on every corner and visiting every Christian school and college, sitting in every Church, and listening in on every conversation.

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There is a fleshly rancidness where there should be a spiritual righteousness. There is the self-consuming lust, pride, and jealous where there should be the fear of the Lord and the endless crying out for the mercy of God to move in our midst! "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."

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The word "victory" s found (12) times in the Word of God. Six times the word is found in the Old Testament and six times it is found in the New Testament.

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That is one victory for each of the twelve Tribes of the Old Covenant and one victory for each of the twelve Apostles of the New Covenant!

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In each of the New Testament instances it is referring to the VICTORY that the genuine follower of the Lord Jesus will experience in the day we see Him face to face.

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Matthew 12:20 speaks of the day in which victory will carry the justice that the Lord will bring upon the nations at the end of this age.

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1 Corinthians 15:54 speaks of the victory which will be experienced what the Bride of Christ is snatched from this word and into the presence of the Lord.

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1 Corinthians 15:55 speaks of the victory that causes us to prevail over death itself!

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1 Corinthians 15:57 speaks of the victory that unites our testimony to that of Jesus so that they become intertwined and inseparable!

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1 John 5:4 speaks of the victory that promises that we'll eat from the tree of life and of the hidden manna; that we'll receive a pure white stone with our new name written on it, and that will be clothed in white raiment as we are given power over the nations!

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Revelation 15:2 speaks of the victory experienced by those who were ashamed to die until their life impacted humanity!

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Is that the type of VICTORY-PRODUCING life that you lived in the year of 2008? Is that the type of life that you are determined to live in 2009?

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If not—then you need to cease from all of the self-righteous gum-flapping and the dry-eyed, self-indulgent testimonies and fall on your face before a Holy and Righteous God and cry out for a life of true victory that is only realized through devout consecration.

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This world has seen more than enough of itself wrapped up to resemble the Church of Jesus Christ

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This world has tired of our religious lip service that only amounts to vain communication

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This world is looking for something or someone who will be "ashamed to die" until they have impacted their schools, churches, families, neighborhoods, jobs, cities and nations!

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This world is searching for someone who will fall on their face each and every day and beg God for just one more day to solidify their testimony so that they will never be ashamed!

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Will this New Year be another year of shameful excuses as to why we refused to obey the will of God for our lives or will it be our Year of Victory?

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Will this New Year be the year that His Body finally looks, acts, and talks like the one who has gotten us the victory through the Cross of Calvary?

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Psalm 25:2 "O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me."

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Lets live each day of this New year as though it is the day in which we will stand and give and account to God face to face—–unashamed