Sunday, June 26, 2011

Do You Dwell On The Earth? Then take heed.

Stupid question? Well, maybe but guess what there is SNARE that is coming to all that dwell on earth, every last single human being. What sort of snare? The sort that will keep you from eternal life in Christ. Sounds fictional and fanatical? I didn't write it, Jesus did.


Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.


For context maybe we need to read a bit more.


Luk 21:8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
Luk 21:9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
Luk 21:10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
Luk 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Luk 21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
Luk 21:13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
Luk 21:14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
Luk 21:15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Luk 21:16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
Luk 21:17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
Luk 21:18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Luk 21:21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
Luk 21:22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luk 21:23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
Luk 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Luk 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Luk 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Luk 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Luk 21:29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
Luk 21:30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
Luk 21:31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
Luk 21:32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
Luk 21:33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.


Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.


How is that for context?


Wait, how can this be? Jesus said it all way back then to His disciples. Jesus said all He said then to ALL of us right up until the end of time and if we don't believe this then we've got a huge problem starting with salvation.


We are to TAKE heed to ourselves. We aren't to look at others and take heed to them, but take heed to ourselves. We can control what we do, but not what another does, right? Right.


We are taking heed to ourselves - watching ourselves- lest at ANY TIME our HEARTS are overcharged with surfeiting- excess, fullness, bloating, over indulgence, lest at ANY TIME our HEARTS be overcharged with drunkenness, lest at ANY TIME our hearts be overcharged with cares of this life.


These THREE things can entrap us, can be a snare for us. These THREE things can cause the day of Salvation to come upon us unaware. These THREE things are so insidious they trap us for who? Whose snare is being set? Someone has to lay the trap for there to even be one, right? A trap, a snare, isn't put in place unless someone is hunting for something, right? Seriously. Would I lay a snare down to trap something if I didn't want to trap *that* particular something? Would the snare suddenly be there without anyone at all putting it there? No. Snares are put in place by a person wanting to entrap something. So this ALL encompassing snare that has the potential to ensnare ALL that dwell on the face of the whole earth, who put it there?


A snare is… anything that traps or entangles someone or something unaware. It's to capture by trickery.


Someone wants to trick all the inhabitants of the whole earth. Someone wants to trap every human being in existence. Who?


Who is invested in people NOT obtaining salvation in Christ? Who has a stake in people NOT spending eternity with Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior? Someone does. Someone wants this and someone has worked exceedingly long and hard setting up His snare.


2Ti 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.


Recover out of the SNARE of the DEVIL- WHO are taken CAPTIVE by HIM at HIS will.


The devil wants us! The Devil has laid a snare for us!


The Devil lays the snare that will come upon all who are on earth. All of us. Every single one of us will has the potential to be ensnared and the ONLY thing that will stop this from happening is if we TAKE HEED TO OURSELVES.


People don't like to take heed to themselves. People LOVE living in excess, living beyond their means, living extravagantly, even poor people love living this way and don't think they don't. They'll take their money and believe they have to spend it selfishly because hey, you only live once. I'm not saying all people do this, not by a long shot. But over all we are raised to be self-centered by our society. Our society tells us we aren't happy unless we have *things* lots of things, various things, things everyone has. What household doesn't have a television? Very, very few. What household doesn't have a computer? Again, very, very few. What household doesn't have some sort of entertainment be it radio, mp3 player, Ipod, books- yes, books. Not all books are of God- not by a LONG shot! We like to be able to take our minds off things, to unwind, to de-stress, to just do what we please at least for a portion of our day. Is this wrong? We've convinced ourselves it isn't wrong so it would do no good whatsoever for me to say otherwise. People live for their weekends, their vacations, their retirements, believing that is what all their hard work is for- the time off to enjoy all that they've earned. Enjoyment has become the thing we seek above all else, feeling that sensation of pleasure in food, drink, play. Self-gratification.


Taking heed that we are NOT overcharged with self indulgence. But not only that… taking heed that we are NOT overcharged with the cares of this life.


We are a world of neurotics, aren't we? We are a world of worriers, yes? We are a world of obsessing people. We are a world of medicating people who love to drug ourselves senseless so we don't feel, so we don't overly care, so we don't have to worry -- why, because the CARES OF THIS LIFE have taken over us. We are overcharged with the cares of this life. So maybe you don't drink, and maybe you're not obsessed with self-indulgence, but perhaps you are caught up with the cares of this life. What do you think? Do you think, as I do, that the majority of people can fit into one or more of these categories? Let's be honest with ourselves, really, really honest, no matter how much the East rants and raves about the West being capitalistic and self-absorbed- the East is just the same. The names might be changed but the people are the same everywhere. While there is ranting and raving on both sides the unfortunate truth is self-centeredness is something we all need to take heed to.


Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.


We have to watch and pray always!


We can only escape all the things that will come to pass and stand before our Savior - if we take HEED to ourselves.


I don't think we take enough heed to ourselves, we need to take a lot more heed, a lot more!!! And most of all we need to WATCH and PRAY always!


Watch ourselves- be honest with ourselves- and pray, pray, pray to be accounted worthy- in Christ! Worthy through Him to escape!


By His grace! By His mercy may we be His completely and totally. May we take heed to ourselves without any pretenses whatsoever. In His LOVE!


Amen.

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