Take Heed!

We are warned.

We have to EXAMINE ourselves. We have to TAKE HEED to ourselves. We cannot not expect to simply live our lives in any old manner without any thought and still be God's. We might be able to tell ourselves we can personally care less about being proper, about being godly, about being acceptable to God, and many do feel this way but the truth is, the ABSOLUTE truth is, we'd better care.

We are cautioned.

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.

Watch ourselves because if we aren't watching, if we aren't examining, if we aren't taking heed to ourselves then there is a VERY real possibility that our hearts will be filled with all sorts of things that are ungodly, drawing us further from our Savior not closer to Him.

Do we surfeit?
Are we drunkards?
Could it be said that we are excessive worriers?

This seems to sum up a lot of people in the world- and our way of life.

Surfeiting- over indulgence. We are a country geared towards promoting over indulgence. I don't have to convince anyone who is reading this that this is true. I really do not have to go into any details because it's so well known.

Just this year a 'new study' showed that 1/3 of Americans are not just overweight, but obese. 1/3 of all the people in America! This is NO small number of people.

Surfeiting is popular, over indulging is very popular for many, many reasons and denying ourselves is incredibly unimportant. We feel this need inside us that tells us we have the right to indulge ourselves even to our own detriment. Overweight? Well, no, I don't like it, but there is medicine for a lot of the ailments that come along with being overweight so it's not too bad, right? A sad way to think but it's the mindset of many. Could it kill me? Sure, but I'll go out doing as I please not denying myself and that's what matters, right?

Drunkenness, do you imagine this should include our modern love affair with chemical drugs, recreational indulgences that alter our mindsets? I do. I really do. When a person gets drunk they alter the state of their mind, they CANNOT, absolutely CANNOT think straight, and recreational drugs are for the same purpose, yes?

What about worrying? We have a whole profession that deals with excessive worriers don't we? Psychologists have many, many patients obsessed with worrying. Doctors the world over give out many prescriptions for pills to make people worry less, so tell me does that say anything about the cares of this life and getting caught up in them?

This warning was NOT given to us lightly. We HAVE to take heed to ourselves that we aren't caught up in these very, very, very modern day, very, very, very applicable acts that will cause us to be UNAWARE of our Savior's soon coming.

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Rom 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
Rom 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

They serve their own belly- those who do NOT serve our Lord Jesus Christ! When we serve ourselves we are not following the will of our Savior, we just aren't and yet so many of us are so caught up in self-serving it's not funny.

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Php 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
Php 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

Enemies of the cross of Christ- those whose God is their belly!
Enemies of the cross of Christ- those whose glory is in their shame!
Enemies of the cross of Christ- those who mind earthly things!

There is in DESTRUCTION.

We HAVE to ask ourselves, every single one of us, what place does our belly hold in our life? Don't just shrug this off as being unimportant, please. Our bellies can very well be the focus of our every day life and they really shouldn't be. There is something to be said for finding a FEW well balanced, simple meals and sticking to just them, isn't there? Desiring obsessively to have variety, to find satisfaction and great pleasure in our every day meals isn't something we need to be doing. Yes, we can have our occasional special meals, but to make every day a special meal day has really gotten out of control and in truth our bellies have become our Gods. We've become overwhelmed with having to have the things we desire- just because we want them- we have a craving. Go into a grocery store and tell me that we aren't a nation obsessed with our bellies.

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Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.
Mat 24:37 And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
Mat 24:38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.

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Rom 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
Rom 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

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1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

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Luk 12:27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Luk 12:28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Luk 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

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Pro 23:19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
Pro 23:20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Pro 23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

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Php 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

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Pro 23:1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
Pro 23:2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
Pro 23:3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

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Psa 141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
Psa 141:4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.

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Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.


He said to ALL- that really does include you and I, it does and we can't think otherwise. If ANY MAN- if any person- if any one of mankind will FOLLOW Jesus- they HAVE to deny themselves!!!! And in denying themselves they are taking up a CROSS every single DAY!

It's true! It isn't meant to be EASY! I want to scream that because we are so caught up in things being easy, in things being wonderful because we want to focus on love and we have this image of love being something that makes us feel good. We shun anything that makes us feel bad. We honestly believe we aren't loved when we feel pain from someone. So here we are being told that we have to take up a CROSS, and taking up a CROSS it taking on a burden, it's taking on something that is heavy and painful to bear. And every one of us has to take up a cross and we do that when we deny ourselves, and we deny ourselves when we put our SAVIOR first and ourselves second. We have to read things like…

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.

And we have to understand that it is our everyday life that we have to watch and take heed to so that we don't get caught up in selfish SINFILLED desires that will take us further and further from a Savior who so wants to know us. He won't know us if we aren't close to Him, if He isn't our everything!

By the grace of God may we understand! While we are watching and praying for our Lord's soon return, we have to take heed to ourselves, we have to. The world Satan has control over has led the majority of people into his traps. We will be led into those same traps if we stop taking heed.

Please Lord keep us from those traps and help us learn to take heed so we are not caught up in Satan's snares.


By Your mercy! In Your righteousness! In Your PERFECT love!


Amen.