Not appointed to wrath, but to salvation

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

We are not all automatically born to death. The wrath of God leads to eternal death.

Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

We are all automatically born given the chance to choose the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior so we can find salvation in Him who died for us. Not a single person is left without the chance to choose. You might want to bring up the mentally incapacitated or the young, but I'm talking about those who reach the age of maturity according to the Lord whatever that may be for each individual, and those who are not mental handicapped. We all will have the choice.  What about those who never learn of Jesus but live in such a way as they never come in contact with His word? It is God's will that all have the chance, but should there be those who by circumstances do not- just as with little children and the mentally disabled  - then God will judge them according to all the knowledge they do possess. God knows our hearts.

The truth is it doesn't matter whether we are living when our Savior comes again, or if we are dead. If we are HIS, if He is our Savior, we will ALL eventually live with Him.  We truly do need to comfort each other, helping each other to grow in grace and knowledge of God.

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

We all will have the chance to be His, to choose salvation over eternal death.  By the grace of God we will do this, we will accept our LORD'S gift of salvation.  It won't be forced upon anyone at all.

We know how stupid it is to pass up great opportunities, don't we? We all have regrets for passing up chances to enhance our lives, don't we? We look back and wish we'd done things a little differently and such. If we pass up the chance to choose eternal life by living for our God, by choosing HIS plan of salvation, if we pass that up for any reason at all whatsoever it truly will be the biggest regret for those who realize too late that they passed up such an amazing and very real gift.

By the grace of God we WILL NOT pass up His Gift!
By the grace of God we WILL comfort ourselves together, helping each other grow closer and closer to Jesus, our LORD and SAVIOR.

All by HIS WILL, HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY!

Are you a child of darkness or a child of light?

1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Joh 12:36  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.

Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light

Children of light and children of darkness. It sounds like some good versus evil story doesn't it?  Perhaps it could be, or already is a title of a movie or a book somewhere. It doesn't really matter if there is a fictional movie or book about this, but it does matter that there is a non-fiction book about this very subject. Ultimately good vs. evil is the reality we live in right now.  Good vs. evil is what the Bible is all about. Good vs. evil is a choice we ALL have to make. You, right now are either a child of light or a child of darkness.

You are apart of this story.  There is no getting out of it, no rejecting the script.  No choice- but the choice to choose which side you want to be on. We do get that choice, we just don't get the choice as to whether or not we have to choose. There is no sitting this out.

You are a child of the light or you are a child of the dark.

Unfortunately we live in a day and age where being a child of the dark is something to be desired. Having a bad reputation is no bother at all, in fact it gives you more standing among your peers and such. Being a child of the dark and having a worldly successful life is something people long for. We truly live in a world where we are calling evil - good.

The night is far spent…
The day is at hand…
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness…
And let us put on the armor of light.

The works of darkness surround us on every side. There isn't a single facet of our lives that isn't affected by darkness. The darkness is trying to steal the light from all our lives and in every single way it can.

Cast OFF the works of darkness.  This is an action to be performed. A casting off.  You have to have something on in order to cast it off, right? The works of darkness in all their sneaky subtle ways will try and infiltrate our lives until they become a part of us, so much a part of us we cannot imagine ever living without them.  We will feel the weight of our works of darkness ONLY if we get closer to the light. Light exposes the things that are hidden in darkness, things  clothed by darkness. When something is made up of darkness when light touches it, it can no longer be completely dark, right? There is not a cave, not an ocean deep, not a single place in outer space that cannot be touched by light. Light can be brought to the darkest sea bottom- even remotely, mechanically.  You can sink a light in the deepest hole if you desired. And once that light is near that darkness that perhaps has NEVER been touched by light before, not ever, it will be changed, forever altered. Dispelling the darkness from our lives means being a child of the light. We HAVE to cast off the works of darkness, there is NO doubt about that. If you think for a moment you haven't any works of darkness to cast off then PRAISE GOD! You are truly living wholly, fully in the LIGHT of our Savior!  You are wearing the armor of LIGHT.

We need that armor on us but we have to be willing to cast of the works of darkness that encumber us hindering the armor from fitting to us perfectly.

You are a child of light or a child of darkness and the night is far spent… the day is at hand.

By the grace of God we will be CHILDREN of LIGHT!
Lord help us to cast off the works of darkness that would engulf us and steal all Your light from our lives. Please LORD, by YOUR mercy and grace, through YOUR love, help us, save us, because we cannot save ourselves.

All in YOU, always!

Hope of Salvation

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Thief in the night.
How does a thief come in the night?
As a surprise.
It's very rare for any thief to NOT be a surprise. The only way that happens is if people are suspecting a thief and prepare, but as a rule a thief comes in the middle of the night and it's a surprise, not announced.

Our Savior WILL return, but we don't know the day or the hour.

Those who do not believe the LORD is going to return and return with the reward having judged us all- dead and living- we'll be shocked. 

So many people do claim peace and safety all the time, you hear it everywhere. They want peace and safety in a world that is ruled by Satan. They believe there can be peace and safety in this world controlled by the Devil, and they are WRONG.  Our Savior is going to return and people everywhere will be stunned. 

1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Sudden destruction will come upon billions of people because they don't know Jesus as their Savior, they don't want Jesus to be their Savior, they aren't KNOWN by Jesus as being His.

1Th 5:4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

We cannot SLEEP. We cannot be caught off guard. We HAVE to be among those who watch in the night, protecting our eternal life as a guard would protect physical property in an area where they know it's likely for a thief to steal into their houses and rob them.  We are of the DAY. We are children of the LIGHT.  We are NOT children of darkness who cannot see, who cannot know, who will sleep and they will be robbed of their eternal life and it'll be their OWN fault!

1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

We have to have on the breastplate of FAITH.
We have to have on the breastplate of LOVE.
We have to wear the helmet of the HOPE of SALVATION.

The hope has to be REAL in us, REAL to us! Not some haphazard thought of a possible occurrence.  Do you wake up each day hoping today will be the day? Do you even think about Jesus coming ? Is it a thought you keep foremost in your mind?  How would life be different if we did keep that thought in our minds always? Seriously.  Our Savior is going to return! This is a reality and we must live by this reality even as we go about our day to day life. 

Every generation has to live with this as a reality, all the way back to those Apostles who lived after Jesus died, after He ascended to heaven.  They lived with the hope of His return for them and we TOO must live with that same hope.

We must be SOBER- fully aware of the facts we live with.
We must seriously put on these SPIRITUAL items- this is the recognition of our true SPIRITUAL life.
A breastplate or LOVE and FAITH.  Our lives covered with this, our hearts protected by these very spiritual things.
A helmet of that hope of Salvation. It protects our heads, our brains, our thoughts and this is a REALITY!

So many people tell others that they shouldn't live in a fantasy world, and this ISN'T a fantasy world! It's a real SPIRITUAL world that exists that we MUST be a part of if we want to have that HOPE of eternal life with our SPIRIT God.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

This is TRUTH!

Truth we MUST live by as children of the LIGHT.

The LIGHT our Savior!

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

God's Truth, God's Word Undefiled!

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

There IS hope.
There IS an eventual life after death.

Those who die in Jesus- God WILL bring with Him, and those who are alive when the Lord comes again cannot stop those who have died in Jesus from living again.

We have hope.

We all have hope, but only in Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR.

We cannot wake ourselves from death's sleep.
And we cannot wake up anyone else from death's sleep.
Yes, back in the days of the apostles there were miracles of bring the dead back to life, but it wasn't a wide scale practice. Not everyone that died was brought back, it was at the Lord's discretion, for His purpose.

Too many people believe their loved ones are already alive and watching them, waiting for them, standing by on another plane of existence able to see everything going on down here on earth.

Some swear that those who they believe are too horrific to gain heaven are suffering in a fire pit, endlessly suffering, always to suffer.  Our God is TOO just to ever arrange things this way, but people have twisted His word to suit their purposes, they've taken His parables and turned them into fact when in truth they are only meant to serve as a tale depicting a situation whose meaning has been veiled and meant truly only for those who really have eyes and want to see the truth of God not blinded by Satan's deceptions that are so perfected they will deceive ALL but God's very elect.

I've spoken on this before and I feel the need to speak on it again because just recently there was a death in my extended family. So many people want to find selfish comfort in believing their loved ones are still alive. I say selfish comfort because they are using this belief to pacify themselves, their grief, when the truth is we are supposed to feel the harshness of death. We are supposed to comprehend that death brings a finale to our lives. That finale is the end of our chance to choose to live for God. No one after death has that choice- to choose salvation in Christ or not to choose it. That choice is gone forever and every death needs to remind us of that fact, because if we aren't reminded of it by death and we pull the fictional snuggle blanket of continuing life right after death, and our loved ones- simply because they were good and we love them, and they are family, must deserve heaven- well, we are going to be in for a huge eternally deadly shock later on.

I'm not belittling anyone's sorrow! It is a very real, very raw process to grieve the loss of a loved one. There is comfort to be found in the knowledge they are sleeping death's sleep.

There is great comfort in this--

Ecc 9:5  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

The dead know not any thing.

Why in the world do people WANT their deceased loved ones to see all their pain and heartache? Why?! Yet, millions, billions want just that! They want them looking down on them as if our pain and heartaches are so important that our dead loved ones must suffer with us and offer us their unseen comfort while we pretend to feel it because it makes us feel better knowing we're sharing our agonies with someone, someone who loves us and cares for us. I say pretend but the truth is, Satan has GREAT power. We don't want to believe that fact either, but Satan has amazing powers and abilities, and so do his evil angels- those that fell with him from heaven.  These beings exist every bit as much as God exists- we can't believe one without the other. Satan and his angels know everything there is to know about us and he uses it all to deceive us at every opportunity. So if he allows an evil spirit (angel) to make someone feel the invisible comfort from a dead loved one it's all to his delight, all serving HIS purpose to deceive.

The word of God tells us that when Christ comes again the dead that are found in Him will rise.

They will RISE!

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

They will RISE!

So answer me this-  what are they rising from if they're already living in some wonderful existence with God in heaven? Seriously, what could this possibly mean other than the dead in Christ are NOT risen yet, and won't rise until He returns for them.

We are to comfort one another with THESE words, not the words of false belief, not the words of heaven realized immediately after dying, they aren't true!

A friend of mine wrote a wonderful message today and in it she emphasize just how short our time here on earth is and how we need to realize that every breath we take is one breath closer to our end.

There is so much truth in this, realizing that our lives NOW matter. We choose NOW whom we are going to serve- God or Satan. As soon as we die we no longer have that choice, and for most people there is no opportunity to even have a thought before they are suddenly gone. We have to have our house- our lives- in order NOW.  God wants us to be His, to LOVE Him, to know Him and be known by Him and we can do this through HIS word, studying, reading, praying, living a life that makes God a real entity in our existence, a real force. The Holy Spirit will guide us but we have to choose to be led by Him, He'll NEVER force Himself on us, never.

We are given so much LOVING instruction in the word of God, so much! We need to make it real and we need to make it REAL now, not some other time at a later date.

We aren't going to find peace in this world, Jesus didn't come to bring peace to this world- His words, not mine.

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

What is the sword He's brought instead of peace?

Eph 6:17  ... and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

HIS WORD! HIS TRUTH UNDEFILED!

All by HIS GRACE, HIS MERCY, HIS LOVE, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, HIS FORGIVENESS! HIS SANCTIFICATION! HIS HOLINESS!

Study to be quiet & Hope in death

Th 4:11  And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
1Th 4:12  That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.


Strive, labor, study-- to be quiet.

All too often we are caught up in babbling, aren't we? Talking but really saying nothing. Sure it might seem like we are saying an awful lot and probably about a lot of things, but seriously, how often are we talking about God and God's way, about Jesus and His way, about salvation and eternal life? How often? Could someone accuse you of speaking to much about God? We go day in and day out talking to others but unless religion is our actual profession, how much of that talking is about eternal matters? We really do have a lot to say about nothing, don't we? And when I say nothing I mean nothing that is of any real consequence when it is measured to eternity.  When we spend a lot of time not being quiet, and not doing our own business but minding the business of others we have no reason to be minding then we are not doing God's work. God would have us support ourselves as much as we are able to, not relying others to support us as we meddle in their business.  Do some people make a habit, a living out of meddling and mooching? Sure, but that isn't God's way at all, that isn't walking honestly, that isn't  revealing God to those around you, it's revealing something sinister.

Christians aren't truly God's followers if they follow a corrupted path. I can claim to be a Christian, a Christ believer, a Christ follower, but I'm not really one at all if I do not live as Christ commands.  If I live in a manner that if far from Christ's, how can I say I am His? I could, but it'd be a lie.  The truth is God would have us look inward at our own faults before we ever meddle in another's.  God would have us be givers, not takers, not users.  I'm not saying there is never a need to accept the help of others, but that should be the exception to the rule.  I'm also not saying there aren't people who have to be dependent upon others because of physical or mental infirmities, but those who are fully capable of living otherwise yet choose to spend their life purposefully being bothersome, meddlesome, relying on others to provide for them are not following God's will. 

Truly we lack nothing if we strive to do our own business, quietly, humbly, working to provide for ourselves and not to be a burden on others.

1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

We aren't to be ignorant about those who sleep.  He's not talking about sleep-sleep, that much is very obvious. You don't sorrow over someone sleeping. It's another way of saying- dead. Remember Jesus telling His disciples that Lazarus was sleeping? He had to explain that He meant  dead, not sleeping as in a good night's sleep, or a healing sleep.  Paul hear is telling those in Thessalonica that he doesn't want them to be ignorant, he wants them to know the truth about death. Unlike the popular belief today that we go right to the next world-heaven or hell- upon death these people we under the belief that death was just the end, that everything ended there, you were in the grave where you rotted into dust and then were nothing, finished completely, no hope for anything further.  Most of us who have lost loved ones can't stand the thought that death truly means the end of it all- hence the misconception that we immediately switch to another plane of existence.  It's natural not to want to lose someone close to us, it's natural to want to hope for something more for them. But unless we believe there is a life after death of some sort there is absolutely no hope, right?

Listen to what Paul had to say--

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

There is hope.
There is an eventual life after death.

Those who die in Jesus will God bring with Him, and those who are alive when the Lord comes again cannot stop those who have died in Jesus from living again. 

We have hope.

We all have hope, but only in Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR. We cannot wake ourselves from death's sleep and we cannot wake up anyone else from death's sleep.  Yes, back in the days of the apostles there were miracles of bring the dead back to life, but it wasn't a wide scale practice. Not everyone that died was brought back, it was at the Lord's discretion, for His purpose.

More on this tomorrow all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!

All in HIS love!

God has called us to holiness

1Th 4:6  That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
1Th 4:7  For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

Defrauding someone.  We live in a world where defrauding people is extremely commonplace. In fact we like to pat each other on the back when we get away with cheating someone or cheating the 'system'. We think it's wonderful when we can get ahead 'creatively tweaking' the rules to do so. We've made it an art to be able to get into the system and then sneak around it. Daily you hear about such defrauding and it no longer shocks us.  So many sins no longer shock us. Defrauding someone is a sin and yet we barely flinch at it. Our own government which was originally put in place to protect the every day non-political person from tyranny and such has excused huge corporations for their fraud, they've slapped them on the wrists and sent them to the corner for awhile, but real sweeping punishment is elusive. The government itself is filled with those who defraud others. This is a sad, sad world we live in and those who would follow Christ won't defraud others and they won't approve of others doing so either.

The LORD avenges those who are defrauded, the LORD'S wrath will punish the unrepentant sinner for every sin, even those we have labeled acceptable in today's world.

We are NOT called to uncleanness.  We are not called to be impure in our lives in any way. We ARE called to holiness.

So why then do we fill our lives with so much that is geared towards promoting impurity in us and those around us? Why do we excuse impurity? Why do we call impurity good and harmless? Why? 

Why can't we realize we are called to holiness? Why can't this be real to us?  It's real to some people, but to the majority they wouldn't know where to begin even imagining a call to holiness, true holiness found in Christ and NOT themselves. There are a lot of people who believe they are called to egotistical greatness, and some even seem to obtain the greatness they are striving for, but it's a worldly, unclean greatness and it's far from holy.

We are called to holiness, we are called to be Christ's, to live for Christ who was pure in all things, holy in all things.

1Th 4:8  He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

When we reject the call to holiness, when we despise the truth and the goodness found in a true love for one another, a true love that would never have us defrauding one another- when we do these things we are despising GOD, we are rejecting GOD. We might think we are only behaving on a superficial level that doesn't affect our relationship with God, but the truth is, every time we hurt one another in ANY way we are hurting our God.  God who has given us His HOLY SPIRIT, that Holy Spirit is despised when we shun God's truths and sin willfully, knowingly, desiring to encourage the uncleanness in our lives.  Is it any wonder Satan has control of the majority of people? Too many refuse the truth that is found in our Savior, preferring their own brand of truths that accommodate their many, many sins.

1Th 4:9  But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
1Th 4:10  And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

We are taught of GOD to LOVE ONE ANOTHER- no one should have to teach us this because GOD has taught us. We cannot stop loving one another at the church door, at the door to the family home, we cannot stop loving one another and loving more and more every day.  We cannot ever get to a point where we can say that's enough, I've loved enough people, I can't love any more.  Maybe your resources and how you reveal that love might disappear, but taking away all material things you can still choose to love someone even if it's only by praying for them, by feeling compassion, by giving a kind word, a tiny smile, by letting your heart feel.

We can never stop loving, but rather we need our love to increase more and more. By the grace of God alone this is possible. Through the Holy Spirit alone are we able to do this. It is CHRIST'S love that we have to give and our Savior has an endless supply of love for those who desire to be loved by Him.

Please LORD, please help us as we live in this sin-sick world. Don't let us become immune to the sinfulness of sin. Don't let us ever call evil good, and good evil. Please LORD help us to love one another more and more, help us Lord to love YOU as you would have us love you in holiness and not uncleanness.

Please Lord help us, save us.

All praise, all glory, all honor unto You LORD, always!

The will of God

1Th 4:1  Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to PLEASE GOD, so ye would abound more and more.
1Th 4:2  For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
1Th 4:3  For this is the WILL OF GOD, even your SANCTIFICATION, that ye should abstain from FORNICATION...

Webster's Definition--

'Fornication
FORNICA'TION, n. [L. fornicatio.]

1. The incontinence or lewdness of unmarried persons, male or female; also, the criminal conversation of a married man with an unmarried woman.

2. Adultery. Mat 5.

3. Incest. 1 Cor 5.

4. Idolatry; a forsaking of the true God, and worshipping of idols. 2 Chr 21. Rev 19.'


1Th 4:4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5  Not in the lust of CONSUPISCENCE, even as the Gentiles which know not God

CONSUPISCENCE-

'For Christians, concupiscence refers to what they understand as the orientation, inclination or innate tendency of human beings to long for fleshly appetites, often associated with a desire to do things which are proscribed.'

Pasted from

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ABSTAIN-  meaning do NOT do.

FORNICATION'S various meanings…

Do NOT have sexual contact if you're not married.
Do NOT have sexual contact if married with someone unmarried.
Do NOT have sexual contact with someone who is married, unless you are married to them.
Do NOT have sexual contact with your relatives.
Do NOT commit idolatry.
Do NOT forsake GOD.
Do NOT worship idols- false gods.

What does sexual contact represent?  The PHYSICAL, self-serving, self-pleasure seeking desires, lusts that are very real for people. These physical desires can seem overwhelming, right? Most people have experienced them, most adults know what it means to have sexual desires.

We are told by Paul -

1Co 7:2  Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
1Co 7:3  Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
1Co 7:4  The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
1Co 7:5  Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
1Co 7:6  But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
1Co 7:7  For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
1Co 7:8  I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
1Co 7:9  But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.


To avoid fornication we are to marry.  To avoid getting caught up in  that self-serving, self-pleasure seeking we are to marry.

Why is it wrong to indulge in sexual activity outside of marriage?

Marriage is a symbol of God and His Church- the Bride and the Bridegroom. 

When man was made he was created alone without a counterpart, but then God realized it wasn't good for man to be alone. God wasn't a flesh creature and he wanted the creatures that we were to know a oneness that would truly symbolize the joy in being one with God. Man lost that ability to understand the oneness of God when sin entered the world and self became more important than God, than others. The oneness they now could experience could be pleasurable but nothing on the scale of sinless oneness.  The oneness would be perverted into self-serving, self-pleasing.

God created mankind for a reason, we are HIS, we are to WORSHIP Him, we are HIS, we belong to HIM. Without God we are not whole, we were made only to be whole in GOD.  The Bridegroom and the Bride- two becoming one.

God created man and woman symbolic of God and mankind.

This amazing symbolic oneness is so seldom seen for what it truly is, and is mostly, almost exclusively known for self-gratification- even self-gratification in being able to give pleasure to another making you feel proud of yourself for that ability. Sex became self-serving. When a person truly comprehends the sanctity of sexual contact then and only then can they begin to comprehend why succumbing to the desire for sexual contact outside of an established union made under a covenant before God is so abhorrent to God.

The oneness it symbolizes- the Bridegroom and the Bride- God and His church(His people)- is so incredibly important we can hardly understand. 

When we fornicate it symbolically represents our choosing self over God. We are choosing to separate ourselves from God when we fornicate. But how many people actually realize this? How many people even care as long as their quest for pleasure is being satisfied? So what if it's a symbol, that's all nonsense isn't it? That's all fairy tales and crazy thinking, right? It's become that because Satan doesn't want us to think there is anything more to sex than the pleasure it brings- to give and to get. And he doesn't want us to deny ourselves any pleasure, right?

Why aren't we to fornicate? Because fornicating is truly separating ourselves from God and His love.

Yes, we feel physical desires and in their proper context, in their proper union, in their proper commitment, before God, those desires are good things.

When we are drawn away of our own LUST and that LUST is conceived, the act committed to fully, we sin- we separate ourselves from God.  If we do NOT repent and find forgiveness in our Savior who alone can bridge the gap of that separation, we will only find in the end eternal death.

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

*

1Th 4:4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5  Not in the lust of CONSUPISCENCE, even as the Gentiles which know not God

We need to know how to possess ourselves in sanctification and honor- living towards the holiness of God as God has revealed to us over and over.

We must not live in the lust of trying to fulfill our flesh desires, and many, many do, day after day they live only to please themselves and their desires in the many, many forms they take.  Those who do NOT worship God, those who do not care to worship God, those who choose to live to self, those who choose to live to false gods will be caught up in the lusts of the flesh.  Don't let people confuse you either- many will seem godly when inside they are rotten to the core- God knows, God knows it all.

The men who were supposed to be the godly men of Jesus' day were told this by Jesus--

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

They were like whited sepulchres - beautiful on the outside!

But inside they were FULL of dead men's bones!

People will often appear to be godly, but they aren't. We can't judge them though, we just have to realize that God is the judge and know that we have only ourselves to deal with and our own actions before God. The reason I even bring the fact up that there are those who appear godly but aren't is because even those who are supposedly celibate- having no sexual contact with others- could be caught up in something else deadly. It's keeping ourselves from any and all things that would take us from God, that would separate us from God no matter what it is!

Please Lord help us to comprehend, help us to understand all we need to understand. Please Lord let the Holy Spirit guide us into full knowledge of Your truths and lead us Lord, lead us in YOUR way everlasting. Keep us from our selfishness in ALL its forms! Help us to be more and more like You, all through the grace and LOVE of Your Son Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR!

The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another

1Th 3:9  For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
1Th 3:10  Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
1Th 3:11  Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
1Th 3:12  And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
1Th 3:13  To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

The LORD MAKE YOU to INCREASE and ABOUND in LOVE ONE TOWARD ANOTHER--
To the END HE MAY STABLISH YOUR HEARTS UNBLAMEABLE in HOLINESS BEFORE GOD, EVEN OUR FATHER at the COMING of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST with all HIS SAINTS.

The Lord MAKE you to INCREASE and ABOUND in LOVE towards each other.

Do you think people lack love for one another? Real love? I'm not talking about the 'being in love' love, but LOVE, general love for one another, do you think people lack this? I know I think they do because I know I'm not anywhere near as loving to others as I believe I should be.

Love.

Love is God. God is Love.

Love is SELFLESS.

Are we in general selfless?  No.

Love is caring and kind.

Are we in general caring and kind? No.

We are indifferent and self-serving. We exist and think that our goals whatever they may be- going to the store, going to work, going to school, going for a walk, whatever it is we might do we do it with the intention of being able to without any hassle, without any bother. We get it in our heads how things are supposed to be and then when things don't turn out that way- you get a flat tire, you wake up sick to your stomach, you get extra homework, you find construction being done on a sidewalk- things happen and we take it as a personal affront, it's so easy to do. When others call us to help them we might do so, but is it truly with happiness or simply out of a sense of obligation. When you say the words- 'Happy to help.' Are you really happy to be helping? When someone asks you to do things that interfere with your ability to do the things that you have planned- whatever they are, even if they are just relaxing- do you resent their asking? Why are we like this? Why are we so indifferent and self-serving?

We believe we exist to please ourselves. We believe we exist to make our lives as easy and unencumbered as possible. We lack love, we lack REAL love, the selfless love.

Is it any wonder that the Apostle told this in Thessalonica that it was His desire that the Lord MAKE you to INCREASE and ABOUND in love towards one another?

We NEED to increase and abound in love towards one another, we need this so desperately. We need the LORD to MAKE us increase and abound in love toward one another.  We need this from the Lord because the natural man, the flesh that seems to rule us, rebels against such love. We need to love and to do so with God's love- a selfless love, a true love.

1Th 3:13  To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

We need our hearts established.
We need our hearts to be unblameable.
We need our hearts to be in holiness.

We need our hearts to be made new, to be made clean so that we may stand before God at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. 

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently

We need our Lord Jesus Christ in us, we need HIS righteousness, we need HIS love, we need the Holy Spirit to be with us as we seek our Savior and to live as He would have us live-  loving one another.

All by the grace of God and only by the grace of God is this possible!

Please Lord, make us to love one another, establish our hearts unblameable in holiness before God the Father at Your coming with all Your saints!


All in You LORD, all in YOU!

Perfect that which is lacking in your faith

1Th 3:9  For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
1Th 3:10  Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

The apostle and Christ's disciples wanted to see these people in Thessalonica and yet Satan hindered them.  They sent another to see them and when the person returned and brought good news to those who were hindered, they were pleased. Then this question was asked-

For what thanks can we render to God again for you? For all the joy wherewith  we joy for your sakes before our god. Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith.

Paul and the others were thanking God for those in Thessalonica. They were joyous for those in Thessalonica.  Night and day they prayed exceedingly - desiring to see them again. Why? Why did they want to see them again? So that they might PERFECT that which is LACKING in their FAITH.

Faith is NOT a stagnant thing.  Just as we can lose faith in each other, and just as we can gain faith in each other- the same holds true for our faith in God. Faith is the substance of things hoped for without any evidence of their existing. When I have faith in another human being I am trusting in them, I am counting on them to be what I believe them to be. When they fail to hold up to that belief I have, I lose faith in them.  Now with God we have to holdfast to our faith, our belief, and we have to do so EVEN when all the things around us seem to scream that our faith is misplaced, that God isn't what we have faith in Him to be.  It is SO incredibly easy to lose faith in God because Satan will stop at nothing to undermine our belief that God is holy, just, and good, faithful, and true to His every word. It is SATAN who tries to tempt us away from our faith in God. He'll do all sorts of things to chip at it, or if it meets his desired end sometimes he doesn't chip, but takes an axe to our faith and tries to destroy it in one fell swoop. Seriously, he'll do whatever works and he's not beyond chipping and hacking both if that's what it takes. 

Just imagine you have a loved one who has asked you to trust them, to have faith in them and so you do. Then in comes several people each of whom give you reason after reason not to put any faith in that loved one. How easy it is once that seed of doubt is planted for it to grow. You start watching your loved one differently, you look for things that would prove the things those other people have told you. You lose that faith bit by bit because of that doubt.  You know this is possible, you know how true something like this can be.  How often have you been given an opinion of someone before you meet them and then you meet them and you LOOK to prove that opinion rather than form your own without bias. Situations, people, things all shape our faith in each other and we know how easy it is to lose faith in each other.

Just imagine someone whose sole purpose for existing seems to be to besmirch someone, how intense would that person be in doing so? They'd try everything and anything. Each person that had contact with that other person they'd meet and study, they'd want to know the best way to approach that person. They couldn't approach all the people in the same way but would need to take time, place, circumstances into consideration. Some people are more gullible than others, aren't they? Some are more obtuse than others. Some are hard to sway, they're very stubborn in their opinions. Each person would get a tailor made attack plan so that the person who lives to demean that other can do so each and every time, at every opportunity.

Satan lives to attack our faith in God, he hates God with a passion we can scarcely fathom.  He'll do everything and anything to destroy even the smallest true bit of faith a person might have in God.  So when Paul and the others desire to 'perfect the faith' other followers newer to the faith might have is it any wonder they want to them to be grounded deeply in God so that Satan can't woo them away with his seemingly endless ways of destruction.


More on this tomorrow, all by the grace of God!

In His amazing love!

1Th 3:11  Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
1Th 3:12  And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
1Th 3:13  To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Sent to know your faith

1Th 3:3  That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
1Th 3:4  For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
1Th 3:5  For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

We are appointed to afflictions.
We will suffer tribulations.

These are facts. The followers of Christ do NOT walk an easy path and if they think they should they haven't read their Bibles. 

Men get it in their head that things ought to be peaceful and wonderful, everyone should get along here and now on earth but our LORD even says this--

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

How do those who cry out for peace explain that verse and the following?

Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

We are NOT going to have it easy, yet many of us do, don't we? Many of us live peaceful lives for the most part and aren't experiencing tribulations.  But we are only a small minority in a huge world and in that huge world there are many countries where being a follower of Christ is very dangerous and anything but peaceful.  Because we aren't personally touched by this we live in a bubble that keeps us from realizing fully that the words of Christ then are still relevant to us today.

When Paul was writing to those who had heard the gospel and had become followers of Christ, born again unto our Savior, He wanted them to know that things wouldn't be easy, and they weren't.

1Th 3:3  That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
1Th 3:4  For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
1Th 3:5  For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

He was worried that Satan would sneak in and steal away those who wanted to be Christ's. The tempter- tempting you.  That's what He does best. Satan will tempt us with all sorts of things, in fact anything he can tempt us with in order to steal our faith away. We have to help others who face the tempter, and pray for help for ourselves, because we aren't immune to the trials and tribulations, the temptations that will come and have come to man since sin entered the world.

By the grace of God may we keep our FAITH.  Please LORD, help us, save us, keep us!

Satan hindered us

1Th 2:17  But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
1Th 2:18  Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
1Th 2:19  For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20  For ye are our glory and joy.

But SATAN hindered us.

Was Satan real to the Apostles? Undoubtedly.

Did Satan personally reveal himself to the Apostles and stand in their way, preventing them from getting to those in Thessalonica? I doubt it. But Satan manipulates circumstances using those who are His- both human and fallen angel.  There is a being, an angelic being, albeit fallen, that exists and he is not a fairy tale baddie.   He is real and he confronted Jesus face to face upon earth in the wilderness. Remember?

Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6  And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Mat 4:7  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Does this sound like a fake figment of someone's imagination? If you believe that then you obviously cannot believe in God or Jesus. 

Satan is real.  Jesus was REALLY tempted. He was SPOKEN to by the tempter, He was TAKEN by the devil- physically taken and SET on a pinnacle of the temple. He was then TAKEN physically by devil to an EXCEEDING HIGH MOUNTAIN and then given a VISION by the devil.

This was real and Satan is real. Jesus believed this, He knew Satan from the beginning when Lucifer the son of the morning was created an angel and He knew when Lucifer's heart was lifted up.

Eze 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness

Jesus knew this fallen angel, the father of sin, the created being who chose to disobey, the being who turned his back on love and let self serving begin.  Jesus knew Satan, before He - Jesus -set aside His divinity and took on human flesh becoming Emmanuel, God with us- the Son of God in human form. Jesus knew Satan because Satan was the reason for His consenting to take on humanity. Jesus had to make that ULTIMATE sacrifice because Lucifer sinned.  So, yes, the DEVIL, SATAN, SERPENT, ACCUSER, EVIL ONE, is REAL, a real being, a real entity.

Jesus could come face to face with Him because Satan couldn't trick Jesus, he couldn't deceive Jesus in any way at all. 

Why doesn't Satan appear to us? Because He knows that revealing His true self to us would drive us straight into the arms of our Savior. Satan knows that as long as he keeps up his great façade that people will fall under his deceptive spell. Remember, He didn't appear as himself in the garden of Eden when tempting Eve to sin, he took on the form of a serpent.  Do you suppose if he had confronted her in his angelic form she might have questioned right off why he was speaking contrary to God? That just seeing him would have instilled further in her the need to keep close to God, to obey God?

If Satan appeared to us in his angelic form he could transform himself into an angel of light, right? So it wouldn't be so entirely awful, but there again, it's him TRANSFORMING himself.  If he has to transform himself into something beautiful it stands to reason that he no longer possesses that beautiful form he once held in heaven as one of God's covering cherubim's.

As an angel he can appear invisibly, or take on other forms, we know this, these are facts. With these facts at our disposal why don't we live as if Satan and one-third of the heavenly angels that fell with him are real? Why? Why do we insist upon living as if all the evil in the world is simply that of man's creation and instigation? Why have we regulated Satan's activities as being man's and only man's? Why have we changed the real fact of demon possession into man's madness? Why have we taken all the soothsayers, the witches, the astrologers and  regulated them as mere human kooks? All these things that very real have been twisted into fairy tales and fantasy, and even been made to be desirable, when in truth they are evil and of Satan.  People will tell you they believe in psychics and then go on to say how wonderful they are, honest and loving. Are they telling you the truth, yes. Because we've been conditioned to believe that evil is good, all under Satan's guiding hand. If you try to call evil- evil then you are the one who ends up appearing evil. Picking on that harmless, wonderful, tender hearted, kind, giving, loving person by calling their special gift evil, why that makes you the big baddie.  Do you see how Satan has deceived people and the majority of society? He wants a lot of his minions to be loving, seemingly even God-fearing if it helps, kind, wonderful, the most caring ever, the most selfless people, because if he has them right where he wants them it keeps up the illusion that his evil is good.

When Paul wrote- 'Satan hindered us.'   he meant it! He meant that Satan literally had a hand in keeping them from going to these people. Why didn't He say, it wasn't God's will that we see you at this time? Because Paul knew that the things that were taking place to keep them from visiting were of the evil one.  We can say it still wasn't God's will or it would have happened, but it wasn't God's will that evil exist and it isn't His will that the results of evil are so horrific. We could go all the way back to the beginning if need be and talk about the power of choice being the revelation of love but most of you who have followed my blog know this already, for those of you who haven't followed my blog, well it's all in there.

It's not God's will that innocent children die.  He allows things to happen because to do otherwise is to take the power of choice from existence and that's something He cannot do. We have to trust that all the evil that affects the truly innocent will be ultimately punished in the day of God's wrath.  Do we get to comprehend everything? No, not right now. We see through a glass darkly and everyone knows that looking into a dark glass you can only see so much. But one day we'll see clearly.

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I do know that Satan hindered Paul, as Satan hinders many, many people today- the majority in fact and he does so through masterful deception. All but God's very elect will be deceived. We must pray unceasingly that we are among His elect by HIS amazing grace, by HIS righteousness.  When Satan is hindering us from doing God's work, may our eyes be opened to the reality of the evil One and the power he possesses and wants to use against us, and in seeing this may we fix our eyes upon Jesus getting ever closer to our Savior.

1Th 2:19  For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20  For ye are our glory and joy.

Our hope is to be in the presence of our LORD JESUS CHRIST at HIS coming!
Our hope is for all those we pray for and witness to, will also be in the presence of the LORD JESUS CHRIST at HIS coming as well!
It was Christ's hope, His joy, His glory, His rejoicing that we should be HIS and this is our hope that all are HIS. We can hope, we must hope, and leave the judging to the Righteous Judges- Jesus Christ, and God the Father in heaven.

All by HIS LOVE! His amazing love!

Followers of Christ Jesus

1Th 2:14  For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
1Th 2:15  Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
1Th 2:16  Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

The Jewish people who practice their religion will not dispute the fact that their history proves their rejection of their own prophets.  Go ahead and read their history. They tormented their prophets. They turned their backs on their prophets and over and over they were called by those prophets to repentance. Time and time again they did NOT heed the call to repent and they received the punish for that failure. Were there times when they listened and were spared? Yes.  But the facts are the facts and their history proves that they as a people rejected many of their prophets. So, if that fact is true and something they won't dispute why do they dispute their rejection and their murder of the Lord Jesus? Maybe it's more a rejection of His being the Son of God, of His being God with God, of His being the innocent Lamb. As long as they do not recognize the Sonship and innocence, the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus they don't have to feel guilt for the crime they committed.  Or maybe it's because they had the Romans do their dirty work they feel that their hands are clean. There are many maybes but the facts are the facts, undisputable.  Do we blame the Jewish people today for the crime committed 2000 years ago? We shouldn't, not anymore than we should blame the white people today for their ancestors practicing black slavery.  We shouldn't, not anymore than we should blame all Germans today for their ancestors slaughter of the Jews.  Each and every guilty person will face God in judgment and by the grace of Jesus they will have repented, but if not, they will be punished then for their crimes, their sins. Yet, when this word was written it was still very fresh in the minds of the Christians, the guilt of those who rejected the Savior.  Why was it so fresh? Because all of the Apostles were Jews themselves. They were of those who rejected the Lord Jesus, but they chose to continue on into the new light of the Savior's arrival, the Messiah realized.  This doesn't mean that a lot of their former friends and even family members didn't rejected the truth.

They separated themselves from those they used to worship with and this was a very real happenstance, this is HISTORY.

Reread the above verses-

1Th 2:14  For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
1Th 2:15  Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
1Th 2:16  Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

Those who accepted the truth of Jews and then of Gentiles will be SAVED.  But those who opposed the truth and tried their utmost to keep others from it will receive the justified wrath of God.

Today we must believe in the TRUTH.
Today the world is filled with LIES.

If any are seeking the truth and meet opposition from others the story will be the same, the very true, the very real story and it won't have a happy ending. 

We cannot stand in the way of truth.

We cannot let others keep us from the truth either.

Many will try to keep us from the truth, maybe not as violently as they do in some countries around the world, but they will.  Many will hold up their false beliefs and demand that we accept them as truth and they'll do it all the while not claiming to be as the Jews and others who deny Christ, but they'll do in in Christ's name.

Narrow is the way, few will find it.

Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

You aren't going to stand with the majority, you can't, not if you are truly following the truth of our Savior.

We have to beware of those today who call themselves spiritual Jews, they too have become corrupt. Not all of those claiming to be spiritual Jews will be God's, anymore than those who are Jews claiming to be God's people are His, when they don't even believe in His Holy Son.

May God keep us in HIS TRUTH no matter what, no matter who!

All by HIS GRACE, all by HIS LOVE!

The Word of God, not the word of men

1Th 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

The word of men and the word of God.

How many people believe the word men?  A lot. We have authorities on everything there is to be an authority on. We have theories proven and unproven and we have people who believe them all just on the say so of the authority of man. If a person says they are an authority on a subject and then reveals document after document, degree after degree proving they've studied all there was to study on that subject, others believe them. They've studied, they've been rewarded for their studying by receiving documents and a lot of them receive a title as well, a doctorate. They can call themselves a doctor of the subject they've intensely studied and mastered the knowledge of.  We get one of these people in our presence and they expound upon the subject they know so much about and we believe the things they are saying. Why wouldn't we believe them? They are learned men or women and have done something we have not, and know so much more than we do. They have the authority now to speak as a knowing one. We don't possess the authority and so we cannot speak as one with that authority. 

Now here we have the apostles who are THANKING God without ceasing- why? Because the people have received the word of God. The people have HEARD the apostles speak but did NOT receive the word of men but the word of GOD. They did not receive the word as being the apostles words, they took the words that they were given and believed them as the WORD of GOD- which is the TRUTH. The WORD of GOD can work effectively in a person when they truly believe the word is GOD'S and not MAN'S.

When you are called to spread the Word of God, to give the gospel to others, you are NOT called to expound on YOUR knowledge.  You are NOT to give YOUR words.  We are not to speak to others in order to have them marvel at our expertise on the Bible. We are to give them the TRUTH in God's Word. The life of the Words. We are giving them GOD'S WORD and He alone is the AUTHORITY on HIS Word, His truths.  We might be charged to speak the words that God has given to us through the Holy Spirit, but we are to never claim those words belong to us.

We don't want people to believe in the Word of God by saying …so and so told me what they believe and now I believe.  We want people to believe in the Word of God by saying I believe what I've been told because it is God's truth, it's a truth that can stand on its own even if the very same person who told me about the Word of God suddenly denies it all.   The Word of God is truth and NOTHING changes that, our belief or unbelief does NOT alter the word of God, it remains.  

Man's words are not filled with truth. You can take a man's words from a hundred years ago and show where they were wrong, their theories disproved in light of another man's more modern theory.  Yet so many people believed everything that man said a hundred years ago and would stake their lives on his words being truth.  We like to call it- truth for the time- meaning it's alterable if time changes things. Yet God's word is NOT truth for a time, it's truth for ever and will never be disproven, never.

Men can try to tear it apart into a million pieces and try to stick their own truths into it but it will remain forever unchanged GOD'S WORD, on GOD'S authority!

1Th 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

People can believe what they want to believe, that's where the freedom of choice comes into play. You can whip someone into submission. You can torture them into acting how you want them to act. You can brainwash a person, we all know this is possible. You can try to and sometimes succeed in taking the power of choice over what a person believes away from them, but ultimately it's that freedom inside each of us to have the thoughts we choose to have that NO ONE can take from us. I don't want to force anyone to believe in anything I have to say, not a single thing. If a person is going to believe in the Word of God it has to be because they believe it truly is GOD'S WORD and not man's. The conviction of God's Word as TRUTH for all is the only conviction we need.  God's truth.  God's Word.

Do we truly believe God's word is of God and not man?  We have to, it is TRUTH.

Believing in the power behind the Word given by God is what will effectively work in us.

There is power in God's word because it has the authority of God Himself, our CREATOR, our REDEEMER, our LOVE, our LIFE ETERNAL.

We must believe in God's Word, not in the men who  preach their own words. A true man of God will guide others to God and God's Word -not to themselves and their words.

May we always and forever believe in the Word of GOD in all His Power, all His Authority!

In HIS LOVE!

Walk worthy of God

1Th 2:7  But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:
1Th 2:8  So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
1Th 2:9  For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
1Th 2:10  Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
1Th 2:11  As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,
1Th 2:12  That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

Gentle- not forceful, not overbearing, not demanding- but gentle, this is how the apostles preached the gospel to people. Were they adamant, perhaps at times. They didn't sugar-coat the truth, they didn't beat people down and sit on them to shove it down their throat. They preached with LOVE, just as JESUS did.

They labored, the travailed as they preached the gospel- their desire for people to KNOW the truth was a deep desire, not something superficial. Their hearts were in their work. They didn't want a single person to miss out on knowing the truth that could lead to their salvation.

The apostles conducted themselves as Jesus would have them. They were LIVING messengers of His word, they were living examples of a live connected to the Savior.

They loved these people they were NOT related to and yet they treated them as a father would treat their children. When you love your children you act responsibly and you deny them things you in your parent wisdom knows could harm them. You try to teach them lessons so that they're prepared for the life they'll one day have to live without them to be their guides. We want our children to be independent and be able to raise their own children to be responsible and so on. We don't tear down our children but we teach.  We don't abuse our children but we discipline.  God, our loving heavenly Father lives the same way with us. His love guides all His actions. 

The apostles wanted people to walk worthy of God- God who has called them to His kingdom and glory.

We are to walk worthy of God because God has called us ALL to His Kingdom and His Glory.

We are NOT to walk as those who have no hope in them. We are NOT to walk content to flaunt our sinful ways. Maybe we do have sins that easily beset us, but those sins aren't something to be proud of, something to show off, something to commit as if they weren't deadly to us.  We do not walk worthy if we relish our sins. We do not walk worthy if we are not striving against sin.

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

We do not walk worthy if we take the love of God and ignore it, if we fail to live with that love as a reality in our lives.

All by the grace of God we live, we love.

God is witness

1Th 2:5  For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:
1Th 2:6  Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.

Flattering words.
Cloke of covetousness.

Flattery is pretty lying. Flattery is putting fancy clothes on a skeleton. Flattery serves NO purpose other than to create an atmosphere of untruths. The liar knows they are lying, the one being lied to may be deceived or allowing the lies because in all their horrid untruth they bring some strange comfort. We've all used flattery even if unintentional, and we've all been victims of a flatterer. The truth distorted becomes a lie and a lie is evil no matter how gorgeous that lie is, no matter how soothing that lie is, no matter how amazing that lie is. We call evil good and good evil.

Isa 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Flattery is evil and not using flattery is a good thing. If we use flattery then we are using lies.  People will say the end justifies the means, but that is us calling evil good, we've made an art of doing so. We can do it all we want, we can lie and call our lies truths but that will NEVER make them truths, never. Pretty lies are pretty evils and the most gorgeous of unrepented, unforgiven evils will still deserve death.

A cloke of covetousness.

A garment of intense desire to have what another haves to the point of letting it consume your life. Letting the desire for an object to be your god in place of GOD. Letting that THING be your all in all. The apostles did NOT use a covering of idolatry in their work. They did NOT let ANYTHING other than the desire to do God's will, overcome them. They kept God FIRST in all they did and GOD was their witness.

God is OUR witness too.

God witnesses our lives in all its aspects, nothing is hid from Him.

If we seek glory from others, He knows.

God knows us and we can pretend He doesn't even exist and live accordingly if that's what we desire, but the truth is the truth. God knows our hearts, God tries our hearts.

All we can do is pray for the righteousness of Christ to cover all our unrighteousness.

Maybe we can't say that we aren't prone to using flattery, or being caught up in covetousness, but we have to be able to say that we are sinners and in need of a Savior, a Redeemer,  someone to forgive us and create a cleanness in us that we cannot create ourselves.

We need to listen to the Gospel and we need to share the Gospel all as our LORD directs us knowing God is our witness.

God's love tries our hearts all through LOVE.

We hear about tough love as if it's something new but it's as old as time. Love allows trials and tribulations all geared to created a person that is more dependent upon God than anything else. Love allows these upsets and horrors with the ultimate desire for faith to be realize in its fullness.

As our worlds come down around our heads and we lose everything we are tempted to hold dear, we have to holdfast to the one thing that means everything, God. We can't pretend to even begin to comprehend all the whys and the wherefores, we have to believe our God is in control even if it means our death.

By the grace of God may we NOT use flattery, or consent to being flattered. By the grace of God may we NOT use a cloak of covetousness in our lives. 

May we live through HIS strength and not our own, trusting in HIM for all things!

All by HIS grace and mercy, through HIS LOVE!

Allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel

1Th 2:3  For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1Th 2:4  But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

When we speak of God do we concern ourselves with whether or not we are saying things that are pleasing to our listeners?  Is it our intention to be pleasing to them? Is our objective to be men pleasers?  Seriously, is this our desire, to be pleasing to others? How many of us strive to please others?  Not the pleasing that comes from loving someone, but the pleasing that makes us feel good about ourselves, is this the sort of pleasing we are into? Doing good to look good to others, so they think we are good, is this the sort of life we lead?  When we get all caught up in trying to please OURSELVES through the accolades of others we've lost sight of the ONLY one we are to truly please.  We KNOW that we cannot do anything falsely to please God. While our fellow man might not be able to see through our selfish desire to gain their good graces, God sees through any and all subterfuge we dare to attempt towards Him. 

We must LIVE not to PLEASE our fellowman, but to PLEASE GOD, to do what is pleasing in His sight with the CLEAN heart that ONLY HE can give to us.

The apostles here is talking about witnessing to other of the gospel of Peace, of salvation found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. When they speak they used NOT deceit! When they speak they use NO unclean, sinful lying words. When they speak they used NOT guile, no untruth crossed their lips.

God ENTRUSTED them with the gospel, with HIS TRUTH and that is the ONLY TRUTH They speak.  They didn't care if the men listening liked what they were saying. They didn't try to sugar-coat their message in order to make those listening happy.  They didn't go to the gentiles and start making up stories filled with pagan deities in order to garner their attention. They did NOT do a single thing to compromise the TRUTH of God! Those listeners might have wanted to hear how they could find eternal life through their own favored gods; they may have wanted to hear that they just had to work hard and be good to be saved.  Many people want to hear pleasing things, we call it natural and it is to our flesh nature. To hear that none of their former gods could save them eternally; to hear that they can't possibly work to save themselves wouldn't be pleasing but the apostles didn't care because the truth given to them by God demanded that they adhere to the truth and only then could they please God. Lies DO NOT please God. When we speak to please men rather than God we can succeed, but not eternally.

Does this mean God wants us to be bullies? Does this mean God wants us to force feed people His word? Does this mean we have to be nasty in any way in order to get our Savior's truth across? No. Can you imagine Jesus acting that way? Seriously, can you?  Don't say, 'Well, I'm not Jesus.', because even though that is true, we are to follow HIS EXAMPLE! Speak the truth! Speak it plainly! If people do NOT want to hear the truth then you keep on going, you keep on preaching to others. If NONE want to hear it, you just keep on living your life as our Savior would want you to live it- IN LOVE- NEVER in constant anger, constant malice, constant upset, constant bickering, constant animosity.  Our ACTIONS truly can speak louder than ANY words we might feel we have to speak. 

1Th 2:3  For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1Th 2:4  But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

We are allowed of God - to be put in TRUST with the gospel.

Amazing, so incredibly amazing! We are entrusted with something so wondrous! Please God help us to spread YOUR word as YOU would have us, not as we would have it. PLEASE LORD, please let us speak YOUR GOSPEL, YOUR TRUTH that YOU have trusted us with!

HELP US to PLEASE YOU, not people! 

YOU FATHER GOD, YOU try our HEARTS, try them o' LORD, try them, purify them with YOUR LOVE.

More tomorrow all by the GRACE of GOD!

IN HIS LOVE!

The law written in their hearts

Rom 2:1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

How easy it is for us to judge others and then turn around and do the same things we just judged. How often do you hear of judges and ministers soliciting prostitutes and then turning around and condemning them from their benches and pulpits? The people against gambling, turning around and saying oh this harmless pastime isn't gambling- and they pay for their bingo cards, they turn over their dollar bills for paper cards with numbers on them hoping to win a big cash pay out.  People accuse others of lying, cheating, stealing and so much more while turning around and doing it themselves all the time. 

We truly are inexcusable when we dare to judge others. We truly do condemn OURSELVES because when we judge others and pretend we are somehow better because maybe our wrongs aren't quite so visible but sins hidden in the heart, sins hidden so that others can't see them but GOD sees them all.

Rom 2:2  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

God's judgment is always true, we cannot hide from God.

Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

People do think this! They really , really do. How many people honestly believe they are going to face the judgment of God? If they really thought this would they live the way they do?

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

How many people despise the riches of God's goodness, of God's forbearance, of God's longsuffering? People despise these not understanding that God's goodnesses found in these things can LEAD them to REPENTANCE!

We want to be led to repentance, don't we? We want to feel the weight of our sin, the wrongness of our iniquities. It's only when we truly comprehend the evil in our wrongdoing that can seek God's forgiveness, that we can repent- admit to our wrongs, our sins and desire to turn away from them. God's FORBEARANCE, God's LONGSUFFERING, God's GOODNESS all this will LEAD us to REPENT.  We need to comprehend the depths of God's love for us through His forbearance and longsuffering, through His goodness. When we truly realize the love of God only then can we find that place of repentance. Please LORD help us to seek your goodness, please.

Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

If we fail to repent, if we fail to comprehend the judgment that is true, that we all face, then we are LOST. Every man will have to account for their actions. You might think that actions don't matter because we don't save ourselves through our actions, but our actions are a result of our lives. Like it or not, there will be an accounting and we can't ignore that. We can't label a single sin as being harmless, or too small to confess.  The tiniest of known, un-confessed sin, is enough to separate of us from our Savior. We must seek forgiveness, we must repent.

Rom 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

Seek for glory- NOT self exaltation, NOT money, NOT self glory, NOT self honor, NOT immortality. We HAVE to PATIENTLY seek eternal life, and none of those other things!  Some might argue that seeking immortality is seeking eternal life, but if we are seeking self immortality- the means of living forever through our own ways, we will NEVER find it. We have to seek eternal life through our SAVIOR and ONLY through our SAVIOR.

Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God.

Rom 2:12  For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
Rom 2:13  (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

WHEN the Gentiles which have NOT the LAW do by NATURE the things CONTAINED in the LAW- these having NOT the law, ARE a LAW UNTO THEMSELVES, which show the WORK of the LAW WRITTEN in their HEARTS, their CONSCIENCE also bearing witness, and their THOUGHTS the mean while accusing or else excusing one another!

The LAW can be written on our hearts, it SHOULD be written on our hearts.

2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

Job 22:22  Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

Psa 37:31  The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

Psa 40:8  I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Pro 3:1  My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments

Isa 51:7  Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

*
Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;
Rom 2:16  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

The secrets of men will be judged- this is undeniable.

And those who think they are right with God through their actions but do not have God's law in their hearts will not be judged righteous. So many neglect the law written in their hearts, so many do not let their conscience bear witness, way too many think things that amount to accusing others unjustly, or excusing wrong doing.

Please LORD, please LET YOUR LAW BE WRITTEN ON OUR HEARTS!

THROUGH YOUR GRACE judge us through YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, not ours. BLESS US LORD! BLESS US PLEASE! SAVE US!

Turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

1Th 1:9  For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
1Th 1:10  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

You turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

Idols.

I don't know personally anyone who has set up a shrine to a stone deity representing a false god, who worships at that altar.  I KNOW they exist throughout the world, but I just don't know anyone that actually worships a 'sun god' for example.  I know they exist and exist in great numbers but my personal interaction with them is non-existent.

What is turning to God from idols?

What were the disciples dealing with?

Rev 2:14  But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Rev 2:20  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Act 17:22  Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
Act 17:23  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Act 17:24  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Act 17:25  Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Act 17:26  And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Act 17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Act 17:29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
Act 17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Act 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Act 17:32  And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
Act 17:33  So Paul departed from among them.
Act 17:34  Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

'...the Romans referred to the rocky hill as "Mars Hill", after Mars, the Roman God of War.

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The Romans are known for the great number of deities they honored, a capacity that earned the mockery of early Christian polemicists. The presence of Greeks on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became as fundamental as the cult of Apollo. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks, adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art. Etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury, since Rome had once been ruled by Etruscan kings.

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Turning from idols- from worshiping false gods of which there were many.  Their religion of worshiping idols was a very serious one, not laughable as it is to us today in our so called enlightened world.  The mere concept of people worshipping Mars, Jupiter, Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon, etc. seems almost ludicrous. We know people did it and were very serious about it, that it was very real to them, but to us it seems strange and archaic. If I told someone I was worshipping the god Jupiter, they'd give me strange looks and might ask me exactly what that entails. I'd explain that I erected a little shrine to him and that I pray to him and give him gifts and ask for his guidance.  Most likely they'd shrug their shoulders and say - 'To each his own.' Meaning everyone has the right to believe what they want to, and they don't have to agree with them.  My worshipping Jupiter wouldn't affect them, it'd be harmless as far as they were concerned as long as it didn't involve hurting anyone in anyway.  But the TRUTH of the matter is all worship of false gods is harmful- eternally harmful.

We live in such a time as virtually 'anything' goes. Do as you please as long as it stays within the letter of the law- and maybe even sometimes we'll overturn or change a law to accommodate new beliefs if there is a majority consent.  We call this intelligence. We call this right and good. We call this modernism. We aren't encumbered by such nonsense as our ancestors who were filled with superstitions and crazy customs. In a book written by C.S. Lewis- Mere Christianity- He states something like the following- I'm paraphrasing here. 'Of course the world doesn't hunt witches any more- they don't believe they are real any longer. If they truly believed they were real and had real powers to harm people they'd still be hunting them.'   The truth is they stopped believing in them, they didn't suddenly agree to let witches- real, harmful witches who use curses and spells- to live. Are their witches today? Yes. Do they curse and put spells on people? Yes. Are they effective in what they do? No.  People just don't believe, and why would you possibly be against something you don't believe has any real affect on society? People don't believe religion has any power - real power at all- no matter what the religion is. They believe they are mostly harmless fables silly people continue to believe in though all real tangible evidence says they're fools for doing so.

Even the harmful religions- the jihadists of radical Islamic belief- who believe in killing those who do not adhere to their faith, they are considered silly as well- very dangerous but silly because they are caught up in fables. 

Idol worshipping today exists, it's alive and well, only the biggest, most popular idol people worship right now is …

…themselves.

Have they set up altars to themselves? How many live solely by their own desires? Perhaps working and living under a boss only in order to ultimately serve themselves and fill their lives with their own desires.   Throughout the day what is most often on their minds? Their own plans, right? Their own plans that will serve to make them if not happy, then content. Life revolves around themselves and all that live around them are there to assist in their desires if possible.

To those caught up in their self worship, others who choose not to be caught up in self worship seem to be the strange ones, the fable believers.  But most often the self worshippers will still find a kindred spirit in the fable believers because they see that in spite of the fable believers declarations of other worship they still in actions and a lot of words act like self worshippers.

1Th 1:9  For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
1Th 1:10  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

This REAL faith, this REAL belief, this REAL turning from idols to SERVE the living in and true GOD; this waiting for HIS SON from heaven, whom HE raised from the DEAD, even JESUS, which DELIVERED us from the wrath to come- is a LIVING FAITH.

We are worshipping the eternal life of our God who always was, always is, and always will be. We are not worshipping a created one, but the ultimate Creator of ALL. We are not worshipping an unhearing, unseeing,  non-breathing  God we are pretending has life. We are not worshipping a created being that is in a constant state of deterioration living towards dying.  We are not worshipping one who does not know the end from the beginning. We are not worshipping one who makes empty unrealistic promises based upon our flesh desires. We are not worshipping a selfish God, but a selfless God who truly deserves all praise, all glory, all honor from us- not to feed an oversized ego- but because the truth of His selflessness.

We serve a selfless God, this is the TRUE LIVING GOD. The CREATOR, the REDEEMER, the SELFLESS ONE.

All in HIM ALWAYS!

May we serve HIM ALWAYS, turning from all our idols!

By HIS LOVE! By HIS GRACE! By HIS MERCY!