May the Cup Be Full Soon.

 You see a sign of something to come and you expect it to come. You study the signs and believe them, and yet year after year what you expected has not come to pass. Why?

Biblically there are situations that have occurred that have prolonged things that were supposed to happen. The most commonly known occurrence is the Israelites and their journey through the desert for forty years. They weren't supposed to journey for forty years. 

Num 32:13  And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed. 

Because the Israelites coming out of Egypt committed evil over and over again, breaking the covenant they'd made with God, He grew angry with them and didn't lead them straight to the promised land. FORTY years He had them wandering until the majority of the adults who left Egypt were dead, never seeing the promised land.

God wanted Jonah to go to Ninevah to warn them to repent of their ways. Jonah didn't want to go but God used very unique ways to persuade him to do so. Jonah warned them and they repented and God's wrath was stayed.  148 years later after their repentance they'd turned to evil ways again and this time Ninevah was destroyed. God's wrath against evil - all evil - is a very real thing and it hasn't lessened over time. God's wrath hasn't diminished against evil as some would believe because Jesus advocates for sinners. ALL evil is punished, for those whose hearts are given wholly to Jesus, for those who repent of their evil ways and seek forgiveness in all sincerity, Jesus died and took on their punishment, He took on the wrath of God for all those who are saved through Him. All evil is punished. For the many wicked who choose not to seek forgiveness, repenting of evil, God's wrath will fall upon them. 

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 

God talking to Abram (Abraham), telling him that when the iniquity of the Amorites was full … then the children of Israel would be freed from their bondage, but it wasn't full just yet.

Clearly God has established various standards for His will to be done with mankind. We look at the history of evil and think surely Ninevah, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Amorites and so on and so forth can't be as evil as the world has been in so many instances since then, and we wonder why God hasn't destroyed more and more cities and people. Truthfully we can't know the mind of God, but we can surmise from what we read that perhaps, God's forbearance with mankind is long suffering. We are told it is actually…

2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

When God next destroys a people, a city, it will be in connection with the end of this evil world entirely. No longer will destructions serve as warnings to people as He used them for in the past, the final destruction is what is coming next. And as we just read above, a thousand of our years is as one day to the Lord- meaning our time isn't the same for God. Eternity is the at the end of this world, and when that eternity comes ALL the human beings that will belong to God will be- all there will be. God would save as many as possible. 

I cry out often for God's cup to be full because of the horrors of this world we live in, and I know He hears my cries. Only He knows when the long suffering has been enough, I don't. Only He knows when the cup of iniquity is full and can take no more. I must trust in Him. I believe, Lord, help Thou my unbelief!

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! May we be ready at all times for Him- whether it's for the day of Salvation, or the day we enter death's temporary sleep, let us be His, now and forever!

Amen!!!!!!!

(Excerpt)

EXPOSITION OF MATTHEW XXIV  24  (((Written in 1890 - remember when reading the excerpt 131 years have passed since it was written. History does matter.))))

PARABLE OF THE FIG-TREE 

Verses 32, 33: "Now learn a parable of the fig-tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it ["He," margin] is near, even at the doors." The parable of the fig-tree is probably the most forcible figure that could be used by our Lord to illustrate this subject. When the trees of the field begin to put forth their leaves, and the tender grass springs up, and the 

ground is being covered with its green velvet carpet, we know that summer is nigh. It is a certainty with us that summer is coming when we see these signs in nature.

We know that summer is nigh. "So, likewise," or with the same certainty, we may know that Christ's coming is at the doors when the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, are fulfilled. Our Lord has stated the object of these signs, which is that we may know when his coming is at the doors. But we are told by some that the church is not to know anything of the period of Christ's second advent. Then we inquire, Why did our Lord give signs of the event? Are they given to deceive us, to lead the honest Christian to look for Christ's coming when, in fact, nothing is to be known of the time of the event?–Certainly not. 

The fact that Christ foretells signs of his coming, and then states the object of those sighs, that the church may know when the event is near, even at the doors, is sufficient proof that it is the will of Heaven that the church should understand the period of the second advent. Our Lord says (Luke 21:28), "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." The signs began to come to pass with the dark day of 1780. Then it could be said that redemption draweth nigh, and from that time the humble follower of Jesus might look up in expectation of witnessing his glorious appearing. But (verse 31) when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand."

The signs in the sun, moon, and stars are all that were given to base faith upon. All the other events mentioned in connection with these, have their fulfillment after the faith of God's people is perfected, and  the doom of all sinners is fixed; therefore their cannot be embraced in the phrase, "all these things," of Matt. 24:33. The three signs having come to pass, we may now learn the parable of the fig-tree, and know that Christ's coming is near, even at the doors. The phrase, "all these things," does not embrace the mourning of the tribes of the earth, and the sign of the Son of man. Neither does it embrace the shaking of the powers of the heavens; for that does not take place until the seven last plagues are poured out. But the faith of God's people is perfected, and the doom of all sinners is forever fixed, before the pouring out of the first plague. The parable of the fig tree was given to inspire faith in the minds of those who hear the reasons of Christ's soon coming. But it is most absurd to suppose that this parable is to be learned after it is said, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; . . . and he that is holy, let him be holy still." No! The phrase, "all these things," in verse 33, embraces the three great signs in the sun, moon, and stars, given to strengthen the faith of God's people while merciful warnings are being given to the world. Here, then, since the falling stars of 1833, the parable of the fig-tree has force, and we may know that Christ's coming is near, even at the doors, with all the certainty that we know that summer is, nigh when the trees put forth their tender buds and leaves. 

Broken Life

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 

Earthen vessels. Fragile vessels with so many working parts in us. Amazing earthen vessels designed miraculously in so many incredible ways. The blessing of long life is overlooked, and maybe with good reason- that good reason being not everyone has a 'good' long life. How many people currently fill homes for the elderly- those who can no longer function on their own without help?

'Approximately 47 million seniors live in the United States. We base this number on a 2017 census.gov estimate that about 325,600,000 people reside in the US and a 2014 estimate that about 14.5% of Americans are age 65 and older.'

'Only three percent of senior citizens live in nursing homes. The 2010 US census found that 3.1 percent of seniors were nursing home residents. Rather than move to a nursing home or assisted living, many seniors choose in-home care support.'  From <https://www.seniorliving.org/research/>

1,410,000 people 3% of 47 million, live in nursing homes almost 10 years ago- the number has probably significantly gone up. As well as a lot of elderly probably have in-home care, or live with relatives to help them.

Getting old isn't a good thing for a lot of people, it's something that takes courage, fortitude, stamina, endurance. Another interest fact is this--

'Most seniors have more than one chronic health care issue. Recently the National Council on Aging found that 75 percent of seniors have at least one chronic health condition, and that most have two or more. Conditions range from mild arthritis to advanced Alzheimer’s disease.'

Chronic health care issues- most senior have these.

We are FRAGILE earthen vessels, some more fragile than others. We weren't originally designed to be this way and we know this. We strive constantly for answers to the many, many health issues that plague old and young. Sometimes we make great strides against one particular ailment, we eradicate certain diseases with a vaccine, we lessen symptoms of various illnesses. We make a lot of things tolerable with certain drugs. We are forever invested in health care because we want to- if possible- get rid of every disease, every sickness, every deformity, every condition that keeps us from being healthy earthen vessels.

Since mankind's decision to leave the presence of God, we've become broken, run down, mere shadows of what we were intended to be. We recognize mostly in retrospect when we were at our peaks in health and yes, even beauty. Some healthy people could be covered from head to toe in an outer skin full of wrinkles and old age spots- which do nothing to detract from their inner workings health wise, but the beauty factor of youth has gone. Again, we know many, many elderly people do lots to try and stop the hands of time from revealing themselves upon them. There are a lot of surgery options for the rich, there are a lot of non-surgical creams and such for the rich and lesser effective creams and such for the not so rich. We use make up and medicines to hide what time is doing to us. Some, but not most people, are not blessed with the genetics that leave them with an elderly youthful appearance.

We are shadows of what we were meant to be even at what we consider our peak in health and beauty. 

We long for good health constantly especially once those chronic conditions enter our lives. We long for something we know will elude us, even though in our wildest dreams we hope for cures for the chronic conditions.

We live knowing that we will die- we just don’t know what we are going to die from. Disease, accident, simply wearing out our fragile earthen vessel, we just don't know. Death is a curse upon us, surrounding us, reminding us over and over that one day our turn for death will come. And death is not desired by the majority, and for those who do desire death it's because they are mentally, emotionally damaged to that point. They could be living a nightmare of pain day after day with the hope of death for the release from the agonies of living. A person desiring death is a person who isn't healthy in some way. They could be living a life of constant abuse which most certainly damages mental and emotional well-being. Not all our ailments are physical that's for sure!

What a dismal picture I've drawn up with all this talk- it's depressing to dwell upon the fragility of our earthen vessels but we need to. We need to recognize where our hope must lie, and it's NOT with ourselves! We may fantasize about one day living in a future society where there is no death from things like cancer, heart disease, lung disease and so on and so forth- but that future would be extremely far off, and will remain a fantasy for everyone living today. Personally, the only future guaranteed to us is the one proven to be a reality through prophecy- the Bible reality, the Biblical future outline for mankind.

So many predictions have come true, nothing will stop them all from coming to pass.

I long for the day the Stone cut without hands is hurled from the heaven to destroy all the kingdoms of this world ushering in the return of the King, Jesus Christ who will call us from this earth to meet Him in the air- changing our vile, vile bodies- altering these earthen vessels completely into the immortal, incorruptible forms we long for.

I know this day is going to come, I haven't a doubt! Nothing can stop it from happening, not a single thing. If something could stop it, then something could have stopped all the other prophecies from coming to pass. No, Nebuchadnezzar did not want his kingdom to fall and neither did all the rest that did so- one after the other.

What a glorious day to look for, what a wondrous HOPE to have right now. We may suffer exceedingly, but there is HOPE for the day of no more suffering! No more death! No more sin and all its horrific consequences.

Truly we are…

2Co 4:8  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 

2Co 4:9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 

2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 

2Co 4:12  So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 

2Co 4:13  We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 

2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 

2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 

2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

Hope for Repair By Christ Jesus.

Grudging.  Dictionary definition- 'done or given reluctantly, or doing or giving something reluctantly.

Murmuring.  Dictionary definition- 'a complaint made in a discreet or secretive way.

Disputing. Dictionary definition- 'strive against something, disagree, argue about something, opposing something.

In the battle against Satan's wiles we truly need to recognize that he will use everything and anything he can against us. He will disguise the evil we commit as being justified in some manner. He will present excuses, reasons, theories as to why the evil shouldn't be evil at all but something we can't but help to do. We are after all- only human. Why then does the word of God hold us to a higher standard? Why are we allowed to comprehend the truth right before Satan immerses it in his lies to distort it so it is no longer recognizable as being truth, but a variation there on which we can mold to fit our evil tendencies. Isn't is much better to admit the truth plain and simple and recognize how we fall short of that truth? Shouldn't we choose to die daily to the sins that would so easily beset us every opportunity they get- rather than excuse the sins away so we don't have to feel the weight of our need to die to sin constantly? We live our lives with that hope of perfection and Satan uses that to shame us over and over. The only way Satan can use that hope to shame us to the point of despair is if we are living with the hope of perfecting OURSELVES. If we are living with the idea that we will achieve a day out of the refiner's fire. If we are looking for a life here without temptation, without the pulls towards sin. We will find shame every single time we try to find the hope in ourselves apart from our hope in Christ.

I have a problem with being grudging, with murmuring and disputing. I do, and by the grace of God it is being revealed to me over and over again. Right now I can't imagine going a single day without an internal grudging, or silent complaint, and even without disagreeing with even the smallest of things. We have things we call the bane of our existence (a bit dramatic I know) but we do have those things and these are some of mine.  I'm admitting to this even though there is the possibility someone I know in person might read this (I've no clue who does or doesn't), and they'll know that while I may appear all nice and good, that's not always the case. I have what I'll call social anxiety and Satan would have me use this as an excuse for a lot of my grudging, murmuring etc. However, I know that I grudge, murmur and dispute even out of anxiety producing situations. I need the touch of the Savior on my heart to rid me of these things. I need to constantly seek forgiveness for my recognized failure to be what I know I should be. I need to keep my HOPE for repair in Christ.  Yes, I said hope for repair, because He is the One I need to fix in me and all the sin tendencies I have. By His grace He will fix what needs fixing and for what cannot be fixed in my own understanding, I need to trust He will complete what has been started in me. He is my HOPE, I'm not my own hope. He is my Redeemer, my Savior.  May my life belong wholly to HIM.

1Pe 4:9  Use hospitality one to another without grudging. 

2Co 9:7  Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 

Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings

Jas 5:9  Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 

Give No Offence.

1Co 10:25  Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: 

1Co 10:26  For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. 

1Co 10:27  If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. 

1Co 10:28  But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: 

1Co 10:29  Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? 

1Co 10:30  For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? 

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 

1Co 10:32  Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: 

1Co 10:33  Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 

Give no offence to Jews, to Gentiles (non-Jews), or to the Followers of Jesus. Give no offence…

What a concept.

We live in a world filled with beliefs too numerous to count. Religious beliefs of so many kinds truly the world has stopped being categorized into set groups. However, we know the Jewish religion still exists (apostatized from God). And we know that all non-Jews are considered Gentiles. We also know that Christians fall into the category of Gentiles to the Jewish people. Jew, Gentile, Christian- these group sum up EVERYBODY regardless of their individual stance on what religion they follow, what their particular beliefs are from satan worship to the worship of a spaghetti monster (true thing), to belief in sun worship, to any idol worship, to self-worship - the list is endless.  Everyone falls under the category of Gentile who is not Jewish.

Therefore, with EVERYONE included in these groups we are NOT to give offence to anyone.

What is meant by offence?  Where is the line between holding fast to your particular belief and giving offence to another who believes differently? With so many real life occurrences concerning offence to the point people are taken to court and sued because of offending another person, where do we draw the line?

If we are told to give no offence- does that mean we are to take part in satan worship, spaghetti monster worship, the worship of idol, so on and so forth all of which clearly go against the worshipping of God - and Him only? No.

Absolutely not, we are not to engage in the worship of any of the false religions. What denotes worship? Giving honor, praise, glory, heart service, self-sacrifice, thanksgiving to God. In worship we surrender ourselves to God, recognizing He alone is our Creator, that Christ Jesus is our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit guides us.

Ask yourself if you are required to do something you aren't sure about whether it means you are giving your honor, your praise, your glory, your heart service, your sacrifice, your thanksgiving to that thing.

We can give NO offence as long as it is clearly comprehended that what we do is not in any way taking our worship from God.

We shouldn't partake in another's religious service honoring their false God, giving the appearance that WE TOO are honoring their false God. I can eat from their table as long as the food I'm eating is NOT the food offered to their idols.  I can sit with them, talk with them, laugh with them, work with them, live with them if need be without WORSHIPING their gods whatever they may be. As long as I am free to worship God and serve Him only from my heart, through the Spirit.

If I am called to do something for someone who is not a Christ follower with my own particular belief in the truth revealed to me, I should do it and give NO offence to that person, as long as it is not offensive to my worshipping God.

I need to ask myself if my beliefs are well known and it is known that I will interact with all others with the LOVE that Christ revealed to all others. He sat down with sinners, He interacted with non-Jewish people- REMEMBER He was considered Jewish because He was Jewish and expected to behave as such and shun all others. Christ did not shun the non-Jewish and this infuriated the Jewish people. However, it wasn't until Christ gave the truth that He was God's Son, that He in His own right was a God, that the Jewish leaders could accuse Him of blasphemy. They couldn't have Him crucified for talking with Gentiles.

If my beliefs are well known or available to be well known if asked, and I give a service to a non-believer- I am NOT partaking in their beliefs. I can love all without exception without approving, or partaking in their beliefs. It's when I am told I need to worship as they worship, that I must partake in their beliefs- their ceremonies, their ways that I must stand firm and deny going to that extent even if it means giving offence.

If I proclaim my beliefs and they are against your beliefs, it will NOT mean I despise you.

I am allowed to despise your beliefs, but not you.

People have confused the two - and so many today believe that if you despise their beliefs you are despising them. That their beliefs are them and I can't love them if I don't love what they love.

Give no offence.

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 

1Co 10:32  Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: 

1Co 10:33  Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 

1Co 9:19  For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 

1Co 9:20  And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 

1Co 9:21  To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 

1Co 9:22  To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 

1Co 9:23  And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. 

Paul put on no airs whatsoever and remained true to the Lord Jesus Christ in all He did. Paul did not tell the Jewish people he hated them and couldn't associate with them any longer now that he was a Christ follower. Paul did not tell the Gentiles that he couldn't associate with them. He did not tell those weak in their beliefs that because He was strong in his beliefs he could not associate with them.  He associated with them all, never compromising his truth but was able to reveal the love of his truth to them because he did associate with those who did not believe as he did.

We can reveal our LOVE to others, the love of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior but only if we are loving.  As soon as we stop loving, we are revealing only a false god to them.  As long as others know that we hold fast to our worship of our Lord in all things and do not worship anything as they do against our worship of the LORD, we can love them as our neighbors.  We must leave the heart convictions of others to the Lord, the Holy Spirit will do His work, while we do ours. We mustn't try to do the work of the Holy Spirit.

May the Lord bless us in all our interactions with all people no matter who they are. May we reveal the love of God, the love of His only begotten Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit to all.

All through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever!!!!!!!  Amen.

Sin's Slow Deadly Poison.

Serpents everywhere biting people, killing people - why? Because the people sinned against God. God gave the enslaved freedom, yet the enslaved were so filled with their mistrust, they could only think of the comforts of their slavery. Is it strange to believe there were/are comforts in slavery? Even right now at this very moment there are people caught up in the comforts of their slavery. It's not that they want to have a master over them forcing them to do their bidding no matter how laborious. They don't enjoy the whip, or chains, the restrictions on their ability to do as they please in all phases of their lives. They despise the abuse heaped upon themselves day after day and they do long to be free of the anguish of slavery. However, given an opportunity to leave a lot don't readily jump at the chance when it means suddenly having to fend completely for themselves. Yes, they are abused but they are also fed and clothed. Now on their own they have to find a way to provide for their own needs something their tortured, enslaved mindset can scarcely fathom. The fear of freedom can be overwhelming. Some would rather die than face that fear, others will leap at the chance to embrace that fear for their freedom.  God's chosen people, the descendants from Abraham were enslaved and now given their freedom. Out on their own, some began to believe they marched to certain death from deprivation of the necessities to life. They started to long to return to their enslavement - the comforts of slavery- rather than die free.

Even after all God had done to obtain their freedom, they still doubted His protection, they doubted His ability to provide for them. They were choosing death over living for God and the promises offered to them by God and that choice became quite literal for many. The serpents came. Deadly venomous serpents began striking out at person, after person and each bite brought the preferred slavery to death over the hardships of life.

Finally the people had enough losses of loved ones and the fear of their own demise. They turned to Moses, God's chosen liberator, and begged him to do something to stop the serpents from killing them all.  They took their minds off themselves and sought a redeemer, someone to save them. They realized they couldn't depend on themselves to keep safe, they needed outside help. They needed a supernatural power to stop them from dying. So…

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

Moses was told by God what to do (Numbers 21:8,9) he lifted up the brass serpent on the pole and when anyone was bitten by a serpent all they needed to do was look upon that brass serpent and they lived.  Prior to the brass serpent every single bitten person died. Only those bitten who looked upon the brass serpent lived.

The Son of man, Jesus Christ just like that brass serpent had to be lifted up for all to look upon. Today almost 2000 years after Jesus was hung upon the cross He is still lifted up for ALL to look upon.

We can remain enslaved to sin and all its many, many comforts, or we can look to the lifted Christ and find freedom from sin's slavery.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

Men loved darkness rather than light- why? Because their deeds were evil.

Those who embrace the evil hate light because they don't want their evil exposed for what it is. They want to call their evil a good thing, a right thing, it pleases them and brings them mental, physical, emotional pleasure to commit the evil. They believe they have a right to the evil and the evil can't be all that bad because it's what pleases them, and why shouldn't they be pleased on any level they choose? Why should they deprive themselves of any evil, they live for themselves and believe others should too.

There is so much evil in the world that is called good, so much. We don't want to believe things we do are evil so we convince ourselves they are good and along the way we have turned our backs on the God of truth, and serve the god of deception carefully disguised as the true God.

We need to look to the lifted Jesus Christ our Savior and seek only His truth. WE need to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us on any point in our lives that is a disguised evil. We need to throw ourselves as the foot of the cross and reach for the salvation found only through Christ.

This prison planet we are living on has a myriad of evil traps set up around every corner of our lives. Our hope must forever be before us, the hope of salvation, of a new life. With this hope of a new life we need to live with our eyes set only on the cross where Jesus our Savior died and then rose from that death to a newness of life so that we too may live in newness of life- newness of hope, that same Jesus will return for us and free us from this prison planet.

We have a liberator, we have a path to freedom, we will be set free right now and that hope of a future life without any of sin's stain will keep us free in the knowledge that sin will not win.

Please, Lord give us the newness of life through the Holy Spirit so we may live completely for You in Your truth. Protect us, keep us from ALL evil. Convict our hearts so that we may never be deceived and give us all we need to be wholly Yours now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen!

The Earthly and the Heavenly Things.

Jesus tells us we must be born again of water and Spirit. Jesus tells us outright that our original birth is not enough- we need a spiritual birth. Unlike our birth- which we had absolutely no say so in, we do have a say so in our spiritual birth.

Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews.  As a ruler of the Jews we have to understand this man knew the laws and ways of the Jews inside and out. Unlike the majority of his fellow rulers of the Jews, Nicodemus' heart was right with God. Because his heart was right with God he desired to know more of Jesus. Going to him at night, when others were less likely to witness the visit, Nicodemus didn't want to be one of the blind and deaf Pharisee. He didn't want to write Jesus off as a crackpot, not when he knew that his forefathers had done that very thing to prophet after prophet in the scriptures. This particular Pharisee ruler wanted to seek truth and that meant going to the source. He told Jesus he knows that he is a teacher from God because of all the miracles He was doing- none but God could do such miracles. As soon as Jesus heard that Nicodemus believed that He was from God, Jesus knew that he was seeking truth and had his heart open to receive that truth.

Jesus went on to tell Nicodemus that people had to be born again of water and Spirit. This threw Nicodemus for a little loop, crazy talk from one that most of his fellow Pharisees thought was a lunatic? Jesus told him outright NOT to marvel at what was being said. He even accused Nicodemus of being a Master of Israel and not knowing these things was the surprise. He looked Nicodemus in the eyes and said-

Joh 3:11… We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 

Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 

Nicodemus wanted to know more from the man he believed was sent by God, the miracle performing man, yet Jesus outright tells him that he was finding it hard hearing earthly things, hearing heavenly things would really throw him for a loop.

We need to remember for a moment that Nicodemus could have left at any moment. He didn't need to stay there and listen to things that might be considered insulting, he didn't need to listen to Jesus, and yet he was compelled to do so even after being told that he should know these things already and that his finding it hard to believe the simple things would make it even harder to understand the heavenly things that he was there seeking.

Why are we studying this stuff about Nicodemus and Jesus?

Because we need to live our lives in Jesus Christ our hope, and we need a newness of life, we need to be born of the water and the Spirit if we are to survive this prison planet.

Jesus tells Nicodemus of the heavenly- of Himself. He came from heaven and just like Moses lifted up the serpent…

This is something Nicodemus was intimately familiar with- Moses. He knew Moses inside and out- every word ever written by Moses Nicodemus had read time and time again. When Jesus mentioned Moses lifting up the serpent, Nicodemus knew all about the raised serpent and its purpose. A plague of fiery serpents was killing off the people following Moses in the wilderness, a lot of people. The people witnessing person after person dying knew something had to be done so they said this to Moses--

Num 21:7  Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 

They sinned and were in need of salvation.

Moses was told by God to make a brass serpent on a pole and when the bitten people looked on it, they would live.

Bitten by a serpent, knowing the bite is deadly and yet all they needed to do was look on the brass serpent there on a pole so they could live. Their faith in obeying the word of God healed them. They looked to the raised up brass serpent because they were told in doing so they would live.

Jesus used this example to predict the His own death.  Just as the serpent was raised up - He too would be raised up for all to see and look to so they could live. At the time Nicodemus had no real knowledge of Jesus' impending crucifixion. These words were cryptic to him and yet he wanted to comprehend. Nicodemus already wanted to be born again of the spirit, he wanted truth from God.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord, by the will of God. May we too forever be seekers of truth. May we be born of the Spirit always. May we look to the raised up and crucified Christ for our salvation, our hope of new life so we may live in Him always.

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Joh 3:1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 

Joh 3:2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 

Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 

Joh 3:9  Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 

Joh 3:10  Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 

Joh 3:11  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 

Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

Imprisoned Yet Given New Life.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

All things are newly spiritual in Christ. We are raised from hopelessness, to hope. Our walk in the newness of life is one of hope. We have an advocate, we have someone fighting on our behalf.

The prisoners on this planet who choose to remain imprisoned even after they are offered freedom- live under a death sentence and they are controlled by the warden running this planet- Satan. We are surrounded by the unredeemed prisoners and as such, our lives will be far from easy. We must holdfast to the newness of life we are given- a newness we renew every single day of our new spiritual life.

This is truth-

Joh_3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

Joh_3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

1Pe_1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

BORN AGAIN.

As soon as Jesus uttered those words, the very wise Nicodemus asked the logical question all of us would have needed to ask, right?

How? We can't very well go into our mother's womb again and be born. 

Do you think perhaps Nicodemus may have said that with a hint of amusement? Seriously. He was an old man and here he was being told that he needed to be born again. The very idea of having to enter his mother's womb a second time was laughable. Jesus wasn't laughing though, Jesus was telling Nicodemus a very important truth. In fact, this truth was so important Jesus told him that without being born again there is NO entering the kingdom of God.

Now Nicodemus was fully listening to these strange words, this strange concept.

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

Joh_3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

A man must be born of water.

A man must be born of the Spirit.

Without this new birth it would be impossible for the man to go into God's kingdom.

Flesh is flesh, every human being most obviously is born of flesh, no man is born without flesh. Once a man exists in the flesh that birth of the flesh is over- no turning back. Being born of the Spirit is a whole other matter. There are going to be millions and millions of people who have never been born of the Spirit.

Jesus went on to tell Nicodemus not to be surprised by His telling him that he needed to be born again and He explained.

Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 

You can hear the wind but just like the wind you really don't know where it is coming from ultimately and you can't tell where it is going to go.  Imagine yourself on a sailboat out to sea and you can't even see land any longer only water. You've no method other than the sail to move your boat and there is absolutely no wind at all whatsoever, not even a tiny breeze. There you are, stuck at a complete stand still. You need to head in a certain direction to get where you are going but you can't. You wait…one day…two days…three days… where is the wind?! Why is there no wind?!  This isn't an unreality, this is truth, this happens. Wind does not always blow. There have been many times I've been working outside in the sweltering heat, sweat pouring off me, and I long for a breeze. I comprehend the state of being surrounded by absolutely no wind.  As the boat in the middle of the sea is stranded, as I perspire relentlessly in the heat, the wind is desired and we may even be praying for the wind to appear. Where do we think that wind needs to come from? Can it be on its way? Will it appear out of nowhere in a great gust? Will we have a storm of wind so powerful it will knock us over, tip the boat on its side?  Wind is a marvelous thing and unpredictable.  Yes, the scientist may tell us all about wind… the sun, air pressure, molecules and so on and so forth. They can make predictions about wind force in storms and even measure the force of hurricane and tornado winds. The mystery is still there, they too are subject to sweating on a hot day and longing for a breeze. 

Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 

You hear the wind, but even with all scientific knowledge you can't absolutely predict when it will come and when it will go. You will have guesses as a meteorologist, but absolutes are not going to happen. You will have theories and computations, and some might be spot on, but not all of them. No one can predict with certainty the actions of the wind. Often they'll be more fierce than expected, or less severe that is the nature of the wind.

When we are BORN of the SPIRIT it isn't a birth like a child. You know when a child is about to be born, you can generally tell the mother is very pregnant. Again, this isn't an always situation, but the majority of time births are expected and known about before they occur. Our Spiritual birth is not something that can be known, we aren't inside our pregnant mother when this birth happens. The Spirit is given to us, the new life we must have in Christ is given to us in such a way that it could happen at any time without any prior expectation of it occurring. You can hope for this Spirit birth, want this Spirit birth, and you can wait for it expectantly- but ultimately the Spirit like the wind, will go where it wills.

More on this tomorrow…all by the grace and will, the love of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. And yes, all through the Holy Spirit!

God help us all!

We Are All Prisoners.

Newness of life.

We quite literally go from having a very real eternal death sentence over us to having a very real eternal life offered to us. New life.

Having seen several shows on television, and reading about the true life stories that some of those show themes are taken from, I have heard about people being exonerated after years of incarceration. What joy to have their good names cleared at last. How they react to such newfound freedom varies. Some embrace it with that new zeal for living, others holdfast to desiring revenge for the wrong done to them.

Then you have criminals who have been justly locked up for many years obtaining their freedom, but without exoneration. Their crimes hang over their lives forever, following them wherever they go (unless they can buy a new identity and move to a place no one knows them etc.)  These criminals too can embrace their freedom from prison with joy or anger.

I know I'm minimalizing what they can experience, there is truly a wide range of emotions they'll go through in either scenario given above. Some may go through several emotions- happiness, anger, sadness and so on.

WE ALL ARE PRISONERS.

We, as guilty prisoners in life, condemned to eternal death by the weight of our sins will remain imprisoned with that death sentence to come if we do not accept the salvation offered to us by the Author of our lives.

The prison for all people is earth.  Think about it for a long, long moment. This is a prison planet. Truly it is a prison planet in so many, many ways and it has been disguised as being a planet of freedom. We are born inside this prison planet and while we are allowed a semblance of what true freedom may be like, all around us are reminders of our incarceration.

In fact just moments ago as I paused for a short necessary break and came back to resume my writing, I took a moment to check my social media page and right there was a post from an Animal Rescue site I belong to and on it a picture of a beautiful owl. The story wasn't beautiful though. The brief caption read- 'glue traps are inhumane'  it went on to tell how awful glue traps are for animals- their suffering before death and such. This beautiful owl was brought to the clinic with a glue trap stuck to its feathers in such a way it could not fly. It took the clinic a long, long time to get the trap off the owl and they are hoping for an eventual full recovery- some of the primary flight feathers were involved. My heart broke, the tears started as the horror of such things as glue traps exist at all!  It's this awful, awful prison world we live on that allows such things! Things such as that torture trap -even for the rodents and pests deemed nuisances that those the traps were made for, that they even exist is horrific! One of millions of clues to the type of planet we belong to. Prison planet earth, and we are all a part of it, no one escapes.

Because we are born with the propensity towards sinning- no one escapes from that either- we are on this prison planet. We all have been offered a pardon from this planet, a very special pardon- a full exoneration that we can claim. The thing is, while we may accept the pardon with full exoneration, we will not be freed from living our physical lives here on the prison planet. Notice I said, physical lives. We are given a newness of life, and that newness is our being allowed to be born again only this time our birth isn't into eventual sin, but into spiritual living.  The promised pardon and exoneration is ours, the knowledge that we are freed from our death sentence is ours. We must choose to live in a new spiritual life focused on our Redeemer, our Creator, our Hope. Our trust must be kept in HIM and the promise we've been given. While we continue to suffer this prison planet, we walk in newness of life. The weight of eternal death is no longer ours.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

All things are newly spiritual in Christ. We are raised from hopelessness, to hope. Our walk in the newness of life is one of hope. We have an advocate, we have someone fighting on our behalf.

The prisoners on this planet who choose to remain imprisoned even after they are offered freedom- live under a death sentence and they are controlled by the warden running this planet- Satan. We are surrounded by the unredeemed prisoners and as such, our lives will be far from easy. We must holdfast to the newness of life we are given- a newness we renew every single day of our new spiritual life.

More on this tomorrow by the grace and will of our LORD, our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

What Part of Us Should Die Daily?

What part of us should die daily?

1Co 15:31 … I die daily.

Death to Selfishness. Death to Self-serving.

Denying ourselves- what part of us are we denying in order to take up the cross of Christ and follow Him?

Luk 9:23  …let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 

What is this cross we must take?  How are we to follow Christ to be worthy of Him?

Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 

The commandments of God are summed up like this by Jesus- God with us-

Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 

Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 

Loving God with ALL our heart.

Loving God with ALL our soul.

Loving God with ALL our mind.

Do we? Look into your heart and lay it bare right now. Open your heart before God and search for a moment, what is in there? Who is in your heart, what is in your heart? We put other people in our hearts- but aren't we supposed to? We are told the second commandment of ranking is loving others as we would be loved. To love they have to be in our heart, don't they? The answer is truthfully yes and no.  Let me try to explain.

God must be first in our heart- we must love HIM with ALL of our heart and that leaves what left over? Nothing. It is ONLY when we do love God with ALL our heart are we able to love others WITH that very same love, God's love.

We surrender our all to God and out of that surrender He will enable us to live as He wills. We won't be loving with our own imperfect love that is riddled with flaws, but we will love with God's love and HIS love is perfect. God's love can love what we deem most unlovable. God's love will continue to love through many, many betrayals- we as human beings have turned our backs on God time and time again, yet He still loves us.

God's love has provided hope.

God's love will in truth destroy utterly into non-existence those who cannot love. It is that love which knows all the people who choose not to love would never be content if forced to live in that love offered. No forced love, no forced will, no forced hope, God allows each of us to choose- daily.

There is no one-time only choice and you are forever held to that choice regardless of all circumstances.

The initial choice is allowing the life-long commitment to be possible. As soon as you choose to allow God to have all your heart, soul and mind you are choosing to love Him. The forgiveness you find through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, allows us to love.

Because you do not stop thinking, breathing, functioning as you've always done up to that point, you will be prone to temptations that will want to draw you away from God, not towards Him. Daily a renewed commitment must be made. You don't simply stop after baptism, you don't stop after the newness wears away. Every day RECOMMIT your life to God. EVERY DAY. Wake up and choose every day to exalt God above all other things in your life no matter what they are- and love Him with all your heart, mind and soul. Seek forgiveness as soon as you recognize any other entering your heart before Him. Put God before all, and love others with HIS love.

Rom_5:5  …the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

I asked above-

What part of us should die daily?

1Co 15:31 … I die daily.

Death to Selfishness. Death to Self-serving.

Denying ourselves- what part of us are we denying in order to take up the cross of Christ and follow Him?

Luk 9:23  …let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 

What is this cross we must take?  How are we to follow Christ to be worthy of Him?

What part of us should die every single day? Our life outside of God. Truly all we do should be to His glory and not our own in any way. That cross we must take up is the knowledge we are choosing a path less traveled, a path that will have us making choices the world will not want us to make. In fact the self-serving part of us is going to fight against putting God first in every way it can. 

Can you put another person before all your own wants and needs? Yes, I said needs. Or do you think or say things like, I need to do this before I can help you with that. My need is just as great as yours. I need to take care of me first. Again I ask, can you put another person before ALL your own wants and needs?  If called to do so, could another person come before your preferred way of life? And by preferred way of life I mean- doing the things that make you most comfortable, most content, most at ease. Will you choose others before your own ideas of how you want your day to unfold?

We must allow God's way to unfold for us and follow HIM wherever He leads us and that will mean taking up a CROSS and that CROSS will kill our self serving and by the grace of God make us God serving first, and from that serving others!

Please LORD, we would be YOURS! Please! Put to death all the self-serving inside of us that would take over and kill You in Your rightful place in our hearts! All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

On the Side of Salvation.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 

Children of wrath.  That sounds like us, doesn't it? And when we hear those words- children of wrath we kinda like the sound of it, don't we? It has a catchy ring to it, making us feel as if we are cool, tough, someone to be contended with, not easily mistreated, not wimpy and soft. Children of wrath is kind of like a group super hero name, and those children aren't going to take any nonsense from anyone.  Here in the context given in the Word of God it says by nature we are children of wrath - and the children of wrath walk in the lusts of their flesh, seeking to fulfil the desires of their flesh and mind- these are NOT good things, these are not super hero attributes at least not on a God desired level. On a Satan level, yes, they are welcomed attributes. Satan, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of disobedience, the one to whom all who are dead in their sins and trespasses obey knowingly or unknowingly.

We are all children of wrath by nature until we are quickened by our Savior. Our natural propensities will be towards evil, towards self-serving, towards contention, towards upset and Satan will do all he can to instigate this nature in us. Being a child of wrath is being Satan's child and all too many today embrace this even knowingly.

God who truly is rich in mercy, loving us with great love knowing our natural state as children of wrath, has given us His Son and through His Son we are given a new life- no longer to be among the children of wrath, ruled by Satan.

God, through the grace of our Lord and Savior has offered us a new life as His children. God wants to save us from Satan, from our natural state of wrath. God wants us to be raised up in our lives even right now here on earth, God wants us to realize that when Jesus Christ was raised from the grave we were raised with Him- no longer under the death sentence of sin. We live with Christ in us, and Christ is in heaven ministering there for us- we are there with Him. Christ is living on our behalf right now! We are saved by His grace. We can't deserve it, we can only believe it is so. If we stop and question how it can be possible when we still feel as if we are under the heavy yoke of Satan's wrath, then we are trying to figure out a way on our own to be released from the death sentence. We have to trust that Christ is working that all out for us, saving us through His grace, not through our ability to defeat Satan- He defeated Satan for us.

Choosing Christ Jesus doesn't take us out of the battle, but it puts us on the side of salvation. Choosing Jesus, choosing through it all to believe that He will work the good works in us.

God forgive us for falling so far short of being the love you would have us be so others witness Your love not our bitterness. Do in us all we cannot do ourselves and if there is something we need to do, please, Lord, please help us to do that, keep us from evil in all its many forms.

We are saved through grace, help us to live saved in Christ Jesus, and any works we do that are acceptable to Him, let all the glory go to HIM, because we are by nature children of wrath and we don't want to be! We want to belong to Jesus Christ living for Him, living with Him in us always! Please!

Thank you! All glory, honor and praise to You Lord, to You Father, to You Holy Spirit now and forever!!!!!!!

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 

Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast. 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.