Love Grows Cold

Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.


Just to touch on something more concerning the last days let's really examine this verse.


And BECAUSE…. We have a cause here.
And because iniquity… another word for sin.
And because iniquity shall abound…


Dictionary definition for 'abound'

a·bound
[uh-bound]

Show IPA
–verb (used without object)
1.
to occur or exist in great quantities or numbers: a stream in which trout abound.
2.
to be rich or well supplied (usually fol. by in ): The region abounds in coal.
3.
to be filled; teem (usually fol. by with ): The ship abounds with rats.

Pasted from


And because iniquity shall abound… be found in GREAT quantities.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love… the genuine source of true caring for the welfare of others.
And because iniquity shall abound the love of many… many as compared to few.
And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax… shall grow.
And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold…


COLD - Dictionary Definition--

4.
lacking in passion, emotion, enthusiasm, ardor, etc.; dispassionate: cold reason.
5.
not affectionate, cordial, or friendly; unresponsive: a cold reply; a cold reception.

Pasted from


And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall….be passionless, unfriendly.


Yesterday we briefly touched upon allowing ourselves to become desensitized to the horrors of our world. When we no longer feel the pain of others, when we no longer see the horrors of sin in all their ugliness, when we become immune to the tragedies of life that have made our God weep, we are in grave danger of falling into a trap of Satan's to snare us in such a way we are caught up in His world and lost to God's. Think about it. We may call it growing a hard shell just to protect our own emotional sanity but that hard shell is Satan's doing causing our love to grow cold and if our love grows cold it dies and if we don't have love… we don't have God.


Satan would blind us to His ways. Satan would have us kept in the dark and bound as his. Many will be bound to Satan by UNSEEN ties, they won't even know those ties are there! In fact, many will insist right up to the end that they are with Jesus, but they won't be. In the end they will see all the ties of Satan wrapped around them to their horror all because they aren't followers of the one, true Savior.


A song I like called- 'My Jesus' sung by Todd Agnew, talks about 'His' Jesus and how he perceives 'His' Jesus to be- unlike the Jesus many others imagine- this song really touches my heart because it's raw truth. Satan has taken Jesus and impersonated Him, making Him out to be something He is not for many to believe in and many do believe in the impersonated Jesus, unsuspectingly. The Bible tells us about Jesus and how He lived His life and it wasn't with ANY self-righteousness at all and frankly that's where a lot of us are caught up- believing in a Jesus that would approve of our patting ourselves on the backs for our good works, for our charity, for our ability to rise above sin that easily besets others. Jesus' love was pure and He revealed His love to us in all its amazing glory. Jesus didn't set up a 'New' temple for people to worship in after He prophesized of the earthly temple being destroyed.


Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.


Jesus did tell us not to forsake gathering ourselves together, Jesus did tell us to help one another and to help others. People have tried for many, many years to put Jesus into a box and label that box their 'religion'. We've hundreds of religions but all Jesus asks of us is to believe in Him, follow Him and His ways. Simply belonging to a 'religion', joining a 'denomination', will never make one a true follower of our true God, Jesus. Finding a group of followers in a world that has waxed cold because of sin won't be easy and we are to seek Jesus first, not fellow believers. Satan has his snares everywhere, we just need to place our hope fully in Christ revealed in His word and nothing else. We need to be dressed in the armor He provides and pray always. May God keep us from being deceived , may God open our hearts and minds and keep our love on fire in Him. As sin abounds and love grows cold all around us, please Lord let us cling to You and find a burning love and all that entails even if it makes us strangers to this world and its ways. Bless and keep us loving Savior, by Your mercy, through Your grace, in Your righteousness now and FOREVER!


Amen.

In the day's before Christ's return...

Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.


In the days before Christ returns we will be…


Eating
Drinking
Marrying
Giving in marriage


It's safe to say we'll also be…


Watching television
Going to work
Playing golf
Using a computer
Talking on a cellphone
Attending school


Life will be going on as normal.


Now let's catch a picture of all this. Noah was building an ark. The ark wasn't built overnight. The Bible isn't specific on how long it took to build the ark but we know it was after Noah was 500 years old and before 600. Given the tools of the time and the size of the job it's a fair assumption that it took a long time to build the ark, right? So here we are, Noah begins working on the ark and that garners some attention from people. At first they're curious and as time goes on and this ark keeps getting bigger again it's a fair assumption that he became something of a laughing stock. Today if someone were building something on the same scale-- let's say they're building another ark but this one is for time travel-- it's huge, it's being built because this guy thinks that in time the power will come from somewhere that will enable this huge time machine to work. At first we'd see this guy and his work in progress on the news, and on our computers, there would be talk of him on twitter and pictures of him on cellphones. People would visit him out of curiosity and for the fun of it and yes, he'd be made fun of and probably called a lunatic. As time passed we'd keep an eye on Him, the crowds wouldn't be as thick any longer but there would still be visitors and maybe a weekly update on his progress on the Tonight Show. You understand what I'm trying to do here, I'm trying to make a comparison to Noah's day and Our day-- but I'm also trying to create the image of Noah's day and how things might have been. People would go about their day to day business after the novelty of the Noah's building an ark had worn off.


Jesus is going to return-- that's a fact.


People go about their every day lives and will continue to do so until Jesus returns.


So many people are expecting a period of time to get ready. So many people are expecting a warning that they cannot ignore- such as an end of the world scenario. They want there to be such a crisis that it can't be anything but the end of the world and of course Jesus comes before the end of the world sooooo…. I mean during our natural disasters you hear of people talking about thinking the world was coming to an end because that's what it felt like to them. Has the world ended…no. Also, the trouble today is we're being conditioned with every earthquake, every destructive hurricane, every season of raging wild fires, tornados, floods, etc. to think of them more and more as commonplace and less and less as warnings of any sort. Wars, natural disasters, countries in peril, local, state, providence murders, thefts, criminal activity of all kinds, we are becoming desensitized to it all. Is it no wonder at all that when Jesus returns people will be going about their business as usual, that the warnings will not be heeded?


We have to live with the expectation of Jesus returning at any time! We cannot rely on any great flash of a warning sign showing up in our heads driving us crazy until we pay attention. We cannot wait until we're done sowing our oats of sin. We cannot wait to get *things* out of our system before expecting our Savior.


We NEED to live every day expecting Jesus to return.
We NEED to live every day with that hope in our hearts.
We NEED to live ready to spend eternity with our loving Savior at every moment.


May God bless us and help us to live in expectation of our Savior's return now and always. As we live our lives in what we deem a normal way let Him forever be before us in our spirit, our thoughts, our hearts. It's too easy to become desensitized to life's tragedies but rather than be desensitized may the Holy Spirit convict our hearts to feel the pain of all the horrors we live with so that we may never be accepting of the sin that caused it all. Let our tears be shed now knowing some day they will be all wiped away.


By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior now and forever in HIS righteousness through His love.


Amen.

Teaching and Admonishing

Col 3:16 LET the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.


Teaching.
Admonishing.


When we think of teaching we don't necessarily think of harshness, not that some teachers don't use harsh teaching methods to instruct their students. When we think of admonishing someone we almost definitely think of harshness. If I'm admonished by someone what comes to mind is a certain sternness. Yes, you can admonish someone nicely, it's done all the time, but a lot of time most admonishing results in hurt feelings. We take offense over a lot of admonishing because it makes us feel stupid. Don't tell me that! I know that already, what do you think I am, stupid? Sound familiar? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Maybe the thoughts against being admonished are silent ones.


ad·mon·ish
[ad-mon-ish]

Show IPA
–verb (used with object)
1.
to caution, advise, or counsel against something.
2.
to reprove or scold, esp. in a mild and good-willed manner: The teacher admonished him about excessive noise.
3.
to urge to a duty; remind: to admonish them about their obligations.

Pasted from


Bottom line most people I know do not like to be admonished, I'm one of them.


I read this verse…


Col 3:16 LET the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.


…and I have to take a second to really think about what it is saying. Is the word of God really telling us to TEACH and ADMONISH each other in POETRY and SINGING????


Uhn?


We don't exist in a 'musical'. I really like musicals, a lot of them actually and I'm a singing type person. I'll sing at the drop of a hat. I've often found myself singing low even in stores, or at family functions as I'm cleaning up etc (this comes to mind because my niece grinned at me at a recent family function and said, "I remember that song." I wasn't singing loudly, or even in my normal tone of voice, just a low humming singing but that's me. The kids will say something and their words will jog a memory of a song and there I go singing that part o the song. I'm mentioning all this because I have asked the question a time or two to my children, 'Wouldn't it be nice to live life as a musical?' Of course that brought snickers even though both my children do enjoy musicals.


This verse tells us to teach and admonish in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Just think of what that might be like.


Clears throat gently… hums a few notes… looks at my daughter and breaks out into song…."Youuuuuuu need to fold those clothessssss or wrinkly they will beeeeeee....not only that....they look so messsssssssyyyyyy."


Yes, I'm being silly, but seriously, think about it.


The word of God tells us …


Col 3:16 LET the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.


Do you think that maybe, just maybe if we had to admonish someone in a song we'd take time to think about what we were going to sing to them? Would having to sing, or write a psalm, or a hymn give us cause to really think about what we were going to say giving us less of a chance to just go off half-cocked spouting out things we might regret? Especially if we are to teach and admonish with GRACE in our hearts to the Lord.


It's something to really think about. Not that I believe we are suddenly going to start singing out what we want to teach and most assuredly we are not going to sing out our admonishing to one another, but…. what if we kept this in mind and seriously considered what we would sing to someone. Let's try to do this just to see what life might be like. The next time you go to admonish someone try to imagine doing it in song with grace in your heart to the Lord.


May the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom! May we teach and admonish one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs…singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord!


By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, in His amazing miraculous love and righteousness now and forever!



Amen.

Beware.

Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Col 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.



BEWARE. We know what this means- watch out, be careful. We have to beware of what? MAN. We have to beware of other people spoiling us. Not spoiling us in the way of giving us too much, but rather spoiling us for Christ, making us no good as followers of Christ. And others can spoil us through their PHILOSOPHIES, and through their VAIN DECEITS. Philosophies.


phi·los·o·phy
[fi-los-uh-fee]

Show IPA
–noun, plural -phies.
1.
the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.
2.
any of the three branches, namely natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and metaphysical philosophy, that are accepted as composing this study.
3.
a system of philosophical doctrine: the philosophy of Spinoza.
4.
the critical study of the basic principles and concepts of a particular branch of knowledge, esp. with a view to improving or reconstituting them: the philosophy of science.
5.
a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs.
6.
a philosophical attitude, as one of composure and calm in the presence of troubles or annoyances.


Men's philosophies - Men's truths, men's principles, men's knowledge, men's conduct.

vain
[veyn]

Show IPA
–adjective, -er, -est.
1.
excessively proud of or concerned about one's own appearance, qualities, achievements, etc.; conceited: a vain dandy.
2.
proceeding from or showing personal vanity: vain remarks.
3.
ineffectual or unsuccessful; futile: a vain effort.
4.
without real significance, value, or importance; baseless or worthless: vain pageantry; vain display.
5.
Archaic . senseless or foolish.
—Idiom
6.
in vain,
a.
without effect or avail; to no purpose: to apologize in vain.
b.
in an improper or irreverent manner: to take God's name in vain.

Pasted from


de·ceit
[dih-seet]

Show IPA
–noun
1.
the act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating: Once she exposed their deceit, no one ever trusted them again.
2.
an act or device intended to deceive; trick; stratagem.
3.
the quality of being deceitful; duplicity; falseness: a man full of deceit.

Pasted from


Men's foolish duplicity. Men's foolish trickery.

Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Col 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.


Beware of others- beware of their traditions, their philosophies, their falseness, their tricks. People get so puffed up with their own ideas about things. They interpret things one way and insist it's the right way. They get their minds clouded with so much that has nothing to do with our Savior. We have to be very careful of others leading us down their road of deceit. The thing is, they won't even realize they are being deceitful most times. People will get caught up in their own *beliefs* and forget that it's God's beliefs we are to adhere to, not anyone else's. People will say everything is interpreted differently and yet God will not contradict Himself.


As we receive Jesus we have to WALK in Him.
We have to be ROOTED and BUILT up in Him.
We have to be STABLISHED in the FAITH.
We have to abound with THANKSGIVING!


Only when we are walking, rooted, built, stablished in the faith and giving thanks all in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior are we safe. We have to LOOK to HIM and ONLY HIM! We can help each other but we can't look to each other, walking in the faith of one another. Men throughout time have gone astray when they look to other men for the answers. The answers are found in Christ and a personal relationship with Him. If we don't have a personal walk with Christ then we will be deceived. Make no mistake right now there are many people who want followers, many people who want you to join their organizations, many people who like nothing better than to have a fellow believer in THEIR beliefs. Our standard has to be God's Word and God's Word only and no other.


May the grace of God cover us all. May we walk in Him and only in Him. Thank you Lord for the blessing of You, of Your love, Your sacrifice. By Your mercy, through Your righteousness now and forever!


Amen.

We Will All Be Changed

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.


Yes, it was written… Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul


Until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life… man was NOT a living soul.
Jesus was a spirit brought to life in a human form.


We think about how humans reproduce and know that Jesus had NO human male seed to create Him. His creation was spiritual. A spiritual seed quickened in the body of a woman.


Both Adam and Christ were uniquely brought into existence.


1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.


1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.


1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.


Flesh and blood CANNOT inherit the kingdom of God. We are flesh and blood. We know that certain of God's chosen have been translated in their flesh and blood body to the kingdom of God. But what we might not realize is those translated were probably CHANGED. Just as Jesus when He rose from the tomb told others not to touch Him because He hadn't yet ascended to His Father. Perhaps that CHANGE that needs to take place in all who possess flesh and blood had not yet been made in Him. When He later showed Himself to Thomas and told Him to touch Him- He had a body and YET we know He was changed, He was spirit as well. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus remember….


Mat 17:3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.


They had a form of human beings to be seen as they were, and yet they were from Heaven.


Remember this…


Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man


Angels- spirit beings that can take on human likeness and yet remain spirit beings.


We are not able to be spirit beings without our flesh and blood. Our flesh and blood, our earthy self is mixed with our spirit self the two are inseparable until we are changed in the day of Christ's return.


1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


All glory and praise, all honor and thanksgiving to God!


The mystery of life eternal in Christ.


We will be changed. All glory to God!


The flesh and blood we possess, death that is our inheritance as human beings can be defeated in Christ! We lay up our treasures in heaven. When we inherit heaven we will inherit it with bodies that are not flesh and blood, but bodies changed into the mysterious spirit form that can take the shape of who we are and yet no longer are subject to death. Praise God for salvation in Christ! Praise God for the sacrifice He made to save us.


By the grace, by the mercy, through the righteousness of our Savior now and forever!


Amen.

Idols of the Heart

Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?


Setting up idols in our hearts.
Putting stumblingblocks of sin before our faces.


Do we do this? We all know what idols are, right? Let's take a look at the dictionary definition just to be sure…


Idol
I'DOL, n. [L. idolum; Gr. form or to see.]

1. An image, form or representation, usually of a man or other animal, consecrated as an object of worship; a pagan deity. Idols are usually statues or images, carved out of wood or stone, or formed of metals, particularly silver or gold.

The gods of the nations are idols. Psa 96.

2. An image.

Nor ever idol seemed so much alive.

3. A person loved and honored to adoration. The prince was the idol of the people.

4. Any thing on which we set our affections; that to which we indulge an excessive and sinful attachment.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5.

An idol is any thing which usurps the place of God in the hearts of his rational creatures.

5. A representation. [Not in use.]

*******

So, ANYTHING which usurps the place of God in our hearts. Technically that means we can be our own idols doesn't it? Our loved ones can be our idols, the television can be our idol, our cellphone, our computer, our animals, our jobs, our past times -- you name it, if it takes the place of God in our hearts, if we set our affections and have an excessive attachment to ANYTHING other than God we may be guilty of setting up idols in our hearts. Notice I said MAY BE, I hesitated. In truth it should read… if we set our affections and have an excessive attachment to ANYTHING other than God we ARE guilty of setting up idols in our hearts.


We ARE guilty.


Let's take a look at this next word…


Stumbling-block
STUMBLING-BLOCK, STUMBLING-STONE, n. [stumble and block or stone.] Any cause of stumbling; that which causes to err.


Any cause of stumbling, anything that causes us to err.


Putting stumblingblocks of sin before our faces.


Do we do this? Do we PUT things in our lives that cause us to sin?


We are estranged from God through our idols. We need to repent and turn from those idols. We need to turn our faces from ALL our abominations.


We are accountable for our lives make no mistake about it. We are accountable for cherishing sin. We are accountable for the idols we choose to worship.


'the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols'


Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols


Answered according to the MULTITUDE of our idols!


We don't like to think about these things. We'd rather hear about the compassion of a forgiving Savior than hear about our idols and the need to turn from them. So many people believe that Jesus will save us no matter what sins we cherish and cling to.


It was Jesus who said this--


'Joh 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. '


Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.


SIN NO MORE.


Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us


Easier said than done, I know… I know.


Perhaps examining our lives is a first step. Recognizing the idols in our hearts, noting the stumblingblocks of sin we've erected in our lives. Instead of calling sin something else, note it for what it is. There is no pretending with God. There is no deceiving God. We can deceive ourselves into believing anything, but God will not be deceived.


Our hope is in Christ now and always!


Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, SEEK those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 SET your affection on things ABOVE, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 FOR YE ARE DEAD, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Col 3:5 MORTIFY therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also PUT OFF ALL these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have PUT OFF THE OLD MAN WITH HIS DEEDS;
Col 3:10 And have PUT ON THE NEW MAN, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but CHRIST IS ALL, AND IN ALL.
Col 3:12 PUT ON therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, BOWELS OF MERCIES, KINDNESS, HUMBLENESS OF MIND, MEEKNESS, LONGSUFFERING;
Col 3:13 FORBEARING ONE ANOTHER, and FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14 And above all these things PUT ON CHARITY, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And LET THE PEACE OF GOD RULE IN YOUR HEARTS, to the which also ye are called in one body; and BE YE THANKFUL.
Col 3:16 LET the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Col 3:17 And WHATSOEVER ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the LORD JESUS, GIVING thanks to God and the Father by him.
Col 3:18 Wives, SUBMIT yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
Col 3:19 Husbands, LOVE your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Col 3:20 Children, OBEY your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
Col 3:21 Fathers, PROVOKE NOT your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Col 3:22 Servants, OBEY in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, FEARING GOD:
Col 3:23 And WHATSOEVER ye do, do it heartily, as TO THE LORD, and not unto men;
Col 3:24 KNOWING that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for YE SERVE THE LORD CHRIST.
Col 3:25 BUT HE THAT DOETH WRONG SHALL RECEIVE FOR THE WRONG WHICH HE HATH DONE: AND THERE IS NO RESPECT OF PERSONS.


Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him


We receive our Savior, how?


Mat 19:25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
Mat 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.


Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.


Joh 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.


Act 15:11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.


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.


Act 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.


Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?


Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.


1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.


We are save by the grace of our Lord and Savior and only by His grace. Believing in the Lord and His grace in all truth is transforming. While we might look at our lives and cringe with a sense of hopelessness trying to creep in believing that we'll never be free of our sins, or the idols of our hearts, we have to look to Christ and hope in Him! We must 'die daily'. TRULY WE MUST DIE DAILY trusting in our Savior for His righteousness, His love, His forgiveness- something we'll NEVER be able to earn, something we'll never deserve. Hope is in Christ and ONLY in Christ!


In His amazing love!


Amen.

Power of the Tongue

I don't know what it is, but sometimes we are led by the Spirit by being shown things repetitively, at least that's been my personal experience. Recently one message keeps being highlighted for me and that is the power in the tongue, in the mouth, in the lips.


Pro 18:21 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue…'


Death and life power exists in the tongue.


Rather than risk death how much better it would be not to speak at all, right? Or maybe not, think about it. The tongue can confess the name of Jesus and bring life, yes? With the tongue we can cry out for forgiveness. With the tongue we can preach Christ to others. Yet the tongue can also condemn us.


Are you someone, or do you know someone, who is notorious for speaking before they think? I think even if you're not someone who does this all the time, that at least you've been guilty of it a time or two in your life, right? When we speak before we take time to think our mouths will often get us into a world of trouble. How chagrined we are when we realized we took something someone else said to us all wrong because we didn't take time to really listen to them or hear them out fully and we went off running our mouths because we thought we understood and truly didn't take any time to think at all.


Instant response. We live in a world where want instant everything. It's no wonder we instantly respond during our conversations- some might even say it'd be rude to do otherwise. In fact you've probably heard this before- 'Well, answer me! I'm talking to you! Say something!' People might not want to hear the response- 'I'm just pondering what you said.' No, they want to know immediately what you're thinking. If we could crawl into another person's head at times we'd gladly do so, just to know what they REALLY think. Of course, the other side of that is NOT really wanting to know the truth of another's thoughts. Too many self-righteously blunt people hold up their banner waving it around saying they have the right to tell you like it is and who cares if you get hurt, they're only speaking what everybody is thinking.


Death and life are in the power of the tongue.


It's a scary thing to really consider.


The balance of your life hanging in the power of your tongue.


1Jn 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.


Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.


Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.


Luk 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God


Every tongue shall confess to God. EVERY tongue. Not some tongues….EVERY tongue…yours, mine, your friends and families, the strangers we see.


If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead….THOU SHALT BE SAVED! Being saved mean life eternal. The tongue - death and life are in the power of the tongue.


Confess Jesus before men!


So what about those who are mute- by sickness, or accident, or however it happens, they can't speak? God knows their hearts and actions are a confession as well. Most people however, can speak. Most people have a tongue.


I have to confess…tonight I made someone cry. Have you ever made someone cry with your words? It's painful, especially when you're talking and talking and they're crying and you just keep on talking! How horrible the tongue can be even if the intentions of it are good. The tongue is wicked. Did I mean to make someone cry? NO! NOOOOOOOOooooo! But my well-meaning words just spewed out of my mouth and didn't stop. Of course…. words of apology came as well by that same tongue. What I can't get out of my head is how powerful the tongue is. We can respond to others and be hurtful, we are a heartbeat away from saying hurtful things to others-- sometimes we do, sometimes we don't --by the grace of God. I think sometimes we feel that it's torture to hold our tongues, to NOT speak and respond as we want to. Yet how much peace could be garnered from holding our tongues? Others DON'T have to always hear what we want to tell them. The debates don't always need to be won. Our point of view won't fester in our mouths because we choose not to speak it because it's more LOVING not to speak it than to do so. We are sooooo incredibly selfish- wanting people to see things OUR way all the time. God's ways aren't OUR selfish, hurtful ways. God is love. And YES, I agree there are plenty of examples of an irate Biblical figure- justified in their ire. But the difference between them and us is that we are so quick to give responses that we aren't praying for God's words to be spoken through us, but we are pushing our thoughts out regardless of whether it's God' s will that we speak. Am I saying it's always wrong to hurt others with our words? No. I'm saying it's wrong to not have God guiding our mouths, because if God is guiding our words and they cause someone to cry then YOU know that it's out of the purest form of love, completely unselfish.


We really do need God to guide our mouths. I did a short study on our lips a week or so ago (not sure when) with this verse in mind --


Psa 141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.


Knowing how powerful the tongue is we need this to be our prayer don't we? I know I sure do!


By the grace and mercy of our Lord, by the love of our Savior, may the door to our lips be kept by HIM now and always! May life be found in our tongues, not death. Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ the Son of God!


Amen.